Standard Gravity

The Party of a Lifetime and the Virus That Caused It

2011-06-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

The photo album has been in this house for twenty-five years. I found it stashed away in the meditation room upstairs with about fifteen other yellowed, crumbling volumes of photographs. I'm not sure whose photo albums they are. Some may have been taken and collected by staff over the years, others appear to be personal albums from patients who passed away, and who had no one willing to store

Thank You for Littering

2011-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

My recent trip to Mexico ended up being a lesson in impermanence. We visited the ruins at Monte Alban, Mitla, and Teotihaucan, whose perforated historical documentations have archeologists scratching their heads as to what actually happened there. A bulk of these civilizations' traces had been reclaimed by nature, because, for the most part, they biodegraded. In addition to this tidbit of the

Can Acupuncture Cure My Astrology?

2011-04-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

If you would be so kind and allow me to indulge briefly in some astro-jargon: A Mars return is an astrological event which apparently happens to each of us every two years. When we are born, the position of Mars – and all the planets, for that matter – becomes part of who we are. And since Mars' orbit lasts roughly two years, a phase of re-definition of the planet's meaning hits us on the

Rolfing and Body Weight Part 2: The Vocabulary of Beauty

2011-04-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

"You know something strange," the woman in my office started to tell me, "Ever since I started getting my Rolfing sessions, people keep asking me if I've lost weight. But I haven't. I keep getting comments like 'You look great! Did you lose weight?' What's going on?" This happens, I've heard about it many times. People who receive Rolfing do look better, and most of the time it has nothing

Rolfing and Body Weight

2011-04-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous miracles do happen. Several have even taken place in my office over the past ten years. One time, a client underwent a kind of energetic re-birthing (to my surprise) after which his back-pain of fifteen years immediately vanished. Another discovered that she could communicate to plants and animals during the months of her Rolfing sessions. Now, those are "miracles" in the sense

The Hospice Front: House of Morphine

2011-03-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

"When do we reach land?" The elderly gentleman in the armchair asked me. He was wearing plaid flannel pyjamas and blue house slippers. His metal walker was situated next to him. We were in the dining room downstairs at Coming Home Hospice, a little yellow house located across the street from Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco's Castro district. I had just introduced myself to the

Tango for Life: Treating Alzheimer's with the Ocho

2011-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

The Ocho Step may save you. Americans are slowly waking up to the daunting reality of Alzheimer's. In the family of cognitive illnesses that strike the elderly, Alzheimer's is the mother of all dementiae. At the moment, an estimated 5 million Americans live with it, compared to 1 million patients with HIV, and with the gradually escalating age of the Baby Boomers, this number is projected to

The Hardest Cold Call: Dispatch from the Hospice Front

2011-01-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Coming Home Hospice at 115 Diamond in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood. You think that cold-calling a potential employer during a recession is hard? Then try this on for comparison: the first day working at a hospice. Firstly, I'll clarify exactly what hospice is. A hospice is a facility for the care of terminally ill patients who have been diagnosed with six months or less to live.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

I wish all of you a healthy and prosperous 2011. Please note the following announcements: As always, I support performing artists and educators, as they are often people who benefit greatly from Rolfing but are often discouraged by the price of bodywork. This year, I am offering a special package for a reduced rate to complete a Rolfing 10-session series by July 31, 2011. Please see here or

We're All Individuals!

2010-11-29T23:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! The end of 2010 is nigh, and this year to commemorate 10 years of harboring questions in my Rolfing practice, I've put together a list of some of the common questions regarding the most burning topics of our lives: exercise, diet, positive thinking, and relationships. Questions like "What should I eat?", "What's the best form of exercise?", "How much alcohol should I drink?",

The Politics of the Wire Donkey

2010-11-17T22:08:00.000-08:00