How to Realize Calm

Mountain Lu, National Park, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China

I wonder if emotion is disappearing from the world.

Fall came four days ago. The weather in New York is perfectly cool and crisp—so much so that my poet neighbor stopped me in our lobby to remark in a stunned manner, almost with tears in his eyes, “The air—the air!” He couldn’t finish his sentence, and I was running late for work, so I left him stammering in the lobby. But outside the clear blue vault of sky said what he couldn’t. The cool oxygen lifted me like a balloon. A bike messenger howled with excitement as he turned right off Bleeker onto Sixth and headed the wrong way into one-way traffic, ebulliently defiant of rules and constraints. Life south of 14th St. crackled with the energy it hasn’t known for months, and it felt like New York had broken through its doldrums into a kind of exalted maelstrom of glee. 

THE WORLD IS MOVING MORE THAN IT WAS A YEAR AGO

I don’t know what it’s like in other parts of the country and the world because I don’t travel much. At times I travel to Japan and North Carolina for Buddhism, but I’m otherwise based in New York. Much of what I know about what’s happening on the planet I learn from people who travel and tell me about it during Rolfing sessions. What I’ve gathered is that it’s difficult to rent an apartment in New York right now — people are offering cash, more than the asking price and bidding each other out. Also, that Europe is open for business. Japan is not doing well enough with COVID to allow visits, and the world’s supply chains are broken. So-called “tech” hums along, deals are going down, and movies are being made in Morocco, Thailand, London, and New York. So, the world is moving more than it was a year ago, albeit differently. 

DEEPER SOCIAL TURMOIL 

Despite the uptick in spirit, I’m made a little uneasy by a sense of deeper social turmoil: the United States pivot from Afghanistan to the Indo-Pacific, the quiet, inevitable-feeling lean away from democracy to a kind of authoritarianism born of weariness, greed, and ignorance, and the increase in fires and floods, not to mention the momentous development of the Metaverse, blockchain technology, NFT mania, and all the disagreement and confusion about vaccinations, individual rights, and public health. Birth is messy. 

LOOKING OVER A TOWN AS IT BURNS 

I often feel like a farmer in a mountain field looking over a town as it burns. I can see the mean, smoldering glow of fire against the night, the conflagratory sparks spinning into heaven, extinguishing themselves. And there I sit with a nori-wrapped rice-ball that I offer to my companion who looks onto the fire with me. We hear cries. We take wonder in the ingenuity and energy of the brilliant developers and literati already profiting from the flames. We lament the cries of burnt children. We are frightened by the roaring, hot night wind. We are stunned by the courage of the fire’s heroes. We’re mute with sorrow for the victims. The pine trees look on with us. And we chant on the cool mountainside for the living and the dead. The stones do their stone thing, being stones.  The rivers keep running and bringing water to the burning town. Doing what they can. The rain comes and brings the scene to an end. Indeed, what is will end—beyond our power. All that we are and know and live has come to be by virtue of something beyond our capacity to know. 

BETWEEN GAIN AND LOSS 

Amid New York—and as a member of my neighborhood of the world—thrown as I am between gain and loss, having and not having, life and death, hello and good-bye, I find companionship in the loneliness that helps me touch the autumn wind that lifts me like a cloud. Because solitude’s spiritual companionship is always with me, as it is with the heroes and victims throughout time: with the revolutionaries in Algiers, the famished emigrants in Libya, the mothers, children, bright students, and self-enterprisers in Nairobi and Hanoi.

The human world is moved by emotion. But our leaders seem to have forgotten the emotional basis of life. They express their thoughts like monkeys and birds. What would it be like if instead politicians like, say, Mitch McConnell could speak as a royal attendant once did in medieval Japan, when she wrote: “Stars — The Pleiades. Altair. The evening star. Shooting stars have a certain interest. They’d be even finer if it weren’t for their tail.” 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WORLD HAS NO NEED FOR EMOTION? 

“If the world is moved by emotion,” I ask my friend on the hill “what happens when the world no longer has need of emotion?” She smiles, stands, and picks a flower for me. The rain passes, clouds open, we smell the fresh grass, and stars fill the deep black sky. 

There are times in history when culture utterly changes and what has driven one age is dead in another. Is it possible that the assault we see on our planet—the floods and conflagrations—are not indicators of avarice but, instead, signs of a loss of human emotional life—of our human capacity to feel? To heal? 

Is it possible to hear the thwarted arguments and cynicism of political leaders, and the fierce blowback of their citizens, and the rebellion of peoples’ bodies showing up as chronic discomfort or disease, as the body and world of emotion crying out for recognition and preservation? Where would we hear such a theory? Who would speak of such a thing? Is such a thought possible now? 

Perhaps such thoughts are best held to ourselves on a mountain amidst the flowers with peach trees, berry bushes, a friendly companion, and the living hills. 🌺

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Mountain Lu, National Park, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China

How to Realize Calm

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Joshua Levy
Joshua Levy
I have bee seeing Soken for while now. If you have some sort of lingering physcial malady go see him, don't wait. He's pretty busy and it might take some time to get in so call right now. Some of my injuries and pain that I have had for years have been greatly relieved by his rolfing work and he's also just a great human being. I would totally go see him for his other services as well. Rolfing doesn't need to be super intense though it can be. He will calibrate to what you need
Philippa Newman
Philippa Newman
I cannot recommend Soken highly enough. He will literally transform your life. I first came to meet Soken for his Rolfing services when I had been living with unbearable lower back pain for over a year. Numerous visits to doctors, various x-rays and months of physical therapy later, I was no better off and desperate to find an alternative solution. Having read about Rolfing as a technique, I discovered Soken's practice in NYC. I am now back pain free and able to do things I thought no longer possible. As I learned more about Soken during our Rolfing sessions, I became interested in his spiritual life coaching /contemplative guidance program. His carefully tailored program has given me enormous insight, and I am a better person, mother and leader as a result. Soken has a calming, peaceful and reassuring presence, and I am extremely grateful to have met him when I did.
A Rice
A Rice
Soken is an amazing coach that will get to the essence of your issues. Difficult issues seem to become easier handle talking to Soken. He is a great coach to have, especially in these times. He is clear and ensures you leave each session with an understanding and a plan of action.
Maya Kumits
Maya Kumits
I’ve been going to Soken for years for my bodywork and sending everyone I know to him too. The work he does with his hands is incredible - I cannot say enough good things. This review, however, is for life coaching. I was faced with a decision recently that I was having trouble making. I was going in circles. I kept changing my mind because I ultimately had no idea what to do. I felt lost and confused. I reached out to Soken for help and was so glad I did. After struggling for weeks trying to figure out the right thing to do, a 1-hour call with him gave me the clarity I needed. By answering a series of thoughtful questions and hearing my answers reflected back to me, I was able to untangle the signal from the noise. By the end of the call, the answer revealed itself. It’s been a few weeks since our call and I still feel great about the decision. I’m so grateful to Soken for helping me with this and won’t hesitate to reach out again for more life coaching.
Marni Gordon
Marni Gordon
I highly recommend Soken as he's a fantastic coach! Soken really helped me set clear goals and measures, helped me to get to insight, and ensures that I have a strong action plan with accountability in every session. Soken's coaching helped me overcome the fear of taking the next step. Soken is sensitive and provides compassionate support through the process.
faraz khan
faraz khan
Soken is an exceptionally intelligent person who seems to understand any multiple of bodily issues. I've been struggling with a reoccurring injury the past few years, and already after the first session I can sense a lot of good has been done. I highly recommend him to anyone 😊
Shonni Silverberg
Shonni Silverberg
I got to know Soken as a client of his Rolfing practice, where his expertise was immeasurably valuable in treating my plantar fasciitis. During the COVID crisis, Soken introduced me to meditation. Practicing under his guidance has been extremely helpful in these turbulent times. Shonni J. Silverberg, M.D., New York, NY
Anaina Mascovich
Anaina Mascovich
The meditation guidance and talk last night was phenomenal. I have had instruction on Metta meditation before, but your explanation offered so much wisdom and direct understanding. Much Gratitude to You Soken.
Lena Elkousy
Lena Elkousy
This review is long overdue, and I would give 10 stars if I could. I cannot recommend Soken's work highly enough. Rolfing is an investment in my physical and emotional health that I wish I had made long ago. To put it quite simply, Soken has changed my life. When we work together, he listens to what I say and what my body says, and works with me right where I am. He is a true healer. In our first series of sessions, he permanently relieved shoulder/neck pain and unfurled a chronic knot that no amount of years of deep tissue massage could even touch. One side of my ribcage was bound with fascia and scar tissue from physical and emotional trauma, to the point that I couldn't breathe into my lower right lung without feeling cramping in surrounding muscles. Over a few sessions, he set me free, and you can actually see the difference in the shape of my ribs. In a series other sessions, he relieved sharp cramping in my feet that I've dealt with since childhood. As a yogi and meditator myself, I find Soken's integrative approach quite profound. Do yourself a favor and an act of self love: and go see this wizard.
Stella Nyla Jules
Stella Nyla Jules
Soken has been transformational in improving and diminishing the increasing pain in my neck and shoulder that traditional physical therapies failed to resolve. His patience, caring, and intuition are top notch.

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