Author: Jerry

In the weeks leading up to the winter solstice, the reoccurring theme among my clients was a lack of sleep. Night after night, they would get 3-4 hours and then suddenly be awake.

Now, I’m not talking about one or two people. About 75% of the people I see on any given day would report these same things. As I questioned them about activities and life circumstances, the majority reported enjoying the holiday season, which always included more shopping and parties than they were accustomed too, as well as, family gatherings and a myriad of other activities that fuel the collective energy and negatively affect their energy system.

What I didn’t hear was that they were taking time to sit and harmonize with the flow of the universal energy.
I found that the following exercise helped calm their energy systems and usually helped balance their sleeping patterns within just a couple of days.

Connecting to Universal Flow

Find a place to sit comfortably and take several centered breathes.

Now, take several minutes and ground yourself using the grounding breath that we developed and practiced a couple of weeks ago.

I recommend starting by using the grounding tubes. They create a solid foundation when learning new techniques.

As you sit grounded and centered, notice the feel of the energy around you.

On the surface, you’ll discover a buzz or heightened vibration to the collective energy around you. This buzzing, busy energy is what effects our sleep and our ability to feel centered and stable. Be careful to keep yourself separated from this energy as you’re noticing it. It’s easy to get caught up in the rush of that energy.

Now, using the grounding breath - allow yourself to drop below the noise and the buzz of the collective energy field into the quiet and calm of the universal energy field.

At this time of year, just after the winter solstice, the universal energy has a very quiet and reflective feel.

Allow yourself to sit within the universal energy field for at least 5 minutes. Allow your energy to harmonize with the universal energy.

There is nothing to do here. As you quietly sit within the universal energy your system will automatically harmonize with the universal flow.

At this point, it is time to get up and continue with your day. You can let your grounding tubes dissolve but stay connected to the universal energy.

Initially, it will not take long for your energy system long to re-harmonize with the collective energy. Over time and with practice, you’ll develop the skill necessary to keep your personal energy field separate from the collective.

Finding balance between the energy of the moment (the collective energy), and the universal energy flow is critical for a balanced and healthy life. Next week, we’ll work on creating an energy shield that will help us maintain that balance.

Today marks the winter solstice. Not only is it the shortest day of the year, but it denotes a major shift within the universal energy. With the sun being at its furthest point from the earth, tonight is the longest and darkest night of the year.

For many, it represents the “long dark night of the soul,” that point of spiritual crisis on the journey towards consciousness. This journey is often rife with the symbolic death of major aspects of our lives, ideals, and beliefs that must be shed for us to become conscious and whole again.

In his piece on Friday, Ben alludes to the idea that as individuals and a Nation, we have indeed entered the long dark night of the soul. And even though the sun will come up tomorrow, we have a long and trying journey ahead.

To borrow words from Dr. Jean Bolin, a Jungian analyst:

“While the night of the winter solstice is always over at dawn, we don’t know how long we will remain in a winter solstice phase, and many fear while in the midst of it that there will be no light at the end of their tunnel and that dawn will never come. When help is sought, that very act is an expression of helplessness and hopefulness; an admission that we can’t get through this on our own and hope that with help, we shall. Often this is the turning point.”

Often, it is at this point- this point of crisis--that I am called upon and invited into my clients' lives. For them, the hope of successful resolution is often fading and I am seen as a candle, a ray of light within the darkness. I personally, have walked that long dark road more times than I like to admit. And, In the course of my life, I have born witness for the journey of many clients and friends as they have walked that road.

As the sun rises tomorrow, know that Ben and I are here, willing to do what we can. Although it is dark and often scary, together we can be the light to help guide our families, friends and even our nation through this trying time.

Last week, I walked you through a technique for grounding your energy using a centered breath. This week I am going to expand upon it.

The Grounding Breath

I would once again recommend playing with these ideas while sitting. As your comfort levels grows feel free to play with the positions and modify the technique to better suit your personal needs.

Let’s start by finding a comfortable position and center.

Take several centered breathes and allow your body to begin to relax.

As your body relaxes, take a moment to feel your feet against the floor and your body in the chair.

Close your eyes and visualize dropping hollow tubes from your feet deep into the earth.

Take 3 centered breaths. On the third breath, exhale down through the tubes until the breath is deep in the earth, relax and let the inhale happen naturally.

Now, open your eyes and let the tubes dissolve. They are no longer necessary.

The tubes were simply a vehicle for moving the breath into the earth. Once we recognize that the breath will move freely through the earth the vehicle becomes unnecessary.

Once again, take a couple of centered breaths. Direct your exhales deep into the earth. At the end of your exhale, pause. Let your exhale be fully finished. Allow the inhale to happen automatically.

The ability to pause at the end of your exhale is essential. At this stage, there is nothing else required of you. Just sit there and be. The inhale will always happen fully and automatically.

Take several more breaths and feel the pause at the end of each exhale. Notice the space created by the pause. On your next exhale, sit within the space and allow yourself to separate from your breath.

This separation allows for many things. We can separate ourselves from the stress and confusion of the moment. We can use it to move pain and restrictions from the body. We can simply use it to find solace and comfort within mother earth.

Allow yourself to sit and breathe for several more minutes. With each breath, allow yourself to connect with the earth within the space created by your exhale.

Removing the tubes allows for this breath to be used anywhere. Try it walking, riding in a car, even flying. Once again, the more comfortable you are with the process, the more accessible it will be when you need it the most.

In his piece on Friday, Ben talked about helping to control the effects our new world reality has on each of us mentally, emotionally, and energetically. Moving forward, the ability to ground, protect, and stabilize our personal energy fields will be the foundation for creating a balancing force within our communities, the country, and eventually the world.

Essentially, the techniques he shared are designed to help us ground and create stability. Today, I want to share a breathing technique that will help you remain grounded and can be accomplished anywhere and in only a couple of minutes.

The Grounding Breath

This exercise can be done sitting, standing, or even walking. Initially, I would recommend trying it while sitting in a regular chair. Not only will it be easier to read and follow the directions, but it will become easier to recreate in times of stress, and then you can play with it in other positions once you are comfortable with the technique.

To start, find a comfortable position and center.

Take a couple of centered breaths.

As your body begins to relax, feel your feet against the floor and your body in the chair.

This connects you to the here and now. This exercise is not designed as an escape. Being present is essential.

Close your eyes and visualize dropping hollow tubes from your feet deep into the earth.

The circumference of the tubes is a personal choice. Start with them somewhat narrow and gradually widen them as you become more comfortable. Also, some people find a third tube, dropped from the tail bone, adds some stability and helps balance the flow of breath.

Take 3 centered breaths. On the third breath, exhale down through the tubes until the breath is deep in the earth, relax and let the inhale happen naturally.

We focus the exhale into the earth to help cleanse the energy of the breath. The earth will filter and balance the energy of the breath and bring a sense of stability to the body.

Practice this exhalation through the tubes into the earth 10 times.

We focus on the exhales because in times of extreme stress and discomfort it can be extremely difficult to have an open flowing breath. Notice that your ability to inhale and create flow becomes easier with each exhale.

Re-center and feel your feet against the floor, the chair against your legs, and the increased sense of flow within your body.

Obviously, this breath can be done anywhere. I highly recommend that you practice it several times a day and in many different situations. It is essential to practice this BEFORE you are stressed and energetically compromised. Remember, this technique is simply a tool. For it to be useful you must be confident in the process.

Creating Balance

Last week, I talked about using TTW and the principles that it’s founded upon to help create a stabilizing force to bring balance to our ailing nation.

The first part of creating balance is being centered. This week, in preparation for beginning a meditation practice, I thought I would review how to center when seated.

Seated Center

Wherever you find yourself reading this – take a minute, notice where your feet are. Notice your posture. Where are your shoulders in relation to your hips? Is your breath deep or shallow? Are you breathing consciously or unconsciously? How aware are you of your surroundings?

Now take a minute, put your feet firmly on the ground hip-to-shoulder width apart.
Have your knees bent 90 degrees.

Sit up so your shoulders are directly over your hips.

Now, gently raise your diaphragm – notice how your shoulders drop when you do this.

Relax your feet by wiggling your toes and letting your arches soften. As your feet relax your legs will relax.

Now, take a nice easy breath up through your hips and into your upper chest and shoulders. Did your breath rise? Try it again.

Notice your breath as it moves up through your pelvis, past your belly button, through the diaphragm and into your upper chest. Now, take another easy breath. Allow yourself the luxury of feeling what an open flowing breath feels like.

When your breath flows freely from your pelvis into your upper chest and shoulders you are CENTERED.

Centering when seated is the starting position to begin a meditation practice.

Practice maintaining this position and focusing on your breath for 3-5 minutes once or twice per day. Next week I will introduce some basic breathing and visualization techniques to begin the meditation practice.

Last Wednesday evening, Ben and I took a long walk and talked about how to move forward with TTW in the post-election world that we now live in. By then, I was in a better state of mind and ready to begin exploring this new world that has been thrust upon us.

To truly understand what is needed, I think it is necessary to take a brief look at how we got here. Over the last 16 years or so, I have watched as our political parties have become completely polarized. As the right became more conservative, the left responded by becoming more liberal. Now, I’m not going to get into who’s right and who’s wrong. I’m simply talking about the energy dynamics involved when two opposing forces become polarized.

Many years ago, the Democrats and the Republicans could agree on what the issues were, they just disagreed on how to fix them. Over the years, people within the power structure realized that by creating conflict between the parties they could separate and divide the American people. By dividing us, they could control the government and keep themselves in power perpetually.

As the parties got further and further from center, the base of that power – we, the people--became weaker and weaker. Heading into this election, I felt that the people’s power base was the weakest I have ever seen in the 51 years that I have been alive.

It’s no wonder that Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great again” appealed to so many. What he was promising, whether he knew it or not, was a returning of power to the base (the people), and a drawing it away from the powers that be. That message of returning the power to the people was so strong that it didn’t matter that he’s not only unqualified for the job, but that for all intent and purposes, he appears to be a despicable human being.

As I watch him appoint his cabinet and prepare to assume control, it seems obvious that he’s aligned himself with the ultra-conservative right and that this dividing of the people will be greater than ever. If he was actually going to return power to the people, his cabinet would be much more diverse and not filled with hatemongers, ultra-conservatives, and known racists.

This is where TTW comes in. We are going to create a balancing force to help stabilize our country and pull energy from both the left and right back towards the center. As much as I’d like to protest, riot and create a resistance movement, right now what we need is to create stability.

I’ve tried hard to write Training Tiger Woods part 4 this week. It just didn’t seem to matter in the wake of the election results. For the first couple of days, I walked around feeling like I had witnessed 9/11 all over again. I remember those feelings of shock and disbelief alternating with rage towards my fellow man that marked the days and weeks after 9/11.

As I watch the president- elect fill his cabinet with ultra-conservatives and hate-mongers, I keep asking myself, “How could we do this to ourselves?”

But, as they say, life goes on. Because I cannot simply uproot my life and leave this country and its troubles behind, I must find a way to find balance and help those around me try to create something positive from this madness.

How? I’m not sure yet. But for now, I’m going to start at the beginning. I’m going to center and breathe.

Training someone with an exercise history like Tiger’s is always interesting. Usually, they have been well trained and lift with acceptable form and technique within what I call the traditional athletic model, which is with too much weight and intensity. When an athlete lifts in this manner quite often his mental and emotional strength gets tied to his physical strength.

If you go back to 1994 when Tiger was a student at Stanford, his pictures show a fit young man, but not the physical specimen that he became on the pro tour. In fact, when he entered the pro tour, the benefits of weight lifting and physical fitness weren't widely acknowledged. When Tiger was a student at Stanford he only weighed 158 pounds and stood 6’2”. In his glory days on the PGA Tour, Tiger weighed in at just under 190 pounds. With the added strength and confidence that his exercise regime generated, it wasn’t long before Tiger began dominating the tour. As his competitors began taking notice of his physical change, the fitness craze that has captured golf was born.

From the way in which he carried himself on the course, I would say that Tiger took at a lot of his mental toughness from the strength that radiated from his body. Unfortunately, when his body began breaking down, which was almost destined from the way in which he trained, his mental strength also began breaking down.

You see, when athletes' bodies begin breaking down, that breakdown cannot help but to affect them mentally and emotionally. Often, athletes' bodies are the mechanisms that have propelled them to the heights of success that they have enjoyed. As age or injury diminishes their abilities, it can be as if the body has betrayed them.

This is the “in” I was talking about last week. After all his injuries and subsequent rehabs, the physical strength has returned to Tiger’s body, but the mental toughness and the union between mind and body hasn’t. That’s the contradiction I see between the confident man that stands in front of the camera giving an interview and the diminished athlete I see on the golf course.

What we must do is repair the relationship between the athlete and his body. And that starts at the beginning, in the gym, changing his relationship to lifting weights and working out.

Take a minute and center yourself.

Take a breath.

Feel it rise comfortably up through your body.

Feel what it is to be in a state of flow.

Last week I stated that with Tiger, as with anyone else, I would start with centering and breath. I start here because for any of this to work, we must be able to breathe. Now, I’m not talking about respiration. I am talking about centered and conscious breathing.

A conscious breath not only creates flow, but establishes our ability to feel the truth within our bodies. By being centered and breathing consciously, we are capable of honest and open communication.

The ability to communicate is critical to this process. Think about it: I don’t know Tiger. We have yet to meet. I have an awareness of his public persona, but I would not disrespect him, or any other client, by pretending that I know them based solely on my perceptions.

So, we center and breathe while spending a little time getting to know each other. This usually takes the form of talking about health and fitness, as I try to gain an understanding of who he is and what he knows.

At this point, what I am looking for is a way “in.” Usually, there will be a contradiction between what a client is saying and what they are showing me physically or energetically. In Tiger’s case, I see it between the facade he shows publicly and how he carries himself while on the course playing. This disharmony is what needs to be addressed. But, unless he sees the same contradiction, I will not be able to start there.

So, with Tiger, I think the next step would be to head to the gym. I know the “in” I’m looking for, and it can be exposed and addressed there.

A little over a year ago, this project started with me writing an open letter to Tiger. Now, that I have declared that we are ready to begin teaching, I thought I would spend a little time talking about how I would help Tiger return to relevance in the golfing world.

Before I start, I want to clarify that I am absolutely sure that Tiger has forgotten more about golf than I will ever know. I do not doubt his golf acumen or his swing. I am sure that he and those around him have analyzed every aspect of his game, and yet he’s still not playing. The last statement that I read talked about his game not “being there yet.” Although the only information that any of us have is being released from those around him, I personally have my doubts about his golf game not being there.

The stress of returning to the public’s eye, the speculation and attention of the golfing world, not to mention the insatiable need of the media are each in themselves reason enough to stay away. But combine those and I begin assuming the ‘game’ that isn’t there is the ability or desire to deal with everything outside of golf that comes with Tiger trying to make a comeback.

Over the next few weeks, I will lay out how Ben and I would help a professional athlete using the TTW principles.

So, where would I begin with Tiger on this journey? At the beginning of course. With centering and breathing.