To:  The Ixtlan Mailing List
Date:  95-08-15 03:27:55 EDT

Los Angeles Intensive Tensegrity Workshop, August 13, 1995

Castaneda Lecture

Castaneda came out a few minutes after 4 PM, dressed impeccably, wearing a brown suit, brown shoes and a yellow and brown tie. [The chairs were closer to the platform this time, as promised. The members of his party again sat in the first two rows, although the young girl who had been introduced the week before (along with the presumed Blue Scout), as a "cyclic being," was noticeably absent. At the north end of the first row was the presumed Blue Scout, seated next to a young woman with very red hair, then Carol Tiggs, then Florinda, and then Taisha. Amalia was next to Taisha, and the Chacmools were next to her.] CC said he had planned to talk about the inorganic beings tonight, and that that subject seemed to have frightened some people.

Don Juan told him that, "Everything is the product of the interplay of twin forces." Situations always dichotomize -- for example, opposing cliques at work or other institutions -- and the system of sorcerers is to guide that dichotomization.

Once he was in Tula with DJ's party. Tula and its Valley were where all the old sorcerers of DJ's lineage came from, and where DJ had his home. CC was enjoying being with the splendid warriors of DJ's group. They were visited at the time by the Nagual Mathias, a new nagual of German heritage, who had been hit on the head when he was 14 and never recovered. He spoke strange Spanish, which he claimed was from the time of the Conquest. (And who was CC to say it wasn't?) He wanted to go to with DJ's group to Tula. CC was glad that the situation "dichotomized" and they didn't take Mathias with them. It seemed to be that they coalesced into "the good sorcerers and the bad sorcerers."

Sorcerers like to direct this division to get to "what is permissible." The same kind of dichotomy is true of our world. On one side is the organics' world -- including us and other organisms with awareness. On the other side is the inorganics' realm -- entities with awareness but without organic beings. "The structure of their world is different but complimentary to ours." The sorcerers found that the inorganic beings came to them in dreams. Dreams, at least certain kinds of special dreams, are "trap doors" that open for passage into the inorganic beings' side of the universe, and that allow them passage into our world. Only in dreams can we balance our energy sufficiently to perceive this other realm. Our velocity is otherwise too fast to perceive them at all.

The old sorcerers found that dreams gave access to the inorganic and other realms. They named the beings there "the allies." This term is not accurate, of course, since these beings were not able to act as allies in this realm, and they failed the sorcerers in their time of crisis. Since then, the sorcerers have stayed away from them. DJ felt that the only thing to do was to stay away from inorganic beings. The moment you use the trap door, "you enter into a well organized veritable world, whether you like it or not." Sorcerers train their dreaming attention -- developing it at the beginning by remembering to focus their eyes on any object and to focus for longer than a glance, and then to move on to another object, and then another.

They found that for each individual there is a threshold number of objects that we can focus on until the dream becomes something else. In non-ordinary dreams, once you reach this threshold point, you're off to something else. Such special dreams are heralded by something quite unusual -- for example, an image like flying fish. Once you learn to trap your attention, you can arrive at the threshold whenever "you hit a dream that is not a dream."

DJ gave CC the task of looking at his hands in his dreams, and CC turned it into an obsession. He found that he couldn't do it [and mimics himself saying to DJ that he can't find his hands. DJ said he could look for something else: "Look for your penis." CC mimics himself saying, in a whiny voice, "Make up your mind, once and for all. I don't like your jokes."] DJ told him initially to look for his hands "or something else," and he simply ignored the "something else" part. [This reminded him of a woman who kept a list of all the reasons she was special. He'll bring the list for us before the end of the workshop. On the list, for example, was the fact that a professor once told her, "You are way too mature." When CC questioned whether there was something missing in that statement, she talked to the professor and found out to her chagrin that he had been trying to say, "You are way too mature to act like an asshole."] CC saw everything else but not his hands. In fact, he only found his hands once in his dreams -- and then they weren't really his but some big hairy hands. [They found some plastic ape hands recently, and felt that the way they look, in cupped position, are depictive of how we as humans are -- with little grasping gorilla hands. He'll bring them in to show us.] But CC had actually succeeded with DJ's assignment without knowing it by focusing on all the other things in his dreams. [He is sure that his mentioning this command of DJ's had the same effect on those reading his books as it did on him -- making us obsessive about finding our hands.]

Dreaming attention is another source of discipline that renders us inedible to the Flyers. Once you cross the trap door, something comes to take you either to another layer of the onion, or to the dual universe of the inorganic beings. You control which direction you go by voicing your intent -- essentially giving an order, such as "Take me to your world." The only thing they listen to is a direct order, it does no good at all to plead, whine or act placatingly. You "don't order them in an arrogant way," but in a strong, forceful, convincing manner. ("If you are well brought up, you can say 'please' or 'thank you' too," he joked, "but it's optional.")

Once you voice your desire to go, these balls of energy take you. DJ told him to go elsewhere, and to not voice his intent to go to the IB's world. But CC has always had this strange proclivity to get himself into dangerous things.

As a kid, CC played trumpet, to get out of having to go to class. He'd tell the teacher that he had band practice, and then he'd tell the band leader that he had to go to class. So he ended up not doing either. Then he transferred to a new school, and the guy in charge of the band there told him they didn't need him. [He mimics himself in shock over the idea of having to go to class.] So he decided to render a trumpet unusable. At night, at his boarding school, he crept up to the band room and set a little fire, using a cord, to create enough heat in a trumpet's bell to turn the tone bad. But he "should have used a wire instead of a cord." The cord fell on a drum. So he then tried to put it out with water, instead of going back to bed where he wouldn't be discovered. But he wasn't strong enough to heave the bucket of water where it needed to go [he mimicked himself sloshing it part way], so he had to fill it up three times. As a result he soaked his feet. Then he returned to bed and, naturally, was found because the trail of wet feet led right to him. He'd ended up burning a whole wing of the school. His family had to pay for the reconstruction of the wing and for the instruments. He told his grandfather, his only ally about it. His grandfather only said, "How stupid! You should have used wire." His grandfather, a bit of a crook himself, was horrified at the boy's stupidity but not the nihilistic act of burning the school.

So CC is a "reckless idiot" by nature, someone who takes chances. DJ told him he would start hearing a voice, the Dreaming Emissary, but told him not to listen to it. One day he heard a voice, but told himself it was some kind of post-hallucinogenic effect. The voice, however, is from another world, and adapts itself for you. For him it started out as a man's voice, speaking Argentine Spanish, or English from the West Coast of the United States. It used endearing Argentinean terms -- like "flaco," "hijito," and "boludo." And the voice said that it would reveal to him anything he wanted to know. But its results "were always asynchronous." It would tell him something about someone two months after he had asked, or even 5 years later, by which time he didn't care anymore.

This dreaming emissary voice attaches itself to us physically. To him it felt physically like it was coming from the area near his liver.

The IB world is basically feminine, and by the end it was a woman's voice he heard -- "quite exquisite." Males are coveted in this world because they are a "little twist" on a female base. [He mimicked being "macho," and then really just a "little twist." Then he described how he once blew his nose so hard when he was at DJ's that he blew his adenoid out. His immediate reaction was to "go and show it to mommy." That then reminded him of working in a mental hospital, where a guy who had no feeling in his body wedged out one of his eyeballs and then brought it to the doctor saying, "Look what happened." Being only a psychiatrist and not a surgeon, the doctor fainted. The same patient later was found in the process of sawing off his arm, singing "Old MacDonald had a farm."]

DJ didn't count on CC's "imbecility." The dreaming emissary is a very appealing salesman. It says, "All you have to do is give me a word." The word is "forever." "If you give me your word, we could elongate your awareness to five billion years. You could see inconceivable things, like the heart of a star, and it won't burn you. You won't have to breathe. But, we can't force you, it's your choice." DJ told him not to fall for it.

The IB's are likewise consumed by flyers, and they want to join their slow speed to our fast one. The voice took CC one time to the IB's world and told him it was "populated by three types" -- those that look like undulating candles, round ones and others shaped like a bell. The voice also told him that there were other entities there that they couldn't show him unless he gave his word that he would stay. "All male dreamers [including DJ] report the same experience." Psychiatrists and other experts couldn't explain this experience to him, except as a product of CC's mind. CC eventually made endless trips there, and on one saw some energy that looked to him like girl he knew. The "girl" asked for his help. CC's one virtue, according to DJ, is that he would "jump in fearlessly to cut someone else's chains." He gave his word, his intent, which exhausted all his energy, and he was held there, although he succeeded in freeing the "girl." DJ and some of his associates had to come in to get him out. They did not enter through dreaming, but through masterful sorcery. As a result, CC knows this is a real world, a twin universe.

DJ planned to somersault to avoid the IB's world. But CC knows that we can't make the definitive journey without going through the "cousins' home." Even though that world "is heavily mixed with ours," DJ insisted on staying away from it. DJ was "into heavy denial." CC believes it is better to deal with that world now; to learn how to manage it before making the ultimate journey.

IB's can lower our speed and increase theirs, giving us either fleeting glimpses or sustained interaction. Women can do this fairly easily. Men must fight a lot more, just like men have to read a lot. "Women don't have to read so much. Well, there may be women philosophers who do." [Florinda looked uncomfortable at this point.] "And maybe German women, German philosopher women."

[CC said he was always asking, like many of us do, when he would be able to see energy, and when the sorcery practices were having an impact on him. Since people said they hadn't heard the "disgusting story" he told the previous Sunday, he repeated the story about DJ telling him the way to tell if he was making progress was to bend over and fart toward the east. If it was a big fart, he was making progress.]

The interaction of CC's group with the IB's is much greater than in DJ's time. DJ's stories of the old sorcerers don't help CC much in dealing with this world. All CC has to go on are his own observations, and the fact that the IB's "cannot lie." But they can only answer non-speculative questions -- i.e., is there a man on the other side of that wall? But not, why is a man there? or How did a man get there? This trains one to be very direct and "non-labyrinthical." Dealing with the IB's "forces you to become crystal clear, or the emissary of dreaming cannot answer you." CC has asked questions about the interaction between IB's and us, and they say it can happen, with tremendous sobriety.

The Flyers, or Jumpers, are also inorganics, that feed on all organic beings. Although the sorcerers have been unable to distinguish the details of the luminous eggs of non-human organics to discern this, the dreaming emissary has said "yes" to questions about whether the flyers feed on animals and other organics in our world.

CC doesn't hear the Dreaming Emissary's voice anymore. "They tricked me into a world long sought by Don Juan where human cognition doesn't work." Something pulled him through a "tube of longitudinal awareness," and CC ended up "on the left side of myself." Beings in that world see in 360 degrees, which causes them to take actions which are inconceivable to us. To get out of this world, CC was told he would have to be "twirled, causing damage to his retina." But the voice offered to bring him back without harm, "if he gave his word [i.e., to stay with the IB's]." CC decided that the only way out would be to adopt the attitude that he didn't care whether he came back or not, that this might somehow allow him to return on his own. Now he doesn't hear the voice anymore, and he misses it. He missed saying "thank you" to it, since it told him amazing, inconceivable things.

One of the tenets of the sorcerer's path is that you have to pay for things, or if you can't pay, you must at least give something of equal value.

The 10-year-old girl that he'd mentioned the night before [the Orange Scout, as best we can surmise], had to make a choice -- whether to say with them or to go back to her grandparents [presumably Florinda's parents]. "Decision is another tenet. Sorcerers see a horizon of buff-colored amber all the time." At some point, there is a "twirl" or swirling motion somewhere -- to our left, right or center -- that swirls clockwise from the observer's perspective. Then a door opens, and you see infinity through it, and a decision opens. This happened in connection with the 10-year-old girl. She decided to go with the grandparents, although she said she would like to stay with them for awhile. "We put her on a plane today." Her decision is final for them. The deciding factor for her was that she wanted tamales. Her grandparents gave her anything she wanted. CC's group gave her everything too, but wouldn't give her tamales or sugar.

DJ didn't care about choices, all he cared about was continuing his lineage. But choice is the only thing CC has, so how can he not respect it? So the little girl chooses to die.

CC went to see a famous producer once, about the possibility of making a film out of "The Teachings of Don Juan." The guy had a huge impressive office in Century City, and gigantic desk, and CC was seated way below him. The man had rings all over his fingers and was chewing on a cigar. He mumbled some question to CC, which CC couldn't understand. He mumbled again, and CC still couldn't understand and started getting very anxious. Then the producer took the cigar out of his mouth and asked, "Did the tribe mind?" Yipes, now CC could hear him but had no idea what he was asking, and didn't think he'd heard right. He asked him to repeat himself once again. Finally the man explained he was asking, "Did Don Juan's group mind that he gave you peyote?" CC was greatly relieved that at last this was a question he could answer, and he responded, "Yes." The man told him, "Now, there's a dramatic episode. This part about pissing on dogs leaves me cold." But he thought the scene with the other Indians being upset about his receiving peyote had dramatic tension. [CC mimics Hollywood Indians saying, "Let's burn him."] The producer also wanted Mia Farrow to play the love interest. She would stay behind and play "a woman who says, 'Don't take the drug!' And you do it anyway. That's confrontation."

CC's talked to lots of Hollywood people over the years. He can't bear them anymore. They all think the books are his fictional creations. CC explains that the books are just a phenomenological explanation of something everyone can do. "But no one told us before." He describes a well-known woman guru he had dinner with here in L.A. who kept handling the testicles of a big young masseur as she talked to him. CC finally asked the guy how he could stand it, and the man told him, "The answer is never be alone." CC asks us, "Is that the answer really, never to be alone?"

CC once had surgery for a bad hernia. It needed a mylar screen to hold it. On one of his Second Attention explorations he'd done something to damage the walls. He could have healed himself, but didn't have the time or energy. He described the doctor telling him all the risks of the anesthesia -- complete explanations from "a great man to another great man," all with CC naked. Then this gay Mexican comes in [the anesthesiologist's assistant?], and CC mimics the guy's rolling eyes and stereotypical mannerisms. The guy tells CC to "get in the fetal position." He then tells him that he's going to hold him, and that "it's not going to hurt you at all." CC found it absurd that this scene was possibly his "last scene" on earth. After he awakened, a nurse told him, "You want to watch TV, don't you?" And without looking at him or awaiting his reply, she turns on the TV and leaves. What he sees is Guru Rajneesh explaining about the woman taking $52 million from his little box, and that he believes the woman wants to control the world. Another absurd scene, that left CC laughing uncontrollably. CC wondered what this portended to have these two ridiculous images bracketing this potentially life-threatening experience.

"You are impeccable, and you state your intent. The rest happens." The old sorcerers never allowed their awareness to keep growing above the mid-range of their chests. By maintaining their awareness there, they made or were guided to make assumptions about the IB's and their ability to aid them on this plane that weren't true. If they had let their awareness continue to rise, above their heads, to cover their eggs, they wouldn't have made this mistake.

DJ said, "Let the result be outside your domain. Launch your intention, your effort, and then forget about it." Don't try to then control the results. CC advises us to try this on something not very important first. [He joked that we shouldn't let a multimillion dollar deal close itself, and, when it fails, say that Castaneda told us to do it that way.]

At 6 PM, CC began taking questions. The first, from Louis, was "How does one handle Inorganic Beings?" CC said, "You insist. But you have to give them time, because they move slowly." He made fun of someone waiting one or two hours and then giving up on them. He also said that he used to shout, "Intent!" and that one of their group, presumably Florinda, used to scream it at the top of her lungs [which he mimicked] causing her neighbors regularly to call the police. He also advised us not to be sheepish or have doubts about what we're saying to the IB's. "What you have for them is your discipline, the discipline of Tensegrity."

A man asked a question about the Blue and Orange Scouts, but CC declined to answer, saying it wasn't relevant to the IB's.

A woman asked how he escaped from the IB's a second time [i.e., when they took him to the 360 degree world]? CC joked [?] "I'm still there." He explained that that is why he squints. He told about going to two different eye doctors. The second diagnosed his condition as the result of CC having intense sex with "violent orgasms." He has learned to just take doctors' advice or conjectures, without trying to tell them how his conditions really came about. This doctor also "calculated my age" as 75, and was impressed that CC was having the violent orgasms leading to this condition at that age.

CC once had a bladder infection after one of his experiences. He went to a doctor under the name "Ramon Garcia." The doctor told him, "Ramon Garcia, what else could it be? Gonorrhea." CC made the mistake back then of trying to explain that, no, it was the result of a bout with a large energy configuration. The doctor then naturally diagnoses him as insane, with gonorrhea.

The famous psychiatrist CC once worked for asked him, since CC was so interested in ethnomethodology, whether he'd like him to put CC in the third floor with the mental patients, so that he could study them as a member of their group. CC asked "What if something happens to you [so no one would know that CC was not really a patient]?" The psychiatrist was sure CC could talk his way out of it somehow.

Thomas Gaul asked whether one can practice the dreaming attention and recapitulation at the same time. CC said, "Yes, you can call the dreaming attention at the same time." It takes very little time to do this, compared to the time we waste in front of the television.

A man asked a question about the Flyers, which didn't elicit much new information. CC said the Flyers are "all over us."

A man asked whether celibacy was important. CC said that, "If you're a bored fuck, yes." He told the story again about his cousin "Rigoti," and how his grandfather told him that CC -- "Arana" -- would have to talk his way in and "go through the window," whereas the handsome Rigoti would be let in through the door. His grandfather's motto, which CC had adopted, was, "You can't make love to all the women in the world. But you can try!" CC was born out of a quick fuck -- "behind the door" -- so he was always nervous. If you are born out of passion, it's no problem. You can have all the sex you want.

A man asked whether the size of the assemblage point had an outside limit. CC said it is usually the size of a tennis ball. He said that the only immense AP he had seen was that of the woman guru who was grasping the testicles of the kid. But her AP was very fixed in place, whereas it should be fluid. If someone's AP is fixed, they are the people who "know everything"; who know what's right and what's wrong. They are "foremost authorities" and are very stuck. CC explained that the only way to make the AP fluid is recapitulation. He mentioned that we, the audience, had been getting stronger as a result of being there ["some of you every day"]. It is great to intend the AP to be fluid.

A man asked about the Death Defier. CC said that would be the subject of his last speech.

A man asked whether the IB's were having seminars as well? CC laughed and said, "maybe." The man also asked whether the IB's are interested in a symbiotic relationship with us as well. CC said, "Yes. They are much wiser and older than us, and would love to merge with our speed. We are barred" from doing this, unless we dedicate ourselves to DJ's revolution.

A man asked about intent. CC said we'd get to it, along with stalking.

A woman asked if you can intend whether the energy ball you meet in dreaming takes you to the IB world or other places. CC responded, "Yes," but DJ had never told him that.

A man asked whether CC got DJ's allies, and whether he uses them? CC said, "No." He explained that they were entities of DJ's lineage that were very primitive. CC has "better things," so these entities "petered out." CC's interest is "elucidation," he wants the sorcerers' world "to be understandable in our terms."

A woman asked about ways to stop the internal dialogue. [CC made the pecking motion, and suggested that was an example, since you have to be very attentive to what you are doing.] The Chacmools drive with him and often don't say a word. They have shut off the internal dialogue so much they aren't even saying anything among themselves. "They've done Tensegrity so long, they don't talk anymore." Until you call them to speak, and then they won't shut up.

CC also told us not be ruled by statistics that say that we only absorb about 3 and 1/2 % of what we hear in a lecture. CC used to rely on that statement as grounds for him to go to sleep in lectures, since he was only going to get 3 1/2% anyway (or 5 1/4% when the material is repeated).

A man asked about the AP of plants. CC said that trees look like an enormous blob of luminosity, and their AP is way down by their roots. So trees do assemble perception, they do perceive. The entire vegetable world has AP's in "the bottom of their curve." They are usually flat, although some are geometric shapes -- diamonds, for example. The eucalyptus has a really contorted AP, that looks like it has teeth. (And CC was wondering if we knew why people say they are bad for the environment. Two people volunteered that eucalyptus poisons the ground around it; that it is "aleopathic.") Figs have an "exquisite" looking AP. CC told a story about being "nearly killed," by a fig tree. He was picking the fruit for Florinda, and one big one dangled in front of him saying, "Eat me!" CC has a hereditary fructose intolerance. But he proceeded to eat the whole tree. They found him unconscious. "I woke up two years later," he joked.

A woman asked about dichotomy, and how it related to Tensegrity. CC said that Tensegrity consists of tension and relaxation. We don't have to seek dichotomy, because the world dichotomizes regardless of what we do. DJ attempted to unify CC from the beginning.

A woman asked about the fact that people can't volunteer to be a part of the sorcerers' world. CC said, "No, your intent has made you bid for it." He said they are waiting for some action to reveal the next step [or words to that effect, I think]. "Our last palisade is the ego, and when that is unmasked," where can we go?

He told us to attempt the recapitulation and to exercise dreaming attention. He said some would take this seriously and then, "we'll see." If we do this, our lives in our daily world will become stronger, tighter. We won't be at the mercy of others, like we are when we are born into this world as "bored fucks."

A man asked about the connection between the Eagle and the Flyers. CC said DJ didn't know. He couldn't answer when CC asked the same question.

A man asked about the suggestion made a previous night about redirecting our attention, even at the toe-level of awareness, from the me-me-me position. CC said if he gave us instructions about this, it would be like DJ telling him to look for his hands.

A woman asked about the IB's and DJ's attempt to avoid them in making his definitive journey. CC said that DJ was the perfect example of an abstract warrior with the desire for abstract freedom, but speculated that his jump was minimized by the concreteness of the practitioner members of his party. One needs a very sober relationship with the IB's to navigate their world.

Tony, the Tibetan Buddhist follower who took the pictures of the Flyer at the pyramids, will be with us next Sunday. He's a "darling guy. He has these big eyes that circle around. He is an instant translator too." [The woman who was translating that day for the Spanish speakers told him she's so good she makes the same guttural noises he does.] Someone asked how Tony took the picture. There were "90,000 Mexican Catholic Buddhists there, and the Dalai Lama." Tony is "holy too." They call him "Tony Lama." He organized the event, and then took lots of pictures, rapid fire. One had this speck that he blew up. He took it to Carol Tiggs. When she showed it to CC, they took it as an omen that it was time to talk about the Flyers. DJ had told him never to talk about them, or "they'll burn you for sure."

A man asked about how sorcerers use names. What is their function? CC said that names aren't permanent. They depend on the stage of the road you're on. He is not "Carlos Castaneda" anymore. His whole body has changed, and he needs a new name. He "has another name, but it's not quite coagulated yet." To have one name only, forever, is "too weird, too monogamous."

A man asked about the universe having affection. CC said it is not that the universe is affectionate, but that we can make this link [of affection] with our impeccability. The force of intent or spirit is out there, but we must only face it with tremendous energy. If we face it in weakness, it "will destroy you." It's a tremendously enhancing force if you are strong.

[CC asked how much time was left, and Florinda told him "three minutes." CC said, "Give me a girl" with a question.]

A woman asked about how you come back from dreaming. CC explained that it's "like a rubber band -- you stretch as far as energy permits, and then something brings you back. And you don't even sweat." [He joked about wearing "this suit," his favorite, and it coming back with him in perfect condition, "ironed."]

He again mentioned the little girl and said that she was extremely intelligent and knew what she was doing. She had asked them to "please apologize to everybody for the silly girl who didn't know how to choose." CC seemed very affected by this statement. [He mentioned how we run from the wolves to get inside the door, that turns out to be only a door frame. There is no place to run in this world.] Someone asked if the girl would get another chance. CC said, "No. That twirling spot opens just once." He said he "had no regrets about that little girl." They acted impeccably with her. She made her decision, and now "she doesn't exist for him anymore. It's just a story, a poignant story he's telling us." That's all sorcerers do [i.e., they don't take on these relationships or events as part of themselves, but only see them as stories to instruct with].

To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Date: 2 Aug 1995 00:35:39 -0700

Aug 1, 1995 Tensegrity workshop in LA

Carlos showed up for this first meeting. It was a surprise to everyone. Several of the other members of his group had already been present, taking information, checking people in, even directing traffic. But when it was time for the Chacmools to make their entrance, Carlos lead the way. He walked quickly up to the front of the group and introduced himself. He was wearing brand new Levi pants, and a dress shirt with no pockets. He explained later that his shirt had no pockets because he used to be a smoker.

Despite previous descriptions of Carlos as short and homely, I found him to be short and handsome. He was elderly, but in a very vigorous way. All of his hand movements were quick and energetic, he bounced about during his lecture, pounding his hands on the platform at key moments. Even sounds in the room such as the slamming of doors often fell into line with the timing of his lecture. His eyes had the difference that a sorcerer's eyes are supposed to have. His left eye was blank and dark and slightly crossed from the other. He had straight, relatively short, nearly fully gray, hair. He was short, extremely slim, but slightly more muscular in his chest area.

I sure with that Rich had been there to take notes. As it is, I'll have to do it from memory. I was only a few feet from Carlos and he kept up constant eye contact with the audience. Taking notes would have been quite inappropriate. That means that my quotes will be off and my stories not quite the same as what Carlos said. But I'll try to keep the differences to a minimum.

Carlos started by telling us that people often ask him, "How come this Tensegrity stuff wasn't in the books?"

Carlos answered that it was, it was all over the place. He sited the example of don Juan cracking his bones. He told a short story of  how he enjoyed that so much that he started a conversation with don Juan about it. Don Juan suggested that he copy him exactly and learn to do it himself. That was the beginning of his Tensegrity training.

Carlos told us that don Juan once asked him if he didn't think it was strange that the position of the assemblage point of the entire world was so uniform. When Carlos said that it hadn't occurred to him, don Juan elaborated, asking him if it wasn't a really great mystery that with all of the places and cultures in the world that we all shared the common fixation with I, I, I, Me, me, me.

Carlos elaborated that we aren't born with that idea, but that it is taught to us and that we clutch the idea to the our very grave. He said that we go to the grave thinking "me, me, me". And at no time in  our lives do we give it up.

Don Juan explained that it wasn't our fault that we were like that, that something else was the cause. Then he described the flyers to Carlos. He said that seers had perceived something streaking by so fast that it was fast even to the eye of a sorcerer. These turned out to be possessors of awareness without a physical being. The feed off our energy, licking us until only the self-reflection energy is left. It's their intention that we never look anywhere else. They want us to just keep quiet and let them feed.

Carlos didn't believe in the flyers. During his lecture he emphasized how difficult it had all been for him to believe, being an academic and subconsciously considering himself superior to don Juan.

Carlos asked don Juan if he could see the flyers. Don Juan said, "Of course you can see them. But not in your present condition." Carlos wanted to know why, and don Juan told him that it was because he was "too fat."

At this point Carlos explained that he loved to eat bacon sandwiches at that time. He would eat 17 a day, and then another 12 peanut butter and jelly.

He also explained that for a sorcerer it wasn't appropriate to go to Bally's health spa or to exercise in an ordinary manner. He said that a sorcerer would only condition his body in that manner with Tensegrity.

Carlos explained the purpose of Tensegrity in the same manner as the Chacmools: to give a flavor to our awareness that isn't palitable to the flyers. But he also gave another explanation.

He described how some galaxies were thought to be held together by a gigantic black hole at their center. Although no one had proven that, it was the only thing that could explain why the planets hadn't spiraled out of the system long ago.

He said that the same concept could be used to describe us. We were a collection of luminious filaments with an even brighter glow of  awareness. Something kept that awareness from escaping into infinity. It was that force that held the awareness there which Tensegrity was directed at.

Carlos said that once asked don Juan if there was any way to know if the Tensegrity was working for him. Don Juan said that there was a test, but that it was too disgusting to tell him about. After being egged on in this manner, Carlos just couldn't resist and begged don Juan to tell him the test, even if it was offensive.

Don Juan said, "All right, but you have to promise to tell me the results, no matter how offensive." Carlos readily agreed.

Don Juan told Carlos to go into his bathroom at home, drop his pants, bend over and grab his ankles, and point his butt towards the east. Then he was to fart. If the tensegrity was working, it would be a long and volumous fart. If the Tensegrity was not working, it would be just a little peep.

Carlos explained that don Juan was very crude, but that he (Carlos) was guillable enough to believe the test. He actually tried it, and  reported the results back to don Juan. "I'm in really bad shape...", he said. Don Juan turned to his associates, laughing, and repeated,  "He's in bad shape!"

Carlos explained that don Juan's payment for teaching him had been endless hours of entertainment at Carlos' expense.

Carlos related the story of how don Juan cured him of smoking.

Carlos explained that he'd smoked since he was a boy, and that he used to get out of breath very easily from exercise, so he'd catch his breath by inhaling cigarettes. One time don Juan announced that they were going on a little trip to the mountains for 10 days. Carlos said that the place they were going was a place with extreme ravines and really outstanding landscapes. Don Juan told him not to worry about bringing anything, except maybe cigarettes since they would be gone for 10 days. He told him to be very generous and bring 50 packs.

Don Juan told him to wrap them in foil and cloth because the coyotes might carry them off, they just couldn't resist the intoxicating smell of tobacco.

Carlos said that he suspected something was going to happen, so the first day he smoked like mad. Then he went to bed, and when he woke up in the morning the cigarettes were gone.

Don Juan wasn't worried. He told Carlos, "How far could a coyote possibly go carrying a huge bundle of cigarettes? He's probably gotten them stuck in a branch or in a rock crevice not 20 yards from here. All we have to do is find the trail."

Don Juan spent the next 8 hours with Carlos trying to locate the trail. Carlos was chuckling at this point in his story. He said that the trail they found went up and down the most extreme ravines he had ever seen. Eventually they followed it to a very deep and dangerous ravine. Don Juan asked him if he really wanted to go down there after the cigarettes. Carlos said that at that point he was so desperite for a cigarette that he would have done anything. He went down, didn't find the cigarettes, and got stuck.

It was nighttime by then, so don Juan told him not to worry, he'd get him out of there in the morning. The next day don Juan found a very windy and roundabout path that allowed him to get back up.

I can't remember how many days had elapsed by that time in the story, but don Juan finally announced to Carlos that perhaps, if he would be willing to smoke some local "dark" tobacco, they could find some cigarettes in a nearby town.

Carlos said that he responded, "Of course, I'll smoke ANYTHING! I'd even smoke YOU if I could."

Don Juan then proceeded to show him the way to a local town, but after a while he admitted, "I'm getting old. I'm lost."

Carlos said that he was furious at that point. He confided to us that there were many times in his association with don Juan that he would have loved to have done harm to him, but that he was afraid of don Juan.

After a few days of being "lost", Carlos noticed that his ability to climb up and down the ravines was outstanding. And he no longer had any craving for cigarettes. At that point, don Juan announced that he was tired of roaming about with Carlos, that it was time to go home. He walked not 20 yards and pointed out that this was the road to home. Carlos said that the road had been there all the time, but that he hadn't a clue and actually believed they were lost.

A good portion of Carlos' lecture was aimed at dispelling the rumors and speculation about the chacmools. Carlos stated that he had tried to build up a base of serious practicioners on his own for years, teaching Tensegrity among other things. But he had failed. All he had suceeded in doing was providing lingo to unscrupulous people who actually went out and proceeded to bury people in dirt coffins and claimed to be able to teach them stalking and dreaming. Carlos looked incredulous as he said, "How could they possibly teach stalking and  dreaming?"

He said that the chacmools had, in an extremely short time, succeeded where he had failed. He said that his assemblage point was in a different place than ours, but that the chacmools were halfway between here and infinity.

Carlos emphasized that he would be talking to us again, many times. He said that he would be back to answer questions when both groups (the 2 classes) were together, I guess meaning on a sunday lecture.

Then he said that we should suspend judgement because this class was very special. It was designed to produce a specific effect on us. He looked around and said that he was looking at our heels, that he was looking for that "spark". He said that at the end of three weeks there would be plenty of sparks. Then we could talk. Until then, it was just one person talking to another, and he didn't have anything to say except, "Let's get a hamburger" and "What's your name?" But if we made the commitment to join in his incredible exploration, then he was bound to do everything in his power for us. He didn't want the knowledge to just die with him, to end there. He wanted to give it to us.

The last thing Carlos said was, "Let's Boogy!"

The Chacmools then came out to teach. There's no point to relating the tensegrity movements they taught, except to say that I hadn't learned them on the first tape or at any of three workshops I'd attended recently.

The teaching was very different, they were focusing in on VERY minor point. Yet they made these seem to be extremely important. For instance, we practiced just moving our thumb in tight to our hands, while lifting the arm ever so slightly, and looking for a feeling in our chest and armpits. Likewise, the horse stance used was shallower and there was an emphasis on turning in the toes. Kylie told us to look for a feeling of tension on the inside thigh, and also told us to practice walking around for the next three weeks, with our toes pointed slightly inward.

They also advised us to cut out refined sugar for the three weeks, cut back on starches, and cut back on fruit. Also, eat less salt. They emphasized that this course was special, and was designed to produce a very specific effect.

I asked one of the chacmools if the two course schedules, the A and B, were going to be the same thing. She stated that it had been planned that way, but that who knows what will happen energetically.

Well, that's all for tonight.

Dan

To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Date: 3 Aug 1995 23:50:36 -0700

I'm sure Rich will post some detailed notes, but for now, here's some quick ones.

Carlos showed up for both meetings today. At the second meeting, he got  so into his lecture that he went overtime and we needed to stay late to make up for it. The topic was mainly "poor baby" and I got the feeling  that carlos was feeling confident enough about the audience to be a little less diplomatic. For instance, he talked about other philisophies and said they'd become "unvital". This was part of a discussion about how different it is to live like a sorcerer and actually be involved in  exploring new worlds. Carlos said that if anything, he'd watered down  the books because the real thing was too foreign to us.

All of the group appeared tonight with the possible exceptionn of  Fabrizio (who might have been there but I don't know what he looks like) and Tracy.

The names of a couple of people in the group have changed again, so I'm  going to dump the Whos Who list. Rumor has it that they made fun of it, so watch out, they seem to know what's being said on this newsgroup!

Carlos laid out something only hinted at yesterday: They fully expect  some weird things to happen as a result of this workshop. Carlos told us to keep our fingers on the panic button because he wasn't our mother or guru.

He reemphasized that the chacmools are ideal for us because they're half way. He said he's no longer in this world. In fact, he couldn't project himself past the last sunday lecture so they had to move the last meeting  to tomorrow so that both groups will end on sunday.

That's all till rich writes in. I also saw a number of other people  taking really good notes, let's hope they show up here. If not, I'll try to remember what was said.

Last night I posted a message about falling asleep and dreaming while  driving on the freeway with my eyes open. Carlos suggested in tonight's  meeting that this might happen to us during the workshop. He talked  about seeing pine forests, but all I saw was christian outhouses...

At last night's workshop meeting, Carlos showed up and addressed all three of these topics a little bit.

About the tenant he said that the worlds they are currently exploring are  outside the traditions of don Juan's lineage (presumably because they are  created by assemblage point positions with a different shift than don Juan used, and more like what the tenant used).

About good and bad he said that neither existed from the point of view of  sorcery.

About DJ's mood he said that as a person, he (Carlos) didn't have much to  say to us. But that if we joined up with his purpose he would be bound  to help us in any way possible. He said he cared deeply about the condition of mankind and didn't want to leave without doing something to help. He couldnt' see letting don Juan's knowledge simply end with him.  Then he said that don Juan didn't share his concern, that don Juan didn't  particularly care for his fellow man.

On a related note...

Today Carlos came in at the end of a hard Tensegrity workout, and lectured us on the importance of doing the movements JUST EXACTLY the way the Chacmools specify, rather than the way "you feel" they should be done. He said that those movements, if done PRECISELY and diligently, will have the intended effect on your body, and on your energy body, whether or not you believe that they will.

So, discipline is the issue here.

Recapitulation I have found to be a similar story. My tendency was to want to futz around with all the little details, making sure I had everything "just so", rather than getting down for days and days and days and slogging it out. Well, I finally futzed all I could, and now I'm slogging.

Discipline. That's the thing, at least, for me...

A Lazy Boy,

To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Date: 7 Aug 1995 01:31:59 -0700

August 5th:

On Saturday Carlos took the B group and divided them into 6 small groups of about 25. He taught each of those small groups different techniques  as a prelude to Tensegrity. There were about 3 techniques or movements  taught to each. I was in group 1, and was taught about the shake energy.

At the workshop I was with someone and we asked Kylie if it was possible to read lecture notes and pick up techniques we hadn't actually been taught ourselves, and to my surprise she said, "absolutely!"

I found the techniques that Carlos taught me to be so intriguing that  I'm passing them on to you in as much detail as I can.

The techniques are designed to shake specific areas of the body. For instance, the shoulder blades are considered by sorcerers to be too big to be a fully evolved structure, they are considered remnants of some  sort. That means they carry the residue of something different.

To shake these, pull your palms WAY back, keeping them flat. Then do palm thrusts to the ribcage of someone in front of you. Your fingers will naturally point a bit outward, the hands at about 45 degrees with  the heel of the palm hitting. If you pull the hands way back, you'll  feel a huge shock to your shoulder blades, like a big thud.

Then swing those hands down and up over the head and strike downwards  with the palms to someone's shoulder blades. The fingers will poiint slightly inwards. This shocks your throat and ribcage in the front, in a line downwards.

Then swing the hands back, up over the bottom and strike upwards, like you were going to strike in the groin, but the hands are seperated about  1 foot and go to the level of the navel. Like striking the bottom of a  counter. This shocks the back of the spine from the neck downwards.

Carlos said that this would teach us how the different movements in  Tensegrity produce shocks in the body, and would wake up these remnant  energies in us.

To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Date: 7 Aug 1995 01:25:12 -0700

August 7th:

At the workshop someone asked about cyclic beings today (sunday). Carlos had Zaia and the child she had been hanging out with stand up. He said  they were cyclic beings. I guess he decided that the audience wasn't taking him seriously, so he reiterated that he was much too involved to  make things up, that this was a matter of life and death.

The child looks a lot like Zaia Alexander who is the dark haired woman who has the same general tone and hair color as Reni. But the child has shiny eyes and a more spanish look. They two of them hang out so much  that at one point I was sure that Zaia was her mother. By the way, I'm  not sure if Zaia is her name. If it were, it might change tomorrow anyway.

Today the child drew little thankyou cards and pasted flowers and tassles  on them and gave them to three or four of the members of the group. The  girl looks about 12 and is extremely well-behaved and patient. Zaia  treats her like both a daughter and comrad, it's really nice to see.  Zaia also pays a great deal of attention to the child, several times I was looking at the child and at Zaia to see if they looked related and each time she spotted my gaze from way accross the room and through 100  people.

To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Date: 7 Aug 1995 01:36:55 -0700

They are teaching a technique at the workshop called, "The male and  female winged fighter." They have said that this technique is "proper"  (belongs) to the death defier. It is one of two that will be taught which came from that source.

In the private group 1 Carlos was emphasizing how timid we are. He gave  the example of Cancer and fatal viruses saying that we were so timid that  we accepted that some things were permanent. Then he said that the  technique I mentioned about was for "changing grooves" (grooves,  groves???), like skipping from one record track to another. Thus if you  found something wrong with your body, even a handicap like fused spinal vertibrae (someone in the audience asked specifically about this), you  could change grooves and be free of any handicap or life threatening  situation.

The start of this technique has a movement where you pick up the leg (from a horse stance) and loop it up and back down, like the Tekki series  Katas of Japanese Karate (somewhat). Carlos demonstrated how you can change grooves with this movement by jumping to the side.

Danie

To: alt.dreams.castaneda
Date: 2 Aug 1995 11:52:01 -0400

One of Dan's recent posts indicates that Rich was there and took notes, so this post of mine may be unnecessary, but since I wrote this up I might as well post it...

- David Worrell

First Night.

I arrived a half hour earlier than the one hour early they asked us to be, and was directed, by workers stationed at various locations, into the cafeteria, after being stamped with a little heart that can only be seen  under ultraviolet light. The cafeteria is a long narrow rectangle with  the stage facing the narrow side. I took a seat near the center on the back wall since it was still quite close to the stage. Amalia Marquez walked through several times carrying a walkie talkie, and she appeared to be coordinating things. I hear many people speaking Spanish, and later, during the Tensegrity, the Chacmools would have those who spoke spanish exclusively gather around one of their people (a young woman I had not seen before), who translated for them..

They seem to have quite a few people working for them, who are wearing little badges with the picture from the cover of the Tensegrity video (with no names). One of the workers kept running over to the door marked  "Teachers" and knocking on it, but no one answered (don't know what that was about). At 6:30 (we were told to be there at 6:00) the place was not as full as I thought it would be.

Douglas Parnell of Cleargreen welcomed us to Los Angeles, and made a series  of practical announcements related to the facilities. Lectures may be here  in the cafeteria also, to keep the energy all in one place, he said.  The Chacmools then came in, along with a short, vibrant, gray-haired man  with a very expressive face, who did not introduce himself, but simply took off his coat and began to address us. It was Carlos Castaneda.

He said that he was scared to use the microphone and had us all gather around very close. I don't think there were more than 125 people or so  in here.

He talked about those present as being people who had a genuine interest in this alternative, as opposed to "detractors". Then he talked about how

to answer those who ask for "proof". Basically, the only way to prove  anything is "you go with me", he said. He spoke of how the proof of the law of gravity requires basic knowledge of physics to comprehend, and that you would have to take sorcery 101 to get his "proof".

He said that he is often asked, "How come you never mentioned magical passes in your books?". To this he replies, "I did!". Don Juan was always  stretching and cracking his joints in various ways, and he told Carlos,  "why don't you imitate it?"

He made the point again that: "the magical passes were discovered, not invented". Discovered by sorcerers of antiquity, over 10,000 years ago. Carlos said that always blew him away. He could handle say, 4000 years ago, but don Juan always insisted it was closer to 10,000. Anyhow, ancient  shaman could see energy as it flows in the universe. We can't. Our  involvement is controlled by our interpretation.

He then told a story about a "liberal" or "liberated" couple (he speaks  with something of a spanish accent, and occasionally I miss a word or two),  who lived together and finally decided to go ahead and get married. They  had a big wedding planned by their families which seemed in the end to  them to go against everything they were. While driving together on a trip, a little inner voice told the woman to go to a little chapel by themselves and get married, so they did. Carlos asks: "where is the revolution?". There was really no revolution. After all, all they did was get married.

He talked about how don Juan offered a true revolution. Carlos talked about how "conservative" he is compared to most modern people, and even compared himself to "Mexicans", whom he considers more "liberal" than himself (I believe he was speaking mostly in regard to sexual morality here). He even called himself a "momma's boy".

Carlos then talked about how he resisted don Juan's teachings. He said he did this "as a matter of principal". He was an educated and well traveled modern man, and don Juan was just "an indian". He repeated the story of Juan asking him if he thought they were equals (recounted in Ixtlan).

Don Juan asked him: "what do you want?" Carlos did not know; he couldn't really answer the question. Don Juan said that he could "summon up his entire life in an instant", and here Carlos did not even have an idea of what he wanted...

Don Juan said: "I am a navigator. I navigate into the unknown. To do this, I must know everything." He was a pragmatist who left no  stone unturned. Carlos thought the same of himself, but don Juan said to Carlos: "you don't even know where the stones are". Don Juan was truly "affected by everything he discovered" (unlike the academic who after classes is just like every other man). Don Juan was "a true pragmatist" and "a true scientist".

Sorcerers are pragmatists. Carlos exhorted us to: "Do it! Don't sit  and speculate."

He repeated over and over that the old sorcerers were able to see energy as it flows in the universe, and were capable of cancelling out the interpretation system that makes the world the world.

Carlos said that there is something in us that is not allowing us to examine detail. We gloss over any unusual elements, unless there is  something blatantly missing (he gave the example that we would interpret  the room as a room, unless perhaps the whole roof were gone or something  of that magnitude).

A sorcerers goal is: "to purposefully arrive at the cancellation of the  interpretation system".

He noted that the shape of humans of antiquity was more oblong or egglike, and that today we are round, like luminous balls. He then recounted the  way the assemblage point exclusively selects certain of the myriad luminous fibers which run every which way, and how when the position changes, the world changes, but all this takes place *within* the confines of the luminous egg.

He then spoke of how denying ourselves the experience of our totality is "not our fault", as "circumstances force us" to where "the only position possible is self-reflection". When there is a momentary lull in this,  nobody listens. There is something impinging on us...the universality of this ME ME ME, that never lets up until we die. WHY? Why so uniform?

This is very suspicious, the way we all die holding onto ME ME ME. The explanation: He recounted again the way the old sorcerers saw energy, the way they cancelled the interpretation system, the way they discovered  that in dreaming the assemblage point shifted---the further the more bizarre.  The old sorcerers used anything they could find to elicit that shift. They  found that "certain positions of the body gave an optimum level of energy". They discovered "different sequences of movements to get that feeling of  well-being", i.e. they discovered the magical passes, and guarded them with  rituals of secrecy. Now...in their practices they also noticed the presence of some unknown entities. These entities were the "fastest things they could perceive". They called them "flyers". They feed on us. Awareness  is a sheen like a plastic cover which makes us more luminous. The sheen  has been eaten away to our toes by the flyers. Self-reflection is the product of that fringe of energy at our toes. So we are not responsible.

The revolution of don Juan: to deny fulfilling agreements in which he  did not take part, i.e. not to be eaten. That was his choice. It was a conscious refusal on his part.

Now the scientist might ask: "can I see those flyers?" His answer is:  "you'll have to remake yourself".

To "moderate the body's internal tools": use the magical passes.

But as handed down by the ancient sorcerers, they were "murky, secret".  They were also modifed for different individuals through the ages.  They have developed Tensegrity for more general dissemination  (I am paraphrasing there), to "turn them into something applicable to all of us". Later in his talk Carlos said to "suspend judgment and see how extraordinary is the body".

Carlos noted that don Juan told him: "I'm younger than you", and it was true. Carlos said that then he was more like an old man, who could not walk very far, and smoked a lot (Carlos recounted the  story of how don Juan helped him quit smoking ---this story is in an old Magical Blend interview so I won't repeat it). Later in the talk  Carlos also noted how most of the people he grew up with are "geriatric cases", while he "can still jump" and is alive and fit. He did indeed appear quite vigorous (and by my calculations he will be 70 in December).

Carlos gave us an analogy: Like the stars---there are 400 billion in our galaxy---something is holding  them in a spiral. It is thought to be like a giant black hole. The human body is the same---as fields of energy you see a luminous ball of energy.

Without some cohesive force we would have escaped into infinity. That force is to be tapped. The intent is there. The passes have intention of their own built right in, to make your awareness reach  that binding force.

Carlos said he used to ask don Juan: "How do I know that I'm touching the force?". Don Juan said that the answer was kind of "gross", and asked him if he was sure he wanted to know. Carlos said yes, and so don Juan told  him he would have to go to the bathroom, pull down his pants and bend over and grab his ankles, and point his butt due east, and fart. Don Juan said that if your fart is "voluminous, fabulous...then you're on the right track". If it's just a little peep you are in bad shape. Well, Carlos tried it, and came back having to report that he was in bad shape. Don Juan echoed his words to everyone and they all laughed at him. The point: it's absurd. And Carlos reiterated how part of what don Juan got out of teaching him was endless enjoyment laughing at Carlos' imbecility.

Carlos said that we do not have a need to genuinely inquire... Instead we have a need to fulfill ideologies. He talked about some absurdities of theology, such as talking about the virginity of Mary, etc.

He claimed that sorcery is "the only philosophical inquiry remaining". It is "vastness itself". But we are "immortals preoccupied with ideologies".

A couple of fragments:

"Don Juan was not encumbered. He did not defend the self."

The purpose of "expressing the toes" is a lowly one.

With regard to his structure as a Nagual man, Carlos talked about how  "he is not of the proper structure to teach", and praised the Chacmools for finally managing to get a large number of people interested in the work to the point of practicing (he mentioned that all his efforts at this had failed). Carlos said that he was "made for tremendous stress", but not to teach (he quipped "you should see the stress in my personal life").

Carlos said that he was going to talk with us a lot, and let us ask him  questions. He said that we have three weeks, and told us to work hard to see if we could get to the point where he could talk with us some more.

He said to "suspend judgement", and do the work and then we would see.  He emphasized that there is no point in ordinary conversation, but that if we could work up the awareness, he would definitely be there for us.  Finally he said: "let's boogie!".

Then he picked up his coat and sunglasses, and left as we applauded. The Chacmools took over, and Kylie asked us how we felt, in a tone that implied she wanted us all to shout "Great!" or something. We tried, but there wasn't much spirit for it. She then asked us again, sort of like, "cmon, you can do better than that", and we all tried again to respond enthusiastically, but it was still a bit feeble and introspective (I for  one was feeling rather contemplative at that moment, and I was also a bit stiff from having sat for 45 minutes on the hard tile floor listening to Carlos, after having already sat there for an hour waiting for them to come).

Anyhow, Kylie then began by having us focus on some basics. She had us go over the "pulled in thumb" position of the hands. She talked about considering the flat (not cupped) hand and the forearm as a unit of sorts, and said there were two ways of doing the "locked thumb" position:

1) Just pull the thumb in to the side of the index finger tight.
2) Pull the thumb clear in and fold it across the palm.

We practiced both of these quite a bit, while extending our forearms in  front of us, palms up, and simultaneously pushing slightly upward with our palms, while looking to feel a feeling in our armpit/chest area, something like "lines of energy" extending down our arms. Then we went over the horse position. Legs at shoulder width, toes pointed only very slightly inward, knees bowed very slightly outward, so that there is some pressure on the inner thighs.

Specific recommendations of the Chacmools:

Walk with your toes slightly turned in for the entire three weeks. Cut out starches, refined sugars, don't eat too much fruit, don't eat extra salt, and drink lots of water. Eat lots of protein.

Nyei gave us a motto: "If you over exert it, you hurt it", after telling us to perform the movements with finesse.  It was emphasized a couple of times not to do the movements robotically,  and to try to feel the way your body does them each time you do them, without straining, and see if you can hook into the intent.

Nyei said that: "every movement is to bring silence". And to:  "focus on precision and allow some other type of energy to come in".

We were taught two new magical passes:

The "Butterfly positions", and "Pushing the Right Body to the Left and the Left Body to the Right".

The Butterfly positions had two parts associated, which could be called:

1) Butterfly fluttering
2) Butterfly in repose

The second movement (Pushing the Right to Left, etc.) was a very difficult one, and consisted of three separate arm movements combined with a sweeping leg movement.

I have decided not to describe the movements fully at this time, and instead I will focus on learning the movements with my body,  until I am certain I have them down pat, and THEN I will describe them if it seems appropriate (probably after the whole workshop is over).

- David