So the ILP kit arrives (finally! thankyou invisible sky God) but it's not with me, it's with my significant other. Her first response: "underwhelming" and "the font is too big". Doubter! Heretic! It gets to me next week, so I'll kick off the 90 days then. Your days are numbered Salamone.

The community at Zaadz continues to grow. It's nice getting random comments every now and then, and interesting to see where people are from and what they do. Lots of life coaches. Then I get a comment from a fellow Zaadster. A look at her profile reveals her blog, which has this subheader:

Ths blogs (sic) serves to bring to light the exact nature of 9/11/01 and our Governments complicity. After thorough research, I have full conviction that this was in fact an inside job. I believe all people in all nations need to have insight in to how the convoluted world of The Bush Administration operates, for the sole objective of OIL. Every thing published has been cross referenced.

Wow. Diverse community.

Refuting the 9/11 conspiracy theories

Here's the premise: Take the last/next 20 songs on your random playlist of choice (that's Winamp for me) and then post the results with in my pants added to the end of the song title. Hilarity will ensue!

My body is a sail in my pants (Marianas)
So Real in my pants (Jeff Buckley)
Diamonds and Gold in my pants (Tom Waits)
I love Golden Blues in my pants (Sonic Youth)
Happy Cycling  in my pants (Boards Of Canada)
Telegram in my pants (Russian Futurists)
Good Times in my pants (Jim O-Rourke)
It’s All blooming now Mt Heart Attack in my pants (Liars)
Once in a Lifetime in my pants (Talking Heads)
One Last Glare in my pants (Shalabi Effect )
Loch Raven in my pants (Animal Collective)
Knowing how the world works in my pants (Les Savy Fav)
12 Anthrax in my pants (Gang of Four)
White Pepper in my pants (Ween)
Instinct Blues in my pants (White Stripes)
Nothing in this world can stop me worrying about that girl in my pants (The Kinks)
Insect Eye in my pants (Devendra Banhart)
Percolater in my pants (Stereolab)
The Sweater Song in my pants (Weezer)
Hammering the Cramps in my pants (Sparklehorse)

Telegram in my pants is a nice euphemism, I think.

I get my first look at the ILP kit tomorrow, hurrah!

So far it's been a matter of telephone calls and MSN messenger conversations, mostly involving me interrogating my significant other, to the point where she wanted to throw the damn thing through a window.

3 body workout here I come!

In an unbelievable gift to remixers and sci-fi geeks alike, British phone company BT hired Tom Baker-- you know, the Doctor Who with the scarf-- to become "the voice of text messaging," reading aloud all the insipid messages that the British teens text each other in his droll, grandiloquent voice. Baker spent 11 days recording 11,593 words and phrases, and if you subscribe BT you can access them all, making the most famous voice in British sci-fi tell dirty jokes, flirt with your girlfriend, or in the case of "The Doctor"-- an unidentified remix artist-- speak-sing songs. At press time, "The Doctor Sings" (link above) hosts five songs. Start with Pulp's "Common People": It takes less time to get going than "Wish You Were Here", and dig the way Baker's rich elocution reinterprets the narrator from a lower-class git challenging an upper-class slummer, to an ironic-- nah fuck it, it's funny because it's Tom Baker and they make him say stuff.

SO COOL IT HURTS.

(paragraph from pitchforkmedia).

Begins tomorrow! FInally got the kit, and I have that heady mixture of elation, rapture, mild disappointment et al running through my body. Not disappointed in the sense that boy this kit is useless, more that two months of anticipation mean that they could send the severed head of Anthony Robbins through the mail and I'd still be a little bit meh. So today is day zero, as I begin to figure this thing out.

+++ Gold star to the 3 body workout and F.I.T.

### I am so sick of AQAL lingo. At times it honestly feels like a horrible disease.

- - - The one minute modules aren't actually one minute. Didn't anybody notice this? The 10 minute body workout goes for more than 10 minutes.

-------------------------------------------------

Forgive the above forays. I'm ready to rock this thing.

That is all.

It's coming. Tomorrow is officially day one, and damn if it aint about time.

Let's Recap my adventures with ILP so far:

- start 100 day challenge, expecting package to arrive within 10 days.
- package doesn't arrive
- send email to Shambhala, 'sit tight' they say
- sit tight
- send another email
- repeat the above
- two months pass
- send another email
- Shambhala graciously send another package. Somewhere in Australia, a postie gleefully enjoys his contraband 3 body workout
- package arrives, finally
- except that I'm another state
- finally get to see it
- initially overwhelmed and underwhelmed
- plan an ILP
- start
- today

So, lots of money + trials and tribulations = burning desire to make this thing work.

Today was a good day: 35 minute three body workout (minus pushups, I've hurt my arm, which sucks, but should be gone soon), went for a jog, meditated (interupted by noisy neighbours), didn't get much work done, but all in all not bad for day one. It's nice to finally be in the swing of things, at least.

Homeostasis is the enemy of any transformative practise. Even the ILP - which claims to be about lifelong practise for the sake of practise, rather than just transformation - still entails a shift (gradual-radical or just plain radical) in one's behaviour. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that the 90 day challenge isnt just about completing that task; it's not about accomplishment but about self-empowerment. Homeostasis is the survival mechanism resisting all change.

Day three brought the first mini hiccup, when an unscheduled sleep in and rendevous with an outdoor spa (college is like that sometimes) led to me missing my scheduled jog, and cutting back from the 35 minute version of the 3 body workout to the 10 minute (which, by the way, goes for more than 10 minutes).

Mr. Giant Jaw Robbins tells us the only way that we'll ever act is if we have leverage over ourselves, in the form of desperation or inspiration. Last night has led me to a combination of the two.

Drinking isn't usually the most productive activity, but it can lead to the occasional burst. Like last night, when I thought it would a good idea to assert my manliness by arm wrestling women. I'm tough like that. Several arm wrestles later and now I have a year long bet that will either see me showered with glory or running around a public park in nothing but shorts with [opponent's name] is God written on my back. Yes, suddenly I'm a lot more keen to smash my F.I.T. pushups record.

Inspiration, Desperation, Humiliation.

ILP is going well so far, and it still has that lovely novelty sheen.

Shadow work is the least intuitive ILP module. Personally, I think I would have ranked some of the auxillary modules (ethics, sex, relationships) above Shadow, and at the moment, at least for me, Shadow work is defacto interpersonal work (granted, there's plenty of overlap anyhow).

The gist of the 1-2-3 process is that you learn to recognize your own projections, first by identifying what you don't like in a person, then having an imaginary dialogue, then speaking as them. There are certain quirks about this process that I'm not too sure on (brought up by that guy who keeps asking all the annoying questions on the 1-2-3 DVD), and then there's the usual dangers associated with therapy at a distance (as pointed out by DashH). I'm not sure yet what the 1-2-3 process achieves that couldn't be thrashed out by some form of Gestalt, but then, I haven't really given it my full attention yet. Perhaps it's just a good way to frame the natural gestalt like process of inquiry. Anyone else had good results yet?

- - -

The importance of shadow work, however, isn't in doubt. Several critiques of Wilber, which focus on his alleged misuse of meditative studies, suggest that meditation by itself is a pretty dangerous thing. Shadow work is supposed to be the necessary counterpoint that guards against the 'enlightened jerk' phenomena (aka 'pulling a Darth Vader').

- - -

There is, however, an ancillary benefit of keeping the 1-2-3 injunction in mind. It leaves your heart and head primed for action, feeling out the spots where you routinely avoid interpersonal pain and hassle. For me, this most often takes the form of avoiding people per se, pulling further and further within at the expense of interaction and non-instant gratification. Hell may be other people, then hell is awfully hard work. Just keeping the injunction in mind is enough, leaving aside skepticism of the benefits of deigning to speak on behalf of a non-present third person.

- - -

Tomorrow: Big Mind!

Coming tomorrow! Because I am so tired I am falling asleep at the keyboard. As challenging and fun as typing this with my head would be, results would vary for you, the reader. Hence, a day off and a time for some rest, in honour of the lady who fell asleep on her cushion today and managed to fold herself in half. That deserves some kind of ass kicking emoticon in which an animated dancing banana thrusts back and forth. Damn you zaadz and your non-image integration!

Go here for your bananaramic fix.