Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

I have a friend whom I dearly love - Kim George, author of Coaching Into Greatness and Director of the AQ Institute. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of hanging out in Kim’s home for a week, and being her guest at a concert by acknowledged "young guitar god", Derek Trucks.

Kim wanted to introduce me to Derek’s work because he is, quite honestly, probably the greatest guitarist now living. Or at least one of the mega-greats. You look at what he does with his fingers and listen to the virtuosity, and  your mouth simply falls to the ground. It’s the kind of good that spins your heart, stomach and head all in different directions and leaves you wanting much, much more. Emotions you didn’t know you had bloom suddenly and make you ache, but in a good way. You don’t want the set to end. But I digress…

Some might know Derek as an Eric Clapton protege, or from his work with the Allman Brothers. But on May 17th in Torrington, Connecticut at the palatial Warner Theater, it was solely the Derek Trucks Band, resplendent in its own celebratory glory. 

We got there from deep in the wilderness of Massachussets through the backwoods express route into what seemed like nowhere. Thanks, Google Maps. After miles of beautiful trees, lakes, herds of man-sized mosquitoes, cud-munching Guernseys and a medieval fortress dam or two (one wondered if we hadn’t taken a turn into the Twilight Zone) we arrived in Torrington and had the time of our lives.

Kim has been a fan for ages, and I was a virgin conquest, brought to be sacrificed upon the altar of good music. My heart thumped, thighs quivered and as many before me, I became thoroughly infected with the DTB virus. We all had the DTB’s pretty bad, to be honest. But if you haven’t seen and heard Mr. Trucks and his quirky, amazing fellow musicians, you are missing one heck of a treat. They not only roll out good rock, soul, jazz, r&b and blues, but the personalities of each musician are as engaging as their repertoire. Holy hit parade Batman, but the dude can rock SOLID! If you’re into fancy fretwork, Derek Trucks is your man.

I snuck in my Casio Exilim and managed a few short  and shaky vidcaps between security-guard strafings, the light flashing from an adjacent teenager playing games on his cellphone, and bobbing and weaving of the extra-large-headed fellow right in front of my lens. There was by way of compensation, a nice fellow sitting next to me named John, who interestingly is moving to nearby Walnut Creek within the month. (Dude! Meet you at the Fillmore!)  He and Kim exchanged emails and furtive plans to move items of fandom across state lines…which I am assured is all quite legal…. 

Not my best, but here for Kim and the rest of the excessively *rabid* Derek Trucks fans, (and they’re all rabid) is this five minute-sumpin’ Video.  Be mindful of your speakers, download at will, and Enjoy…

 

By the time you read this, I’ll be on a jet plane and flown off to Massachussets to visit NLP and Coaching friends, do a little teaching, a smattering of processes and have a lot of fun. When I get back in a week, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories to tell and new processes to share as I’m meeting with, among other colleagues, good buddy and NLP legend, Harvard Business School’s own Stever Robbins. It’s bound to be fun and there will be declaiming on Cambridge Common to be listened to. Come join me for a picnic lunch if you’re on Cambridge Common by the Whitefield Elm at noon, this Friday, May 18th. I’ll be speaking on Energy Therapies and I’d love to meet you!

Until next time, don’t forget the fabulous giveaway going on ONLY until the END OF MAY at:

http://maryamrecommends.com/selfimprovement.html

TONS of self improvement gifts, freebies, software, memberships and so on.

And just wait for tomorrow, when you’ll see quite a DIFFERENT face on the "improve thyself" ticket.

Wait for it!

Love & Blessings,
Maryam

A Powerful Pointer To Bliss:

Yoga is not simply the science and art of moving your body into a pretzel shape or sweating at high temperatures. The majority of yoga is concerned with "your inner pretzel", or yoga to develop the mind and soul. Inspiration is a powerful motivator and pointer towards enlightenment. The following is a quote by the great Indian sage Patanjali on the subject of inspiration:

When you are inspired by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project,
all of your thoughts break their bonds
Your mind transcends limitations.
Your consciousness expands in every direction.
And you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.
Dormant forces, faculties and talents come alive
and you discover yourself to be a greater person
by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

So if you’re feeling piddly, puny and small, think about why you’re here on the earth - the real reason. Not the laundry list of things you have to do before the next board meeting or team call…or for that matter, your laundry. Focus on what juices you, even though right now you can’t see how it will help you work through your management issue, product distribution troubles, or get a thousand pounds of rice into your charity’s warehouse, or…

Address any thoughts, beliefs and blockages to living fully expressed and in flow with the universe with ZPoint, EFT or your favorite energy therapy. These thoughts and beliefs bind us and keep us from fully expressing as Source. As you lose this bondage, those dormant forces, faculties and talents Patanjali speaks of will pop out of the woodwork with an energy and swiftness and appropriateness that will astonish and delight you. And you will discover yourself to be a greater person that you ever dreamed you could be.

Enjoy the Bliss!!

I do enjoy marking the passages of the year-wheel with other kindred spirits. A riotous bit of good fun I have a great deal of fondness for is the annual Morris Maying at the Palo Alto, California, Baylands Nature Reserve. There’s a video below, but bear with me a second, some stage setting is in order.

We meet at 5:30am when it’s pitch dark, on the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay. Teams (called "sides") of Morris men (and women) dance up the sun and general frivolity and fun ensue. This ritual goes back at least 900 years in England, to judge from the radiocarbon dating of the reindeer horns used in the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance which leads off the festivities. Alas, it is far too dark to record the dance on video, so we made do with a historical slide show segeuing into the 2007 stills.

In our family’s tradition, the women stay up through the night making rose and flower crowns (which I always wear to the event) while the men cook us a scrumptious post-midnight repast. And of course, it’s considered de riguer to make love in the out of doors in the fields if possible (though it’s generally too cold). Traditionally, the morning’s dancing capped off a night of sympathetic magic ensuring bumper crops in the fields and encouraged the sun to rise to bestow its abundance upon the people.

Here are my videos and best recollection of the dance titles and personnel from May 1st, 2007. If I have made errors, I beg your forgiveness in advance. Contact me and I will be glad to amend the titling. The song sung at intro and outro is "Hal an Tow", a traditional Maying song that echoes the poignancy of the Horn Dance in its first verse:

Take no scorn, to wear the horns
It was the crest when you were born
Your father’s father wore it then,
Your father wore it too…

Needless to say, this verse is aimed at young men who, taking up their generation’s innovations, ’scorn’ what can seem to be the quaint antiqueries of their sires. Where does such a dance come from? While none truly know and the origins have been shrouded in the mists of time, my theory is that such a dance comes from the deer cults that existed in al primitive societies. Once England was covered from coast to coast with dense, impenetrable forests where the red deer reigned. Remember the caves at Lascaux and the pictures on their walls recounting the hunt? Many pictures of deer have been found all over Europe. The stag was a revered symbol of masculinity. Deer  and elk cults existed in native America and reindeer cults in northern Europe. All three of these animals are taxonomically related and their cults are among the strongest in terms of fertility, protection of the home and as symbols of masculinity. But enough of the lecture, you want to see the video.

This day, in May, 2007, the sun came up in fine fashion, cresting the top of the Diablo mountains to much hooting and huzzah-ing. See? Without us dancing the sun up, there’d be no crops this summer. I hope you’re properly grateful…  Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day! Passing Along A Good Tip

Happy Earth Day April 21st! To celebrate, tune into a no-c.ost webcast on just how bad the environmental situation is in the United States and how we can make it better. This just in from enviornmental watchdog group, Care2:

Can you believe that the United States ranks below Armenia for environmental sustainability?

What do measurements like these really mean - and how can we use them to become empowered, active citizens?

Please join the good folks over at Care2 for a free online broadcast on what global justice and equality means for today’s diverse world.

When: April 21, 6 PM Eastern (3 PM Pacific, 18:00 GMT-5)
Where: Your home computer
How: Login details will be sent via email after you RSVP

Add your name to the RSVP list here:
 
http://go.care2.com/e/R76B/G_yD/KJNd

And whatever you’re doing this Earth Day….love each other, pick up after yourself and have a ton of fun!!