Hot Rocking Great-Uncle!

From today's e-mail to a nephew:
I’m up to my usual eccentric adventures, looking into the connection between the rocking forward-and-back motion practiced in Judaism (generally known as 'davenning' but more correctly termed 'shukkeling' -- ‘shuck and jive?') and the same motion used by Islamic students when reading the Q'uran, the leg-humping our Riqui likes to do - the crib-rocking babies do, and also what Dr. Wilhem Reich named the 'orgasm reflex' - a movement of the head and hips forward, back arched, that he felt was an indicator of the 'un-armored' musculature that allows for healthy sex (although the term itself refers to a non-genital-focused, full-body energy release. Add to this why Quakers were named 'Quakers,' and Shakers ‘Shakers,' and you begin to get the picture.

Because of this, I now rock very slightly now when I sit in meditation (and at the computer), in time with my heartbeat, although it also can be done on the exhale. I think there are more and more subtle levels of this movement - it doesn't just have to be the pelvic forward thrust (the 'bump' in the strippers/bellydancers' slang) or that a lot of body workers get into (Reich, Alexander Method, etc). Head forward is easy for me, back arched ditto, but it's unfreezing those hips that's more difficult. I practice in bed before falling asleep.

This is all because I’m still convinced there’s an easy, built-in way to increase everyone’s bliss tolerance that does not require translating ancient Tibetan or Sanskrit texts into English. And also because my continued face-tickling with a Thwizzle stick in each hand keeps sending me into paroxysms of delight (I now love to do it even while watching the evening news)... I did send you the Version One of this gadget? Version Two is much simpler, just a Thwizzle stick in each hand that allow the user to stimulate the facial nerves with the mylar ribbons... Amazing how such a simple device can – well, sensitivities to this do seem to vary from person
to person, which also is interesting. And of course just touching the face with a flower has the same effect, basically...

The current spiritual buzz seems to be Byron Katie, just in Chicago for a workshop and to promote her new book, “The Thousand Names For Joy” that she and her husband, translator Stephen Mitchell, put together out of his translation of the Tao Te Ching. You can download a few sample pages here:
http://www.thework.com/books.asp
I like this quote:

If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

From the little I’ve read of her, I think she’s terrific. No Tibetan, no Sanskrit. And she gets high marks from people who have gone the whole Tibetan/Sanskrit route. Katie bases her teaching on asking yourself four questions:

The Work consists of four questions and a turnaround. For example, the first thought that you might question on the above Worksheet is "Paul doesn't listen to me." Find someone in your life about whom you have had that thought, and let's do The Work. "[Name] doesn't listen to me":
Is it true?
Can you absolutely know that it's true?
How do you react when you think that thought?
Who would you be without the thought?
Then turn it around, and don't forget to find three genuine examples of each turnaround. As I began living my turnarounds, I noticed that I was everything I called you. You were merely my projection. Now, instead of trying to change the world around me (this didn't work, but only for 43 years), I can put the thoughts on paper, investigate them, turn them around, and find that I am the very thing I thought you were. In the moment I see you as selfish, I am selfish (deciding how you should be). In the moment I see you as unkind, I am unkind. If I believe you should stop waging war, I am waging war on you in my mind.
The turnarounds are your prescription for happiness. Live the medicine you have been prescribing for others.
The world is waiting for just one person to live it. You're the one.
Examples of Turnarounds
Here are a few more examples of turnarounds:
"He should understand me" turns around to:
- He shouldn't understand me. (This is reality.)
- I should understand him.
- I should understand myself.

"I need him to be kind to me" turns around to:
- I don't need him to be kind to me.
- I need me to be kind to him. (Can I live it?)
- I need me to be kind to myself.

"He is unloving to me" turns around to:
- He is loving to me. (To the best of his ability)
- I am unloving to him. (Can I find it?)
- I am unloving to me (When I don't inquire.)

It gets explained more here

Of course we all are aware of this othering /‘projecting on others’ business we all do, but Katie puts it very simply. The way I’ve always explained it: “If something is wrong between me and someone, it’s better to assume it’s mine and not theirs, because if it’s mine I can change it. If it’s theirs, I can’t.” Of course it’s much easier in theory than in practice.

I've ordered Katie's book, despite my resolution never to buy a book again that costs over ten bucks.