The Hobbit – Roaming the Mind

When my daughter Maitreya was four years old, I read her her first novel, The Hobbit.

She was doing pretty good with it! She followed along as she met Bilbo and Gandalf, and showed interest in the dwarves and thought Rivendell, Elrond and the rest of the elves were good too. But her fascination only really awoke when we had followed the party up into the Misty Mountains and watched Thorin and Co get abducted by goblins!

Oh no! As the dwarves were led down into the dark, netherworld of the mountains, driven forward by ruthless, whip-wielding goblins singing horrible songs, Maitreya turned to me, excited, and declared, “Goblins are cool!”

I agreed. “Yeah, goblins are cool!” I said.

Continue reading “Goblins Are Cool!”

About Robert and Susana and Our Books!

Roaming the Mind is the online home for the writing and work of Robert Tindall and Susana E. Bustos.

Sacred Soil: Biochar and the Regeneration of the Earth details the remarkable potential of terra preta, the recently rediscovered sacred soil of the pre-Columbian peoples of the Amazon rainforest, to help reverse the catastrophic damage that has been visited upon our Earth. The authors, Robert Tindall, Frederique Apffel-Marglin, and David Shearer, lay out a fascinating description of how utilizing the biochar embedded in this highly fertile, living soil offers a way to free ourselves from dependency on petrochemicals, restore the health of our soils, and remove carbon from our overheating atmosphere by fixing it back where it belongs--in the earth. The book also shows that the rediscovery of terra preta is an opportunity to move beyond the West's tradition of plunder and genocide of the native civilizations of the Americas by embracing the deeper mystery of indigenous methods of inquiry and to participate in an animate cosmos that gave rise to such a powerful technology as terra preta in the first place.

Please order your copy here.

The Shamanic Odyssey: Homer, Tolkien, and the Visionary Experience is an exploration of the indigenous roots of Western literature, of the native mind lying in plain sight not only in the ancient epics of Homer, but also in the fantasy works of J.R.R. Tolkien. As such, the Odyssey as well as The Lord of the Rings can be seen as awakening and healing songs to return our disconnected souls back into harmony with the living cosmos.

Please order your copy here.

The Jaguar that Roams the Mind is a journey into the vanishing world of Amazonian shamanism. Robert Tindall travels through the churches of ayahuasca, with the Kaxinawa Indians in Brazil; to a Peruvian center for the treatment of addiction, Takiwasi; and reveals his studies with an Ashaninca shaman in the rainforest jungle. Moving beyond the scientific approach of reducing medicinal plants to their chemical constituents, Tindall illustrates the shamans' intimate relationships with plant spirits. He explores the three pillars of Amazonian shamanism: purging (drawing disease out of the body), psychoactive plants (including the use of ayahuasca), and diet (communing with teacher plants).

Please order your copy here.

Psycho-Spiritual Integration and Holotropic Breathwork

Integration sessions are necessary for many people who have experiences in non-ordinary states of consciousness. The access to these experiences may be spontaneous or induced by practices such as plant medicine work, Holotropic Breathwork, meditation, or spirit quests, among others. They tend to impact the whole organism at the physical, emotional, mental, and existential levels, requiring a safe container to be processed and metabolized in daily life, particularly when people feel open, incomplete, or still dwelling in the state after the most intense experience is over.

The techniques used for integration vary depending upon the needs of the person, including sharing, framing of the experience, bodywork, the expressive arts, and dietary advice, among others.

A session lasts about one hour and a half. Phone consultations and skype sessions are available to people outside of Peru.

Holotropic Breathwork is a powerful method for healing and self-discovery that relies upon the inherent drive for wholeness within each individual. It was developed by Dr. Stanislav Grof, M.D., one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, and his wife Christina, based on insights drawn from modern consciousness research, transpersonal psychology, anthropology, Eastern spiritual practices and mystical traditions from around the world.

This method combines hyperventilation, evocative music, and focused energy release work to experientially access the deeper dynamics of the psyche that are ready to emerge for an individual, according to his or her particular circumstances. These dynamics may correspond to biographical, perinatal, or transpersonal realms of consciousness.

Holotropic Breathwork has proven to benefit people with a broad range of conditions, such as psychosomatic disorders, addiction, stress, anxiety, and depression. It is an excellent complement to psychotherapy and self-inquiry methods and practices.

For more information, please contact Susana at tutibu@gmail.com or call (510) 689 7597.