About Condition the Mind
Condition the mind is based on three fundamental principles:
1. Love, Compassion, and Devotion are the drivers of the world
2. The human experience is not meant to be done solo
3. You are not broken, just off balance
Believe in Something
The first things I came to realize: You have to believe in something. Without a fundamental belief system, you have no foundation to build from. Have a set of values and it makes life a whole lot easier! Every decision you have to make can, at least in part, rest in one of your values.
The best one, I’ve found, is love. Just simply love people. Have compassion for everyone’s experience in the world. We’re all fighting – struggling against – something. And, yes, most of the time, that something is something we’ve created ourselves… but still… compassion.
Bhakti is a path to happiness and well being that’s based on the fundamental principle that there is virtue in all things: living, non-living, unknown. Treat everyone as if they are a manifestation of divinity. And stick to your values even when it’s hard, just don’t force them on anyone… except your own children. In that case, by all means, force away.
You’re Not Alone
We are tribal. We’re meant to stick together. We are meant to help each other. From our early beginnings, we created hunting parties and foraged in groups. There was safety and support in a tribe. We didn’t always have to be “on.”
A fascination with the chakra system lead me to a deeper study of how our own energy “works.” It turns out, it’s not really “our” energy at all. Prana, or Chi, or Ni’, or even Spiritus Sanctus all describe the same concept of universal life energy. My first dip into Craniosacral Therapy was through Milne’s “Heart of Listening – Book I” and didn’t really make much sense to me, but touched on tribes and Shamanic cultures. I was hooked!
Sparked by Milne, study of Shamanic healing led to a very important discovery: Shamans don’t heal people. The village heals. The collective energy from the tribe works to create wellness for the sick. Shamans just know the path; the instructions.
“Do not seek what the sages found. Seek what they sought.”
It is not for us to master the teachings of someone else. It is up to us to understand those teachings and create our own path using the tools given to us from those before us.
We seek so much validation as we try to be other people. We try to “keep up with the neighbors,” but essentially those things don’t make us happy. So, we feel like we’ve failed. We feel like we’re somehow broken to not be exactly like some other person. We have no true meaning and no direction. Without meaning – without direction – our existences don’t seem to make us feel happy.
What we truly want is to be happy. We’re way closer to that than we think. We can be happy. We just need to come back into balance between what we need, what we desire, and what truly fulfills us. If we were broken, we’d never be able to hold those things.
About Stu
I’ve been fascinated with the philosophy of yoga and the history of our tribal ancestors; the way we interact with others and the way we face – and attempt to control – the world.
For so many, we sludge through existence following a path that never feels right and often makes us sick. Having seen that side of life and found a different, more positive way to show up in the world – through self-examination and wisdom long forgotten, Condition the Mind is a way to give everything I’ve learned to others. With all endeavors my goal is to help each other create a positive story for their human experience.
I use a strong sensitivity to your own special place in the world to discern where you need to focus your energy to do the work you need to do to move forward. Sometimes, you’ll need to move. Sometimes, I’ll be able to help. But, in all cases, we can do it together; both of us doing our part of the work (tapas).
