To: The Ixtlan Mailing List
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 21:46:18 -0400

Saturday April 4th was a grey and drizzly day in Santa Monica. We arrived about 45 mins early and were greeted not by the uniformed security people waving their metal detecting wands, but by some work study folk ready to look up our badge numbers. No one even checked our bags. The sorcerer's weren't scheduled to speak at this workshop, but if I had held out any hopes that they would show up anyway, they were dashed when I noticed the absent security.

After handing in my release form I was given a black badge made of heavy paper and a piece of yarn with which to wear it around my neck. I was then pointed to a table where I was to find a label with my name on it and attach it to the badge.

This done, I entered the workshop area and quickly checked out the bookstore to see if Castaneda's new book The Wheel of Time was available (it wasn't) and found a nice spot near the far stage, away from the bulk of the crowd. The Spanish speaking woman (someday someone will tell me her name, but I will always remember her as "the Check, one, two, three; Check, uno, dos, tres woman" got on stage and quickly rattled off in Spanish that they had decided not to use the translation devices for this seminar and that anyone needing translation should move over to where the translator was and gather around.

I glanced over at the door that was behind the sound table and saw several of the gang walk in. There was Kylie and Bruce and Miles and lots of the rest of the Energy Trackers and Elements. There was also a woman that looked just like Taisha. Oh! It is Taisha! And there's Florinda! And oh! Carol too! I immediately thought that they had just dropped in just to watch and no sooner than this thought had crossed my mind, I see Florinda bound up to the stage to begin her talk. (So much for thinking, eh?

Florida introduced herself and said that she originally thought she was going to give her lecture only to people that had attended workshops before, but that she was just told that there were people here that had never been to a workshop before so she would give a brief overview of what Tensegrity is. True to her word, she gave the briefest explanation I've heard yet of what Tensegrity is and how it was discovered.

She then went on to talk about a woman who she had known for several years. This woman was a practitioner and when Florinda had first met her, she was a typical middle aged woman. She had recently mentioned to Florinda how hard it was to make any progress without having them (the sorcerers) around. As an aside, Florinda said at this point that we are all whiners, its just that some of us whine more eloquently than others. Florinda didn't think of it at the time, but she wished she had had a mirror to hold up for this woman to look into. She was now brimming with energy and looked much younger than she used to. Florinda said that all of the serious practitioners who practice Tensegrity and recapitulation have all made progress over the years. She said that the progress has been made, whether we see it or not.

Florinda then said that we would be hearing more about The Wheel of Time later, but that she wanted to encourage us to attempt to execute the passes with as much precision as possible for shamans believed that executing the passes as perfectly as possible could bring perfection into our everyday lives.

Brandon and Marcos then each took to one of the two stages. They began teaching the individual Westwood passes as presented in the book Magical Passes. As far as I know, this was Marcos' first time teaching from the stage and I thought he did a great job. He seemed to get some heat from both Brandon and Kylie about wasting time on detail, but I for one appreciated the details he gave. I've done this series at several workshops and practice it regularly, but his comments enabled me to execute the passes more precisely and they made the series much more powerful for me. Brandon even mentioned at one point that all the details could be found in the book, but I checked when I got home and found that some of them were not. I hope Marcos is up there leading again sometime soon, he's a wonderful addition to the teaching staff.

At one point a woman in a purple shirt shouted out to Marcos from the other side of the room "could you repeat the question when you give an answer to someone?" Marcos did so and a moment later I saw the woman again, only she was now in a different part of the room. It was Kylie. She was moving around the participants helping them with the execution of the passes. First she was here, then there. She was bouncing around the crowd like a pinball. Then I saw Miles. He too was moving around, helping people out. They both seemed bouncy, light, happy, and very energetic.

After we had been working non-stop for over an hour we got to the third group of passes, the ones for Dreaming. We must have all been getting tired because suddenly Kylie jumped up on Brandon's stage and said something about how we all seemed to be in Dreaming and proceeded to lead us in her impromtu version of Simon Says. Both Kylie and Miles have done this before at workshops, it involves bending the knees and crouching down a bit, then following her as she jumps to the left or the right very quickly, any number of times. Sometimes she'll try and fake us out, by making a motion to move, but not doing it. You never know what direction or how many times she will jump. Following her requires a great deal of attention and certainly does wake you up!

Thus invigorated, we returned to finish up the individual passes and then very quickly learned the long form version of Westwood, and then performed it twice.

After a short break, Nuri and Haley came out and sat on the stage that Brandon had used and Erin and Darien took to the other stage. Nuri began speaking about the Wheel of Time. She began by recounting the information on the subject that is in the end of the Eagles Gift and then went on to give a definition of space and time. She explained what scientists think of space and time differs from what shamans think of it. At this point in her lecture, which she was reading off of cards, it became very difficult to follow what she was saying and most of it went completely over my head. I got the distinct impression that she was reading Castaneda's words, and if so, this will all probably be in his new book on the subject. Juan's notes address how she said intent is identified with time, and space with infinity, but I couldn't for the life of me explain what she meant by that or anything else she covered from this point on.

We then learned the first six leg passes from the Wheel of Time series and then broke for dinner. After the dinner break Grant came out and announced four new workshops to be held in Santa Monica, Mountain View, New York City and Los Angeles. He emphasized that the Los Angeles workshop which is the yearly intensive workshop would be very intense and all the series of magical passes would be shown in their long form versions.

The four Energy Trackers then came out again and took the same stages as before. Haley gave the talk this time. She began by talking about her name. She said it was given to her by Nuri and that both her and Nuri's name were very ancient. She explained that she and Nuri are exactly the same in every respect except for one, Nuri has always known her name and Haley hasn't, but that doesn't matter at all because she couldn't now imagine being anyone besides Haley Alexander Van Austin.

Haley talked a bit about don Juan's party of sorcerers and how they were impeccable and attributed this to the perfect performance of the passes. Haley then stressed that for us to benefit from the Wheel of Time passes we must execute them with as much precision as possible. We then performed the six passes for the arms using the foam wheel. These passes, like the ones for the legs, are performed sitting up. We closed out the night by doing Running Man. Each individual movement was shown and then we ended by doing the whole series to Vivaldi.

At one point during the afternoon, I glanced over toward the sound table and saw Taisha. She was doing the passes! There she was forging the trunk of the energy body right along with us. Now she was slapping it, now spreading it. She appeared to stay and do the passes all afternoon right up to and including the long form (at least she was there each time I bothered to look over). I also noticed both Taisha and Carol at the end of the workshop emerge from the crowd which had just stood up near the bookstore tables and then walk out. They were both carrying mats, so I assume they had both joined us in the not doings.

During this workshop Westwood became a more powerful series for me, and the Wheel of Time passes were very cool and produced an odd effect. The mood of the entire workshop was very informal and relaxed - no security, make your own badges, just gather around the translator, Kylie hugging people. I'm not sure why, but I find the fact that the sorcerers stayed and did the passes with us really neat too. In terms of mood, energy and effect, this was an enjoyable and magical workshop.
   

To: The Ixtlan Mailing List
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 01:54:21 PDT

Santa Monica April 4th (Part I):
Hello all you sexy, sex starved people out there in warrior land. I am Juan Jose Yera. So pleased to address everyone again. The Santa Monica  workshop was a very special event for me cause, I met many of the people that are behind the post at IML and Tango. I first want to thank them all and send my warmest affection. It was a joy to see you and do Tensegrity with all of youz.

LA was again being affected by El Nino. It seemed to be constantly drizzling the whole time. The skies were marvelously gray and dreary,  with an occasional splash of sun. The temperatures were also rather low. The seminar was held in the gymnasium of a local College campus in Santa Monica. Reports are that Santa Monica is an area that the Sorcerers frequent. Not far from the campus is the Mysterious Blue cafe, a Cuban restaurant where Castaneda has had some interviews and where he and his cohorts have been seen, by people on this list, eating Cuban food. Really traumatic events, from the gossip I have heard, but can say no more about it without revealing my sources. The only advise I can give is that if you go to that place, when you leave make certain you have packed a bag. You may get lost on your way home and end up going west when you thought you were going east, as I know my car pool buddy and I did.

Upon arrival to the sight the number givers were out side. At the  tables were the arrays of people seated giving out the badges and collecting the disclaimer forms. One of the people sitting at the table was Miles from the book. Oddly, there were no security persons searching bags and no wands. The Tensegrity greeters were there, as ever, checking the stinking badges. The inside walls were lined with folded bleachers and the overhead was crisscrossed with steal girders, ducting and pipes of various sizes. The floor, a hard wood basket ball deck. Unlike at  other seminars the lights were turned on full and remained so the whole  time. No cameras were set up this time around. There were about 419 participants. One thing that caught my attention was a group of people that were wearing Groucho Marx glasses. Quite bizarre if you ask  me, but I guess it takes all kinds to be a warrior. Of all the people I could have possibly seen first as I entered the arena was my petty tyrant from the last seminar. She was right in front of me and just so happen to have a number in the same line that I had to stand in. She ended up right in front of me in the line. I was not ready to confront my petty tyrant there and then so I just gawked and made certain I did not end up next to her on the mats, power spots be dammed.

The afternoon started promptly at 2 o'clock. All three of the witches  were there seemingly the whole time and did the passes as we did them.  The only speaker was Florinda. Her talk was a mere 10 minutes long very  halting and broken. She seemed, to me, to be quite drifty this time around. Perhaps in an altered state. It seemed she could not say anything right unless she was reading it straight from her Q-cards. She touched upon what Tensegrity was and some of the normal definitions of the warriors way which frankly I can not remember. The focal point of her talk, for me, was her recounting of an encounter with a person which at first she did not  want to reveal their sex, however in the course of her story she kept on saying "she" and then would immediately say "I mean he", and then say "they" in an effort to cover up that she had said she. She seemed compelled to say "she" even though she appeared to be truly perplexed at the fact  that she was constantly "spilling the beans" so to speak. Well her story was about how "he" was frustrated about following the warriors way and that "he" was doing Tensegrity and things but could not feel any thing, had not noticed any change. However, to Florinda and the cohorts the changes they saw in "Her" were very dramatic. Florinda wanted to tell "her" just take a look in the mirror but unfortunately since she had no mirrors at home she could not. Her talk ended quite abruptly as she said lets start doing the passes.

Shortly after, two Elements came out I really cant tell you their names  but I know one is the Argentine guy that is energetically in the same  cycle as miles and his childhood friend. Perhaps some one can refresh our memories as to his name. The other Element, was a very thin, but firm looking young man, very light on his feet. This was the first time Iv seen him on the stage but he was wandering the floor at the LA  not doings, giving pointers and helping. They started with the the  loosening up moves. Swinging arms horizontally back and forth, tapping  the opposite shoulder with the opposite hand as it swings. Then the arm swings, vertically. First forward and then back, left then right.  They proceeded to teach the individual movements of the Westwood series.  No big difference in the passes except #9 in the Center For Decisions.  Bringing Energy To the Center for Decisions from the Knees. It is back  to doing a lasso motion instead of the flat hand facing down in a circular motion, before flinging it out. They first did the individual movements then they taught the long forms. While the passes were being  taught Kylie and Miles were walking around the floor doing some one on one. Kylie was Her normal friendly self smiling and hugging people she recognized or even spoke to her. Several times she interjected or accentuated several problems that she identified to the instructors. The two, fully acted as if they were in charge of the situation and  controlling the pace of the instruction. At one point she jumped up on  the stage and said" OK you all seem to be standing there dreaming" so she did some of her now characteristic 1,2,3 freeze 1,2, jump,"turn on" exercises and sort of woke up the whole place.

Santa Monica April 4th (Part II):

Before the break they started doing the Not-doings (can I say that?). To start with I'll just list the first twelve passes for the Wheel of Time, Which is what they taught. Four energy, Trackers Haley and Nuri Alexander, on one of the stages and two other trackers on another stage, came out. Perhaps some one out there knows their names and will let us know.

The first six leg movements:

1. Planting the Foot
2. Dragging Energy with the Heel
3. Stirring Energy with the knee
4. Bringing energy to the groin with the Heel
5. Pushing energy to the Zenith
6. Pushing Energy Toward the Sides of the Body

The first six hand movements:

1. Downward slash of the Wheel at the Level of the Face
2. Horizontal Slash of the Wheel at the Level of the Face
3. Using the wheel like a fan.
4. Vertical push of the Wheel at the Level of the Face
5. Horizontal Push of the Wheel at the Level of the Face
6. Downward Slash of the Wheel at the Level of the Face, Arching from Above the Head

The leg movements were completely and utterly excruciating. They were  a series of grabing the feet, knees and ankles and manipulating them more or less as the pass name sounds. It seems as if you are supposed to use your hand, torso and arm muscles to make your legs move. That is the best description I can give. Some of us will gain a lot of flexibility with these. Like Number 4 is exactly what it sounds like, you are supposed to bring the heel of the foot into contact with your groin. All of these were done sitting down on the mats. The inactive legs are bent or crooked as you manipulate the other leg

The hand movements were performed with the "Rubber Thingy". First in one hand and then in the other. What the leg movements had in muscle  strain these had in beauty of simplicity, grace and harmony. They are done almost exactly how their name sounds. They stress that the movements must be performed as perfectly as possible. Another thing is that when doing the passes your body should be constantly tense. During the Hand movements your torso and hands must be offering resistance to the mirrored movements of the hand that has the Wheel Of Time in it.

When the Energy trackers came out The Blue Scout, such a delightful  being, gave a brief talk about the passes and the significance of the wheel of time. I did take some notes on this, I felt incapable of remembering so I did not want to chance not being able to recount this.

Her talk was mainly about the wheel of time itself and its relationship  to the passes. In practicing the wheel of time passes, she said, the  goal is to make the body resemble a ball. The passes help you to manipulate time and space. The ancient sorcerers identified time with intent and space with infinity. Time is a product of intent and can not be defined. Except that at one time she referred to time as being round. Modern man retains a small portion of intent and it can be redeemed.  Space, or infinity is the some total of mans endeavors and is more accessible to us. She stated that these concepts are not abstracts, they are actually workable units.

She went on to describe the wheel of time as a tunnel of infinite  length and width with an infinite number of furrows. To be in that furrow meant to live that furrow. The goal was to make the furrow turn. One can gaze into any furrow. When gazing into a furrow one gazes back and forward in time. This, she said, is an energetic fact. With this capability sorcerers are able to foresee the flow of time. In doing the passes the body turns into a ball and in the furrows one has the distinct sensation of seeing the flow of time. She went on to state that the passes had to be taught and learned in a slow, patient manner and could not be learned in one session. I believe she said that there were around 65 passes in the series. The Running Man opens the gate. The other passes fixate your awareness and the Wheel of time conducts you trough  awareness. We then went on to perform the fist six leg movements and then took a dinner break.

At the return they announced the different seminars coming up and the  book "The Wheel Of Time" that would be out in a few weeks. They also  said that they had problems finding a publisher for the book because of its unique character. We again had a very brief lecture by Haley Alexander Van Austin. The person that is said to be the same as the Blue Scout. As all the other speakers do at all the talks she introduced herself and spoke a little about the mysterious importance of names and  that the name she had was a power name given to her by The Blue Scout the Nagual and the other cohorts. She said something thatis very mysterious and magical to me. That she did not know her power name until it was told to her, but that the Blue scout had always known her name. She went on to talk about energy. She said that a perfect entry into awareness required perfect concentration. Only if energy is taken in this way can there be a true change in behavior. She went on to talk about how the new Nagual spoke about meeting the old party of sorcerers. He thinking that a sorcerer was an old person, barefoot, dressed in feathers, smoke and mirrors. A mysterious and frightening event he thought. But the dissonance experienced by him when, what he met instead, was a group of well groomed impeccably dressed modern men and women in superb physical and mental condition. These people acted as if all their idiosyncrasies had been washed away. Even though those idiosyncrasies were still there. They had great admiration for them and found it impossible to breach the dissonance between their expectations and what they truly were. Their motto was "I Don't complain, I don't explain". Perfection in accomplishing the passes lead them to great highs of implacability with out complaint or praise. She also spoke about the Wheel of Time. She said it was like a circular tunnel where they made furrows and moved from furrow to furrow. You can move symbolically from furrow to furrow as you move the wheel of time. She stated that the Wheel of Time was not a figment of the imagination. She went on again to talk about the new Nagual and the cohorts. She explained that just going to the movies with them was a daring act. They demanded total attention and total recall. But when they were kidding around they demanded total kidding around. The old party she said was more serious. She recounted the story of how the new Nagual described in awe how he had seen 16 Shamans Burn with a bright light and then they were gone. She finally admonished us to try and perform the not doing passes to  perfection. We then did the first six passes for the hand.

We continued right into the Running Man. Nuri spoke a bit about the Running Man and said that originally they were only fillers to be  practiced inbetween the other passes, but through time they came to  realize that when they did all 12 of the fillers they ran in a strange way and *saw* that the changes were extraordinary.

They were a bit different that I remembered them from Pomona but not drastically. Some how I had the inward and out ward circle were  backwards. In the Inward Circle#3 the feet circle down-out-up and  repeats. #4 The Outward Circle the feet circle up-out-down and repeats. 11 and 12 the feet seem to lift a bit more this time with more knee movement. In Rubber Feet I thought It had been alternating flipping the feet out but it is both feet flipped out together, again with apparently more knee movement. The movement were taught while sitting up with various counts and speeds. Finally we did the movements to Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. They said lets see if our feet can take flight. At the end they simply walked off the stage and we all had a big group hug and went home. The workshop ended at about 21:30.

If any one remembers any more or perhaps something different that what I have recounted I would like to hear your coments. Oh one last thing welcome to all of those that joined our merry band after Santa Monica

Yours truly, Juan Jose.