Saturday Market, Clean Water, Yoga, Teaching Yoga, Dogs, No End In Sight, I think I am going to be a Presidential Appointee

Aloha!

Saturday Market last week was fun. I hung out for an hour while I was waiting for my Mom’s Amtrak train. I bought Mom a way cool set of earrings made out of recycled materials that will be perfect for the Fourth of July. Mom likes the earings.

I met Judy who is a five year colon cancer survivor at the market. Judy and I know what causes cancer is unclean air, water, and food. So what if there are other factors that may contribute to cancer formation? Are clean air, food, and water things most human beings value? Perhaps the best way to cure cancer globally is to prevent it? I just love inhaling a nice big breath of ionized McKenzie River Valley air while drinking a nice cold glass of my clean well water. I have been eating the food with food in it and not the food with artifial colors, flavoring, preservatives or other artificial food.

I have been taking as yoga classes as I have opportunities to. I am experiencing as many teachers as possible. I have a great admiration for the teachers who teach in the Anusara tradition.

I have taught one yoga class to about 20 people. Next Tuesday I teach my second class. It is my honor to be placed in the position of the teacher. I teach in the Anusara tradition and incorporate much of the Ashtanga teachings when sequencing postures. Next class I am going to walk around and offer individual refinements to students’ postures. I like offering suggestions to students to help them more fully manifest their asana.

My dogs are doing great. Salena is a little stiff in the mornings and on some of our walks but the 12 year old girl looks good and is happy. Mojo is awesome and is always ready to go for whatever. Mom put together a nice fruit plate for my neighbor that has been taking care of my dogs.

I saw a good documentary on the Iraq War titled “No End In Sight”. It documents many of the decisions made and the results of the decisions. One of the decisions mad was the presidential appointment of Jerry Bremer.

Jerry Bremer is trained in the art of culinary cooking and taught cooking classes in Vermont before being called to duty in Iraq[12]. From his extensive travels throughout the world, Bremer has mentioned that his favorite cuisines include French, Middle Eastern, and Chinese cuisines. He is also interested in gardening, and he owns a vegetable garden.

What are the salaries of presidential appointees? Presidential appointees are paid according to the Executive Schedule. There are five salary levels, ranging from $114,500 to $157,000. Of course there is per diem, all expenses paid travel for the appointee and family members, way good parties, etc.

Peace and Love,
Jack Burton

Memorial Day, John F. Kennedy, Strength, Gratitude, Alone with my thoughts, I am not alone, Eugene Riverbend Annex

This Memorial Day, I would like to paraphrase one of John F. Kennedy’s inspiring quotes that give me hope. “The world’s problems will not be solved by people whose horizons are limited by obvious realities that make them cynical and skeptical. We need people who can dream of things that never were.” Kennedy’s wording was good but I think his wording was limiting. Just because something has always been a certain way, does not mean it needs to remain so. Is it better to give up essential liberty for a margin of security? Jack Burton does not do better when better is not good. Jack Burton does good. Guess what, we can have liberty, security, peace and love. We are American. We are citizens of the world. We can dream of and make a peaceful, loving world that has never existed on Earth. I am a veteran of the U.S. Army and I do support the troops. I want to see our military people safe and in fact, every being of the world safe and "free".

I’ll share one other Kennedy quote/paraphrase that I read and then I am off into a more personal, factual, ramble of a blog entry.
“The United States has a special, threefold responsibility:
- A responsibility to our citizens
- A responsibility to the world that are effected by our decisions
- A responsibility to the next generation of humanity”
I was going to paraphrase John Kennedy more but I did not think it was useful and in fact distracted from John's beatiful sentiment.

Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude for my friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, care givers whether they be past or present. Lyrics from a song sang by the Alarm in the mid 1980’s come to my mind. The song is a beautiful, hard driving song and I recommend a listen to those who enjoy the rock and roll genre. Below are excerpts from the song.

The Alarm, “Strength” lyrics from the Album Strength released in 1985.
Who will light the fire
That I need to survive
Who will be the life blood
Coursing through my veins

Someone write me a letter
I need to know that I'm still alive
Someone give me a telephone call
I need to hear a human sound
Someone open up a door
And let me out of this place
GIVE ME LOVE
GIVE ME HOPE
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

Thank you all for the love hope and strength. Thank you for giving me so very much to live for. Oh sure, I may make the effort to survive cancer look easy, fun, sexy, and perhaps even effortless. If you are not laughing out loud, I am in between winces because I have just bit my tongue that was planted firmly in my cheek. I suppose I am feeling a bit of the weight of the scary cancer diagnosis, the emergency brain surgery the day before Thanksgiving, a week in the hospital during Thanksgiving, 33 confining radiation treatments, 1 hour and a half long, clunky, noisy, Magnetic Imaging Resonance (MRI) rides every other month, daily chemotherapy since 3 days before Christmas, and medical bills up the yoohoo.

Being alone with my thoughts 44 miles away from the nearest, lighted traffic signal with only two, elderly, lovely, German Shepherd Dogs to share a roof with can be an unhealthy thing. I have found that too much time to ponder life’s trials allows the mind to wander into unproductive areas of being. Too much time can give the mind time to wander and wonder what is physically going on between a human being’s ears. Is what I am feeling side effects from my powerful medications that could be doing damage to healthy brain tissue? Is what I am feeling cancer growing at an alarming rate? Is what I am feeling damage done by enormous strength? These are probably normal feelings.

However, I have the support of many good people and in fact the universe. I have visualizations of osprey and wolves picking off viable cancer cells and killing them. I have visualizations of condors and vultures spiriting off the dead cancer cells on uplifting thermals of clean, vibrant, nourishing blood. Thank you for the strength. I propose what I am feeling is the strength and power of the universe helping to cure the cancer within my body with good, loving, life force energy.

I am not alone. I asked my mother to come up and stay with me for awhile. Bless her heart, Mom arrived on the Amtrak on Saturday. I was at the Eugene Train Station yesterday to meet her and we walked around the Eugene Saturday Market for awhile. What a cool place the Eugene Saturday Market is. Good organic food, unique locally produced goods and crafts by our neighbors can be bought at the market. It is a good time and I bought Mom a cool pair of earrings perfect for the Fourth of July made from recycled materials that normally would have ended up in a landfill.

I visited a few coworkers at my old job at the Riverbend Annex, in Springfield last week. It was very uplifting for my spirit to see these good, hard working, and talented people again. I hope to make arrangements to visit more with them as a group and as individuals in the near future. Seeing them again, touching, and talking with them was definitely an infusion of viable lifeblood into my circulatory system that benefited from the good energy immediately. My visit with my old coworkers was hastened by my appointment I had with my new primary care physician. I like and trust my new primary care physician. Did I tell you that his assistant is drop, dead gorgeous, errrr……I mean very good at her job? I am going to have a cholesterol panel done soon and we will see if I am able to make a primary care physician assistant appointment.

I have my next subjects for my next blog entry later this week. Fishing, Dogs, Compulsions, Yoga, Yoga Teaching, Eugene Saturday Market, Chainsaw, Saving Trees. I want to end this post so as to not make the post tool arduous for my gentle readers and to enjoy a lazy, Memorial Day with my mom in the beautiful, McKenzie River Valley with my dogs and a short hike along Horse Creek.

Peace and Love,
Jack Burton
“Like I tell my wife, an adjective can ruin a perfectly good noun. I drive as fast as I can see. Power to the VW drivers.”

San Francisco Haight Asbury Trip, Good Friends' Hostel, Life Force Energy, Yoga Class

My trip to San Francisco and meetings with my Drs. and caregivers was great. My Mom made the travel arrangements for me. Mom achieved some wonderful results and made the trip to San Francisco and back in one day easy. Mom and I walked around the Haight Asbury district for a few hours and enjoyed the park and a good meal.

I stayed Tuesday Night at my good friend's home that is 60 miles closer to the Eugene Airport than my home. Mark Clemens affectionately refers to his home as "the hostel".

Thank you for the energy. Sometimes kicking the cancer habit is a walk in the park. Sometimes dealing with everything is a very human experience and is the anti walk in the park. Thank you for the kind words, thoughts, feelings, and help.

I am teaching my first official yoga class this coming Tuesday. It is my honor to be seated in the place of the teacher and I hope to honor all my teachers as I teach. My goal is to make the class safe, fun, and challenging for all practitioners no matter their level or intention they have that day for class.

Peace and Love,

Jack Burton

Jordan is a Superstar, Run, Sacred Truths, Source Teachings of Yoga, Rivers

Hey there!

I drove up to Portland to see Jordan and her dance team dance in a dance competition last Saturday. Jordan's team took first place and Jordan danced beautifully. It did my heart good to see Jordan dance. Jordan is a wonderful, 10 year old girl. I also saw a friend up in Portland last Saturday and that did my heart good as well.

Mojo and I just completed our first, orthopedic surgeon authorized run since I had my knee rebuild on November 1, 2007. I was lucky to have knee surgery when I did. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good but I will take lucky and good. We did about 3 miles. I wanted to take it easy on Mojo. He is 10 years old and he was wearing his fur coat on a bright, sunny warm day. My knee surgery was only an ACL revision and a post medial corner repair. My knee feels good. I hope to go another 4 to 6 decades with the current body parts I have as long as I can keep them well maintained and operating well. My body works good.

I have something I just read I would like to share with you. Caroline Myss, PH.D. wrote it in her book, "Anatomy of the Spirit".
The Seven Sacred Truths of the Body and Spirit
All Is One
Honor One Another
Honor Oneself
Love Is Divine Power
Surrender Personal Power to Divine Will
Seek Only the Truth
Live in the Present Moment

I wrote the Seven Sacred Truths on a 3X5 card so I can memorize them and recite them every day. I find remembering good things makes me feel good. Lest we forget what Mark Twain wrote I will remind us, "Our inability to forget is far more devastating than our inability to remember." Mark also wrote something like, "When I was a young, I could remember anything whether it happened or not. As I grow old I only remember the things that never happened."

Tomorrow I am going to do a workshop called, "The Source Teachings of Yoga, An Exploration Into the Heart of Yoga". I know that title may not appeal to NASCAR fans but if the truth be known, I am not a fan of NASCAR. In fact, I am not a fan of any stadium event. I like much more intimate venues. Stadiums make me recall the Roman Gladiators of a few years ago. What I apreciate most about stadiums is that when Autzen Stadium is full, the pace of play on the golf course is more relaxed and the McKenzie River is less crowded. Of course many people who are not sitting in the stadium are sitting in front of a television with a beer in their fist. My point is that without the stadium, people may be out doing stuff in the great outdoors instead of stadium stuff.

Peace and Love,

Captain Jack Sparrow
Surrender personal will to love.