New Erotic Body Prayer Book, 2nd Edition
Click
on the link above or on the book cover in the left column to link you
to order the book from LuLu.com.
Reiki Changes
Lives Energy
Medicine May 10 & 11.
Become a Reiki Master. Since 1996 over 1200 people
have
been served through our Reiki Clinics. We have created 10 Reiki Masters
and numerous Level 1 and 2 Practitioners. If you have not become a
Reiki Master your opportunity has arrived. Join us May 10 & 11.
Greetings
from sunny Australia. Life here in Marvellous-Melbourne, as one of
our opera divas of the early 20th
Century, Dame Nellie
Melba, called it, has not been the same since our much beloved Donny
& Kirk have been regular visitors, flying frequently across the
Pacific-Pond. Through the running of workshops such as The Peaceful
Warrior, and The Lover, then more recently Reiki I & II, many
new
men have been attracted to our community, attended workshops, and
continue to be a vital part of our lives. My partner Philip (the one
L reveals he was named after Prince Philip of Greece, the consort of
Queen Elizabeth II, our much loved and respected sovereign), now look
at all gay and bi-sexual men as potential community members and
participants.
During one
of the recent The Peaceful Warrior Workshops, held in a gay-friendly
Anglican (Episcopalian) Church hall, in inner city Abbotsford, where
the male priest and his husband are both gay, there was a wedding in
the church at the same time, and the church bells peeled at the most
inopportune moments. Also much to our amusement, an elderly cleaning
woman of the parish, flung open a side door twice, looked in at us
performing some experiential exercise or other, frowned, and then
flung the door shut again. We all did have a good laugh about that.
Later, we heard an argument in the kitchen, thinking it was the usual
wedding-domestic-trouble before realising it was some of the actors
from the back room acting class practising away from their room. We
were much relieved that we didn’t have to interrupt them to try
and mediate.
After
attending another The Peaceful Warrior workshop all day, all the
participants drove to a nearby parklands along the Yarra River, and
flopped down in a ‘puppy-pile’ (I think that’s a
Body-Electric term) in the middle of a football oval, although it was
fairly difficult finding a large enough stretch of green grass, due
to our near-drought conditions. All the new guys involved had never
performed such an action before in such a public place, and found it
to be not only most comfortable and enjoyable, but also very
liberating.
Our first
regular monthly Men’s-Circle was held on Wednesday the 26th
of March 2008. Most of the guys met for a social dinner at a gay pub,
Stingo Hotel, at 6.30pm, where everyone enjoyed a yummy $10 meal. As
there were a few new guys we hadn’t met until that night, this
provided a good opportunity to chat and get to know them. After
7.30pm we walked to the very nearby Eagle Leather for the
Men’s-Circle. The owner of this specialised
leather/fetish/BDSM/etc shop, has very generously donated the forum
space for us to meet once a month. I’d set up our exquisite
Nepalese silk meditation cushions in a circle around our Chinese silk
cloth, on which I’d positioned the water & earth bowls,
plus lots of candles. Once these were lit and the shop lights
extinguished, the space was plunged into darkness except for the
flickering candle light shining on all the men’s faces. What a
lovely sight. After introductions and explanations we formed two
standing circles, exploring touch & each other. Then sat around
our cloth and candles listening to each others stories of why each of
us was present there that night. We concluded by laying on of
everyone’s hands on each and every guy in sequence as a
farewell exercise. The night was sensational and connecting, even if
I do say so myself.
Unfortunately
the Men’s-Circle will not meet whilst my partner Philip and I
will be away from Melbourne attending the Shaman’s Dream Retreat
in Saratoga Springs, but all the guys are still very keen to form
Circle again in May.
Our newly
graduated Reiki practitioners, and a few other experienced Reiki
practitioners, hoping to form our Reiki Group are meeting soon for a
social dinner, and to discuss how best to develop as a group. This is
an exciting step towards offering a regular monthly Reiki Open
Clinic.
Although
Melbourne doesn’t yet have the numbers of members and variety
of skills being offered that you do in San Francisco, we are slowly
but steadily growing. Each new man brings with him new needs, but
also new skills and experience to be offered to our community. During
the course of 2008, we will hold regular Reiki Open Clinics, and have
booked monthly Men’s-Circles (the fourth Wednesday of each
month) that will be talk-fests, massage sessions, tantric practice
and much, much more. It is all very exciting to see this unfold and
develop before our very eyes.
Both
Philip and I are very excited to be attending the Shaman’s Dream
Retreat soon in May, and looking forward to meeting all you lovely guys
in
the flesh, plus experiencing and learning from everyone and
everything we participate in whilst in Saratoga Springs and beyond.
Big Warm
Hugs
Benson
xxxooo.
Shaman's Dream Retreat with Sweat
Lodge
Brothers, whether you are coming to the Shaman's Dream
Retreat or not we will be blessing our retreat altar candles on April
26th at Esctatic Massage.
At retreat we
will we will learn an alchemical Portal Ritual. Also we welcome you to
participate in a ritual Sweat Lodge whether by participating in the
experience within the Lodge or by participating in activities outside
the Lodge to help the facilitators physically run the lodge. This will
be a memorable event for all participants.
"Don't
Stop Thinking About
Tomorrow ..."
Moments of intimacy touching skin
in sacred
space--that’s why
I give a regular donation to Flesh and Spirit Community. I
believe in other causes, too, but Flesh and
Spirit is the only place I know where I can count on that sacred
intimacy with
all kinds of brothers. So
I decided to make a financial pledge to Flesh
and Spirit so this community can count on me, too.
I
would love it if you would consider doing
the same. Just go to “Donations” on
our
website (www.fleshandspirit.org)
and
click, “Contributions.”
Namaste,
Keep touching
skin, opening hearts and raising Spirit! Love,
--Gary
Ost, President, Flesh and Spirit Board
of Directors
