ABOUT ESOTERIC HEALING.

Meet Maura Grant, a certified massage technician. She does reiki, as well. She and her partner, Cammy, whose last name I didn't get, work on Tom Bell Road in Murphys. The name of their business is Elements, and elements define the Asian basis for peace, happiness, health and balance in everything they do be it healing or gardening or meal planning.


In her treatment room are the sacred elements of earth, fire, water, and air. Plants represent earth, fire comes from lit candles, thankfully, for me, anyway, without perfume. Just pure soft light.


Water cascades from a fountain, and air is all around. I've had massage and acupuncture before my accident.  I know it to be healing, and soothing and a transmitter of peace and tranquility. Reiki sort of astounds me. How does the heat just emmanate into their hands?  When Maura gently pressed my chest I could feel the heat in my heart and penetrate to my  back muscles. Margaret Hornick, from Arnold also has that unique talent. Heat just flows from her hands into your body.


Even Maura's bathroom has earth represented by the stones, water is obvious and the candles on the tank are fire.


The two women have a meditation room where they hold meetings, discussions and teach. In each room, all of the elements are present.


There is also a sauna. The blue lights have some significance for healing. I've had many massages since my accident. Residual pain in my neck and shoulders still plague me. Some practitioners call it "memory pain."  Debbie Selleck from Angels Camp has really helped me, as well as Margaret and now Maura. Each time, I think, ahh, I'm so close to well, this will be the last massage I will need.
It never seems to completely take away pain, but I'm getting well in small increments.  My weak arm is a bit stronger, the pain is lessened. (Stress makes it worse.)   Every massage I've had, the premises have those same elements, I must add. It isn't unique to Maura and Cammy.  But they carry it out in a beautiful, complete way.

A day earlier, I stopped in to visit my former doctor,  Dr. Ralph Retherford in Tuolumne County.  He is a holistic doctor and also encourages his patients to perform tai chi on a regular basis. He gave me a tape and I found an improvement in my weakened arm with just one evening of practice. I believe by the time I return home from the Motorhome, I will be completely well with esoteric healing.

WENATCHEE YOUTH CIRCUS

Around the pool yesterday morning, everyone was talking about the circus Thousand Trails booked in for the Labor Day Weekend. They talked about the head honcho, a guy in an electric wheelchair, who has put this thing on the road for 52 years. An amazing feat in itself.  He told me that today’s circus kids are an off-shoot of the gymnastics craze. Not everyone can go to the Olympics and be a standout, but the circus…well you will see the  talent at work.
I’m taking a break from my China Trip of 2006 to acquaint you with the Wenatchee Youth Circus because it is a great venue, and because I have two personal connections to the circus.  Earlier this year, two of my grandsons attended a circus camp and I was quite impressed with the program and the head honcho there who started this camp in Mendocino County, California over 50 years ago. He dresses as a clown and gets around in an electric wheel chair.  You know what I’m thinking, don’t you?  This has to be the same outfit.  But, it was not.

This little youth circus has a fire-eater, and that is my second connection to circus.  My great-aunt Mitzi was a sword swallower and fire-eater in the circus during the 1920′s and 30′s.  She said they practically starved to death, sometimes surviving on leftover popcorn or bread and gravy when money was thin. But enough!  Wenatchee kids are from 3 years to 18 years in age. The fire-eater was tearful because after 9 years with the circus, this was her very last performance. She also does high wire.

The day was so bright and sunny, we were truly in point and shoot mode and hoped we’d get something on camera. The three-year old is probably one of the children of an adult associated with the circus. There are plenty of adults around to make sure the kids don’t get hurt. But, the kids are fearless, well-practiced and impressive performers.

The high wire acts, (and they were numerous) were by the book, the standard acts you see in all circuses on professionally rigged  high wires.

Billy and Amanda. Billy does tumbling, high wire, flying trapeze, swings and  just about every thing in the line-up. He is one of the top talents.

Here he is on the top of the free-standing ladders. The strong man is in the middle.

Billy  again, on the high wire as part of the wheel barrow. These kids performed five or six different difficult feats, sitting on a chair, walking a bike rim, stopping mid wire, performing, and getting back up to a standing position on the wire. Great strength and coordination is a must.

Billy is also a flyer. The catcher is Brendan, an 18-year-old who also retires from the circus this year to enter college. This circus is a non-profit, supported by grants and donations, but what a marvelous youth experience, responsibility, hard work, team work, sharing  living quarters, all ages. It’s a given that these kids have a one-up on their peers from working the circus.

No act is too small. They start out as clowns, they learn balance, how to fall, timing, to entertain and graduate to more strenuous feats.

And, a final bow.
You can read a bit about the circus on the following website: http://www.circus4youth.org/res_det.php?res_id=30

TANG DYNASTY TEMPLE OF HELL.

The second phase of our trip to China in October of 2006 began with an early morning flight to the industrial city of Chongquin.  We walked from the landing (visible in the distance) across this pontoon bridge, settled our luggage aboard and then walked back across the pontoons to visit the Hell Pagoda from the Tang Dynasty.

First we climbed 200 stairs up the side of a mountain. The view of our landing below in the misty rain was exhilarating after our breathless climb. .

As we neared the temple, tortured statues lined the steps.

There was about  30 of them and their meaning was unclear.

Our guide explained that this old Tang Temple is backwards from normal for modern Chinese. Almost like Christianity, you suffer for bad behavior and are re-incarnated to a higher plane for good behavior.  On our bridge to the temple grounds above, one side is for women, the other for men, unusual.

Even the colors here are different, blue and gold instead of the preferred and popular red and gold. The roof is guarded by a dragon, though.

The main pagoda has a wild geese  for the roof  decoration. A wild goose flew into the pagoda and couldn't get out. He was starving and when the bird died, he ate it, thus the Wildgoose Pagoda.  A couple of smaller pagodas had dragons.

One of the guys in our group tried balancing the Xing Chen Stone. The bottom stone weighs about 200 pounds, the top stone about 90 pounds. If you are able to balance it, it will cure you of heart problems the legend claims.

Gary succeeded, but no one else attempted. I guess they weren’t worried about heart problems. The cure legend is unclear. Does it cure heart disease?  Or the misery of lost love?

All of us attempted the balancing ball. A perfectly round ball on a perfectly flat surface. If you can maintain balance for nine seconds, you will have a long life. I guess we are all destined to die young.

In  the Hell Temple, you come across  things that are twisted and not uniform so different from the ying and yang of balance in Chinese culture.

In the temple dungeon was a ghastly parade of fearful statues behind bars, a warning to behave or else. The Tang Dynasty incorporated fear in their religion to elicit good behaviors, as most religions do. Modern Buddhism encourages good deeds while reminding you of your human weaknesses, rather than fear of punishment, if I understand it correctly.

On the way back down the hill, I was tempted to give this young child a pat.  It was the only friendly looking statue in the bunch.