The world will indeed watch as Barack Obama is sworn into office on January 20, 2009, and not just because he is the first African American President, but because he represents the return of the American soul. Obama’s rock star charisma animated a wave of hope and electric patriotism the likes of which this nation had not known for years. Under the Bush administration, patriotism morphed into political fear and hostile sentiment against fellow Americans as well as foreign nations, a deliberately devised plan of divide and stay divided that came directly from the Rove camp. But as we leave behind an administration of defined by war, economic collapse, environmental catastrophes, and constitutional abuses, we must ask ourselves if the philosophy of closing the door on endless disasters and innumerable crimes for the sake of moving forward is the wise path. Do we just close our eyes on eight years of war crimes, torture, and a myriad of other constitutional abuses? Or, to put this question another way, are we or are we not a nation governed by law? And, in addition to investigating matters regarding the rule of law, how shall we learn from our past if we decide not to look into our past? As someone who has dealt in matters of healing for more than two decades, I know for a fact that when a human being becomes ill, healing necessitates a thorough investigation into what choices an individual made in the past that caused him or her to fall out of alignment with a core Sacred Contract. Those choices need to be reviewed lest that individual continue to repeat those same patterns because history shows people do continue to repeat the errors from the past unless they consciously learn from their mistakes – ergo, the great adage, “A person who does not learn from the past is destined to repeat it.”

America is many things but it is not a nation with a wisdom tradition - but it needs to become one and soon. It needs to become a wiser nation that is capable of introspective politics with a deep regard for its philosophical and spiritual roots. It needs to return to a respect for high principles and considerations of the generations to follow and not just on behalf of who is going to shoulder the enormous debt created by the carelessness of the Congress and Senate under the Bush administration.

We were founded by philosophers and political mystics, men who held high dreams about what the human spirit deserved in terms of right government. America was born to be an experiment in the rights of the spirit as best as could be incarnated by men who could see the potential if successful for the benefit of all humanity. And certainly they could see their own hypocrisy as slave owners in love with freedom, but it was a beginning, a first step in an era of consciousness that was filled with slaves, serfs, indentured servants, and over-stuffed monarchs. Theirs was a bold choice – a very bold and daring choice – that began a course of democracy that changed the world and came to represent a quality of individual freedom unknown on the entire earth prior to Jefferson scripting the Declaration of Independence and later as so many of these Founding visionaries created the American Bill of Rights. Freedom for these early Americans meant freedom to speak out, to think, to learn, to go where they wanted to go, to practice their religion of choice, to own land and grow their own food, to create their own occupations, and to challenge their government should it fall into moral decay. These are the greatest freedoms in life. These are freedoms worth protecting at all costs. They did not start their America – this America – for the right to invade another nation. In fact, they wanted nothing to do with war unless to defend the nation. Thus invasion was considered against the values of this nation. And invasion for the sake of furthering high end economic lifestyles would have been viewed by these legendary figures as a crime fostered by an imperialist culture, not a rebel state set on a course of individual freedom.

During these past eight years, America strayed from its Sacred Contract, plunging into the abyss of a single-minded shadow vision that has resulted in this nation tumbling into its decline. It’s not that this nation is inexperienced with crises. It’s been through a civil war and a bloody one at that. Most people don’t realize how soon into its creation as a nation that America experienced this violent earthquake of its vision and that had the Civil War succeeded in breaking apart this nation, the great founding vision of democracy would have evaporated from the face of this earth. But America made it through that crisis under the moral and spiritual guidance of Abraham Lincoln, whose spirit held the union together with an almost mystical power of will and determination. He was a man who knew he had a destiny, a man with the soul of a poet, a visionary, and a mystic who was passionately in love with America and its founding vision of democracy.

Many other difficulties followed the Civil War and certainly many sins, such as the way the Americans of the time stole the land of the Native American people. This is not a nation without blood on its own hands. The great irony of America is and always will be its Sacred Contract to set a course for freedom while having been born as a slave nation that continued to enslave so many of its own people well into the 20th century before granting them full civil rights. America is a nation of numerous contradictions, its history of slavery to freedom being among the deepest.

America is no stranger to great wealth or to the sudden loss of it. This nation tumbled into a Great Depression eighty-years-ago. As all Americans know, October, 1929, is noted as the beginning of the Great Depression. The Great Depression woke up the American spirit in that the isolated location of America permitted many Americans to live in the illusion that the problems that plagued the “other” people of the world could not possibly make it across the Atlantic or the Pacific – certainly not a wave of national poverty. But the market did collapse and just like that.

As I teach my students, always look to the archetypal realm for coordinates that give you an indication of what the collective soul of a nation is feeling. Shortly after the stock market crumbled, the social language of the day noted in newspapers and on the radio that America was, “financially crippled”. Crippled – that’s how Americans described themselves in the 1930’s. In keeping with the psychic nature of epidemics, and epidemics tend to emerge out of a traumatized social event or catastrophe, the polio epidemic struck in the 1930’s, crippling children around the country. Indeed, America was now completely crippled, from its tribal chakra through to its spiritual crown.

A president was elected during the 1930’s who also a victim of polio – FDR. He was exactly what the collective soul of America needed, a leader who knew what they were going through in terms of being psychically crippled, and yet he was a man of wisdom and strength. Many Americans were not aware that their president had polio, given the absence of television and snoopy, disrespectful reporters. The few reporters who did know honored his request to keep his condition private was fairly well respected. Toward the end of the 1930’s, it was apparent that America could no longer remain isolated from the climate of war that was brewing around the war. Certainly America was already in a warlike relationship with Japan. But war was also a way to unite a shatter and broken people who had become disconnected from the powerful Sacred Contract of their nation. And a worthy and honorable cause can lift the national pride of a nation and unite its people like nothing else. All Sacred Contracts – yours as well as a nation’s – requires “rebooting”, or constant nourishment from its citizens. A loss of faith in a nation depletes or de-animates a Sacred Contract in the same way that a loss of faith in your life de-animates your own Sacred Contract, resulting in an inability to connect with hope and optimism. A person can tell you to be hopeful and to think positive, but it is impossible to feel hope and to feel positive. That was the psychic climate of America in the 1930’s, with its breadlines and high unemployment.

But then America entered World War II and its golden years began. The Allies were desperate for the weaponry that America could so easily and safely manufacture and manufacture it did: weaponry, planes, tanks, ships, uniforms – twenty-four hours a day. America was alive again and thriving. By the end of the war, America was economically, “back on its feet again”, as all the economists and journalists of the day noted. Not surprising then that by the 1950’s, Jonah Salk discovered the vaccine for polio – America was more than ready to not only shed its epidemic consciousness but make an evolutionary leap in consciousness to the “Self and Wealth” generation.

Enter our generation: We are the “self and wealth” generation. We are the adults and children of Self-awareness literature, rapidly self made and inherited wealth, which is our blessing and our curse. We grew up with more abundance than did our parents and thus we grew up with a sense (cents) of entitlement. We grew up in an America that was on the rise, sky-rocketing on world good will as a result of World War II and abundance like it had never known. There was nothing we could not do or attain or get – absolutely nothing. We could even lasso the moon if we wanted it – and in fact, under President John F. Kennedy, we did just that. Though the possible threat of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union loomed somewhere in the background….that threat was way in the background, drowned out by the sound of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.

Then came the Vietnam War and a first crack in the bubble of post World War II patriotism. From an archetypal perspective, the antiwar protests represented far more than the war protestors, students, and “intellectual liberals” taking to the streets challenging the right of a nation to force its youth to fight in a war. Symbolically the antiwar protests represented a profound shift in the balance of power within the archetypal structure of the nation itself. Warriors go to war when the tribe calls upon them. That’s the code of the tribe. The anti-Vietnam war protestors broke through an archetypal pattern within this nation’s psychic field, one that unfortunately took its toll on the soldiers who fought in that war. Consider that the theme of the 1960’s was the “birth of the Self” and indeed the Self went through birth canals in every possible manifestation: sexual, religious, political, drugs, civil rights, women’s rights, emotional rights. It would make sense from an “archetypal birthing” perspective that the “Self” would also experience a difficult birth through the canal of, “the Self versus the archetype of tribal warfare.”

The 1960’s carried the archetypal theme of birthing the voice of the Self and that voice of the Self made its way through every door and passageway that had previously been controlled by group-thought forms or the social mind. Returning soldiers became the targets of the emerging Self as they represented “blind trust” in a tribal cause, pitted against the awakening of individual consciousness. Thus, the two extremes roles that the anti-war protestor and soldier served, both of whom were archetypal heroes to the birthing of a new era of consciousness, if a person could but see that clearly. Today this same polarity exists only the silent one is the anti-war protestor who has gone into silence lest the protests against the war be viewed as anti-patriotic. The Bush administration successfully managed to make the right to protest antipatriotic, never mind the issue one was protesting. Just protesting alone is sufficient to be declared antipatriotic; thus, blind faith in the government’s policies successfully replaced faith in the principles of the nation under the Bush administration. Clever, that. But even with all the feigned patriotism for the American soldier serving in this accidental war – which is what Bush now calls it – an “oops, if I’d just be given better information, why all those people wouldn’t be dead right now and Iraq wouldn’t be destroyed and American would be broke…but, oh well,” – our soldiers are completely neglected when they arrive home – thanks to the policies of G W Bush. Check out Walter Reed Hospital, for some eye-opening fun facts on how American vets are given care post Iraq…that is, if you have the stomach for these types of facts. Gotta love that dress-up patriot of an almost EX-president who managed never to serve in a real war, right?

Now, I promised you that we would head into positive information but actually I consider all of this positive. I consider any information that I learn something from as positive, especially if it opens my eyes. That Americans only want good news and information that makes them happy speaks about their absence of realism and that’s not the way I write. And it’s not the way I live. So, before we get to the positive consequences of this derailment, we must first review how this happened to us because if we don’t learn from the choices we made, we will make them again and again and again.

If you came to me for a reading because you were in a health or a life crisis, I would immediately review your Sacred Contract and then I would evaluate your physical crisis as all problems begin in the realm of your patterns of power. These first become dysfunctional and those dysfunctional patterns, in turn, supply energy to your mental, emotional, and physical conditions. Based upon the law that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, this same dynamic holds true, thus the archetypal patterns of the Sacred Contract of America contain patterns of power that reflect the governing purpose of this nation. Let me say immediately that by no means does America’s Sacred Contract position it as a superior nation or one that is incapable of enormous acts of aggression in this world. No Sacred Contract is a document of superiority or privilege. Rather a Sacred Contract is a cosmic pattern of potential and opportunity unique to a person or a nation. How an individual or the people of each nation unfold that Contract depends upon how conscious they choose to be about their lives or their government. A nation can fall into great darkness, as Germany did under Hitler and the Nazi regime, and then exorcize those demons to return to rebuild a nation anew. But evil can possess a nation or a people, it can take hold of a group of individuals and wreck havoc within a country for a period of time, as in Darfur. People are mass murdered and human rights are violated constantly on this planet and we must ask ourselves each day, “What is the reason for becoming conscious if not to become aware of the power of light over darkness, both within ourselves and outside of ourselves?” And then, “What is our responsibility as individuals to respond to the darkness in the collective? If not you, then who? Who should have responded to the Nazis when they came for the Jews? And when the Nazis came for the gypsies and the homosexuals and the intellectuals who challenged the rise of fascism? And when other evil leaders such as Stalin initiated his purges and murdered thirty million of his own countrymen and women – who should have stood against that? Whose responsibility is Darfur? These are not small questions but they are questions that must be reflected upon by every human being who sets his or her foot upon the path of becoming a conscious human being because at some point the reason for becoming conscious ceases to be about you and it becomes about others. You become a conscious person in order to become an agent of profound change for others, not just for yourself. In that choice, you discover the real meaning of your highest potential.

So, back to America and to what is happening to us now and where we go from here. The inauguration of Barack Obama represents far more than the historic swearing in of America’s first African American president. It represents a shift in the compass of power of America as it enters the global era, leaving behind America’s century of wealth and military domination. The days of international cooperation and diplomacy have begun with crises on every front. And in addition to that, we need to rediscover ourselves economically. The days of manufacturing cars and electronic goods and exporting them offer but dim possibilities of high returns.

As we look at the economic future of our country, here we must once again refer to the archetypes of our nation, for what exactly built the economic backbone of this nation and what exactly destroyed it? Listening to the experts blather their way through this situation by demanding huge piles of money with no accountability, I cannot but think, “This is a solution? Isn’t this the type of economic behavior that got us into this mess?” And that’s exactly it – America morphed its creative instincts during the decades of Self and Wealth to produce renegade archetypes that have done far more harm than good. The “financial engineer” and the “legal engineer” archetypes emerged during these past thirty or forty years to earn great status in our country and they have done far more harm than good. Engineering the law in order to out maneuver the law in a nation that has long relied upon the good governance of the law to maintain order is the highest risk to the balance of this republic – but that is exactly what America has done. Among the worst criminals in these actions have been our own Congress and Senate who have allowed the laws of this land to be twisted and even broken in order to serve the paranoia of the Bush administration. And in setting the tone to disregarding the laws from the top down, permission was given to act as a free for all in unrestricted greed as the focus of this government shifted from the interests of the country to the interests of the corporations.

Financial engineering brought down Enron along with other companies and now it has brought down the real estate and banking systems, thanks to subprime mortgages. The Congress and Senate are not filled with that many foolish and stupid people that they did not see this coming; but they are filled with self-serving people who were held hostage by Bush/Cheney fear tactics and the interests of lobbyists. So where does that leave us as we look to rebuild this nation?

Well, I promised you good news, so let’s get to it. If healing is the target, than crisis is the bow and a bow is but the device to transfer energy. America needed to wake up. It needed to break out from the dark spell of fear from the Bush administration and reconnect to the soul of America, a soul that is fundamentally one of service and humanitarian interests. Toward that end, among America’s most powerful archetypes are the Pioneer, the Visionary, and the Entrepreneur. We are standing at a crossroads of history, between eras. We are living at the close of the fossil fuel era and the need to break into the era of energy. Already we are a species whose lines of communication are all energetic. While I was doing a workshop in Santa Domingo last year, I had several conversations with a few businessmen who own the largest wheat plantations in Guatemala and Venezuela. They were in the midst of shifting their wheat fields from growing wheat to raising corn for ethanol, as they felt the future was in alternative fuels. The problem for them was that they were the leading manufacturers of flour for these countries and they owned all the bakeries as well. They could see that their decisions would have major consequences in terms of creating a shortage of food in these countries but they were willing to allow that shortage to happen because of the personal profit they would make. They saw this as a decision essential to the times.

Food shortages have always existed but they are rapidly increasing. Food is something that America has always been good at producing, especially wheat, corn, soy beans, and other grains. Why can’t America pioneer ways to become the ecological breadbasket of the planet? Why can’t America turn to its land and become masterfully productive at finding alternative ways to produce food for exportation? If we can’t produce equipment, why can’t we grow food? Surely there must be ways to utilize the creativity of the land industry that could convert to massive exports. Anything is better than printing dollars and pouring them into black holes with blank-faced experts who have no idea where billions of dollars have gone. Surely Americans are capable of creating ways of responding to the needs of this world rather than becoming dependent and fearful, returning to the days of the Great Depression. The fact that we are on the verge of a new era already says that the inspiration abounds for those who are ready and able to make bold choices. Granted, the majority of us are not farmers, but we do not have to be farmers to think creatively.

America needs to move forward now and not think of returning to the era of “self and wealth”. The American dream needs to be redefined, not as the right to financially engineer one’s way through something, but as the right to create a new livelihood and the obligation to take care of our freedom. And Americans can do this. We can envision this nation as an ecological wonderland, a place where we can create the energetic technology that is needed to feed and fuel the here and now of humanity. We are a people who have “service” in our bones and in our blood. Entrepreneurial enterprises can emerge out of the disintegration of this economy as we release the old, gird our loins, and envision ourselves as “re-energized” in our psyche and souls. These past years have de-energized our spirits. War does that, as does years of living under the politics of fear and being fed endless lies by an administration that decayed in national and international respect years ago. A people need to respect its leadership. In voting in Barack Obama, we voted to return to the Sacred Contract of America because this man represents the rule of law. He is a Professor of Constitutional Law, a man who respects the Bill of Rights and the fundamental principles upon which this nation was built. This election was a turning point for us and many recognized that as we looked upon the two candidates, a former POW whose language was filled with battle cries and wounds versus a man who promised a hope and a new America. We chose well. We chose the spirit of America over the illusion of the power of America. We chose the real power of America. Well done us.

It is my belief that America is at its most fragile time and in that fragility, it holds the potential of a new birth. For all that a new President can bring to a nation, still its recovery is in our hands and in our hearts and spirit. The well being of America is in our hands and it is up to us to reach into our own Sacred Contracts and reach for the soul path of our lives. Go for your how highest potential. If not now, then when? America is in its cocoon waiting to see if it will make it to the stage of a healthy butterfly. So many Americans have the idea, “Oh, America will rise again. America will get back on its feet again.” It’s great to have that type of faith in America but these are different times than those that have gone before and America now needs to take its place as an equal at the world table of leaders and not as the “leader of the free world.” As a result of these past eight years, we have lost the high moral ground we once held and perhaps it’s not a bad thing for this nation to stand on equal footing with the rest of the nations, given that we all share this one planet. In fact, perhaps it’s a great blessing in disguise. We have entered the era of global equality, not global domination. If we learn nothing else from the past eight years of the Bush/Cheney folly, we must learn that invading to get what we want based upon contrived reasons and “misinformation” is itself a moral crime against the people of this nation as well as the rest of the world. And no people should ever tolerate years of being lied to by their own government, much less knowing that they are being lied to on a daily basis and looking the other way and calling that silence “patriotism”.

As Americans, we cannot afford to ever believe again that bad things cannot happen in this nation or that America is protected from ever having a dark or self-serving administration. It is not. We can enter into cycles of darkness and downward economic times – indeed, we are in just such a cycle. Your neighbors can lose their homes and it is possible even for you to lose your job. America and Americans are not protected from the business of life – and somehow we had gotten to the point of entitlement in which we thought we were. We believed that we could even buy whatever we wanted, whether or not we had the money. We had taken the American dream to the level of the American fantasy – no wonder it crashed and burned.

But America’s Sacred Contract remains intact, ever present. And the enthusiasm with which the American people responded to Barack Obama and his message of hope, anti-torture, ending the war, and realism about the fact that we will need to sacrifice to make it through the years ahead but – Yes We Can make it – tells me that the spiritual grace from this nation’s Contract is once again animated and on the mend. Americans should rally in their hearts, even if right now you are going through a time of difficult change. Think of America’s Sacred Contract and reflect upon creating something with the future in mind or being a part of something of service. This is the grace through which we will rebuild this great nation and with this grace, America will indeed be great once again but great in spirit, as it was once envisioned by those who first saw its potential.

Welcome back America and may God bless and watch over President Barack Obama and his family.

Caroline Myss

Copyright 2009

 

This post is a bit of a double edged sword coming from two completely different topics, but since it came to me in one package so will it be presented.

I just came across this really good youtube guitar playing video that really tells you simply what to focus on to advance your playing to the level of actually being able to speak through your instrument.  I know I've needed to implement an ear training routine for a while and this guy simply puts the importance of transcribing music by ear out there.  The contrast of this video comes with its outro segment which discusses the topic of Darfur.  For me hearing about this topic has once again thrown me for a loop! 
It's extremely disheartening to see the constant pulling of our society into its bubble when you know it takes the conscious mind away from the correctable atrocities taking place in the world today.

Anyway, here's the video followed by a 2009 post on Darfur.

Darfur - 2009

January 3, 2009 — John

With dismaying predictability, the continuing catastrophe in Darfur commands less and less news attention, largely because it has settled into a grim “genocide by attrition,” defined not so much by massive atrocities—although these continue to occur—as by relentless, if undramatic, human suffering and destruction consequent upon the Khartoum regime’s deliberate exacerbating of insecurity confronting civilians and aid workers. Most of the region has only a tenuous and fitful humanitarian presence, and many distressed populations are completely beyond reach (see UN access map at http://www.unsudanig.org/library/mapcatalogue/darfur/index.php?fid=access). Darfur’s visibility has diminished not only because the observational presence of humanitarian workers is much reduced (even as their fear of speaking out has increased), but because the Khartoum regime has imposed severe restrictions on journalists seeking access to Darfur.

Read the entire post at Darfur Enmeshed Within Sudan’s Broadening National Crisis - Eric Reeves

I first came across this music while watching the Alex Grey documentary: Cosm.  After tracking down the artist (Ajja Leu) and getting my hands on the full track I edited it in with some video footage from the BBC documentary: Earth, The Power of The Planet.  It makes for a great music video.  Unfortunately I can only present this in You Tube quality, but nonetheless hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Seth


 

There are 2.1 billion Christians on the planet – roughly one third of the entire human population. At the heart of their religion is the New Testament and the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. To Christianity, the written word is the glue that binds the faith of its followers.

So, what if it could be proven that Jesus never existed? What if there was evidence that every word of the New Testament – the cornerstone of Christianity – is based on myth and metaphor?

Based on Tom Harpur’s national bestseller, The Pagan Christ examines these very questions. During his research, Harpur discovered that the New Testament is wholly based on Egyptian mythology, that Jesus Christ never lived, and that – indeed – the text was always meant to be read allegorically. It was the founders of the Church who duped the world into taking a literal approach to the scriptures. And, according to Harpur, this was their fatal error – and the very reason Christianity is struggling today.

The mission of The Pagan Christ is not to accelerate Christianity’s slow demise, but to breath new life into its holy book and, in the process, bring the world a richer, more spiritual faith.

Nature and field recording is something I've been delving into more and more lately.  If anyone is interested in this topic the following article is an excellent place to start.  I first came across it a few months ago when I knew very little on the subject, but after much research and another read through earlier today I’ve come to appreciate it that much more.  It’s a great resource!

 

“Ever heard a tree singing?” asks noted composer and bioacoustician Bernie Krause. “It's 70 kHz,” he adds as he reaches for a CD-R in his spartan Northern California studio (see Fig. 1).

The CD that accompanied Krause's recent book, Wild Soundscapes (reviewed in the December 2002 issue), included singing ants, aquatic insect larvae, and the hair-raising growl of an Amazonian jaguar. The singing sand dunes and the calving glaciers mentioned in the text didn't make the CD, so they were first on my request list as our interview wound down. Nonetheless, I was not prepared to hear the sounds of a tree.

“We were listening for the sounds of bats,” Krause continued, “which are up in the 47-plus kHz range. And we heard a steady signal, very unbiological in the sense of it being from a creature. As we moved closer to this cottonwood tree, the signal level increased. We drilled a little hole in the tree and put this hydrophone in. We had an instrumentation device with us that could record a frequency that high, and we got a signal coming from the trunk of the tree. We couldn't figure out what it was. Then we slowed it down by a factor of seven, to get it down within our hearing range.” As we listened to the tree's music, I was startled by the regularity of its pulse and the subtle rhythmic accents. It was as if we were hearing a recording of a virtuosic percussionist playing woodblocks.

TRY THIS AT HOME

“What we discovered was that during a drought, the cells in the xylem of the tree usually maintain a certain pressure from the water that comes into the trunk of a tree during normally wet seasons,” Krause explained. “When that pressure drops during a drought, the cells automatically fill with air, to try to maintain the osmotic pressure. And when they get too dry and they're pumping in air, they pop. When they pop, they die, and the dead cells form the tree's rings. So, when they pop, they make a noise: we can't hear it, but insects can. And when insects hear multiple cells popping, they're drawn to the tree because certain ones are programmed to expect sap. And when the insects are drawn to the tree, the birds are drawn to the tree to eat. It's all a microhabitat formed by sound.”

Krause points out that the world around us holds many surprises, if we would only listen. A microphone, like a microscope or a pair of binoculars, provides a way to experience the subtleties of nature that our unaided sensorial faculties might not fully grasp. This article looks at the working methods and technology used by a number of people who record nature sounds.

“People like me are afraid of technology,” Krause says, “particularly when it comes to recorders. They have no problem using video or digital cameras. We're a visual culture: people develop an affinity to anything visual really quickly. But put a recorder in their hand, and they cannot figure out how to push the record and play buttons at the same time.”

To counter this, in Wild Soundscapes, Krause introduces the reader to a simple, inexpensive listening system: the Radio Shack Stereo Amplified Listener, which lists for approximately $35, and a pair of inexpensive headphones. This system allows even the most technophobic person to experience the natural world in a new way.

The next step is to put a recorder into the system so that you can document what you hear. The list of essentials for any kind of remote recording is fairly short: an audio recorder, a microphone, cables, blank tapes or discs, headphones, and power. Optional items — which many experienced recordists would deem essential — include a windscreen for each mic and protective cases for everything.

If there's one benefit to the continued miniaturization of recording technology, it's that a quality recording rig can be easily carried almost anywhere. But unlike the sound-effects location recordist, who often needs merely a few seconds or minutes of audio material, the nature recordist works to capture sounds in the long form: those gradually unfolding movements of Mother Nature's symphonies that can only be experienced through patient and attentive listening. Many of these sounds are quiet enough to quickly reveal the flaws of a recording system.

Sound designer Rudy Trubitt notes that the conditions and desired result determine the gear he takes into the field. “It may be advantageous to have a portable or invisible rig. You'll need to ask yourself how much mobility is required and what the power considerations are. For example, what's the smallest rig you can have for hiking when you need lots of batteries?”

The three essential elements of Krause's recording setup are a Sony PCM-M1 DAT recorder, a Sound Devices preamp, and a battery pack (see Fig. 2). Even when you add mics, windscreens, cables, a tripod, and a case, the load is light enough for backpacking (see Fig. 3).

BIOPHONY AND GEOPHONY

In Wild Soundscapes, Krause stresses the importance of capturing the biophony — the collective sounds expressed by an entire habitat of creatures — when recording in what he terms the wild natural. A related term, geophony, refers to the soundscape of nonliving phenomena, such as water, wind, and geologic sounds.

“Natural sound libraries usually focus on individual creatures, which, to me, expresses a kind of 19th-century science: abstracting things from their context. The context tells a lot more about why these creatures vocalize, their vocal mechanisms, and how they learned to vocalize in the first place.

“We tend to deconstruct the natural world around us. When we just take a robin or a sparrow out of context, it's like taking just the strings or the horn lines out of a Beethoven symphony. You can listen to it, but you only get a partial sense of the whole.”

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING RECORDER

The first time Krause recorded in the great outdoors was in the late '60s with his partner, Paul Beaver. “Our first record for Warner Brothers was called In a Wild Sanctuary. The mandate from Warner Brothers was to go out and try to find a way to connect sounds of the natural world to the sounds of a synthesizer and to do an album on the subject of ecology. It came about at a very propitious time because Nagra had just come out with their new portable stereo recorder, which allowed us to go out into the field and record in ways that we couldn't have done before. Also, new mic technology allowed us to record in the field without a lot of humidity and wind problems, although the mics were very sensitive. They had a wonderful dynamic range. This explosion of technology increased our capabilities to levels never before imagined.”

Into the '80s, Krause's favorite setup — a rugged, nearly indestructible Nagra IV-S 2-track reel-to-reel recorder, mics, tapes, batteries, and accessories — weighed a hefty 45 pounds. Carrying around such a weighty kit is almost unthinkable today. Besides taking size and weight into account when you choose your field recorder, it's also important to consider the equipment's ability to survive in extreme conditions. Can the recorder be used at an angle and while moving? Will it work while being jostled?

Since the late '80s, portable DAT recorders have been a popular format for field recording, replacing heavier reel-to-reel units and portable analog cassette machines, such as the Sony TCD5. The popular DAT recorders for field recording include the Sony PCM-MI, TCD-D7, TCD-D8, and TCD-D100 and the larger Tascam DA-P1 and HHB PDR1000.

More recently, the tapeless MiniDisc (MD) recorders have gained popularity, as much for their size as for their reliability. That robust optical-storage format is shock resistant and handles heat and dirt fairly well. However, some recordists are wary about Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC), MD's data compression scheme. “Some people are scared of ATRAC, but they really shouldn't be,” says Trubitt. “MiniDisc recorders are small, inexpensive, and you can carry a spare. By comparison, DAT machines aren't so cheap that you'd want to carry two on your body.”

“The favored MD recorders are the relatively inexpensive Walkman-style ones,” says recordist and frog enthusiast Walter Knapp. “But do your research carefully, because not all models are suitable for field recording.” In the MD field, popular models include the Sony MZ-R30, MZ-R50, MZ-R55, MZ-R700, and MZ-N505; the Sharp 722, MD-DR7, and MD-MT180; the Marantz PMD650; and the HHB Portadisc MDP500 (see Fig. 4). An interesting feature of the Portadisc and the MD-DR7 is a prerecord memory buffer — they store 6 seconds and 5 seconds, respectively — which allows you to capture sounds that occur before Record is fully engaged.

On the PCMCIA front, the Marantz Professional PMD690 shows promise because it has balanced XLR inputs, coaxial S/PDIF outputs, and records in MP2, WAV, and Broadcast WAV formats. At the high end is the Nagra V 24-bit hard-disk recorder, which records in the Broadcast WAV — file format.

Core Sound (www.core-sound.com) has just announced a series of products that form an inexpensive high-resolution system that may be the answer for recordists looking to replace their DAT and MD recorders. The PDAudio-CF is a Compact Flash S/PDIF interface, with optical and coaxial inputs, that supports 24-bit, 192 kHz recording and can be mounted in PDA hosts (such as the HP/Compaq iPAQ) that run Windows CE/Pocket PC 2002 or Linux or used with laptop and desktop computers running Linux or Windows 2000 or XP. The PDAudio-CF will be priced under $300. Core Sound also offers recording applications, which include metering and WAV-file compatibility, for these PDA platforms. For the front end, Core Sound offers the portable Mic2496, a pro-level battery-powered mic preamp and 24-bit A/D converter. The dual-channel Mic2496 offers 48V phantom power, ganged level controls, a low-battery light, clipping indicators for each channel, and four selectable sampling rates (44.1 to 96 kHz). The company also has its own line of binaural microphones that complement the system.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of potential field recorders. In fact, some of the recorders mentioned above are out of production and are only available secondhand. But because of their features and price, even an older model is worth hunting down if it fits your budget and needs.

USING MICS OUTDOORS

Just as they do in the studio, the mics you use outdoors will shape the sounds you record. Field recordists agree that omnidirectional mics are better in windy situations than directional mics. Otherwise, mic choices are based on a combination of personal preference, job requirements, budget, and field conditions.

For nature recordist Douglas Quin, the choice of gear is determined, in part, as a response to the situation. “I tend to decide on what mics to use when I get a feel for a place and the sounds that I hear. It's much like a photographer, who chooses lenses, filters, cameras, formats, and lighting. The tools need to be appropriate to what you are trying to capture. For ambiences and groupings of animals, I generally use stereo microphone configurations. I also use shotgun microphones and parabolic reflectors for species-specific recordings. Parabolic dishes work well for songbirds, but not for larger animals, where there is a stronger low end.”

“There are a number of interesting stereo mic techniques suitable for use in field recording,” Trubitt says. “When I'm choosing one over another, sonic character is obviously a key consideration. It is not, however, the only determining factor. The other issues I consider are creating effective protection from wind noise and ease of maneuverability.” The most common stereo configurations used by nature recordists are XY, M-S, ORTF, binaural, and quasi-binaural.

An XY configuration requires a coincident pair of directional microphones, positioned so that their capsules are as close to each other as possible without touching (see Fig. 5). The angle between the capsules is usually set between 90 and 135 degrees, with the greater angles offering a wider stereo spread. The XY setup gives you a narrower, more focused stereo image than other stereo-miking techniques, but there is often a 3 dB drop in the center of the image. “I often use XY for ambient recordings,” notes Quin, “where I find myself in the middle of a flock of birds or where animals are distributed all around me.”

“You can make your own XY setup using two directional mics, but the result can be a bit ungainly for field work,” Trubitt says. “Creating a suitable windscreen will also be an issue. Individual windscreens will increase the distance between capsules. If you're planning to standmount the pair, the extra bulk may not matter.” The Røde NT4 is a recent example of a stereo XY microphone that addresses these issues.

“This kind of crossed-pair, stereo array provides good localization and imaging,” Trubitt continues. “It's not the most dramatic picture, but it is accurate. My main concern about this technique is the quality and character of the cardioid mics. If the mics have an uneven off-axis response, which is not an uncommon problem, to my ears they can take on a pinched quality. Also, if you point a crossed-pair array directly at the sound source of interest, you are picking it up with the 45 degree off-axis response of both capsules. This may also lead to coloration.

“A pair of crossed figure-8 mics, which is called a Blumlein array, produces a spacious and pleasing stereo image,” Trubitt says. “Although the proximity effect of cardioid and figure-8 mics enhances the bass frequencies when close to the subject, there is an unavoidable bass roll-off when working at a distance. Consequently, I wouldn't choose them for thunder storms or elephant snorts. In contrast, omni microphones maintain their full low-frequency response regardless of their working distance from the sound source, and they are much less sensitive to wind noise than directional mics. From a subjective standpoint, I often prefer the sound of omnis; their off-axis response tends to be smoother than many cardioids.” Several stereo techniques — M-S, binaural, quasi-binaural and spaced pairs — use omnidirectional mics.

M-S (middle-side) combines a “mid” microphone, which is the center and is usually a cardioid, hypercardioid, or omni, and a bidirectional “side” microphone, a figure-8, facing sideways. Using an omni in the mid position provides the most open and natural ambience, while a more directional mid mic gives greater focus and isolation to the sounds directly in front of you, at the expense of accurate stereo placement of sounds to either side.

The two capsules are placed as close to each other as possible, with the mid mic's primary axis aligned with the side mic's null axis (see Fig. 6). The M-S system yields a robust stereo image, which you can modify during post-production, and a strong center image. An advantage to the M-S system is that you can reencode the stereo mix into the original middle-side components, provided you haven't processed the signals. You can also use the middle image and side images independently. M-S is thoroughly mono compatible.

In order to get a complete stereo image, the M-S signal needs to be decoded with a sum-and-difference matrix. A number of portable preamps offer M-S onboard decoding, so you can record and monitor a traditional stereo image. In addition, some M-S microphones are able to decode the signal, or you can use outboard hardware or a software plug-in. If you don't decode the signal, you will record the mid mic to one channel (usually to the left channel) and the side mic (usually to the right), which can be disorienting because you won't be hearing the stereo spread that you see in front of you. Any stereo mic with a width switch is probably an M-S model. The Shure VP88 is an example of a single-point M-S mic with a cardioid center capsule and a built-in M-S decoder.

“Because nearly all figure-8 mics are side-address,” says Trubitt, “an M-S pair will be positioned in parallel, perhaps even touching. This compact arrangement is convenient to carry and fits easily in a single shockmount and windscreen combo such as a Rycote blimp. This yields low handling noise and high wind resistance, which is highly desirable for field work.”

“An advantage of M-S,” says Quin, “is that you can adjust the stereo image and enjoy the benefits of having two recordings in one — the mid channel can be a species-specific recording on its own. I also may choose ORTF, because the angle of incidence at 110 degrees can communicate certain spaces with great clarity.”

Another stereo technique is to use a pair of spaced omnis. However, Trubitt notes that recordings made with a spaced-omni pair often lack a strong center image.

Traditional binaural stereo recording utilizes a dummy-head with the mic capsules tucked into anatomically correct dummy ear canals. Another less expensive option is a pair of in-ear mics, such as the German-made Soundman OKM binaural mics (see Fig. 7). These little omnis are foam covered and sit in the ear like tiny Walkman ear buds. A mic pair like this is very portable, is invisible to other people, and creates a stunningly realistic stereo image when auditioned using headphones. Omni capsules are commonly employed in binaural recording, which gives you an improved low-frequency response and better wind tolerance.

Binaural recordings are meant to be heard using headphones; over loudspeakers, binaural recordings have a weak center. Stereo shuffling, a signal process described by Blumlein, can be used to improve loudspeaker playback compatibility. A plug-in, such as the Waves S1, can be used for shuffling.

For better speaker translation, many recordists choose the Crown Stereo Ambient Sampling System (SASS-P) mic. The SASS-P is a roughly head-size — although decidedly not head-shaped — apparatus that provides a quasi-binaural image that is more loudspeaker friendly than a binaural arrangement.

Binaural and related mic pairs often use omni mics, but you can use spaced cardioid mics as well. “Try a pair of cardioids spaced roughly ear-width apart and angled outward from 110 degrees to 135 degrees,” says Trubitt. “The French body Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francais (ORTF) specifies this arrangement as 6.69 inches from capsule to capsule with an angle of 110 degrees (see Fig. 8). In contrast to crossed-pair XY or M-S techniques, spaced cardioids provide a bit more drama at the expense of precise localization of individual objects in the stereo field.”

Spaced capsule arrangements are generally less mono compatible than coincident techniques such as M-S and crossed pairs. On the other hand, spaced techniques generate a stereo signal that includes time-arrival differences between channels. Coincident techniques only create intensity differences between channels: a sound on the right plays back louder in the right speaker. “I am less likely to use these spaced arrangements in the field,” says Trubitt, “not so much because of mono-compatibility concerns, but because the size of spaced arrays usually requires two shockmounts and two windscreens, making the apparatus ungainly unless I am putting it on a tripod and walking away.”

In his work recording frogs, Walter Knapp uses a Telinga Pro 5 parabolic microphone (see Fig. 9). “A good parabolic mic can move you much closer to the sounds you want. It's the easiest way to be close to the calling frog out in the middle of the swamp. A parabolic can also be used to sort through mixtures of callers, focusing on small groups rather than the entire swamp. And you can cover a lot of area from one spot.” Knapp cautions, however, that the long reach of the parabolic mic will also pick up far-away man-made sounds as well.

“A parabolic,” he says, “gains a lot of its amplification by concentrating the sound before it hits the microphone. You can raise the gain electronically, but you also amplify the built-in electronic noise of the mic. A parabolic can do a good job with a microphone of lower quality (and thus cheaper).” Knapp has experimented with a DIY parabolic mic, which can be seen on his Web site (http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/quickparabolic.html).

Ultimately, when choosing a microphone, you need to know what your power requirements will be (phantom power or plug-in power from the recorder), what kind of recording you want to get, and the environmental conditions in which you will record. In addition, your choice of mics will be gauged in part by other parts of your system, such as your recorder. For example, you need to match the impedance of a mic to your preamp and recorder. If you have a noisy preamp in your MD recorder for example, it's helpful to balance it out with a quiet but high-output mic.

ASSEMBLING YOUR SYSTEM

For the beginner, choosing the right components is difficult because of the wide range of options. “The first thing to remember is that there is no mic-preamp combo that will guarantee a hiss-free recording or a situation where you won't hear some bit of gear-related self-noise,” says Trubitt. “Natural soundscapes can be very, very quiet.” With that in mind, Trubitt offers examples of some of his recording setups, from an inexpensive, highly portable system to a more expensive, advanced setup.

Basic Recording

“My smallest system,” he says, “consists of the Soundman OKM II K Classic Studio binaural mics, which run off of plug-in power. These are plugged directly in to the Sharp MS702 MK MiniDisc recorder, which runs off of a DIY battery pack with two D cells. This setup has the advantage of being hands free and unobtrusive, and when everything's working right, I get hours and hours of recording time. I take this setup to places where recording is not the primary purpose, but where I don't want to miss something interesting that might happen.”

“The major drawback of this setup,” Trubitt continues, “is poor rejection of wind noise, even though the mics are omnidirectional. And any time you use a MiniDisc's mic preamp, it's going to be noisy. In nature recording, machine self-noise is such a pervasive problem: the combination of an electret mic, which is invariably noisier than a true condenser mic, and the consumer front end of a MiniDisc recorder is going to be hissy. It's not a good system if you're trying to record a quiet bird song. And when the mics are on your head, it's difficult to get the right mic placement. You have to keep your head still while recording, and if you're using in-ear mics, you can't monitor the sound to tape by wearing headphones, because you'd get feedback.”

Transducer upgrade

“The next step up is to improve the mic and reduce wind noise. I use the battery-powered Shure VP88, which has a built-in M-S decoder, although you can also record undecoded M-S. I also add a Rycote Windjammer with the optional furry high-wind cover, or a homemade windshield. I put the mic on a boom so I can move the mic around, which is helpful in finding the right place to record” (see Fig. 10).

“Next, I may add an external preamp. I use the Denecke AD-20 Zefiro Inbox, which doesn't offer phantom power and is not a high-gain device, but it's easy to use, inexpensive, and very rugged. It offers XLR connectors and digital outputs. Now I've upgraded the mic, but I'm still using a storage device that uses data compression — MiniDisc. It's still a somewhat noisy setup, but it's good in wind and you can turn your head around without problems.

Data-storage upgrade

“Next let's upgrade the data storage device. I go with DAT, but use outboard mic preamps. The good news is that there is no ATRAC data compression. However, I'm somewhat skeptical of DAT reliability in terms of transport problems and tape handling: I don't consider the format to be bulletproof. What I always do is record a little slate, then rewind it and play it back to make sure everything's working right. With some of the small DAT machines, you may see the tape counter incrementing and meters going, but the machine is not recording a signal. I've made a lot of great recordings on DAT, but I always carry an MD as a spare.

“The long-term prospects of the format are troubling, in terms of replacement parts,” says Trubitt. “I wouldn't buy a new DAT machine.”

A number of nature recordists share these sentiments about DAT technology: although they may currently prefer the DAT format to MD, they're looking forward to the next generation of hard-disk recorders that will be hearty enough to meet the demands of field recording.

Upper end

“To further improve the system, I would upgrade the mic and preamp. At my top end is a pair of Schoeps — CMC-5 bodies, with either MK-41 hypercardioid or MK-6, 3-pattern capsules, which offers figure-8, cardioid, and omni. I'll use the appropriate size Rycote zeppelin, and a Grace V2 preamp (see Fig. 11). This is a much quieter front end, which allows me to record dawn choruses and get a usable signal. But if it's going to be too wet or humid for the Schoeps, I'll bring the VP88.

“Another setup has Sennheiser MKH-series mics and the Sound Devices MixPre preamp, which may be quieter than the Schoeps-Grace combo. The Sennheiser mics are much more tolerant of humidity.

“For my multichannel experiments, I use the Korg D16, but it takes a lot of effort to power it in the field. And you can't walk around with it. It also opens a can of worms in terms of miking for multichannel recording.

“Someday there's going to be an affordable hard-disk recorder, and I'll be switching to that,” Trubitt says. “I'm not enthusiastic about bringing a laptop into the field, because you can't walk around with it while recording, and you cannot see the screen in the sun without a sunscreen, such as the pop-up one made by Hoodman” (www.hoodmanusa.com).

PROFESSIONAL'S CHOICE

Krause is very specific about the setup he and his crew use in the field under most conditions. “We use only Sennheiser mics — an MKH 30 and an MKH 40 — because they're low noise and they've got a really nice dynamic range. They're a little bit less sensitive to wind than other mics, and we can take them into habitats that are very humid without failure, unlike other mic systems. We use an M-S system: the MKH 30 is a figure-8 and the MKH 40 is a cardioid. They're mounted piggyback on top of one another” (see Fig. 12).

“The Audio Engineering Society did a study on the noise floors of different mics,” says Krause, “and the Sennheisers came out, at that time, as the best. We've not used anything else since.” Krause will often set the mics on a tripod and position himself and the recorder some distance away.

Quin uses Schoeps as well as Sennheiser microphones. “The Sennheisers are workhorses and function well in extreme temperatures. There is also a fullness to the sounds that they pick up. However, I like the high end on the Schoeps, particularly for birds and insects. Ultimately, topography, climate, and the distribution of wildlife help determine the mic choice.”

Quin records to DAT, but, like many recordists, he's keeping an eye on developments in hard-disk recording, particularly multichannel. “For me, the key elements are portability and ease of use.”

Although she used a system similar to Krause's when they worked on projects together (see Fig. 13), recordist and biologist Ruth Happel says she often prefers a more mobile system. “I usually use a Sony D3 portable DAT. I tend to walk around with my equipment, because I find that if I can travel along with animals, I can get a lot more recorded. I'll carry a very small digital recorder and very small mics, which I attach to the top of my vest. In the vest pockets, I carry spare batteries, preamp, and recorder.

“I mainly use small omni mics,” Happel says. “Sony ECM77s, and I use my own windscreens. These mics are great for recording the quiet nuances of sound like the actual shifting of a cricket's legs before it chirps. I also have Sony ECM55s, which have a different frequency range and, consequently, pick up sounds differently. As a holdover from my field work in science, I have a couple of highly directional Sennheiser mics, which I bought when I was doing graduate work in Africa 20 years ago, because sometimes the only way to get a good recording in certain settings is with a directional mic. The current model closest to what I have would be the [Sennheiser] MKH 416-P48U3.”

TRIP PREPARATIONS

Choosing where to record is part of the fun of nature recording. However, once you begin listening through mics and headphones, you immediately become aware of the presence of unwanted noise in the environment, and finding ways to avoid intrusive sounds is one of a recordist's biggest challenges.

“In terms of when and where to record,” says Happel, “I have found that in just about anywhere in the United States, it's best to record on early Sunday morning to get the quietest ambiences. If you're interested in species-specific recordings or in ambiences other than a dawn chorus, it might be necessary to invest in a low-frequency filter, which often is built in to mic preamps.” A low-frequency filter is useful in removing the sounds of distant vehicles, for example.

“For foreign trips, it pays to do your research well in advance,” Happel adds. “In all the places I've traveled, there are times of year that are vastly more rewarding for sound recording than others, depending on the activity of birds, frogs, and other wildlife. It is best to consult with field guides, which provide data on vocalizations, including the time of year when animals vocalize, and use any local scientific resources — people, libraries, museums, or universities — to determine the ecology of the destination.”

“In selecting sites for ambient recording, I find topography to be a big challenge in terms of ascertaining the acoustic characteristics of a habitat and negotiating accessibility,” says Quin. For this reason, it's wise to make an equipment list of everything you'll need and run a dress rehearsal before you leave; for example, you might set up your gear in your house or back yard and make a test recording. This will help ensure that you've thought of everything. If you did forget something, add it to your checklist. Bringing backup supplies — extra batteries, blank media, cables — is a good idea, but how much you can realistically pack depends on how much you can adequately carry while getting to and from your destination.

When you're done with your dress rehearsal, make sure to repack everything in your setup. Then, before you leave, consult your checklist again.

NOTES FROM AFIELD

Once your gear is packed, it's time to get out there and record. But like anything else, getting a good recording of natural sounds is about being in the right place at the right time.

“First, you have to put the mic in the right place,” says Trubitt. “Be as fussy as you would in a studio, because the same issues apply in field recording. That's why I like to work with a boom: it encourages experimentation with mic placement. The nice thing about a boom is that you can set the height and then rest it on something if you're doing very long recordings and you don't want to force yourself to be still. Having a tripod or some other thing you can clamp or bolt the mic to and walk away is helpful. Otherwise, you have to be very quiet if you're near the mic.”

One unexpected source of noise for the uninitiated is clothing. Synthetic fabrics, such as nylon, tend to be noisy and should be avoided when recording. When choosing your clothing, grab the material and rub it in your hand; you'll hear right away how noisy it is.

“Another type of noise,” says Trubitt, “is infrasonic handling noise, which happens when a mic is moved quickly. You can sometimes get it when using a shockmount. The result is a powerful low-frequency shudder. You can partially combat handling noise and wind noise with a low-cut filter, assuming you have one available. However, you do so at the expense of low frequencies in the recording. A better solution is to use a windscreen with an integrated suspension mount.”

“You train yourself to be quiet” Happel says. “Because you're listening through headphones, you get used to hearing subtle sounds and you learn to be very quiet. If wind is a problem, I'll unclip the mics and put them somewhere, sometimes deep inside a shrub, well into the vegetation to protect them. It's amazing how much that cuts down on the wind. You can record in a windy ocean setting this way, and it'll completely eliminate the noise problems. And especially if I'm recording an ambience, I'll unclip them and set them down so I don't interrupt the recording with my movement. I listen interactively with the headphones in order to figure out where to place the mics.”

“You must use care in what and when you eat,” warns Knapp. “A rumbling stomach records very well. With some of the more sensitive microphones, I can easily record myself breathing, so I have to practice breathing control. I try to breath quietly and smoothly and position myself outside of the most sensitive part of the mic's pickup pattern. And if you shift the weight on your feet, the crunch of the soil, gravel, or grass will be picked up. But you need to be near to the mic to aim it, because you never know where something may call.”

GEAR TIPS

I asked Krause about the lumps of glue on the switches of his portable DAT recorder. “I hot glue them. When the recorder is in the pack or in my pocket, the switches often get jostled. And I wouldn't necessarily notice that they've been changed, because I can't see too well, even with glasses. So I just glue them into position and forget it. If I need to, I can pull the dried glue off quickly.”

There are ways to protect your equipment from environmental damage. “If you are going to be recording in humid environments, like the rain forest,” says Happel, “you should store your equipment in airtight containers with some sort of desiccant. Otherwise, the mics, and even your recorder, might stop working.”

Quin agrees. “Humidity is always a concern. I carry homemade desiccant sacks and freezer bags when I travel. Extreme cold is also a major challenge. Keeping batteries warm, keeping gear working, and preventing moisture from condensating when transitioning from — 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside to +70 inside can be tricky.”

“I record frogs almost entirely at night, holding a parabolic dish the size of a very large salad bowl, in the darkness,” Knapp says. “I do not turn on a light because all of the insects will home in on me and make unwanted thumps hitting the dish. Standing still and making no sound while being bitten is an art form, but it's part of recording outdoors. I never use DEET-based repellents, because they dissolve equipment. I do use citronella-based repellents, and I also wear loose clothing to keep the worst problems down.”

WATER IN YOUR EARS

Human ears are meant to hear in air. When our ears are physically underwater, we get an impedance mismatch because of the air boundary between the liquid and our hearing apparatus. With the right kind of listening technology, you can experience the sounds your unaided ears cannot hear.

Many sound recordists prefer to record monophonically underwater. Part of the reason is that, to get a usable stereo recording underwater, the distance required between microphones is much larger than what we're accustomed to in air. That is because sound travels faster underwater (approximately 4,987.0 feet per second at 21 degrees centigrade) than in air (approximately 1,128.6 feet per second at sea level in 50 percent humidity).

During a trip to Antarctica, Quin recorded Weddell seals underwater, in stereo. The results are remarkable not only for their sound quality — the recording doesn't have the peaky, band-limited sound that is often a characteristic of hydrophone recordings — but also for the clarity in the stereo image. “I used two International Transducer Corporation ITC-6050C hydrophones,” says Quin, “spaced about 200 feet apart and lowered to a depth of about 50 feet. The positioning was important. I chose a stretch of sea ice that ran parallel to tidal cracks, where seals would come up to breath. It is along these cracks that males vigorously defend their territory during mating.” The omnidirectional hydrophones he used have a built-in preamp and a frequency range of 20 Hz to 75 kHz.

A wide variety of hydrophones are available, with prices ranging from under $100 to well into the thousands. Some recordists experiment with underwater recording by placing a microphone (preferably an expendable one) in an unlubricated latex condom and sealing the end.

“You can also waterproof a microphone by dipping it in Plasti Dip,” says location-recordist Mark Griswold. “It's an epoxy used to rubberize handles on metal tools. The coating is waterproof and flexible enough to transmit sound vibrations, but difficult to remove. The main disadvantage of this technique is the inefficient acoustic coupling of the mic element to the water.”

A DIY hydrophone can be made using the common piezo element (see Fig. 14). However, the recording quality is often colored by the narrow frequency range of piezos and impedance matching problems. Recordists I spoke with recommend that anyone interested in recording underwater should purchase an inexpensive hydrophone rather than build one (see the sidebar “Hydrophone Sources” at www.emusician.com).

Krause offers some advice when using hydrophones. “Sometimes when you drop a hydrophone into water, it gets little air bubbles around it, which changes the impedance so that it doesn't transmit the sound very well. To get rid of the bubbles, put a little grease on it, like some olive oil.”

HY AND DRY

Surprisingly, some hydrophones work well for terrestrial recording, especially ones that can pick up infrasound or ultrasound. The singing tree, in fact, was captured with a B&K Type 8103 hydrophone, which has a frequency range of 0.1 Hz to 20 kHz (-1.5 dB/+0.5 dB), that also extends up to 100 kHz (-3.5 dB). Of course, you will need a device that can record the extremely low or high frequencies you are after.

Holding another mic in his hand, Krause explains, “The frequency range of this hydrophone, made by Offshore Acoustics, goes down to 3 Hz. Some of the digital Sony recorders, particularly the D10, go down to 3 Hz, into the infrasound and DC range. I used this particular hydrophone to record the sand dunes and to record elephant sounds, because elephant vocalizations are around 14 Hz. Giraffes, hippos, and elephants transmit sound through the air at very low frequencies, which carry over great distances. In fact, hippos vocalize both underwater and in the air.”

A YEAR TO RECORD ONE HOUR

“Wildlife recordings are hard to ‘make,’ to ‘get,’ or to ‘take,’” says Quin. “A good recording of the ‘voice of the wood’ is as much a revelation as it is an acquisition. The disposition of landscape, its features, surfaces and textures, the density of forest, relative humidity and air temperature all mold sound into a distinctive experience.”

However, the first time you actively listen outdoors through microphones and headphones, you may be startled to hear how much man-made sounds compete with the natural ones in the soundscape. “A fraction of what gets recorded will actually be used, in most cases,” says Trubitt. “It depends on the nature of the project. And often you won't know which fraction you're going to use while you're recording. You might use a minute out of 20. Then, two years later, you might need some distant stream ambience, and you might use seconds from the same recording. If you've been out for hours and gotten a few usable minutes, you've done well.”

“When I started, in 1968, it used to take me 14 or 15 hours to get an hour of material,” Krause explains. “Now it takes me 2,000 hours to get that same material. A year to get an hour of usable stuff.”

But even if you're successful in avoiding man-made sounds and have focused on the soundscape you want to record, you may find interference from natural sounds you weren't aware of. “Mics don't discriminate like our ears do,” Krause explains. “Even when you go outside, and your ear tells you you're in a relatively quite place, the mics will pick up ambient sound or noise you are not conscious of. They'll pick up the wind through the leaves and the boughs of trees, or a stream that's a quarter- or half-mile away even though it's a tiny stream; they'll pick up all kinds of stuff that you're desensitized to. Even when you put on your headphones, you don't really hear it until you get back to the quiet of the studio and then all you hear is hiss in the background or traffic from a distant road. And you try and figure out where it came from.”

CREATING THE ILLUSION

The process of recording is just the beginning. The presentation and framing of the audio material, so that it stands on its own, is equally — if not more — important. This is a subject that has been regularly ignored over the years, especially by companies that merely want to cash in with an “environmental” release.

Krause laments about the low quality of many soundscape recordings. “A lot of them just don't sound very good. The stereo imaging and the depth and dimension are not very good. There's no indication that the recordist knows anything about the habitat they recorded in. Often there's no information on the CD about what creatures you're listening to. We need to know about a place beyond the fact that it's an ‘alpine wood.’ In Yellowstone National Park alone, there are hundreds of different habitats. What's there and what are we listening to? This is really important information that people need to pay attention to.”

When he returns to the studio, Krause begins by determining which parts of the recordings can be kept. Then, he crossfades between the good parts, being careful to match the time of the day and the particular characteristics of the biophony.

Which moments Happel uses and how she uses them depends on the artistic statement she's making. “Usually, I end up with bits and pieces and then ask myself, how can I make a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing whole? People's ears are more sophisticated than we give them credit for. They can tell if there's something wrong with a recording. There is an ethics as well as an aesthetics, especially if the goal is to preserve habitat. I try to capture a moment in time, something that's genuine. If you don't, you have to say that.

“If you want a recording to sound realistic, you have to do some combining,” Happel adds. “That's the art in doing this. You need to be creative with the recordings and balance the result so it doesn't sound flat. I want to make people feel like they're in the environment. When I work, the biologist in me tries to be as accurate as possible. I'll sometimes record a single species, then I'll add that to a forest ambience that I've recorded at the same time of day. I'm very aware of what habitats sound like: my background is as a scientist, and I spent ten years recording before trying to do anything musical with it.

“If I'm doing an album,” she continues, “I might layer four or five tracks together: maybe two different stream sounds. It's a fine juggling act, because if you get too contrived, you begin to lose the essence of the environment. The best thing is to find a magic moment in nature and add very little.”

Krause concurs. “The art form is in matching those scenes, and it has to be seamless. There are recordists out there that claim they're purists. My answer to them is that, if you choose a microphone system, you've done some editing; if you choose a recorder, you've done some editing; if you choose the time of day, the location, and where you point your mic, you've made editing decisions. And then you've only got 74 minutes on a CD. Which 74 are you going to choose? Once you've done all that editing, where's the pure?”

Krause often takes his listeners on a journey through a variety of habitats. On his release Whales, Wolves and Eagles of Glacier Bay, the listener travels from the seaside to a meadow, underwater, then back again to dry land to hear the amazing sound of a calving glacier. The slow crossfading between terrestrial water sounds to the underwater world is just one of many remarkable moments on the CD.

“When you're transforming this material to a CD, you're transforming it from one medium to another,” Krause says. “From the natural world into — usually — an architectural interior space. And you better make sure it's listenable. That's where the ‘art’ of the process comes in. That's why so many recordings aren't very good, because people haven't done due diligence to consider how their work is being perceived. You may, as the recordist, be able to imagine the habitat that you've recorded in. When you play your sounds back in the studio, they evoke an image in your mind, but the listener has no such capability, because he or she wasn't there when the recording was made. If what you've created doesn't evoke a visual or visceral sense of that space, then the result is failed ‘art.’”

Krause auditions his projects for a third party for feedback. “I test my recordings on different folks all the time — typically my wife — to see if she gets it.” Does he occasionally get a thumbs down? “Often. More often than I'd like to admit here. That's why I spend so much time in this studio and wear out so much equipment.”

CORRECTIVE PROCESSING

Nature recordists often have to take corrective measures with their source material when they return to the studio. “I usually spend time removing unwanted sounds from otherwise good field recordings,” says Trubitt. “Commonly, I have to diminish rumble, and I use the Waves Renaissance EQ plug-in. A steep highpass filter between 80 and 160 Hz usually does the trick. If my mic preamp turns out to be too noisy on quiet sounds, I use a gradual lowpass filter to remove the hiss. But I'm careful to keep the high-frequency detail intact.”

Krause prefers to do his corrective work in the analog domain, using an Orban parametric EQ. “I use it mostly to remove artifacts, such as low-velocity wind. There's often a low-frequency component to the recorded material in jungles because of far-away streams and stuff like that. Low frequencies carry a much longer distance through the jungle and it's just too distracting to keep it within the context of the recorded product.” One process that Krause does digitally is normalizing recordings to bring up the levels after editing and before he creates the master disc.

For Quin, “editing decisions are made on the basis of what I am trying to create: music, field recording, data for research, radio program, film, or sound design for a museum project. I find that I can revisit the same source recordings again and again and still hear something new, depending on what I am listening for and how I'm trying to ‘translate’ it for the appropriate situation.”

JUST LISTEN

“One of the reasons that I record is that it teaches me critically how to listen,” says Krause. “There are places within the jewel national parks where you can go to hear natural sound unimpeded. As a matter of fact, the National Park Service is the only federal agency and the only group in the country that has designated natural soundscape as a resource. Because they're a federal agency, it means soundscapes must be protected like any other resource. I have found that the natural soundscapes, particularly in North America, are disappearing very quickly. Fully 30 percent of my library, from 35 years of recording, comes from now-extinct habitats — habitats we can't record anymore, because there are no creature voices or they have been so seriously altered that the voice is distressing and sad to listen to.”

Still, getting into the wild natural with your recording gear offers a number of important lessons. “The first thing that you notice when you listen through headphones and a microphone is how much noise there is in our environment, and how it masks much that we want to hear,” Krause explains. “Second, it teaches you how far you have to go to actually get into a place where you can hear natural sound. Third, it changes how you perceive the world, because you don't get information in quick four-frame cuts. The natural story is told gently and subtlely over an extended period of time, because the expression of sound takes a very long time to establish. Often a bird call can take from 45 seconds to many minutes to express. Humpback whale songs can last a half-hour. So you have to sit there and listen while you abide in silence.”

“You don't have to have a digital tape recorder” is Happel's advice to anyone thinking of adventuring outside to record. “Whatever equipment you have, go out and try it: you might be pleasantly surprised with the results.”

---

Gino Robair is an associate editor at EM. Special thanks to Walter Knapp, Douglas Quin, Ruth Happel, Rudy Trubitt, Jim Cummings, Ben Chadabe, Mark Griswold, Marcos R. Fernandes, and Bernie Krause for their assistance.

SUGGESTED READING

The Book of Music and Nature, edited by David Rothenberg and Marta Ulvaeus (Wesleyan, 2001). This excellent anthology offers essays on nature, sound, and the nature of sound by John Cage, David Dunn, Brian Eno, Bernie Krause, Pauline Oliveros, Rainer Maria Rilke, R. Murray Schafer, and many others.

The Microphone Book, by Jon Eargle (Focal Press, 2001). A fine book about microphone technology that includes chapters on recording in stereo. Eargle goes into great detail about the physics behind the various kinds of transducers.

The New Stereo Soundbook, 2nd ed., by Ron Streicher and F. Alton Everest (Audio Engineering Associates, 1998). A straightforward and easy-to-read introduction to stereo recording. The authors do a fine job of explaining how our ears and brains hear and interpret audio information. A wide range of stereo and surround-sound recording techniques are explained and analyzed.

The Tuning of the World, by R. Murray Schafer (Knopf, 1977). A landmark text about acoustic ecology that has inspired many of the recordists mentioned in this article.

Why Do Whales and Children Sing, by David Dunn (Earth Ear, 1999). Dunn's thought-provoking book and CD cover a wide variety of natural phenomena. His audio examples not only demonstrate a particular phenomenon, but his insightful comments can be used as a catalyst for further discussion. The CD alone is worth every penny.

Wild Soundscapes, by Bernie Krause (Wilderness Press, 2002). A field guide designed to introduce nature enthusiasts to the sounds of the wild natural and the joys of recording them. The accompanying CD includes a number of outstanding audio examples, such as singing ants.

RELATED EM ARTICLES

Audio-Technica AT835ST review	9/01
“Making Music with Nature: Bernie Krause Samples Life”	5/89
“Playing the Field“	11/97
Soundman OKM II K review	1/02
“Wild Things”	3/98

Popular Mics for the Field

This list was generated by an informal survey of the mic preferences of a number of nature recordists. It's by no means an exhaustive list, and some of the models may only be available secondhand.

AKG	C 1000 cardioid
Audio-Technica	Model 822 stereo Model 825 stereo
Crown	SASS-P quasi-binaural
Oktava	MK012 cardioid
Røde	NT4 stereo
Schoeps	CMC-5/MK-41 and MK-6
Sennheiser	ME62 omni ME66 short shotgun ME67 long shotgun MKH-20 omni MKH-30 figure-8 MKH-40 cardioid MKH-60 short shotgun MKH-70 long shotgun MKH-80 multipattern MKH-110 omni MKH-800 variable pattern
Shure	183 lavalier VP88 stereo
Sony	ECM-55B lavalier ECM-77 lavalier ECM-MS907 stereo ECM-MS957 stereo ECM-959 stereo
Soundman	OKM II K binaural
Telinga	Pro 5 parabolic

ONLINE RESOURCES

Information

MiniDisc.org (www.minidisc.org)

Phonography.org (www.phonography.org)

Rudy Trubitt (www.trubitt.com)

Wild Sanctuary (www.wildsanctuary.com)

Yahoo groups (http://groups.yahoo.com):
nature_sound_society
naturerecordists

Books and CDs

CD/E (www.cdemusic.org)

Earth Ear (www.earthear.com)

Fourwinds Trading Company (www.fourwinds-trading.com)

The New Stereo Soundbook (www.stereosoundbook.com)

Microphones and Recording Equipment

Cassette House (www.tape.com)

Core Sound (www.core-sound.com)

Microphone Madness (www.microphonemadness.com)

Micro-Cat/Fat-Cat (www.haly-tek.com)

Oade Brothers Audio (www.oade.com)

Sonic Studios (www.sonicstudios.com)

 

Common sense is a highly underestimated natural instinct that simply does not get the kind of press it deserves in terms of its value to you. It’s hardly as glamorous as intuition – that’s for sure. And common sense is certainly not marketable like intuition is – I mean, no one would ever pay another person for a “common sense” reading. I can only imagine what that would be like:

“I’m here for a reading,” says the woman to the “reader,” who replies, “I know that already.”

“You must be psychic!!”

“Nonsense,” she responds. “Why else would you be here? I give common sense readings and it would seem to be a matter of common sense that if you’re here to see me, you want a common sense reading.”

Common sense – and in particular, the absence of it – is a significant factor in the health equation, a fact that is all the more potent given the bizarre options for healing that are available in the marketplace these days. The absence of common sense has led people to lose touch with their own highly attuned intuitive system that inherently directs them to discern legitimate from outrageous healing options offered in the marketplace. Furthermore, and even more harmful, you can come to the place where you completely distrust your own gut instincts.

During the years I’ve been on the road, I’ve had many opportunities to cruise through all sorts of “new age” and alternative health conventions, where gizmos and gadgets of the most outrageous kind (like dangling crystals from “very special caves” and semi-precious stones that “hold energy”) are sold in the same manner as one would sell purses on the street corner in New York. As if that weren’t preposterous enough, pieces of jewelry are identified by the specific types of energy that they radiate. For example, certain bracelets are for recovering from a divorce while others are for attracting love. I just had to ask the saleswoman, “So like, what if I wore one of each? Or what would happen if I wore the one for recovering from a divorce if I hadn’t had a divorce? It’s just that I like that bracelet the most?” She looked dumbfounded and then that expression quickly shifted to one of total irritation as she realized she was looking at someone – namely me – who was on to the fact that she was essentially just selling jewelry. But it’s the conversations I love the most. One time I found a guy selling crystal skulls, among other crystal objects, at a conference. I asked, “What is this?”

Continued: April Salon...

SHIFTING TO HEALTH

The instinct of common sense, like all other instincts in the human design, is survival- focused. When most people think of survival, the word generally inspires images of the great outdoors and solo nights in the wild. Survival, however, applies to every part of your life and if you think about it, the majority of people in Western culture are not crushed under the weight of physical survival. Instead, their greatest obstacles are now in the realm of emotional, psychological, psychic, rational, and intellectual survival, often motivated by the fears associated with physical survival. Common sense should, therefore, be thought of as an instinct that is aligned to your survival and, thus, your health and well being.

COMMON SENSE AND ACTS OF SELF-BETRAYAL

One of the main reasons for the on-going trauma of relentless personal suffering is self-betrayal. Betrayal is one of life’s unavoidable experiences. As soon as you gossip about a friend, you’ve betrayed that individual. Self-betrayal, unlike acts of betrayal that are initiated by others, are often equally if not more painful, because in the end you have to confront the truth that you ignored your own warning signals — that is, your own common sense. Just the other day, I flipped on the television, heading for the news, but as I scrolled from one channel to the next, I stopped for a second on one of the most absurd programs I have yet to see – and let’s face it, television programs, like reality shows, are getting worse by the day.

This reality show (and if this is reality, I’ll take a mystical experience any day of the week), featured the wedding engagement of a female prison guard to a vile criminal with a rap sheet a mile long. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. During the interview with her, she said, “I’m sure many people are wondering why I would marry this guy (that would be a yes), but I see potential in him (like for rape? armed robbery?). Maybe I will regret it one day (duh), but he’s my guy right now.”

Continued: April Salon...

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS COMMON SENSE?

Common sense is an archetype that refers to a collectively recognized “earth wisdom” that serves as “knowledge from the ground.” You can’t go to school to learn common sense. It’s a part of you that develops as you grow up learning the basic survival skills of life. I always hear people speak about their love of gardening or being in nature. In fact, I am one of those people. I love gardening and I love working around my house. I find it soothing and as I think of it, I have many fond memories of growing up apprenticing with my mom, who taught me how to keep house, how to handle a kitchen, how to manage the laundry, how to, in short, take care of a household. But built into all of those tasks was her abundance of common sense that was transferred in the learning of every task.

Meals were prepared this way or that for specific reasons, for example. And laundry was done this way, because cotton needs hot water and this other fabric doesn’t. Mothers teach their daughters how to care for children, thus preparing them for motherhood, so that they will have that precious “mother’s instinct” – or mother’s common sense – when they became mothers themselves. Fathers teach their sons how to use tools around the house for repairs or to fix the car or how to use snow blowers – and yes, they can teach their daughters all the same things. But in general, it’s been my experience that when it comes to working with automobiles or machinery, as a rule, it’s a father-son type of thing. It has also been my experience, for example, that when AAA comes to the rescue because my car has broken down, it’s a man that fixes my tire. Common sense, in short, is learned through one’s elders, through experience, through putting your hands in the earth, through apprenticing with masters. It is your survival sense that requires five-sensory involvement, learning through doing, in the arena of life in order to mature – and books just can’t educate your five senses. Only life can do that.

Continued: April Salon...

A MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER VERSUS LACK OF COMMON SENSE

We are very prone in our culture to organize a set of characteristics and then name a syndrome after them. There is even an attempt right now, for example, to suggest that a child who is too shy is in some way disabled and, typical of our culture, in need of drugs to cope. Perhaps we find comfort in believing that if it’s an illness, we or our children or whoever were just meant to be the way they turned out. The absence of common sense, however, is not a disease any more than being ungrounded is a disease or a syndrome. These are not the characteristics, for example, of Asperger’s syndrome, as the absence of common sense does not cause the social behavioral problems typical of that syndrome.

Lacking common sense is, however, a very real psychic state that exists for various reasons, not the least of which is that children must be taught survival skills during their formative years. Like the natural impulse to discover a personal identity as puberty hits, the impulse to develop the inherent survival instinct of common sense is the first to awaken in a child, and thus the first that requires mentoring. We are born knowing and wanting to survive – that is a primal instinct. Therefore, we are born knowing that something is amiss when we are not given the skills necessary to feel that we can make it in this world.

Continued: April Salon...

AND NOW YOU

How highly functioning is your common sense? This interior voice is one of your best defenses against illness, both physical and emotional, as well as a conduit to continuing to refine your spiritual health. We live in a highly active psychic, emotional culture in which much of our life is conducted through the Internet and via energetic communication. Maintaining your energetic well-being is as critical to your health as are your physical habits, which means that paying attention and following the instructions of your interior voice is vital. You cannot tell yourself that an organic diet compensates for acts of personal emotional betrayal – that’s preposterous reasoning. Nor can you possibly assume that should you fall into dysfunction because you continually dismiss your inner signals – such as “exercise,” “eat less,” “change your stress level,” “why do you keep doing what makes you ill?” – then shifting your diet will help you. It won’t. Common sense should tell you that nutrition is not the solution for emotional misery.

So here’s your check list:

1. What is your immediate response to a “great idea”? Do you talk about it with friends? Write it down? Research it? Keep it to yourself? If you listen, your common sense will always instruct you to proceed with caution and silence when you are given an inspiration. The reason is that you will speak away your enthusiasm instead of using the grace of enthusiasm to invest in the act of creation. More people “speak away” their creative grace than actually utilize it, never realizing that they have “lived” the act of creation only in the energetic world. They wonder why they remain unable to bring ideas to fruition in the physical realm, and one of the main reasons is that they “speak away” their creative grace.

2. What is your second response? Do you postpone action? If so, how and why? Or do you act on it immediately and if so, what would be your next step in the physical world – the operative word being “physical”? Postponing action is an indication of fear and the need to see the outcome before even beginning to act. It is an impossible position for creation, not unlike demanding to see your child before agreeing to get pregnant. Someone who holds to that position with the forces of creation never creates anything but personal misery and disappointment. At critical choice points exactly like these – when you are given guidance to jump into the unknown – relying on your common sense serves you especially well. It’s your energetic compass on the ground, and, so, the instinct that grounds you through the unknown. It is, for example, common sense not to sign a contract until you read the fine print – and the finer the print, the greater the secrets that someone is trying to hide.

Continued: April Salon...

HEALTH GUIDANCE

Listen to yourself. Listen to your instincts. Learn to work with the magnificent intuitive system that you are by divine design. Everything about you is an intuitive system, constantly flooding you with energy data. I am constantly amazed when people think that intuition is primarily a solo ability, and that it is for seeing the future (ugh), or for problem solving and finding past lives and other such escapades. Your entire being is one exquisite intuitive masterpiece, of which common sense is but one voice. Pay attention to that voice. You know you hear it. It is the intuitive voice most strongly aligned to matters of dense physical survival, so respect it.

Hanina Ben Dosa was a 1st-century Jewish scholar, healer, and miracle-worker, a contemporary of Jesus, and the pupil of Johanan ben Zakkai. It is related that when the son of Johanan ben Zakkai was very sick, the father solicited the prayers of Hanina. Hanina readily complied, and the child recovered. The overjoyed father could not refrain from expressing his admiration for his wonderful pupil, stating that he himself might have prayed the whole day without doing any good. His wife, astonished at such self-abasement on the part of her famous husband, inquired, "Is Hanina greater than you?" Johanan replied, "There is this difference between us: he is like the body-servant of a king, having at all times free access to the august presence, without even having to await permission to reach his ears; while I, like a lord before a king, must await an opportune moment."

Similarly, at the solicitation of Gamaliel II, Hanina entreated mercy for that patriarch's son, and at the conclusion of his prayers assured Gamaliel's messengers that the patient's fever had left him. This assurance created doubt in the minds of the messengers, who promptly asked, "Art thou a prophet?" To this he replied, "I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; but experience has taught me that whenever my prayer flows freely it is granted; otherwise, it is rejected." The messengers thereupon noted down Hanina's declaration, and the exact time when it was made; on reaching the patriarch's residence they found that Hanina had spoken truly.

PRAYERS FOR THE GROUP

As always, sharing a group prayer with the CMED prayer group continues to build the healing field of grace. I am always pleased to report that people write in continually to keep me updated on their progress. Recently, a young girl in a car accident who had been in a coma for two weeks with a swollen brain has awakened, and the doctors reported that she is in far better condition than they had anticipated. Three people sent in e-mails noting that their cancerous tumors are now reduced in size. I urge you to continue to keep up at least five minutes per day of channeling grace to all those in need of help and to include on this list the United States, which is going through the worst crisis since it’s Civil War in 1861, along with the Middle East, and the rest of our global village, as without a doubt we are all in this period of transformation together.

Our prayer for inspiration:

 

By the Sufi poet, Hafiz, from I HEARD GOD LAUGHING by Daniel Ladinsky

I was just reminded that I wanted to share this clip.  I watched this episode of Real Time yesterday which makes some simple points about the environment and human stupidity.

 

I went to see Sakyong Mipham speak in Toronto two years ago, and I really appreciated having that opportunity.  At the time he was a big help to me in dealing with the rough times I was experiencing, and for that I’ll always be grateful... actually he still comes in handy :).  Recently I came across six small talks he presented so I thought I would share them with you.

The Sakyong, Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, is one of Tibet’s highest and most respected incarnate lamas. The Sakyong—literally, “earth protector”—is king of Shambhala. The first king of Shambhala, Dawa Sangpo, was empowered directly by the Buddha.

The Shambhala tradition emphasizes confidence in the enlightened nature of all beings—windhorse—and teaches courageous rulership based on wisdom and compassion. It holds that these qualities are ultimately more stable than aggression and greed. It shows how to use worldly life as a means to ripen this spiritual potential. It practices turning the mind toward others as a discipline that creates lungta, windhorse, the ability to attain success that occurs from acting virtuously. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche leads a global community of over 150 meditation centers rooted in these principles. (Full Biography)

Here Sakyong Mipham delivers six talks: The True Meaning of Success, Noble Qualities, Learning to Meditate, Compassion, Arousing Bodhichitta, and The 10% Advantage.  Each talk is roughly 5 minutes.

 

This is being posted for the use of a thread in Realizing Health.

 

3-2-1 Process - Integral Institute

First choose a difficult person to whom you are attracted or repelled ( e.g. romantic partner, boss, parent), or pick a dream image or a body sensation that creates a disturbance in your awareness.  Keep in mind the disturbance may be positive or negative one.  Then follow the 3 steps of the process described below.  For the short form, spend 5 minutes on each perspective.  For the long form, you can spend 10-15 minutes or longer.

You can either talk through the process or use a journal to write it out.  If talking, imagine the person or thing sitting across from you.  If using a journal, simply write out each of the following steps.  We’ve provided a sample template you can use to get started.

3 – FACE IT

Describe the person, image, or sensation in vivid detail using 3^rd-person pronouns (e.g., he, him, she, her, they, their, it, its).  This is your opportunity to explore your experience fully, particularly what it is that bothers you.  Don’t minimize the disturbance –take the opportunity to describe it as fully as possible.

2 –TALK TO IT

Enter into dialogue with this object of awareness using 2^nd-person pronouns (you and yours).  This is your opportunity to enter into relationship with the disturbance, so talk directly to the person, image, or sensation.  You may ask questions such as “Who/what are you?  Where do you come from?  What do you want from me?  What do you need to tell me?  What gift are you bringing me?”  Then allow the disturbance to respond back to you.  Allow yourself to be surprised by what emerges in the dialogue.

1 –BE IT

Now, writing or speaking in first person, become the person, image or sensation you have been exploring.  Use the first person pronouns (I, me, mine).  See the world, including yourself, entirely from the perspective of that disturbance, and allow yourself to discover not only commonalities, but also how you really are one in the same.  Finally, make a statement of identification: “I am _____” or “_____is me.”

Now integrate this perspective into a large you, feeling it as an integral part of your being.

Suggested Practice Time

Beginners: 30 minutes 1x/week with biggest issue of the week

More Advanced: Begin applying 3-2-1 to dreams and issues of the day  

Text Legend

Black – Me
Blue – Pertains to everyone
Red – Pertains to athletes
White – Key elements

I would like to present the idea of the net gain of food that was brought to my attention through the reading of an excellent book titled: The Thrive Diet.  The main proponent to the net gain of food is the amount of energy one is left with once a food has been digested and assimilated by the body.  I find it to be a very practical and indispensible way of choosing the bulk of the foods I incorporate into my life.

As much as I’d like to give you a summary in my own words on the subject, I think it’s best to give verbatim from the book to make sure the fullness of the subject is delivered.  So with no further ado here it is…

 
High net-gain nutrition is key

The first and most general guideline of the Thrive Diet is to make high net-gain foods a cornerstone of your diet.  The net gain of food is the term I use to describe the energy and usable sustenance that our body is left with once the food has been digested and assimilated.  The body gets energy from food by way of nutrients.  The more energy the body must expend to digest, assimilate, and utilize the nutrients in the food we give it, the less energy we are left with.  As I mentioned earlier, the Thrive Diet was designed to reduce stress.  For nutritional stress to be minimized, efficiency of digestion and nutrient assimilation must be maximized.  Essentially, what high net-gain eating does is eliminate excess work for the body.  And as you know, work without benefit equals uncomplimentary stress.

Unfortunately, most foods in the average North American’s diet require almost as much energy to assimilate as they contain.  They therefore have an extremely low net gain.  The nutritional value of food stated on the food packaging label refers to what is in the food – not what the body actually gets from it.  The digestion process requires energy, a large portion of which is expelled as heat.  People who eat a standard North American diet, one that includes many processed foods, burn a significant amount of energy digesting it.  Similar to an incandescent light bulb that throws off heat inadvertently when producing light, the substantial amount of heat created and expelled during digestion translates into a significant net energy loss.  Bodies that constantly operate at a high temperature are simply not operating efficiently.  Energy used digesting the food is turned into heat and expelled in the environment.  As heat escapes the body, so does energy.  Had energy not been lost through this process–if it had been conserved through greater digestive efficacy–it might have been used as fuel for other body functions or fabrication of new cellular tissue.

Because high net gain foods are more easily digested, you may notice that your core body temperature drops slightly when you follow the Thrive Diet.  During the colder winter months, in particular, this will be noticeable.  While much healthier and a testament to an efficient body, a lower temperature may take getting use to.

We can all benefit significantly from a body that retains energy by operating more efficiently, and the advantage for athletes is particularly great.  Starting with a lower core temperature provides a larger “window” in which to operate.  When physical intensity rises, so too does body temperature.  By starting at a lower point, the athlete will be able to generate a greater intensity before reaching the maximum temperature that the body can efficiently function under.  That is, a lower operating temperature translates into the ability to perform more work before experiencing fatigue.  Here’s an example: If two runners were running side by side and one’s core temperature was a degree lower than the other’s, she would be farther from her body’s maximum temperature.  This would allow her to speed up, running ahead of the other runner while exerting no more effort.  Also, being farther from maximum temperature means that her body, and therefore heart, do not have to work as hard, allowing her heart rate to stay lower.  A lower heart rate means that less energy is being expended to maintain physical workload, and therefore her endurance is improved.

I am often asked how I am able to gain and maintain strength and lean muscle, and have an abundance of energy for high-performance training, while eating fewer calories than most people.  One of the most important factors is that I select food with the net-gain concept in mind rather than by the conventional calorie-counting method.  Let’s consider white bread.  In the old days, when dinning out, I would wolf down the French bread typically served before the meal.  My stomach would be full, yet I would still be hungry.  Since white bread is void of any useful nutrients, my body wanted me to continue eating despite that felt full.  To digest, assimilate, and then eliminate the white bread requires a large energy expenditure.  The net energy gain from it is very low.  If the bread is buttered or if a spread containing trans fat is added, the result can be a net loss.

In today’s hectic, fast-paced world, we are inundated with nutrient-deficient foods.  Consumed mostly for convenience sake, processed and refined foods have led us to a decline in health and to elevated medical costs.  Because of their absence of usable nutrients, we find we have to consume more and more of these foods to fill ourselves up.  Thanks to their high refined sugar and calorie counts, we have become an obese, energy-depleted society.

A calorie is defined as a measure of food energy.  It might seem logical, then, to assume that the more calories consumed, the more energy our body is supplied with.  Of course, we know this is not the case, otherwise people with the highest energy would be those who eat at fast food restaurants.  By simply consuming more calories, we are not guaranteed more energy.  Many conventional nutrition books would have us believe that if we expend a certain amount of energy, it can be quantified and replaced.  They suggest that by simply adhering to calorie counts, with no consideration of other factors, we can accurately gauge the amount of food we need to consume to maintain low body weight and high energy.  But it doesn’t work that way.

Several years ago, before I had created the Thrive Diet, I did try to gauge my caloric intake requirements based on my activity level and body weight.  Eating about 8000 calories on heavy training days, the number of calories I determined I required, I usually needed a rest day soon afterward.  I realize now that a large part of my need for the rest day was not so much to recover from the energy expended during training as to recover from energy expended during training as to recover from the energy expended digesting all that food.  I ate lots of starchy, high-carbohydrate foods such as white pasta and bread.  Roasted nuts, usually in the form of peanut butter, were also a large part of my high calorie yet low-nutrient diet.  These are hard for the body to digest and assimilate and have little to offer in terms of nutrients, and so I was robbing myself of energy with every bite.

I also discovered that there were several other ways in which standard foods cause the body to be in a constant state of elevated stress.  Fortunately, as many problems as conventional foods cause, high net-gain foods can alleviate.

I found that by consuming more easily assimilated foods, I could conserve a large amount of energy, therefore reducing stress in my body.  There are two main reasons for this.  First, foods in their natural, nutrient-dense state can be digested and assimilate with less energy expenditure than processed, refined foods.  Second, when more nutrients-rich foods are present in the diet, the body does not have to eat as much as if it were fed less nutrient-rich foods.  In addition, when the body is fed the nutrients it needs, the brain turns off the hunger signal.  And so, the need to continually consume, a state many people who subsist on a refined-food diet experience, ceases, and not as much needs to be eaten and digested.  And since, as I noted above, the digestion and assimilation process for many processed foods is an exceptionally large energy draw, cutting out such foods will immediately translate into a net-energy, the body will likely choose to improve immune function and quicken restoration of cells damaged by stress–essentially, anti aging activities. 

Once I realized the value in nutrient density, assimilation, and absorption of food, I began eating in terms of net gain, rather than to calorie-consumption guidelines.  I focused on consuming nutrient dense, easily assimilated foods.  As a result, my recovery rate has significantly improved.  I no longer need an extra day to recover from eating copious amounts of conventional food.  Enhanced by increased efficacy, my body now pools its energy resources to more quickly recover from muscle damage associated with training.  Today, I consume about 30 percent fewer calories than I did just two years ago, yet I have more energy–by means of conservation, rather than consumption.

Instead of feasting on refined foods, I now consume whole foods almost exclusively.  Raw, alkalizing, enzyme-intact foods have become the foundation of my diet.  Switching my main carbohydrate source from refined starches to whole fruits and vegetables was my starting point.  In doing so, the majority of my energy needs, once obtained primarily from carbohydrate, are now being met by a wide variety of fruit, complemented by pseudograins.  Although commonly referred to as a grain, pseudograins are actually seeds.  Higher in protein, fiber, and trace minerals than grains, pseudograins are also gluten-free.  The ones I use most frequently are amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa.

And so I said earlier, the cornerstone of the Thrive Diet is high net-gain foods.  It’s that simple.  By eating more high net-gain foods, your energy will rise, body fat will decrease, mental clarity will be enhanced, and cravings for refined foods will fade.  The Thrive Diet is designed to be easy to follow and stick to.  I believe that strictly imposed parameters, though they may work for some people in the short term, are not the way to long-term success.  I find that they often create more stress, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the program.  The Thrive Diet is a way of life, more a philosophy than a program.  To me, blindly following a strict program is not a mentally healthy way to seek health.  I create the Thrive Diet to serve as a platform on which self-reliance can be built.

So what exactly constitutes high net-gain foods?  The Thrive Diet of high net-gain foods is based on the following guiding principles.  Eat primarily foods that are…

raw or cooked at low temperature,

naturally alkaline-forming foods to pH balance the body (discussed later in this chapter, on page 47),

high nutrients the body can use without having to convert them (I call this one-step nutrition),

nutrient-dense whole foods,

vitamin- and mineral-rich, from whole foods sources,

non-stimulating, to recalibrate the body and eliminate biological debt.