Tensegrity Seminars

Maui - March 1995 [ 1995 Index | Previous | Next ] To:   The Ixtlan Mailing List Date:   8 Aug 1995 00:37:10 -0700 I guess quite a few people haven't had access to lecture notes, or perhaps there's so much to take note of that a few stories slipped through. Here's a story that Taisha told in Maui, and at the end she was crying. She was on the topic of the different staking situations that she's been in under the direction of the group. This particular situation seems to have been under the direction of Carlos. It's a good example of Carlos' teaching technique. The story I'm going to relate combines the elements of a sustained not-doing (which is probably why the witches recommend crawling on all fours) and a stalking exercise involving a complete change of environment. It seems that old Florinda directed Carlos, Taisha, Florinda, and another person who is no longer with the group, to become contractors. Their job was to fix up a very large and rundown house for a particular woman. The woman was quite a petty tyrant, unappreciative and bossy. The story properly includes several instances, giving a balance to the different environments used as stalking devices, but this part is just about the area under the house. There was also a shorter story about their renovation of the attic, something that Taisha offered to show the different things one could do to stalk oneself. A disclaimer: I'm taking big liberties in my quotes around what Taisha said. I didn't take notes. It could be that I've accidentally combined different comments from different parts of the story. But I'm sure I haven't altered the theme of the story. Taisha said that her first reaction to becoming a contractor was, "I don't know anything about contracting! You mean I have to fix pipes?" Her disagreement didn't make any difference because she ended up becoming involved with the project. At one point in the story Taisha explained that when you're in a group like that you have to do everything, you can't pick and chose. You're part of the Nagual party and you have to do everything that's asked of you, or you're out. She also described how Carlos would never put things in those terms, it was simply something you knew without having to be told. They'd worked in the house for a while, when one day Carlos announced that they had to clear the rubbish from under the house. It didn't seem like too big of a job until Taisha noticed that there was only a small crawlway under the house. They had to rig a cart with wheels and a rope in order to haul the stuff out. Carlos was on the outside pulling the rope, and Taisha had to go under and put the stuff into the cart. Taisha said that the house was really big, and the area under it was huge. To make matters worse, it was near a hill and there was a stream or runoff going right under it. Each rainstorm carried such things as old couches, tree branches, bones, dead cats, rocks, etc. under the house. It took a long time to get the larger objects out from under the house. After they got the larger stuff out (I believe it took weeks), Taisha started to crawl around and remove things. At first she wasn't very good at it, but she said that soon she got her "rodent's legs" and began to crawl around with a bit of confidence. She said it wasn't really that bad at that point, it was hot in Mexico, and it was cool under the house. After she had removed the objects, she believed she was done. But Carlos announced that they had to remove the rocks too. Taisha got angry and made a bit of a fuss, but she knew she didn't have a choice. So she proceeded to remove the rocks. That took even longer. During that time she became even more proficient at crawling around. She even began to like it. When she had removed the rocks, she felt a relief. Although she'd enjoyed it, she was ready to be done with it. But Carlos announced that NOW they had to remove the SMALL rocks. Taisha was about to explode. But again, she knew she was part of the Nagual's party and had no choice. This time the crawling around was even easier and Taisha said she began to know all of the spots under the house intimately. She knew where the depressions were that allowed her to sit upright. She knew the best places to take a nap. She said that she loved to take little cat naps with her head rested on the soft dirt. She could scamper around at a fantastic rate, almost as well as she could walk around outside the house. It took quite a while to remove the small rocks, the total time for the project had lapsed into months. Taisha said she really began to feel like a mole. When she was done, she almost felt a little disappointed. But that didn't stop her from getting upset when Carlos announced that NOW they had to rake the dirt under the house and make it all smooth. Taisha angrily replied, "What are we going to do, make a Zen garden!" But she didn't have a choice. She really couldn't figure out why Carlos was making such a fuss about the underside of the house. No one would ever see it. On the otherhand, she'd grown to like it down there, so she said that her protests weren't really heartfelt this time, she crawled right back into the job. As a result of the raking, Taisha said that it became quite smooth and pleasant under there. One day she layed down to take a nap, with her head resting on the dirt, stomach down. Halfway between sleep and waking she began to notice a tingly feeling coming from the earth. There was even a feeling of affection. As she put her attention on it, it grew and grew until Taisha said that she felt that the earth was the source of the affection. She realized that the earth itself was alive, and that it was pouring out it's affection to her. The months of grooming, crawling and smoothing had established a bond between her and the earth. I can't remember the words that Taisha used, but they made it very clear that she had come into contact with a huge being, a being that takes care of and nurtures us all. And that being had noticed her and was paying her back for all of the affection she had poured onto it. That's the point at which Taisha's voice cracked. She just happened to have walked near to my seat, and I noticed that her eyes were red and there were tears running down her cheeks. Later on she explained that the woman for whom they had fixed the house was a perfect petty tyrant. They'd done things for her for years, and they still were in contact with her to this day. She wasn't part of the group, just someone to whom they owed a great debt for helping them learn self-control. Because of that, they still to this day have to do anything they can to help that lady. Daniel [ 1995 Index | Previous | Next ]

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