Friday, February 20, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

I had the wonderful opportunity this past week to interview a man by the name of Bob Schrei. Bob has been many things throughout his life to arrive at the point where he is now, working within while also beyond the realm of traditional Rolfing doing Source Point Therapy.

Bob and I had a wonderful on-camera exchange where we talked about Zen, healing arts, body and energy work, and how it all extends and relates to the world in which we live. Our bodies are our temples and our bodies are the spaces from which we all work. To balance the energies of our bodies can be seen as the first step to balancing our outer world. If we truly believe that we live in an interconnected world then we can't help but recognize that we are a product of our environment.. but also that our environment is a manifestation of ourselves.

So what does it mean to build a disconnected artificial reality where our senses are mostly limited to interactions with concrete and plastic? If we move beyond this into the realm of energy, what does it mean to live in a world of linear systems filled with blockages of every size and nature?

It seems to me we need to return to ourselves. That we need to return to nurturing our personal energies so that we may do the work that needs to be done. We need to balance our bodies and our personal energies so that we may affect the world in a way that then creates a balanced mirror of who we really are. Our world, more than ever, is speaking to us and showing us where we have gone. Do we really want to be here...? In this place of plastic and planetary imbalance...?

I agree with Bob that the first thing we need to do is affect change within ourselves. I have done many interviews on this journey and a recurring theme seems to be to not only try to change the world but to try to change the HERE and NOW in which we all live as individuals. I think this is the right approach since every action, regardless of how small, carries within it the potential to change the entire world.

After our dialog I jumped up on Bob's table for some Source Point Therapy. He immediately tuned into my body and energy going to work making small adjustments to help me on my way. After a beautiful blend of Rolfing, Cranio-Sacral, and Energy Work I walked away feeling taller and more connected than I've been in awhile. And I think that's really the key to it all... to connect to our personal energy source.. so that the energy flows up, into, and out of us in abundance.

If we can all come to a place where we are tied into the source and overflowing with benevolent energy, then there is nothing stopping us in changing the world with that energy. It's the prevalent holding on, fear, disconnection and 'taking' that we need to put an end to. We need to form new agreements based on the idea that WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.. not only to each other.. but to an abundant planet that wants to see us prosper and be 'in love'.

Some people claim the planet has passed a tipping point.. and that there is no longer endless support for us to grow and prosper.

I disagree.

I think it's simply a choice in how we grow and prosper and how we choose to put our everpresent and everabundant energy and intentionality out into the world.

peace,
d

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Sitting in the Santa Fe Bakery Co. some acoustic Bob Dylan flowing over me and causing me to fall deeper in love with this place. The Bakery Co. has quickly become my virtual office and meeting space while in town. It's seems it's a favorite for many Santa Feans from what I can see. I'm sure there are still lots of sweet gems to find, but I'm grateful for something more than hijacking wireless from my van in a cold parking lot.

I've had a great past week shooting some on-camera dialogs with some great folks. I've connected on and off camera with Ben Haggard of Regenesis, Bill DuBuys, Stan Crawford, Margo Covington, Scott Pittman and while not meeting up I've been connecting with many more amazing people who seem open to my ever-expanding search for dragons.

After almost three years on the road, it's become pretty easy to build routines and comfort in any urban space. I'm getting there now in Santa Fe, to that point where you on some level feel you may never leave.. and/or will certainly be back home again down the road.

I have to say people here have also been very gracious with the sharing of hot meals.. I'm grateful for the community and food offered by Ben, Marc, Helen, Rosemary and Stan. I'm feeling good for a homeless pilgrim having been well fed both spiritually and physically during my time here.

This week the beat goes on with yet more gathering of content. Liz arrives on Wednesday for a five day visit, and then I'm off to the Mountains with Joan Halifax Roshi and company.

peace,
d

Some more vids just for kicks.. Firelight is just some footage from my time in Escalante and Glen Canyon which is some footy of Glen Canyon. I'll expand on this blog to talk about the issues around Glen Canyon Dam and the mighty Colorado River when I have some more time.. Right now, have to walk the dog... but I like getting these out there. Big thanks to Rob Church for the music.


peace,d

Here's a vid from a while back after Burning Man.. after I had driven down through Nevada filming abandoned mines and ghost towns. Something is going on with the formatting.. but I have other vids that I'd rather fiddle with right now. Three new ones on the way.

And some pics from at what my friends jokingly called Burning Van.. because for awhile it looked like I was going to light her up.

peace,d

Monday, February 9, 2009
Location: Santa Fe

So as you can imagine living in a van isn't always the healthiest in terms of lifestyle. When I was up North and had Forbes Campbell with me as an assistant he used to always drag me to recreation centers to work out. These days Forbes would be proud as I've been building a strict workout regime for the duration of my time in Santa Fe. I guess I've also been inspired by Liz up in Colorado who has been reporting how good she's feeling after her regular Pilates sessions. So now I hit the gym every two days and have been swimming, and lifting weights. I follow this with a huge breakfast loaded with protein at a local cafe where I also get wireless.

That's where I am now, sitting here stuffed after a three egg omelet packed with cheese, avocado and bacon, with a big bowl of black beans as a side. Whoa... I definitely have ingested the building blocks for healthy muscles. I feel good!

There's certainly a lot to be said for the mind body connection and the notion of pushing the body to relax the mind. I tend to suffer from anxiety, which can sometimes be quite severe. Way back when I first started experiencing these mind body bouts of breakdown my doctor recommended anxiety medication. Although I was in hell, I refused, and instead quit my job, turned my life upside down and moved into a van to make a feature film. Haha.. call me crazy but I'm much better now than I've ever been. I still get anxiety but I've found it's mostly a process of channeling and/or grounding the energy that is taking over my body and this my friends is where a gym, swimming pool, yoga or martial arts practice comes in handy.

Get out of the mind and get into the body. I think this is one of the most important life lessons out there.

Today we live in a world of comfort and complacency where we SIT and drive, then SIT and work, then SIT and watch TV, then SIT and talk... all the while being encouraged to swil back coffee en mass. No wonder we're all going crazy.

Interviews keep lining up and rolling in.. and I'm grateful for all the people I'm meeting, all the knowledge I'm gaining, and for a film that I feel these days, is destined to be beautiful.

peace,d

Friday, February 6, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

It's always nice to find commercial B20 biodiesel when out on the road. At this point most people recognize that biodiesel isn't going to satisfy the world's insatiable appetite for fuel, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't build it into our transition infrastructure. Real solutions still have to come from a rethinking and redesigning of our entire built civilizations. We need to re-create our world to be based upon local cluster economies where electric cars can be tied into a system of distributed generation. In this vision everywhere we go there would be solar, wind and geothermal systems generating power that we could plug into. We'd cover sun-laden asphalt spaces and rooftops with panels providing shade and energy. It's the transition of infrastructure that's difficult.. and it's difficult only because we have become complacent and comfortable with this outdated model based on hydrocarbons.

We must not forget that we built everything around us, and therefore it's within our grasp to tear it down and redesign the elements that no longer make sense. And in this process of rebuilding, we will also find ourselves rebuilding economies and redistributing wealth. But no one aspect of our reality can be looked at in isolation, no one problem can be resolved on its own. We must use our technological and human interconnectedness to create mass shifts in infrastructure, culture and thinking.

But then there another part of me that is thinking about adaptation and the fact that humans have a profound ability to adapt. And in with this idea of adaptation is the notion that if you build it, humans will gather around and adapt and eventually add to the processes already underway. Any mainstream technology today started out as one idea... and now years later we have a ubiquity of options to choose from. We must not forget that all evolution, be it natural or technological, moves, evolves and unfolds. Good things stand the test of time and even if they are blindsided by large corporations or opposing dominant forces, they always come back around full circle in time.

It is important to remember that technology like nature is also subject to entropy. All things have their relative lifespan.

This was a bit of a ramble session.. my thoughts aren't too clear today.. but there's something in here so I'm just taking notes.

peace,d

So I've been making some great contacts and Santa Fe seems to be opening up in a beautiful way. Sometimes I feel like this film is a flower that just keeps blossoming and expanding.. or perhaps it's more apt to use an image taken from the golden spruce of a tree that from such a small and humble seed continues to grow and branch out taking in nutrients from all directions.

This morning I met with Joan Halifax Roshi of the Upaya Zen Center here in Santa Fe. I awoke at 6:30 went to the local pool for a swim, shower and shave, ate some granola and yogurt, walked the dog, and then found myself for no reason feeling a sense of extreme urgency to get to the Upaya Center. In that moment I thought to myself why so nervous and wound up? Why when it has taken you almost three years to get here are you now rushing when you are perfectly on time.. and rushing to a Zen Center of all places.

Upon arriving it was very clear that there was no reason to rush. I entered the center and was guided to a beautiful room to wait for Joan Halifax Roshi. The place is beautiful, and all of my anxieties seemed to float away under the grounded energy the permeated everything around me. I was given a cup of tea by a peaceful woman and I sat and waited. After some time, which I knew would pass even as I was rushing, Roshi came in and greeted me with a warm smile.

I told her about the project and about where I've been and she responded with an array of other people I should speak to throughout the Southwest. She offered me toast and jam from her breakfast and informed me that although she didn't have time for an on-camera dialog today, she would love to do it later. She was heading out of town and would be back on the 22nd. She was then going to another space owned by Upaya up in the mountains, and I was welcome to come along, as was Moses.

I am so grateful for the invitation and am looking forward snowshoeing through the snow to another beautiful and sacred space. It's so beautiful to encounter hearts that are open and 'in' love.

In the meantime I am continuing to collect content in and around Santa Fe. Interviews that seem to be manifesting include individuals working in Permaculture, Native Elders, Sustainable Farmers, Authors and generally progressive Thinkers.

peace,d

PS. Some great online videos already available of Dharma Talks and Buddhist Teachings they are worth watching if you aren't in too much of a rush ;-) Oh and here's a random unrelated link to a Buddhist temple built out of beer bottles. Mike Reynolds of Earthship Biotecture would be proud.

Monday, February 2, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

I have to say, it's only been about 24hrs but I already feel so very welcome in Santa Fe. It's really all about people and the degree to which they are open and receptive to the world around them. In so many places I've been people have set themselves in their ways and tend, in their comfort, to be wary of strangers and potential 'strangeness', haha. Although I may appear strange from the outset, some kind of human turtle wandering around, home on back, blasting people with introductions and interview intentions, I'd say for the most part I'm fairly normal. For as much as I'm a vagabond I'm also a professional, an artist, a thinker, a seeker, and just another person looking for their way in this increasingly crazy world.

However Santa Fe is one of those places that instantly feels like home. This is in large part due to the people I'm beginning to meet but also due to an overall energy that seems pervasive here. People seem tuned in, although it could also be because I'm basically living out of organic food stores. Perhaps if I was living out of Walmart I'd feel differently. Maybe I should give it a try.

On the first day I was here I grabbed a Sustainable Santa Fe magazine and immediately started sending our feeler emails. The response was almost instant. A gentleman named Marc Choyt who works with fair trade jewlry gave me a call and by the end of the initial conversation had invited me out to walk his dog and have dinner with him and his wife Helen, who is a jewelry designer. You can learn more about them and what they do through these links,
But what turned me onto Marc was something he wrote and is working on called the Circle Manifesto.

As soon as I walked in his office Marc and I immediately hit it off entering deep intense discussions in all directions. Helen kept phoning to remind Marc to walk the dog, he'd hang up and say "I really have to go walk the dog... but I just want to show you this!" Another phone call another distraction.. and that was the way the night went. Finally we arrived back at the house whereupon I met Helen and the discussion catapulted into another layer of intensity with all three of us exchanging ideas and swapping stories over a beautiful meal of Elk and locally grown organic salads and beans.

I felt as though the whole experience was nothing but pure goodness and very healing for this wandering van-dweller. I am so very grateful for the meal and everything else. Marc and Helen also bombarded me with a few great interview contacts who have since emailed me and are interested in the project. In conversation Helen gave me the Golden Spruce to read and so far I'm loving it. And hey it's Canadian.

I'm so grateful for this couple that has become a wondrous doorway for me. I'm grateful for all that they have shared. And I'm grateful to our wondrous dogs who we did eventually get taken for a nice long walk and who are quickly becoming good friends.

peace,d

Monday, February 2, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Arrived in Santa Fe yesterday and ended up randomly pulling into an organic food coop as a place to start. It’s always interesting to enter into a new place and feel that sense of being lost. It was already pretty late in the afternoon so I went in to get a Kombucha and some nice organic eats for dinner. Once at the cash I asked the cashier for a little info on where I was at. She directed me to the store’s information counter where I promptly got my hands on a phone book and began flipping… but people are always better than phonebooks and in talking to the woman behind the counter I got a basic set of bearings. You know, the usual, a recreation center to shower, an Internet café, and an off leash dog park. She was happy to help and even informed me that the parking lot outside is a welcome place to sleep and access WiFi. Organic food and Wifi, what more can a lonely drifter ask for.

On the way down from Espanola I headed a little west to check out a famous church that Liz had mentioned I should look into. The church is the Santuario de Chimayo and is known throughout the world as a place of sacred healing. The story is that a couple hundred years ago a farmer awoke and went out to tend his field and once out there he found a large cross. He had no idea where the cross had come from so, being a religious man, he decided to transport it to the closest church a few towns away. Upon doing this, the man went to bed satisfied and content. When he awoke the next morning he again found the same cross in the same spot in the same field. He again brought the cross to the church not understanding how its appearance was possible. Again the next day he awoke to find the cross in the same spot in the same field and again brought it to the church… and on and on it went a few more times. Finally he and the priest of the church had a meeting regarding what should be done. The priest had only one answer… that it seemed to him that god wished that the farmer build a church in his field upon the site where the cross repeatedly had appeared. And so the Santuario de Chimayo was built.

From then on the miracle story of the churches creation has spread throughout the world and people have come to pray at the site from far and wide. With this the stories began of miraculous healing. The cross was moved to the main alter in the church and pilgrims in search of healing have since come and taken soil from the hole in the back room of the church in which the cross had originally been found. For a while it was said that no matter how much soil was taken the hole miraculously was found to be full again the next day, in time the priest confessed that he had been refilling the hole. However the stories of healing continue and the back room of the church is filled to the brim with discarded crutches, and adorned with pictures and stories of people who have been healed.

Being a pilgrim myself I couldn’t resist stopping in at the church for some prayers and to dig up a container of blessed dirt to keep me safe on my journey and another to give to Liz when she comes to see me on the road.

peace,
d