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Yoga of Conjuring – V
Yamas Continued Satya The second Yama is Satya meaning truthfulness or non-lying. When first relating Satya to magic, it appears to be a lost cause. After all, isn’t magic about deception? Doesn’t deception involve lying? This is all true. However aren’t conjurers one of the most honest professions? It is our role to create magical… Continue reading
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Yoga of Conjuring – IV
The Yamas The Sanskrit word, Yama, translates to “control” or simply “the don’ts.” There are five Yamas. They are Ahimsa or Non-Violence, Satya or Non-Lying and Truthfulness, Astayna or Non-Stealing, Brahmacharya or Non-Sensuality and Aparigraha or Non-Greed and Non-Attachment. Ahimsa Ahimsa is known to many through the life of Gandhi. Through living Ahimsa and Satya… Continue reading
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Yoga of Conjuring – III
Each limb of Patanjali’s Eight-Limbed path has a direct correspondence to learning and growing as a magician and the performance of magic. For me, they are a path to being an awake and present performer. I came to this as process for my own development. I’m sharing it here an invitation to explore, not as… Continue reading
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Yoga of Conjuring – II
Studying the Eight Limbs of the Yoga Sutras, it became clear that while they are guides for living, they fit with our work as magicians. Magic is one of those words that we all assume we understand. However, all one has to do is review the literature of performance magic to see our struggle and… Continue reading
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Yoga of Conjuring – I
I’m not sure when I made meditation and yoga daily practices. It’s been over 20 years. I started earlier with occasional practice using a set of VHS tapes. For those who missed out, VHS was a clunky format with less than optimal control. For a “date night,” we attended a three evening class of yoga… Continue reading
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Book Notes: Searching for Awe
Through a recent podcast recommendation, I became aware of the work of Dacher Keltner. According to his Wikipedia page, Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. He is also the founder and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, host of the… Continue reading
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Some Things Change…
About a decade ago, I decided that after reaching the status of Order of Merlin: Shield that it was time to stop paying dues and leave the International Brotherhood of Magicians. We had moved to a spot where attending any Ring meetings was a logistical challenge. Most importantly, I felt my involvement had run its… Continue reading