Solemn Place

A Conversation with Doc Mitchell: Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine - Part 3 of 3

Doc Mitchell has been a Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1989 and is a senior professor at Five Branches University. Negative thinking can destroy our lives. Self-cultivation such as meditation and prayer is very helpful with stabilizing the mind. Fighting pain becomes a dominant feature. Bringing our thoughts down to the present moment helps us focus on accomplishing our goals now, not in some future moment. Setting a north star for one's life gives us reference points to ground us in principles. For more information and upcoming events, visit solemnplace.com [http://solemnplace.com]

A Conversation with Doc Mitchell: Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine - Part 2 of 3

Doc Mitchell has been a Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1989 and is a senior professor at Five Branches University. Strong emotions can drive our decision-making and objective reality is paradoxical. yuko uno, yuka una, and Doc discuss an underlying reality that is unchanging. Everything is always changing and unfolding in the present moment. There is nothing that is stable. In the classical Chinese language, there is no verb "to be". You can't say "I am". You can't self-define. There was no abstract word for the word "time". The word they had was "seasons". With everything in the context of seasons, there is an organic root which references a world to every kind of phenomena that is unfolding. In talking about personal cultivation, Buddhist and Christian schools offer a lot; praying to a monotheistic God is stable. All of your experience you can see as a sort of an illusion or a dream. This frees one from attachment (desire) which is the root of all suffering.

A Conversation with Doc Mitchell: Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine - Part 1 of 3

Doc Mitchell has been a Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1989 and is a senior professor at Five Branches University. From getting caught as a 12-year-old cutting down trees in Mr. Nielson's backyard and being forced to walk with him through the forest every Sunday, learning the names of every plant, to years later getting very sick in South America stopping in the market places to talk to curanderas, Doc has collected more than just stories. He began collecting plants when he moved back to the U.S. and had jars full of plants when his wife, Sandy, met him and helped him transition back into civilization. Developing a discipline, he began seeding the direction (no pun intended) in his interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine. For more information and upcoming events, visit solemnplace.com [http://solemnplace.com]

Healing Through Music

yuka una sits down with yuko uno to explore his history with music. From the first songs he ever wrote to the sound he carries today. Together, they move through a time capsule of melody and memory, reflecting on how music has carried them through life’s highs and lows. They discuss how interacting with music shapes who we become and how it ultimately led to the conception of Solemn Place. Music is the language of the soul. yuko shares his belief that the fabric of our reality is woven from vibration, light, and sound. That our entire experience is, in many ways, a living light and music show. He revisits the earliest songs he remembers writing and playing after first picking up a guitar, offering snapshots of his formative years as a songwriter. They also explore a deeper side of the journey: how music can become intertwined with trauma, and how healing can happen through reconnecting with music in a new way. For more information and upcoming events, visit solemnplace.com [http://solemnplace.com]

Suffering is Desire

yuka una and yuko uno discuss suffering and our relationship to pain. Suffering is subjective. What may be a positive experience to one may be a negative experience to another. Desire and preferences breed suffering. They dive into the idea that wanting things to be a certain way creates aversion and opposition to what is. How pain is inevitable and suffering is optional. yuko speaks to his own personal suffering and challenges. He enlightens listeners to the benefits of cold plunging. The topic of suffering can be a sensitive subject. Our hosts approach this conversation with gentleness and awareness of how challenging life can be at times. We are all sharing this human experience together. It is our hope and prayer that the vulnerability, music, and shared trauma experience can bring us closer to healing—to remembering who we are. For more information and upcoming events, visit solemnplace.com [http://solemnplace.com]