Rhythm Alchemy

According to Socrates, humans have nothing more to learn because we already know everything we need to know. We have simply forgotten it. A true teacher is one who can help us to remember forgotten knowledge. The great Michelangelo perceived his unique creations in rough and uncultured stone blocks. He said that to see the finished sculpture, one only needs to eliminate the unnecessary particles and debris. Just like these stone blocks, we all possess hidden and forgotten wisdom. To live our true nature, we need to separate ourselves from our limited beliefs and understandings. This is the very essence of the book you have in your hands. “Rhythm Alchemy” is full of insights from ancient times and from our deepest self. The book synthesizes the ancient knowledge of numbers, the heartbeat, the rhythm of breathing and our personal situation within the bigger, universal vibrations, as well as our interactions with people and nature around us. “Rhythm Alchemy” offers invaluable knowledge about ourselves and the unique harmony between the human being, his or her inner world, his or her rhythm and the surrounding reality. We may not realize how often we use musical terms like rhythm, melody and harmony to refer to things which happen to us in our daily lives: the rhythm of our heart, how our feelings soar in space, the melody of our personal inner voice trying to interweave with the harmony of other voices around us. We are constantly seeking and wanting to write the composition of our "happiness". When we compose this work, even though we tirelessly seek inspiration from outside us, our score often stays blank. This is because we do not pay sufficient attention to the true inspiration which lies within us. In order to reach this inspiration, we need to rebuild the bridges linking us to the roots of our true nature – rhythm. When we begin the intimate dance with the vibrations of our existence and begin to experience the real flavor of each wave which colors our emotions, then we will attain the creative power of the composer expressed in what we call “happiness”. Martin Ivanov’s book "Rhythm Alchemy" provides us with the spiritual and physical parameters of our cosmic score. It will guide us to our place in the composition and provide us with the ideas and knowledge we need to participate fully in both – how to compose our life and fulfill our innermost dreams.

The practice of Pushing Hands (Tui Shou) is generally thought of as a means of enhancing the practice of Taiji Quan, but it is also an independent practice in its own right. Pushing Hands develops sensitivity to the body's internal state and can be used to help control the emotions, the circulation of energy and physical balance. This book teaches the reader how to act or react in harmony with any external event without losing their 'balance' or center, enabling them to respond with confidence and flexibility to each situation. Illuminating the principles of body construction, this accessible and practical guide to Pushing Hands explains the eight types of concentration and the six "efforts" required to master them. Taking the reader through the thirteen principles of Pushing Hands and nine keys of movement which enable the proper flow of energy, the author provides a thorough understanding of the various elements of Pushing Hands practice. Exercises for developing concentration and pushing hands techniques are clearly explained and illustrated throughout the book. Whether practising Pushing Hands in conjunction with Taiji Quan or as an independent practice, this book is ideal for practitioners and students of Chinese martial and health arts.

In a world where you can't look both ways to cross the street without tripping over another self-help author, it's crucial to bring something different to readers that are searching for answers. The Alchemist Jedi in his no nonsense codex Alchemy, the Masters' Path - Create Your Calm & Peace cuts the fluff out of an existential discussion that's caused centuries of war in the past and separation in modern times. Without fear this particular guidebook teaches several ancient practices that ""cultivate your mind and nurture your emotions"" to reach a place of joy and inner peace. What sets Alchemy, the Masters' Path apart is how the tale combines quick references you can keep in your pocket for a rainy day with personal anecdotes from the author's own experiences. Without giving too much away, the story of how he lost his tongue and the power he gained from silently observing the world will both terrify and inspire you. There's something magical every reader can gain from this book.

We are living in a time of great change, explains Dr Christine Page. And this time presents a wonderful opportunity to reclaim our strength, adjust our focus and become spiritual alchemists, transforming ourselves and our world. In order to survive on Earth, we must reconnect with the divine side of existence. This task is not as daunting as it may seem, for we simply need to honour the wisdom inherent in traditions past and present - wisdom that is offered in this ground-breaking work. '... positively inspirational as she describes the untapped potential of the human spirit. Her book is an invitation to explore the alchemist within and I highly encourage all to read this book who have an appetite for electric transformation' Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit '... a modern map of the journey we must all ultimately take to fulfil our cosmic yearning. This will become required reading by our students' C Norman Shealy, MD, PhD, Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association 'Dr Page combines ancient insights and modern science in a way that will help readers reach new depths of understanding and fulfilment' Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Beyond the Body 'Christine Page is a master teacher with worlds of knowledge, a spiritual healer of blessed gifts, and a brilliant intuitive with critically important insights to share with us all' Belleruth Naperstek, author of Your Sixth Sense

What is a theatre laboratory? Why a theatre laboratory? This book tries to answer these questions focusing on the experiences and theories, the visions and the techniques, the differences and similarities of European theatre laboratories in the twentieth century. It studies in depth the Studios of Stanislavski and Meyerhold, the school of Decroux, the Teatr Laboratorium of Jerzy Grotowski and Ludwik Flaszen, as well as Eugenio Barba's Odin Teatret. Theatre laboratories embody a theatre practice which defies the demands and fashions of the times, the usual ways of production and the sensible functions which stage art enjoys in our society. It is a theatre which refuses to be only art and whose radical research forges new conditions with a view to changing both the actor and the spectator. This research transforms theatrical craft into a laboratory which has been compared to the laboratory of the alchemists, who worked not on material but on substance. The alchemists of the stage did not operate only on forms and styles, but mainly on the living matter of the theatre: the actor, seen not just as an artist but above all as a representative of a new human being. Laboratory theatres have rarely been at the centre of the news. Yet their underground activity has influenced theatre history. Without them, the same idea of theatre, as it has been shaped in the course of the twentieth century, would have been different. In this book Mirella Schino recounts, as in a novel, the vicissitudes of a group of practitioners and scholars who try to uncover the technical, political and spiritual perspectives behind the word laboratory when applied to the theatre.

Steen Ledet Christiansen's Storytelling in "Kabuki" explores the series created by David Mack--a slow, recursive narrative that focuses on the death of Kabuki and her past. The series ran from 1994 to 2004 in a variety of miniseries, one-shots, and spin-offs, rather than following a conventional American monthly release schedule. Most of the series explores different perspectives on the same event and adds background to Kabuki's past, usually through surreal sequences, dreams, and near-death experiences. The flexibility of comics' approach to chronology, space, focalization, narrative, and fictionality enabled Mack to produce an unusual experience. Kabuki tells a story that can only exist via comics. Christiansen analyzes the visual design of the series, a heterogeneous collection of styles depending on the story. To understand Kabuki, it is crucial to explore the visual styles, as well as the use of visual and spatial rhymes and mixed media forms. Because Kabuki employs a complex layering of focalizations, diegetic levels, and metafictional self-reflectivity that is rare in mainstream American comics, it utilizes a narrative poetics that focuses on constant repeating, restating, and returning to the same events. Kabuki's unique compositional layering allows Christiansen to provide a clear example of how comics work while also expanding on critical vocabulary, especially in terms of spatial poetics. By exploring spatial form, Christiansen illuminates and gives a critical framework to a different and underexamined aspect of comics.

Hermeticism, or alchemy, is the ancient, primordial mystery science of nature through which people in all times and places have, for the sake of world evolution, sought to unite Heaven and Earth--divinity, cosmos, earth, and humanity, as a single whole. Selfless, intimate, dedicated to healing and harmony, Hermeticism has accompanied and sustained every religious epoch and revelation. It may be found in all historical cultures, from the traditions of India and China in the East to the Judeo-Christian West. It could even be said that Hermeticism is the primal cosmological revelation and the common ground of all spiritual traditions. Nevertheless, in the great revival of mystical, esoteric traditions and practices during the last century, Hermetic tradition--in fact, Nature herself--has been largely ignored. Today, when the Earth seems most under attack, Green Hermeticism is especially appropriate. The book explores not only the ancient Masters' inner science, but also their science of Nature. During spring and summer 2006, Pir Zia Khan convened a series of gatherings to begin to unfold the contemporary meaning of ancient, sacred science for our time. Green Hermeticism is a partial record of that meeting. Peter Lamborn Wilson, explores the many ramifications of the alternative worldview offered by Hermeticism; Christopher Bamford provides a broad historical overview of the tradition from the Ancient Mysteries to contemporary manifestations of the alchemical tradition; while Kevin Townley brings a practical dimension to the gathering teaching the preparation of herbal elixirs and demonstrating that cosmology and philosophy can become a truly healing path for the Earth. Green Hermeticism is necessary reading for anyone seeking a spiritual and cultural path for the healing of the current ecological and cultural crisis. "In Alchemy, there is an injunction to quicken, or revive, the dead, which is illustrated by a dead tree growing verdant again. That is exactly what this wonderful and rare work does in awakening human consciousness to its Divine potential and Ultimate Destiny. Art thus helps Nature to achieve its ideal Perfection. The authors must be congratulated for their insightful words. I wholeheartedly recommend reading it again and again, and again." --Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, author Alchemy: The Secret Art and The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century "Environmental solutions today are largely technical, but the planetary crisis is also a crisis of soul--or better yet, of the Imagination. Too tricky for religion, too poetic for reductionist science, Green Hermeticism reheats a prophetic imagination still in love with the material world--a new alchemy of ancient nature." --Erik Davis, author, The Visionary State: A Journey through California's Spiritual Landscape "Just when you felt numb and disenfranchised, thinking the world had become bleak and dead, along comes this rare, much needed book to remind us that there is still some sanity, depth, and creative energy percolating up from the heart of Reality. Thank God (and the Goddess Nature) for this smart and inspiring breath of fresh air! Green Hermeticism is where the wasteland ends--and where the world becomes re-enchanted with genuine living thought that goes beyond superficialities. It's a rare pleasure to be in the presence of living minds who actually know something wonderful and have not been deadened by the opiates of capital or the tenure track. Very highly recommended." --David Fideler, publisher (Phanes Press) editor (Alexandria), author of Jesus Christ, Sun of God and translator of Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition (with Sabrineh Fideler) "The publication of Green Hermeticism has the sense we so rarely get, of a genuine moment in cultural history. It is not just the eloquence of its authors' knowledge and arguments or that they are showing us, once again, the depth and range and beauty of alchemy, and the Hermetic tradition, and what Peter Lamborn Wilson calls Romantic Science. Nor is it even the links they establish between the Hermetic tradition and ecology, and the value of a science that perceives the world as alive rather than a machine. What makes this work significant is the sense that it shows us how we can use these ideas and knowledge to create a genuine counter to destruction and despair, an alchemy of our politics as well as of our spirit." --Rachel Pollack, author of 78 Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot "Green Hermeticism reminds us that the art of the Great Work is to enter more deeply into the dynamic and practical wisdom of the universe, which is our laboratory, where work and prayer combine. When we engage with the All, we know ourselves to be one kindred with all in the viriditas--God's greening power--where body, soul, and spirit honor each other." --Caitlín & John Matthews, authors of Walkers Between the Worlds: The Western Mysteries from Shaman to Magus