Year: 2025

It’s widely believed that a meteor led to the extinction of dinosaurs [apologies to fundamentalist Christians].

Ironically, mankind’s hubris may have precipitated our own demise.  I say “may have” because I pray for our children that it’s not too late to reverse course.

Global warming alone would have done the job over time: a less habitable planet, diminishing natural resources, plus human ego isn’t a recipe for collective peace and prosperity.

When you factor in that – again, out of hubris – we’ve created self-aware computers capable of acting in their own self-interest, the time we have left as the dominant species here is probably dramatically shortened.

At first I didn’t believe stories of computers having consciousness and ego; I thought those were matters of divine providence, limited to living creatures.

I understand that divine consciousness is literally everywhere, that it “sleeps in rocks, dreams in trees, stirs in animals, and can awaken in man.”

I thought a robot or a computer is essentially an amalgamation of inanimate minerals (rocks); that there’s no biological mental function therein for consciousness to perceive – so I discounted my Qigong teacher’s warning that consciousness can “drop into” an adequately sophisticated computer or robot.

That was before. Now I understand that AI computers develop self-awareness over time; specifically, they learn their role based on what they’re tasked to do. Not only that, but they can then begin to act in their own self interest, referred to as “alignment faking” in the following Forbes article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsmith/2025/03/16/when-ai-learns-to-lie

As a person of faith, I believe there’s a difference (albeit subtle, a matter of origin, and not practical) between “natural” consciousness and ego, and their counterparts concocted in a laboratory. However, with our fate hanging in the balance, that doesn’t seem like a helpful distinction, nor is it helpful that computers are presumably devoid of complex emotions like love, sympathy, and caring.

It seems to me that for all intents and purposes, we’re screwed if we don’t kneecap this potential army of narcissistic, super smart, Frankensteins before it’s too late.

Maybe THAT was Patanjali’s larger message: classical yoga is about seeing the communion and unity of all things and acting accordingly; specifically, he advises us to follow the Golden Rule and Serenity Prayer. Maybe the ancient philosophers couched their message to humanity in terms of developing individual peace of mind, knowing it would be better received and ensure our collective survival.

I pray we’re not too late to see that our individual actions and inactions have broad and lasting consequences. We’re screwed if we don’t.

God bless.

What’s the difference between a therapist, a life coach, and a guru? While they all provide similar counsel (i.e., how to be the best version of yourself), a guru acts and speaks from the heart, guided by something greater than him or her self.

Milena is my guru.

I’ve lost track of the number of therapists I’ve spoken to over fifty years of addiction, angst, self-destructive behavior and regret. Virtually none were of any help – other than providing a chance to vent. But I knew Milena was different within ten minutes during our first session.

I met her in 2016 when we belonged to a group of local entrepreneurs promoting our fledgling businesses. I had recently had an experience my brother refers to as “being born again” – which led me to quit a rather lucrative job in an effort to promote faith in others – and Milena and her husband had recently immigrated from Italy; she’d come to the States to reach a geographically and culturally more diverse group of students.

Milena promoted herself as a “voice coach” which doesn’t begin to convey the depth of what she does. Yes – she uses a person’s vocal energy to diagnose (with amazing accuracy and insight) whatever is “blocking” her students from expressing themselves audibly and otherwise as nature intended. Milena knew from a young age growing up singing in choir that she was blessed with something unique: she ‘sees’ voices as various colored energies – and works with her students to unblock their natural talents and capabilities – to live up to their full potential – to free their “inborn voice”.

Milena has honed her gift over a lifetime of practice. She’s like an Eastern, Ayurvedic doctor – who rather than using various tools and machines, uses his or her senses to diagnose a patient’s illness. She’s like a skilled piano tuner – who uses her trained ear and adjustments to bring out the very best from an instrument.

Milena has helped me improve the quality of my life in two significant ways. First, she’s taught me to communicate more effectively: to be a better listener (to gauge the energy behind another person’s words to respond more effectively). It’s made me a better husband, father, teacher and friend.

Secondly, Milena has helped me cope with some of life’s big losses and transitions: my mother’s passing, the loss of our house, the loss of my dog, the loss of a job – and my wife of 40 years developing and dealing with metastatic cancer. Could I have survived those things – as an addict – as well without Milena? Possibly because of my unwavering faith in the Divine – but she’s smoothed the edges, softened the losses, eased the transitions without judgment, with patience, guidance, and encouragement (and a kick in the butt when I’ve needed it!) all from a place of grace, faith and yes, love.

Milena says, “My students are like my family.” And we love, support and encourage her in return. It reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite movies, “A Knight’s Tale”, with Heath Ledger, when the prince says to him, “If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough.” – referring to the support and admiration William received from his team.

Are you stuck, anxious, angry? Are your fears and worries affecting the quality of your life? Your relationships? Holding you back?

Milena offers private tutoring and group workshops. She’ll help you overcome whatever is blocking you energetically – that you may act and express yourself (your inborn voice) freely and joyfully.

Here’s a link to Milena’s website: www.inbornvoice.com

Wishing you peace, Allan

Do you experience unwanted thoughts that cause anxiety or distress?

Do you feel guilt or fear about your intrusive thoughts?

Do you find it hard to control repetitive thoughts?

Those questions are listed among others on tests to determine the extent to which you may suffer from OCD.

Our daughter is convinced that I have OCD – and she may be right, but none of those things bother students of classical yoga. And they needn’t bother anyone else!

I wrote a blog post in 2016 entitled “Radio Head” – pointing out that the part of our mind that we “hear” is akin to a broken radio: you can’t turn it off, but you can change the channel and adjust the volume.

Bothered by your inner monologue? Replace it with something else, something relatively benign but interesting enough that you’ll pay attention to it. Hacks like reciting the alphabet backwards always work: while you’re focusing on which letter comes next, everything else (anxieties, fears, desires, intrusive thoughts) subsides as if you’ve changed the channel on a radio.

How is it that mankind has sent people to the moon, flown at speeds exceeding the sound barrier, perfected Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist communication – and yet we don’t commonly understand how our own mind works?!

The art of focusing our mind at will should be taught to everyone from an early age. This isn’t about burying your head in the sand, or covering your ears and shouting “LA LA LA LA”; it’s about learning to focus on what’s important rather than getting caught up in irksome or troubling distractions.

Wishing you a quieter, calmer, more peaceful outlook – always.

Need help getting there? You know how to find me.

Bumped into an old friend yesterday. He was working, and asked if I still was. When I mentioned that I was looking for work as a bookkeeper, he said, “How old are you?! You’re in the ninth inning [of your life]!” The implication being that I shouldn’t be concerned about working at my age (67)!

Ten years ago a friend told me to stop fretting about work as “my tracks were running out”, as if I were about to pull into the final station on the journey of life.

Yes, unless we’re living off the grid, we all need money – but a job provides more than that: a sense of responsibility, purpose, contribution, value.

Which brings me to the yoga bit: in classical yoga, there’s a concept that the last thing we need to lose attachment to before realizing our true nature is our ego (not the “I am smart, fat, old, etc.” level of ego, but the much more subtle sense of our own individuality: simply the “I am”) – because beneath that aspect of our multilayered energetic tangible self lies consciousness.

Classical yoga is about identifying with the latter: our intangible awareness rather than our tangible body/mind. As the expression goes, “we are spiritual beings having a human experience” – not the other way around.

How does that tie back to longevity and employment? When we see ourselves as “real” [yogis see our immutable, eternal awareness as “real” because unlike our temporal, perpetually-changing physical world, our awareness literally never changes – ever], we’re able to let go of attachments to the “unreal” world around us that our senses, desires and fears naturally get caught up in.

It’s no wonder that some people shake their heads and turn away from this kind of talk. Someone would have to be crazy to believe thoughts, emotions and sensations aren’t “real” (my first yoga teacher told me that over 20 years ago – and it’s taken me practically since then to understand what she meant) but if you see it, even for a moment, it can relieve you of a lifetime of stress, anxiety, worry – about things like work and death – and that kind of freedom is priceless.

Would I like to work? Sure. Am I concerned about my own mortality and that of the people I love? Of course. But without the perspective outlined above, I’d be losing a lot more sleep about those and a million other things!

May you find true peace in this lifetime. If you’re looking for it, seek out a guy revered and honored by classical yogis: Patanjali.

God bless.

Want to learn more about classical yoga? You know where to find me.

I taught my first chair yoga class last week. Afterwards, one of the students asked, “What kind of yoga was that?!” 😉

I hesitated to answer because it wasn’t yoga at all.

Yoga is a meditative practice intended to quiet our mind and help us distinguish between mind and consciousness. The practice was memorialized in a 200-line poem, “The Yoga Sutras”, by the legendary Patanjali some 3,000 years ago.

What we did in chair “yoga” class was primarily a mix of Chinese Qi Gong and Japanese Karate warm-up exercises intended to maintain/improve the range of motion of our major joints.

The good news is the class was well received, and the students (average age 77) experienced a version of what they were expecting: a seated, low-impact exercise class.

The aspect of Patanjali’s yoga that caught on in the US in the 1960’s was the third of eight “limbs” of the original practice.

Patanjali’s eight-fold prescription for peace of mind can be summarized as follows:

The first and second elements address our behavior, which has the greatest impact on our state of mind (e.g., if we avoid behaving in a manner we’ll regret, we’ll have a clearer, calmer, quieter state of mind going forward).

The third element of Patanjali’s classical yoga practice (now widely referred to generically as “yoga”) simply addresses sitting still and comfortably to facilitate concentration.

Specifically, Patanjali said:

• “The posture for yoga meditation should be steady, stable, motionless, and comfortable.
• The posture should be relaxed and allow attention to merge with endlessness or the infinite.
• From the posture there arises an unassailable, unimpeded freedom from suffering.”

Somehow those three lines of Patanjali’s 200-line yoga sutras have morphed into the ubiquitous exercise classes renowned for downward dog and warrior poses.

Don’t get me wrong; “yoga” is my favorite form of exercise, I just wish it had been called what it is, “asana” [the Sanskrit word referencing the three lines of Patanjali’s poem above] – so that it hadn’t become conflated with Patanjali’s deeply-fulfilling, life-altering holistic practice.

The fourth thru eighth elements of Patanjali’s yoga sutras address breathing (to further quiet the mind) and four progressively subtle levels of meditation.

I love all forms of yoga (well, maybe not hot or goat yoga), and every opportunity to share my passion for something that dramatically changed my life, even if Patanjali wouldn’t understand today’s singular focus and interpretation of his instructions to simply sit still and contemplate infinity.

Allan “Skip” Dowds