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Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology
On-line version ISSN 1445-7377
Print version ISSN 2079-7222
Indo-Pac. j. phenomenol. (Online) vol.13 n.1 Grahamstown Jan. 2013
An account of healing depression using ayahuasca plant teacher medicine in a Santo Daime ritual
Jean-Francois Sobiecki
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon in their shamanic traditions. Its use has become popular amongst Westerners seeking alternative means of healing, and the medicine has now spread across the globe via syncretic spiritual healing traditions such as the Santo Daime Church. Despite the increased use of the medicine, little research exists on its effectiveness for healing depression. The existing literature does not contain a detailed self-reported phenomenological account of ayahuasca healing a case of depression. The aim of this paper is to share a personal account of healing depression using ayahuasca in a Santo Daime ritual in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was unplanned and unexpected and resulted in a profoundly transformative healing process. Based on my experience, I describe ayahuasca's ingestion as having created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of the bio-electrical energy system in my body and a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind. These effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to heal and trust in and take responsibility for myself. Other South African Santo Daime members have reported healing of depression with ayahuasca, although in longer and different processes. It appears that the medicine engages the individual's unique collective self (life-history, physical and mental disposition, beliefs and intents) resulting in different outcomes for different individuals. Thus, from my own and others' experience, I describe ayahuasca as a spiritual medicine; one that promotes enhanced awareness and deeper connection to one's core self, to others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs. This encounter with ayahuasca provided me a first-hand experience of learning and healing from the medicine, making real to me the indigenous Amazonian description of plants as being teachers and doctors.
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant medicine preparation used among the indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. The word ayahuasca (also known as caapi or yage) is a Quechua term meaning 'vine of the souls' and is applied both to the beverage itself and to one of the source plants used in its preparation, the malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banisteriopsis caapi (Schultes, 1957). The preparation is made by boiling or soaking the bark and stems of B. caapi together with various other plants. The mixture employed most commonly is the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, particularly Psychotria viridis (Schultes, 1957).
The medicine is primarily used for cleansing, divination and curing illness and disease as part of indigenous shamanic practices (Luna, 1984). Shamanism involves practitioners who, by using 'techniques of ecstasy' (entering trance and enhanced states of awareness), through various means (depending on the tradition in question) such as song, dance and psychoactive plants, interact with the world of spirits in order to acquire knowledge and power to help or heal their communities (Eliade, 1987). Ayahuasca and other psychoactive plants in the Upper Amazon are believed to have spirits that 'teach' the shaman how to heal (diagnosing illness, what plants to use and how, restoring the spirit to a patient, and teaching magic songs called icaros). These plants are referred to as "plant teachers" by the shamans (Luna 1984, p. 142). Plant teachers can also be used to obtain power, which shamans can use to harm instead of heal and thus act as sorcerers. This is a fairly common practice in Amazonian shamanism (Fotiou, 2010).
It has also been noted that tryptamine alkaloids have anthelmintic properties (Levin & York, 1977) and it is hypothesized that medicines such as ayahuasca containing such alkaloids are used by the indigenous Amazonians as anthelmintic agents (Rodriguez, Cavin, & West, 1982). Ayahuasca is therefore a good example of a holistic medicine that works on the physical, psychological and spiritual levels of the individual. Mckenna (2004, p. 115) explained the pharmacology of the brew:
One of the components, the bark of B. caapi, contains β -carboline alkaloids, which are potent monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA) inhibitors; the other component, the leaves of P. viridis or related species, contains the potent short-acting hallucinogenic agent N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT is not orally active when ingested by itself, but can be rendered orally active when ingested in the presence of a peripheral MAO inhibitor, such as the β -carbolines.
The psychoactive actions and effects reported from ingesting the plant preparation include sedation, euphoria, enhanced awareness, visions, purging, emesis and ataxia.
Santo Daime
The Santo Daime is a syncretic spiritual healing movement originating in Brazil "that melds popular Catholicism and nineteenth-century European Spiritualism with Native Amazonian and Afro-Brazilian traditions" (Madera, 2009, p. 85). The doctrine was founded in the late 1920s by a rubber tapper named Raimundo Irineu Serra, or Master Irineu as he came to be called, after experiencing a series of visions in the forest with his use of ayahuasca. In these visions he was instructed by the Queen of the Forest, who revealed herself to be the Virgin of the Conception, to begin a new spiritual healing tradition called Santo Daime. The purpose of this tradition was to replant the Doctrine of Jesus Christ on Earth. She revealed in the vision that ayahuasca was Santo Daime, literally translated as 'Saint Give Me', meaning "Give me strength, give me love, give me light", (Madera, 2009, p. 85) that was the living Christ incarnate. "Serra was one of thousands of displaced and dispossessed, exploited rubber-gatherers who sought to eke out a living in the unknown and - to them - exceedingly dangerous frontier regions" (Wright, 2008, p. 182). The medicine was used by these "mostly poor, black, rural devotees as a communal means of accessing divine guidance, communing with the natural and supernatural world, and forging healing" (Madera, 2009, p. 86). As the church following grew, a number of hymns began to be received by church members in the form of "singing murmurs" (Brent, 2001, p. 2). These are considered to be gifted from higher worlds and are believed to invoke an eclectic pantheon of spiritual beings (Brent, 2001). The Santo Daime ceremonies involve singing these collections of hymns in sessions or what are called 'works.' This singing is accompanied by musical instruments. The ayahuasca is taken as a sacrament resembling that of the Christian Eucharist commencing with singing the hymns (Madera, 2009). The movement has spread globally in the last few decades with satellite church branches being found in major urban centres such as London, Johannesburg and Amsterdam.
Literature on Ayahuasca and Depression
A review of university databases shows that there is a paucity of academic literature on the use of ayahuasca in the treatment and healing of depression. This is particularly the case in relation to literature written from a phenomenological (insider's) perspective. Some studies have indicated that the use of ayahuasca in the Santo Daime context results in various benefits to social and psychological well-being (Mckenna, 2004) and some studies have begun to clinically test Santo Daime members on psychometric measures of conditions like anxiety (Santos, Landeira-Fernandez, Strassman, Motta, & Cruz, 2007). These studies have yielded promising yet inconclusive results.
The literature review resulted in the identification of one dissertation study concerning ayahuasca and depression. In this study, the researcher interviewed six American subjects suffering from chronic and/or treatment-resistant depression concerning their state of depression and their lived experiences before and after taking ayahuasca. The study made use of a phenomenological approach (Palladino, 2009). All six participants reported that symptoms that had not been improved by other previous therapies had been alleviated within a period of 10 days following their consumption of ayahuasca. Four out of the six participants had not had any previous experience with ayahuasca. Despite the small sample size, this study provides preliminary evidence for the successful treatment of treatment-resistant depression with ayahuasca. However, long-term follow up is thus needed to confirm these results. The study concluded that ayahuasca has "the potential to take participants into deep aspects of experience, offering access to unconscious material, which is not otherwise easily available. In so doing, participants reported increased insight into factors/conditions that seemed to have formed depressive experiences" (Palladino, 2009, p. 88). In support of these findings, an urban Brazilian six month study demonstrated that Santo Daime subjects had a significant reduction in minor psychiatric symptoms, improvement of mental health, and a positive change in attitude towards more confidence and optimism (Barbosa, Cazorla, Giglio, S. & Strassman, 2009).
Substantiating these human studies, a few animal studies have demonstrated positive findings concerning the antidepressant-like effects of harmine (an ayahuasca constituent) (Fortunato et al., 2009; Lima et al., 2006; Osório et al., 2011).
In a study referred to as the 'Hoasca' project, findings suggested that ayahuasca also affects serotonergic function (Callaway, Airaksinen, McKenna, Brito, & Grob, 1994), providing preliminary evidence that ayahuasca could have antidepressant actions. The possibility of dangerous interactions between ayahuasca and other pharmaceutical drugs, most notably SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) has been highlighted (Callaway et al., 1999). This should be a serious consideration for those who are on antidepressant drugs and who are contemplating using ayahuasca.
However, despite these studies, the literature does not contain a self-reported phenomenological account of ayahuasca healing a case of depression. Therefore, this paper aims to share a phenomenological account of a Westerner's personal experience of healing depression with ayahuasca. There is a call for this type of experiential insight-based methodology in the field of ethnography (Schroll 2010). This type of research is valuable as it can indicate potential psycho-active actions and therapeutic efficacy of traditional medicines as well as further current understandings of healing consciousness. In this article, I offer insight as to how the medicine may heal depression and reasons why this healing may or may not occur with different individuals.
Research Methodology
The research methodology included: a review of the literature on ayahuasca and depression, discussions with Santo Daime members from South Africa on their experiences or observations of ayahuasca healing depression, and a self-reported experience of healing depression using ayahuasca in a Santo Daime ritual in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was unplanned and unexpected, and was the first Santo Daime ritual I experienced. The experience could thus be described as having involved initiatory outsider participant observation. This circumstance was beneficial as I had no prior expectations as to what was to happen and was able to encounter the ritual for what it was. In this paper I share the process as it happened. I also provide insights concerning the potential healing dynamics involved in the use of ayahuasca. I tape recorded the details of my experience the day after my use of ayahuasca and used this recording to build notes for this paper.
Personal Background
For background purposes, I am an ethnobotanist with university training in botany and medical anthropology. I have had a life-long calling for exploring and knowing healing, including the use of medicinal plants, the knowledge of which I gained through self-study of nature, books, making and using my own herbal medicines, as well as participant observation with local healers throughout my life. I am currently apprenticing with a Northern Sotho healer in Johannesburg to learn more about southern African healing and traditional medicine.
Prior to the experience reported in this article I had six previous experiences with ayahuasca spanning twelve years and beginning in 1999. I could best describe these experiences as transcendental in nature. In these journeys, I engaged what I felt to be content from my subconscious mind, as well as spiritual phenomena and information that seemed more transpersonal. In retrospect, these experiences were major change catalysts that promoted connection and insight into deeper aspects of my core self and universal forces of energy. These experiences did not radically transform negative beliefs I had in my life at that stage although they initiated and promoted growth and learning in me.
The case of ayahuasca healing documented in this article is significant due to the spontaneous healing effect the ingestion of the plant medicine had on my state of depression at the time. I had experienced clinical depression before as an adolescent, and my friends and I recognized the symptoms in this case. I proceeded from feeling chronically anxious, fatigued, confused and despondent to feeling whole, content and vital for weeks and months following the medicine ceremony. This indicates the results of the therapeutic properties of ayahuasca for mood and energy related conditions.
The healing with ayahuasca
The date was the seventh of October 2011. I had decided to meet with Enio Staub, the Secretary of the Church of the Santo Daime, for discussing potential ethnobotanical research collaboration. I was in a state of depression, feeling hopeless, exhausted and in despair. To elaborate on the cause of this state, I will provide the context of my life-situation at the time.
I was in transition at the time, having just returned from a journey to India. I was temporarily staying at my parents' home, before finding a new home. I had returned fresh with new beginnings to old conditioning. My journey to India to learn and experience Ayurvedic medicine taught me the importance of impressions from the environment on health and wellness. However, I had made the choice before leaving India to return back to my old home with its old and predictable impressions. In retrospect, this was a great learning experience in its own right. After six weeks of being back at my old home, I watched myself reverting to habitual behaviours triggered by past scripts between myself and my parents. Furthermore, I was at a crossroads in my life. I knew I wanted to start a new life away from Johannesburg, my hometown but I was unsure as to what career direction and destination this would entail. I was keeping myself occupied with writing an ethnobotany related paper, though what started as productive work deteriorated and slowed to a trickle. I tried to find peace from the family home by going to the University of Johannesburg to work during the day, but this did not help me.
I also decided to self-medicate with the African psychoactive ubulawu plants I was researching at the time (see Sobiecki, 2008, 2012). These plants also assisted me in this difficult time. I experimented at my parents' home using one of four unidentified dried ubulawu plant species that I had bought from a traditional healer. I was hoping this ubulawu plant medicine would induce dreams for spiritual guidance, for which they are traditionally used, but this was not successful. I realized the importance of 'set and setting' in the psycho-spiritual healing process, because I noticed that my father was disturbed by my spiritual practices. This made me feel very uneasy to use the ubulawu medicines inside the house. In an extremely depressed and disturbed state I went to Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve to discard the medicines and return them to nature by placing them in a river in the reserve. While in the reserve I spontaneously sampled a piece of a dried root of another one of the plant species. This caused a great calmness in me and evoked memories that I needed to face. I subsequently used this unidentified plant for approximately two weeks with great effectiveness to help me sleep and relax. After the first evening of using the plant, I woke with an image of a sun glowing behind my closed eyelids. This image, while peculiar, I experienced as comforting. It made me feel that I had a source of light within me despite how hopeless I felt. This experience reminded me how South American psychoactive plant medicines such as ayahuasca are considered 'plant teachers'. I hypothesized that the African psychoactive ubulawu plants could also be considered plant teachers. I am currently investigating this aspect in more detail. However, despite the benefits of using this African psychoactive plant, I still felt emotionally stuck.
Towards the seventh of October I was in a precarious psycho-spiritual place; my relationship with my father was tense, both of us feeling pressures and strains of different kinds and I was battling to decide on a course of action. On the seventh of October I met Enio from the Santo Daime Church at the house of one of the members. After speaking to him, his wife Maria and a colleague about the church, I felt a deep calling to open up and share my situation. I initially talked around the question of whether ayahuasca could be used for someone in a spiritual crisis, but I knew the question actually pertained to me. I was rationalizing; entertaining an intellectual rant in order to camouflage my heart's need for healing. Once I decided to be honest and share this information the pretence was over. Maria pointed out that ayahuasca would be a good medicine for me and that I needed to "look at my heart". Enio raised some very important points. He suggested that ayahuasca connects you to what you need at the time on a physical, mental or spiritual level and that the Santo Daime platform was a way that the plant medicine could introduce itself to Westerners. He also stated that, should I decided to take the medicine, I should trust myself and concern myself only about my own process and not with other people's processes. I learnt that it was an auspicious day; the anniversary of the founding member of the Santo Daime, Master Irineu. That evening there was to be a ceremony in celebration of the occasion. After some light snacks and chatting with Enio, I left to go back home to decide my course of action. Although I had doubts, I also felt a deep sense of trust in the situation, especially when I remembered Enio's words.
This would not be the first time I had taken ayahuasca, although it would be the first time I had taken it in a Santo Daime context. I had taken the medicine on a few occasions before over a period of years, once in South Africa and later in the Amazon. All of these previous experiences occurred in what can be called a hybrid shamanic ritual context incorporating self-exploration, shamanic healing methods, and facilitation by a shamanic trained practitioner. These experiences with the plant medicine were great catalysts of positive change and growth for me, yet were difficult to integrate into my life and worldview at the time. They occurred over a short time, lasting no more than one week and, in retrospect, I believe that a longer and more continual process of using the medicines with a mentor would have resulted in a more integrative process of healing with longer-lasting results at the time.
Having decided to attend the ceremony, I began preparing myself and finding the recommended white and blue attire. Armed with trust in myself, I returned three hours later to the member's house that would serve as the facilitation space. As more people arrived, the owners of the house were busy organizing the space. In a dining room a long, heavy wooden table was brought in around which wooden chairs were placed. More chairs were placed around the circumference of the room. I helped where I could in organizing the space. About twenty people arrived. I was both nervous and confident. I tried to keep myself focused and centred. The feeling for me was one of a sense of shared purpose and communality, but being a first-timer and not knowing the community I did not have much confidence. However, this was to change after my experience as I made friends in the community.
I was shown to a seat on the circumference of the room, and everyone found their places. Enio and Marcia led the ceremony and they were seated at the front of the table. Some more experienced members held wooden rattles and paper hymn booklets. A number of the members were formally dressed in white suits and the setting had a reserved and respectful atmosphere. Enio carried the medicine in a five-litre plastic bottle. Its dark brownish-red colour evoked in me a deep remembrance; a joy and reverence of one of the most remarkable and unique tastes I had ever experienced. I can only describe it as the life-blood of the earth; distilled essence of earth, water and plant with a biting, sweet-sour wine type of taste. My taste buds recognized something magical about this decoction. It was thick in constituency and with a strong rich taste. When it was my turn, I walked up to the front of the table and took the tall shooter-type glass, prayed and spoke into the medicine to heal and guide me, then drank it and returned to my seat. I tried to prepare myself by having a blanket around my shoulders and was nervous with anticipation. After everyone had drunk the medicine, Enio made a short prayer for blessings, expressed gratitude and then the gathering began to sing the hymns. Although I rarely paid attention to singing these hymns on the occasions I tried, I noted they were about Mary, nature, plants and their relationships. I knew I had to go within myself so I did not concern myself much with other processes around me. I was ready to experience the effects of the plant medicine, but it took approximately another thirty minutes for changes to occur. Ironically, no sooner had I let go of my expectations, than I found myself in the field of enhanced awareness.
My first noticeable engagement with the medicine was a feeling of wanting to connect my hands to the space and, as I slowly did so, I felt a heart-opening sensation that brought tears to my eyes because I was afraid of being vulnerable, of expressing what I needed to express. When I had raised my hands I felt energetic spiritual hands connecting with my hands. After more time I experienced a vision and a sense of two brown hands wanting to put my arms down and so I reverted to putting my hands down. I have often felt a strong connection to doing healing work with my hands.
The first powerful inner impressions I experienced were images of what appeared to be angelic horses ascending around a central column of energy, in harmony with the music. The visions I experience with ayahuasca are often not clear or three-dimensional forms, but have a nebulous energy appearance. They are what I would describe as spirit forms. On a few occasions during the ceremony I felt the archetypal struggle between light and dark energies (I believe the latter to be fears, personal conflicts or disturbing emotions) competing for my attention. I remember focusing on the vision of ascending horses intending my consciousness/spirit to join this energy, and not wanting to entertain these lower darker energies. At one point, I felt the lower part of my body being in the roots of this dark energy that I consciously had to extract myself from.
A significant aspect of the journey for me was the occasions on which I left the room with a desire to vomit in order to cleanse myself, which is a typical emetic action of the medicine. On the first occasion I went outside and getting into the garden, the impulse was not strong enough to vomit. Instead, what was available were these dark energies or 'dark materials' and I felt immersing into my shadow of fears. On this and other previous occasions having used ayahuasca, with the medicine working in me, it feels as if the mental state of fear becomes tangible, as if negative thoughts and feelings become visible as black, red and purple forms around me with an accompanying audible vibrational sound that oscillates in strength. These forms of energy are symbolic for me of negativity in my life. Thus, I was experiencing the suffering of palpable, yet uncertain fears. A facilitator, G, came outside and gently encouraged me to go back inside. He told me, that "inside was better, going back to the songs was better". This I did.
A second time, later, I felt a need to vomit again and went outside. The same thing happened: I could not vomit and I got caught up in my dark materials and felt cold, shivering and struggling with my own suffering. G came outside again and asked if I was ok. I told him that I wanted to die to my old self, but that I could not. He spoke to me in a gentle tone, "It takes time, be easy ... Let go by moving ahead. Get ahead." In retrospect, I realize how important this advice was, that I could either try to get involved in an analytical process and try to work these pains out, or I could just let it go and move ahead. I experienced some paranoia this second time outside, reflecting that all that I was experiencing was bondage to spiritual forces, desires, power and attachments, but in retrospect I believe this had more to do with my own fear of being enslaved by fears and desires than anything external to me, since nothing had tried to enslave or disempower me during or after my experience. This suggests to me that one can get caught up in delusions while experiencing visions, yet one can entertain delusions without visions in everyday waking experience too. Clearly, one must discern what is true or delusional for oneself as it applies to one's life and oneself in any given moment. Going back inside, I listened to the singing and the visions were very strong and visceral. I let my body move spontaneously to the visions. I experienced an interesting vision of a funnel of energy on my head that was clearing out my mind as if deleting old files from a computer. I initially allowed this to happen, but stopped this process after a while when I started thinking and fearing what was happening.
At this time, which was towards the last stage of the ceremony, I felt I could not handle a non-specific intensity of the energy and process, and for a third time felt an even stronger desire to vomit. This time I went to the bathroom and shut myself in there. Sitting on the ground I had an awakening realization that only I could get myself out of these fears, the medicine would not, nor would anyone else. It was then that I decided with a strong conviction to take responsibility for my state. I got up, walked back inside the room and held myself upright. I focused on the music and on positive thoughts of love and compassion, and this was when I felt an energy accumulating and orbiting in my heart space that felt enlivening and joyful. Slowly and joyfully I started dancing to a beautiful song. I then experienced a clarity of thought and knowingness that was profoundly instructive: that I am human and that I need to accept my humanness and that I deserve to share love and allow myself to be loved. These knowings humbled me. I had a sensation of having suns in my eyes that made me feel radiant with healing and new hope. At this point I felt, and literally saw, energy reconfiguring and working on my reproductive system, that I sensed was having an energizing and revitalizing effect on my entire body, and that I continued to feel in the days and weeks to follow. I had a vision of myself as a healer that conveyed the insight that I could choose to be a healer or not, but that in either case, I must take responsibility for that choice.
Then, quite aptly and suddenly the ceremony ended. The members acknowledged each others' journeys. Slowly but surely people followed their own course of action: some eating dinner, others discussing their experience, while others departed. The members were in very different spaces after their experience. One member was still struggling with an issue that I perceived as being very painful and I observed that some members were trying to console him, while another member seemed aloof and disappointed, keeping to herself, while yet other members were enjoying intimate conversations by the fireside outside. This demonstrated to me how different and unique the experience is for people. I believe that this experience calls for individual integration. After a casual exchange with Enio and others I left for home, feeling slightly tired, yet alert and calm while driving.
The following day I needed very little food and felt powerful, energetic and alive with a healthy libido returning to me after my prior depressed state. On this day I went to Kliprivierberg Nature Reserve and walked in reverence of life, being grateful to the medicine and the renewed life-force and optimism I felt. I also noted that my use of the medicine resulted in my experiencing enhanced mindful awareness, insight, and a sense of wholeness and inter-connectivity - far from the popular stigmatized belief that psychoactive substances will cause delusional fantasies and madness. That was not my experience. I felt healed and stronger than I had felt for many months. I had also experienced this freshness of being after my previous ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru.
Before the moment of breakthrough, I question whether I was avoiding my fears by wanting to vomit them out. When I decided to take ownership of my pain and fears, change began. The lesson was not only of owning my pain, but owning who I am. This is a choice I can make or avoid and, either way, I need to take responsibility for my choice.
In my experience the ingestion of ayahuasca resulted in an immediate process of healing and recovery from a chronic state of depression. I believe this occurred due to the following reasons, and in the following ways:
1) The psychoactive chemicals in the preparation created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of my bio-electrical energy system in my body and which had a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind.
2) These healing effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to trust in myself and the medicine and take responsibility for myself.
3) The medicine opened me to valuable insight about myself that, if taken to heart, could act as lessons to improve my life.
4) The ritual experience connected me with likeminded people who provided me with new hope, meaning and valuable friendships in the months to come. These were important aspects of my healing process.
Aspects of Ayahuasca healing: The mind-body-spirit connection
In the above ways, I see ayahuasca as having facilitated the healing of my depression owing to the inter-relationship between the psychoactive, psychological, spiritual, ritual and social factors involved with its use. Based on my experience I believe that the intent to heal with an open, trusting and respectful attitude encouraged a spontaneous healing experience of a state of depression. In contrast, an untrusting or resistant attitude had led to cessation in the flow of healing in a previous experience. This is interesting from a phenomeno-logical perspective, because the mind-body-spirit connections seem to be intensified with ayahuasca; in some way the connections are more latent with possibilities, more able to manifest and translate into reality. This occurs not only on a mind level, as psychedelics were coined for, but also on a physiological level. This phenomenon has been experienced and noted by other researchers such as Weil (Brown, 2011). This phenomenon appears to be characteristic of what I describe as spiritual medicines, medicines that promote enhanced awareness and deeper connection with aspects of oneself, of others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs.
A traditional Northern Sotho healer, Ms Maponya, concisely explained the action of South African spiritual medicines by saying that "it [ubulawu] will give you what you are." (Sobiecki, 2012, p. 216). Thus, people may experience different phenomena depending on the individual's unique individual constitution (life history, mental and physical disposition, beliefs, attitudes and intents). The medicines will help create an awareness of these aspects and thus will the individual understand him or herself. Furthermore, according to Ms Maponya, the manifesting of intent using spiritual medicines can also happen on a transpersonal level.
An anonymous Santo Daime member shared with me how ayahuasca healed his depression in a different way. He explained:
I came to the Daime about 5 years ago and had been experiencing severe fatigue accompanied by depression. My first 20 ceremonies or so were very physical - I was not able to hold a book or keep up with hymns. I sat in my place and as best I could, tried to keep open and receptive to the currents of healing. I would shake involuntarily for long periods. I also experienced what I can only describe as tears of tiredness as if my whole body was being deeply cleansed. This went on for some time and I definitely felt progress, but in my case, step by sometimes excruciating step. And then at some point, I started to notice that the ceremonies were becoming easier and more enjoyable. There was a lightness of being present without any effort. Although this is not to say that the works are ever without challenge.
He goes on to say: "I have seen most success when the person commits to the process and develops strength to move through the various obstacles or resistances on the way to the root of the issue and finally address the underlying problem which can span spiritual, emotional, mental and physical levels."
In this member's case, the healing of depression took a longer period of working with the medicine. While other Santo Daime members from South Africa confirmed that ayahuasca has healed depression in some members, they did not elaborate on the details. It can be argued that everyone is at a different stage of their own psycho-spiritual development, so this would necessitate different outcomes for different people using spiritual medicines. I am uncertain why the sudden transformation occurred for me in this encounter with ayahuasca, but I would say it was a result of various factors including the spiritual work I had already done, my previous relationship with the medicine, the psychological state I was in at the time (being depressed) and the beliefs and intents that I brought with me into the ritual.
Potential mechanisms of Ayahuasca's healing depression
My experience and these other reports of healing depression are substantiated by a small but growing number of scientific studies indicating ayahuasca's positive effect on psychological wellness, including depression. However, the mechanisms of action remain unclear.
In my experience, I partly attribute the reduction of the depression-related anxiety to having gained clarity and insight on some of the psycho-spiritual problems I was facing. In addition, the mind-body-spirit connection produced by the action of the medicine, resulted in enhanced energy, vitality and a feeling of wholeness. The way in which ayahuasca heals depression on a physiological and psychological level may be explained by an Ayurvedic (traditional Indian) medicinal understanding of the energetics of healing. In Ayurvedic medicine, psychoactive plants like ayahuasca are considered stimulant (Rajasic) in nature on the psyche level, and are used occasionally in India by people who are spiritual practitioners with a constitutional inclination towards stagnation and being resistant to change (Dr K. Mahesh, personal communication, April 2011). Such stimulant medicines can be used to shift a person out of a state of depression or inertia that is called Tamas in Ayurveda (Frawley, 2000). I believe that this is what occurred to me when I took the medicine.
In my experience, I would describe ayahuasca's ingestion in this Santo Daime ritual as having created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of my bio-electrical energy system in my body and also had a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind. These effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to heal and trust in and take responsibility for myself. Other South African Santo Daime members have reported healing of depression with ayahuasca, although in longer and different processes. It appears that the medicine engages the individual's unique collective self (life-history, physical and mental disposition, beliefs and intents) resulting in different outcomes for different individuals. It can thus be said that each person has a unique relationship and outcome with the plant, supporting the description I give of ayahuasca as being a spiritual medicine. That is, a medicine that promotes connection with and insight into deeper aspects of one's core self, others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs. Therefore, I would say that ayahuasca, as a spiritual medicine, can be used effectively to treat depression-related illness if used with that intention, and with respect, trust and openness. In order for such healing to occur, the correct setting, as well as experienced, trustworthy and well-intentioned facilitators to guide one through the process are also required. Furthermore, from a safety perspective, the use of ayahuasca needs to take into account the mental state and personal beliefs of the individual at the time, the purpose of use, and importantly, the essential post-experience integration period that, from my experience, necessitates the support of friends and practitioners from the community.
This encounter with ayahuasca provided me with a first-hand experience of learning and healing from the medicine that culminated in an energetic transformation that lifted my state of depression. It also provided lessons about my life and who I am, making real to me the indigenous Amazonian description of the plants as being 'doctors and teachers'.
Referencing Format
Sobiecki, J-F. (2013). An account of healing depression using ayahuasca plant teacher medicine in a Santo Daime ritual. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 13(1), 10 pp. doi: 10.2989/IPJP.2013.13.1.7.1173
Barbosa, P. C. R., Cazorla, R. M., Giglio, J. S., & Strassman, R. (2009). A six-month prospective evaluation of personality traits, psychiatric symptoms and quality of life in ayahuasca-naïve subjects. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 41(3), 205-212. [ Links ]
Brent, M. (2001). Ayahuasca, religion and nature. Retrieved 17 May 2012, from http://www.santodaime.org/archives/morgan.htm [ Links ]
Brown, D. J. (2011). Psychedelics and psychosomatic medicine: An interview with Andrew Weil, M.D. MAPS Bulletin, 21(1), 11-12. [ Links ]
Callaway, J. C., Airaksinen, M. M., McKenna, D. J., Brito, G. S., & Grob, C. S. (1994). Platelet serotonin uptake sites increased in drinkers of ayahuasca. Psychopharmacology, 116, 385-387. [ Links ]
Callaway, J. C., McKenna, D. J., Grob, C. S., Brito, G. S., Raymon, L. P. ... Mash, D. C. (1999). Pharmacokinetics of hoasca alkaloids in healthy humans. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 65, 243-256. [ Links ]
Eliade, M. (1987). Shamanism: An Overview. In Eliade, M. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion (pp. 233-242). New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. [ Links ]
Fortunato, J. J., Gislaine Z. R., Kirsch, T. R., Stringari, R. B., Sterz, L. ... Quevedo, J. (2009). Acute Harmine administration induced antidepressive-like effects and increases BDNF levels in the rat hippocampus. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 33, 1425-1430. [ Links ]
Fotiou, E. (2010). Encounters with sorcery: An ethnographer's account. Anthropology and Humanism, 35(2), 192203. [ Links ]
Frawley, D. (2000). Ayurveda and the Mind. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. [ Links ]
Levin, D. A., & York, B. M. (1977). The toxicity of plant alkaloids: An ecogeographic perspective. Biochem. System and Ecology, 6, 61-76. [ Links ]
Lima, L. M., Ferreira, M. S., Ávila, A. A., Perazzo, F. P., Schneedorf, J. M., & Carvalho, J. C. T. (2006). Ayahuasca central nervous system effects: Behavioral study. Arztezeitschriftfur Naturheilverfahren, 47(7), 376-480. [ Links ]
Luna, L. E. (1984). The concept of plants as teachers among four mestizo shamans of Iquitos, North Eastern Peru. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 11, 135-56. [ Links ]
Madera, L. M. (2009). Visions of Christ in the Amazon: The gospel according to ayahuasca and Santo Daime.
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 3(1), 66-98.
Mckenna, D. J. (2004). Clinical investigations of the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca: Rationale and regulatory challenges. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 102, 111-129. [ Links ]
Osório, F. D. L., De Macedo, L. R. H., De Sousa, J. P. M., Pinto, J. P., Quevedo, J., Crippa, J. A., & Hallak, J. E. C. (2011). The therapeutic potential of harmine and ayahuasca in depression: Evidence from exploratory animal and human studies. In R. G. dos Santos (Ed.), The ethnopharmacology of ayahuasca. Kerala, India: Transworld Research Network. [ Links ]
Palladino, L. (2009). Vine of the soul: A phenomenological study of ayahuasca and its effect on depression. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Pacifica Graduate Institute. Retrieved from http://www.neip.info/html/objects/_downloadblob.php?cod_blob=996 [ Links ]
Rodriguez, E., Cavin, J. C. & West, J. E. (1982). The possible role of Amazonian psychoactive plants in the chemotherapy of parasitic worms: a hypothesis. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 6, 303-309. [ Links ]
Santos, R. G., Landeira-Fernandez, J., Strassman, R. J., Motta, V. & Cruz, A. P. M. (2007). Effects of ayahuasca on psychometric measures of anxiety, panic-like and hopelessness in Santo Daime members. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 112, 507-513. [ Links ]
Schroll, M. A. (2010). The future of a discipline: Considering the ontological/methodological future of the anthropology of consciousness, Part I. Toward a new kind of science and its methods of inquiry. Anthropology of Consciousness, 21(1), 1-29. [ Links ]
Schultes, R. E. (1957). The identity of the Malpighiaceous narcotics of South America. Harvard Botanical Museum Leaflets, 18, 1-56. [ Links ]
Sobiecki, J. F. (2008). A review of plants used in divination in southern Africa and their psychoactive effects. Southern African Humanities, 20, 333-51. [ Links ]
Sobiecki, J. F. (2012). Psychoactive ubulawu spiritual medicines and healing dynamics in the initiation process of southern bantu diviners. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 44(3), 1-8. [ Links ]
Wright, R. M. (2008). The Brazilian ayahuasca religions. Fieldwork in Religion, 2(3), 177-86. [ Links ]
About the Author
Jean-Francois Sobiecki is a research associate, ethnobotanist and health and wellness educator working with the University of Johannesburg. His main research area is cross-cultural medicinal plant use and healing. His research and publications on South African psychoactive plant use (2002, 2008, 2012) have made valuable contributions to the field of African ethnobotany. He is currently studying the healing dynamics involved with the use of psychoactive and other medicinal plants by traditional healers in South Africa. He is doing this under the training and guidance of a North Sotho traditional healer whom he has known for 14 years. Jean has also used his knowledge of medicinal plants and holistic medicine in developing employee wellness training programs, evaluating a fortified nutritional intervention project with the University of the Witwatersrand, establishing an NGO focusing on food gardens production and developing educational media on nutrition and primary health care. He is also an avid writer on consciousness, sustainable futures, health and healing for the popular press in South Africa. E-mail address: email@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Complete Story
Annual Dartmouth Summer Seminar for Composition Research
Data-driven Inquiry: Process, Methods, Results
Annual Dartmouth Summer Seminar for
Composition Research
Data-driven Inquiry: Process, Methods, Results
July 27-August 8, 2014
Dartmouth College's Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, in collaboration with the Council of Writing Program Administrators, announces its annual two-week Research Summer Seminar, July 27-August 8, 2014.
Purpose and Focus: The program is designed to support members of our field who would like to engage in data-driven research but have not had the opportunity to develop their expertise in understanding, choosing, and using particular research methods, effecting quantitative and qualitative analysis, carrying out critical analysis with (and of) statistics and statistical software, and preparing for publication of research. Research is broadly—and provisionally—defined here as systematic or replicable inquiry in response to a research question that can generate interpretable data, inquiry that is grounded in previous research and designed to extend existing knowledge and, through scholarly publication or other public contribution, to be extended itself. This year's focus will be on data-driven research: process, methods, results.
Session leaders will include: Chris Anson, Charles Bazerman, Cheryl Geisler, Neal Lerner, Les Perelman, Joanna Wolfe (additional nationally-known faculty will be announced as we determine project-specific issues).
The program's key on-site features will include:
• Overview: major theories and research methods, formulation
of feasible research questions, gaps in composition's current research landscape, definition of research and its relationship to assessment.
• Workshop: situating individual projects within these paradigms and drafting literature reviews.
• Overview: data treatment and analysis, focused on coding options, systematic treatment approaches.
• Practice session: data analysis in small groups.
• Workshop: developing preliminary coding schemes for participants' data.
• Discussion: participants' data collection, questions they can ask of the data, what that shows about what else they need to know, and how to obtain it.
• Overview: understanding and using parametric and non-parametric statistics; key software options and uses.
• Workshop, statistical analysis: what do we really need to know?
• Discussion: case study, critiquing existing empirical work.
• Overview: strategies for addressing challenges to research in specific institutional contexts; case study.
• Workshop: individual plans for completing participant projects.
• Discussion: issues in ethical research; case study.
• Workshop: publication, conference presentations.
•Presentation of participants' projects; feedback from national scholars including John Brereton, Cinthia Gannett, Neal Lerner, Mya Poe
Other details: The specific program will be tailored to the research projects defined by applicants. The work of the group will begin in the February-July 2014 period: forming a cohort, distributing readings, sharing information about projects, preliminary guidance from team leaders on IRB contact and data collection as needed. This will be followed by a virtual seminar in advance of the summer seminar to discuss methods for further data collection: what else researchers might need to know and how to obtain it.
Peer review and consultations with team members will be ongoing throughout the seminar, starting with an initial meeting and ending with presentation of projects during the final two days; the programs ends at 6:00 pm on August 8th.
Participants will leave the summer seminar with a concrete plan for completing the project they bring to the program, as well as an ongoing support network, including the program cohort and the team members.
Who Should Attend: We welcome new and seasoned composition teachers and WPAs from all types of institutions and writing positions, including two-year and four-year colleges and universities, writing centers, writing across the curriculum programs, or centers for teaching excellence. Participants may be researchers looking to expand their repertoire of methods, or new researchers. We encourage research teams to apply.
Program fee (includes all materials, access to the library and Internet while at Dartmouth)
Housing* for the full seminar term (single rooms in dormitories)
$780 approximate, which includes a $100 credit towards meals in College facilities
Athletic passes to all facilities; on-campus parking
$5 a day each (optional)
We offer a $100 discount on the fee for 2014 CWPA conference attendees.
About Dartmouth: Dartmouth is in Hanover, NH, a beautiful New England town. Dartmouth offers an excellent summer location, with serious facilities, resources, and a work atmosphere, alongside recreational and cultural events for off-time: hiking, lakes, bicycling, farmer's market, concerts, films, speakers, and performances. There are many day care/summer camp opportunities for participants who might want to bring family; we'll provide information. Dorms can accept non-seminar participants; local family-friendly hotels are also an option.
Access to Dartmouth is quite easy from Boston Logan (Dartmouth Coach is direct to campus every 2 hours). There are also flights into Manchester NH or Lebanon NH and Burlington VT, and an Amtrak train, Greyhound bus, and Dartmouth Coach from NYC.
For More Information: Please write to Christiane Donahue (firstname.lastname@example.com) with any questions. The application is available at: http://dartmouth.edu/writing-speech/research/summer-seminar-2014/summer-seminar-2014-application-information
• Deadline for applications: December 16, 2013.
• Notification of acceptance: January 7, 2014.
Previous participants' commentary on the Dartmouth Summer Seminar:
"In addition to several 'ah ha' moments, I left the conference with a new approach to and understanding of research and research tools that can help me answer questions I've been trying to ask for quite a while."
"Certainly one of the most incredible professional experiences I've had."
"I was pushed to think in new ways about my particular project and about writing studies research in general. It was incredibly stimulating intellectually to go through that process with other researchers."
"This was such a valuable opportunity to get to know [writing] researchers who were at various points in their career, from a variety of places and institutions, and with unique perspectives on writing studies. It simultaneously helped me to hone in on my own research and to see new possibilities for research."
"The seminar filled big holes in my graduate education—holes that I didn't know were there. I feel better equipped to design and carry out research projects, as well as better equipped to read and review scholarship in the field. I've always felt a step behind due to the lack of focus on research methods in my graduate program. Now I feel confident that I'll be able to make valuable contributions."
"Everything seemed designed to provide us with two weeks to learn, explore, design, circle back, think, and share with like-minded (and, frankly, wonderful) colleagues. I also appreciated that we were pushed out of our comfort zones on our projects and on ways of doing research. I cannot imagine a richer environment for this stage in my career."
"The content was very well-chosen, and the mentoring and modeling so generously offered by the program leaders was a gift, both for younger colleagues and mid-career professionals. The uncompromising dedication to this emerging field—writing studies—demonstrated by the organizers and contributing faculty was energizing and at times bracing but always welcome. I certainly benefited from the experience, and it will probably mark a turning point in my career."
"Not since grad school have most of us had anything quite like this, and few of us will likely enjoy such a sense of professional community again—at least not to such a concentrated degree."
"I felt engaged intellectually and socially on common projects, even though our individual projects were different."
"This is among the very best intellectual experiences I have had in my career. I feel like my career has received an electrifying jolt (in a very good way)!"
"I hoped to learn new methods and to think through ways those methods would apply to future projects, but really the experience was far richer than I could have anticipated."
* The housing/meal plan is optional. The housing cost is an estimate based on 2013. Dartmouth is reviewing its summer housing and has not yet released actual fee structures for 2014.


text:
Star Trek screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman recently signed an exclusive two-year producing deal with Universal Pictures. The studio has now sent out a press release announcing that the duo will take on reboots of The Mummy and Van Helsing with Tom Cruise attached to co-produce and star in the latter. Last month, we reported that Prometheus co-writer Jon Spaihts has been tapped to write the reboot of The Mummy. As for Van Helsing, Cruise has been involved with the property since 2010, but at the time, the product went into stasis after Guillermo Del Toro declined to direct. At the time, Cruise and Del Toro were set to team for At the Mountains of Madness, but Universal pulled the plug because they wouldn't give Del Toro the budget and R-rating he wanted.
Hit the jump for the press release. Orci and Kurtzman were recently hired to write the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man. It's important to note that the successful producing/screenwriting duo are currently not attached to write the scripts for either The Mummy or Van Helsing although they'll obviously have major input.
UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, May 1, 2011—Universal Pictures today announced the studio has signed a two-year first-look production deal with one of the leading writing/producing teams in the entertainment industry, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and their K/O Paper Products banner. The duo will kick off their new relationship with Universal by reimagining titles from the studio's library including Van Helsing and The Mummy. The announcement was made by Universal Pictures Chairman, Adam Fogelson and Co-Chairman, Donna Langley.
Kurtzman and Orci have collaborated with some of the industry's top creative minds including J.J. Abrams, with whom they wrote the third installment of Mission: Impossible, which grossed nearly $400 million at the worldwide box office. In 2007, they wrote Transformers and went on to write Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009. Together, those films grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide. More recently, the pair wrote and executive produced 2009's Star Trek, which grossed more than $385 million worldwide. Accompanying their impressive film resume, Kurtzman and Orci have found tremendous success in television, having created the series Fringe, writing/producing Alias and in 2010, producing the reboot of Hawaii Five-O. They also currently executive produce the highest rated show on Hasbro's The Hub, Transformers Prime.
"Alex and Roberto are extraordinarily talented writers and producers who know the value of a great story in building successful tentpole films," Fogelson and Langley said in a joint statement. "They have been a major part of some of Hollywood's biggest movies and television shows in recent history, and we're eager to have them build on that success at Universal."
"We're thrilled to call Universal Pictures our home," said Kurtzman and Orci. "From the moment we sat down with Adam, Donna, Peter, Jeff and the entire Uni team, there was an instant flow of inspired ideas. They really understand the importance of building a strong creative team and giving our shared projects their full support. We're proud to start making movies that will live as part of Universal's enduring legacy."
Kurtzman and Orci's K/O Paper Products will develop and produce a modern reimagining of Universal library titles including The Mummy, alongside producer Sean Daniel and writer Jon Spaihts. The pair will also develop and produce Universal's reimagined Van Helsing, with Tom Cruise attached to star in and produce the film.
Kurtzman and Orci's upcoming projects include writing Sony's next installment of The Amazing Spider-Man; producing Now You See Me, for Lionsgate Summit, set for release in March 2013; and producing Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, also for Lionsgate Summit. Kurtzman and Orci wrote and produced People Like Us, which marks Kurtzman's directorial debut and is scheduled to be released in June 2012, and wrote and produced the second installment of Star Trek, set for release in 2013. The pair most recently rewrote All You Need Is Kill for Warner Bros., with Tom Cruise attached to star, Doug Liman to direct and Erwin Stoff to produce.
Kurtzman, Orci and the rest of their K/O Paper Products team, including President Bobby Cohen, will be housed on the Universal lot. Former assistants Ben Kim and Kim Cavyan will come aboard as creative executives. Kurtzman and Orci are represented by CAA and attorneys Michael Gendler and Kevin Kelly of Gendler & Kelly, APC


text:
*Please contact dealer to verify price, options, and other vehicle details.
MPG Disclaimer: *Based on 2017 EPA mileage and driving range ratings. Use for comparison purposes only. Your MPGe/MPG and driving range will vary depending on driving conditions, how you drive and maintain your vehicle, battery age/condition, and other factors.
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text:
Ravish Kumar was born in a bihari family in a small district called Motihari, in eastern state of India, Bihar. He studied at Loyola High School in Patna capital of Bihar, and later on he moved to Delhi for his higher studies.
He loves music and Hindi cinema and mainly old classical songs from Hindi cinema. He desire for photography. Ravish Kumar has worked with NDTV India, a national news channel in Hindi, for more than 15 years. He does a weekly report called Ravish Ki Report on NDTV India. He is prime time anchor in NDTV a leading news channel in India. He is famous for his "RAVISH KI REPORT". He is also a blogger http://naisadak.blogspot.com/ You can meet him on this link. Ravish has been reviewing blogs for Hindi Daily Hindustan for the more than 2 years.
He has won several awards including Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, for "his examination of the merits and demerits of the reservation policy with a visit to a Dalit Housing society in Delhi."
He has published one book Dekhte Rahiye and his next book is going to published by Penguin India.


text:
This doc covers technical details for how we run unittests for non-native architectures. It is geared towards people who want a deeper understanding of the overall system. If you simply want to execute your tests, see the Chromium OS Unit Testing document instead.
Chromium OS has a number of interesting features:
The answers to our needs is QEMU. It allows us to run Linux programs compiled for a different architecture as if it were native code. It does mean we rely on QEMU's emulation of an architecture matching real hardware, but that's OK. If we find discrepancies, we can fix QEMU. In practice, the project is pretty stable.
There is also another semi-minor point that might occur to the more astute reader. What if the unittest wants to run another program itself? Say something as innocent as using the system() helper function? Won't that execute the host's /bin/sh and perhaps try to run target programs too? Indeed it will, but our system below accounts for it transparently! We certainly want to avoid having to modify code under test in ways that only get executed when testing.
Note that we are not doing full system emulation here. In that mode, we start off by booting a full kernel, and then userspace, and then running programs. Here we are just executing the unittests directly, and QEMU takes care of converting system calls from the target to the host and vice versa.
Technical Details
The overall process boils down to:
We also have to keep in mind that our testsuite might be running in parallel with other testsuites. And that a testsuite may have multiple unittests which also might be running in parallel. So we have to be careful to not mess with resources that are shared among the whole system otherwise things will be racy and randomly fail. Flaky tests are terrible.
Note: All of the setup described below is handled by chromite's qemu python module now. The shell code below is more for reference.
Sysroot Setup
As part of the Chromium OS build system, we always have a full sysroot available for a target board (created by
The sysroot is not generally directly bootable, but that doesn't matter to us. We just need to be able to chroot into it.
QEMU Setup
We ship a copy of QEMU inside the chroot already, and we make sure it is statically linked. This lets us easily copy it into a sysroot and run it inside of a chroot without having to copy any other files.
# Make sure the files are the same. This let's us easily update qemu in the
# chroot without having to worry about keeping all the sysroots up-to-date.
if [ $(stat -c %i "${qemu_src_path}" 2>/dev/null) != $(stat -c %i "${qemu_sysroot_path}" 2>/dev/null) ]; then
# Do the update atomically. We'll hardlink to a unique path, and then use `mv` to do
# a rename() for us. Since it's on the same device, we know it'll be atomic.
ln -fT "${qemu_src_path}" "${qemu_sysroot_path}.$$"
mv -fT "${qemu_sysroot_path}.$$" "${qemu_sysroot_path}"
Registering a Binary Format Handler
The Linux kernel provides a nifty pseudo filesystems called
First we mount the filesystem if it is not yet mounted:
# mount -t binfmt_misc binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
If this errors out with EBUSY, we should check to see if it has been mounted already. This way parallel testsuites can safely execute this.
All handlers are registered by name (and the name is arbitrary). You can check by name by looking at
# This magic string registers the ARM ELF format and tells it to use qemu to run.
# Unregister it since there's a mismatch (maybe due to upgrade?).
echo -1 | sudo tee "${binfmt_path}"
Bind Mounts
Linux programs often want some basic filesystems available in order to run. We bind mount them here to simplify things.
Normally the process would be to do these in a setup script that'd tail into running the unittests. That way we can use the unshare utility to run the unittest in its own mount namespace which allows us to create as many mounts as we want without impacting other processes (like unittests running in parallel).
# Make sure they've told us where to set things up.
if [ -z "${SYSROOT}" ]; then
echo "You must set \$SYSROOT first"
exit 1
# Re-exec ourselves as root in a new mount namespace.
[ -z "${_UNSHARE}" ] && exec sudo unshare -m -- "$0" "$@"
# Do all the bind mounts we need.
mount -n --bind /proc "${SYSROOT}"/proc
mount -n --bind /dev "${SYSROOT}"/dev
mount -n --bind /dev/pts "${SYSROOT}"/dev/pts
mount -n --bind /sys "${SYSROOT}"/sys
# Run the unittest now.
exec chroot "${SYSROOT}" -- "$@"
Source Tree Setup
Since the Chromium OS build system builds all packages inside of the sysroot already (typically /build/$BOARD/tmp/portage/...), we already have the files available to us. We simply need to use paths relative to inside the sysroot.
Chroot & Execute
Using the script from above, we can now run unittests inside the sysroot. It'll take care of the sysroots and stuff for us.
# ./helper-script.sh /tmp/portage/.../unittest
Chromium OS > Testing Home >


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With Star Trek Into Darkness opening soon around the world, our partners at Omelete recently sat down with director J.J. Abrams. During the interview, they talked about what Star Trek mean to him, where he thinks Star Trek should go next and what he's accomplished, and more. In addition, with Abrams preparing to direct the next Star Wars movie, he talked about who shot first, his feelings on the Star Wars prequels, and what's his favorite Star Wars movie. Hit the jump to watch.
Star Trek Into Darkness stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, and Alice Eve. The film is now playing in IMAX 3D and in 2D and 3D on May 17th.
WARNING: During the Star Trek portion of the interview a spoiler is discussed. I suggest not watching that portion until you have seen the film.
J.J. Abrams:
- What does Star Trek mean to him
- 1:20 – Where does he think Star Trek should go next and what does he think he's accomplished
- 3:00 – How one of the themes of the film is questioning authority
- 4:20 – Who shot first?
- 4:30 – Does he like the Star Wars prequels?
- 4:45 – Favorite Star Wars movie


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Admin Server is a special virtual host dedicated to the WebAdmin console. It is very important to make sure Admin Server is securely protected either by only allowing access from the administrator's machines or by using an encrypted SSL connection.
Use Server's Log | File Name | Log Level | Rolling Size (bytes) |
Log Control | File Name | Piped Logger | Log Format | Log Headers | Rolling Size (bytes) | Keep Days | Bytes Log | Compress Archive |
Specifies whether to enable core dump when the server is started by "root" user. For most modern Unix systems, processes that change user ID or group ID are not allowed to dump a core file for security reasons. However, it is much easier to identify root cause of a problem with a core dump. This option only works on Linux kernel 2.4 and up. Solaris users should use the coreadm command to control this feature.
Select from radio box
[Security] Only enable this when you see no core file created in the server log file. Disable it immediately after producing the core file. Please submit a bug report when a core dump has been created.
Customize the session timeout length of the WebAdmin Console. The default is 60 seconds.
Integer number
[Security] Set a proper value for production use, usually less than 300 seconds.
Specifies whether to put log messages from this virtual host into the server log file instead of creating its own log file.
Select from radio box
Specifies the path for the log file.
Filename which can be an absolute path or a relative path to $SERVER_ROOT, $VH_ROOT.
[Performance] Place the log file on a separate disk.
Specifies the level of logging. Available levels (from high to low) are ERROR, WARNING, NOTICE, INFO, and DEBUG. Only messages with a level higher than or equal to the current setting will be logged. If you want to set it to DEBUG, you must set the server log level to DEBUG as well. The level of debugging is controlled solely at the server level by Debug Level.
Select from drop down list
[Performance] Unless Debug Level is set to a level other than NONE, DEBUG log level does not have any performance impact and is recommended.
|See Also
Specifies when the current log file needs to be rolled over, also known as log rotation. When the file size is over the rollover limit, the active log file will be renamed to log_name.mm_dd_yyyy(.sequence) in the same directory and a new active log file will be created. The actual size of the rotated log file once it is created will sometimes be a little bigger than this size limit. Set to 0 to disable log rotation.
Integer number
Append "K", "M", "G" to the number for kilo-, mega- and giga- bytes.
Where the access log should be written. There are three options:
Select from drop down list
The access log filename.
Filename which can be an absolute path or a relative path to $SERVER_ROOT, $VH_ROOT.
[Performance] Put access log file on a separate disk.
Specifies the external application that will receive the access log data sent by LiteSpeed through a pipe on its STDIN stream (file handle is 0). When this field is specified, the access log will be sent only to the logger application and not the access log file specified in previous entry.
Select from drop down list
Enterprise Edition Only Specifies the log format for the access log. When log format is set, it will override the Log Headers setting.
String. The syntax of log format is compatible with Apache 2.0's custom log format.
|See Also
Specifies whether to log HTTP request headers: Referer, UserAgent, and Host.
Select from checkbox
[Performance] Turn this off if you do not need these headers in the access log.
|See Also
Specifies how many days the access log file will be kept on disk. Only rotated log files older than the specified number of days will be deleted. The current log file will not be touched regardless how many days worth of data it contains. If you do not want to auto-delete stale and very old log files, set this to 0.
Integer number
Specifies the path to the bandwidth bytes log file. When specified, a cPanel compatible bandwidth log will be created. This will log the total bytes transferred for a request including both the request and reply bodies.
Filename which can be an absolute path or a relative path to $SERVER_ROOT.
[Performance] Put the log file on a separate disk.


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As you may know, June is National Aboriginal History Month and as usual MIA is preparing a slew of activities for visitors. This year, we've primarily focused on exploring the often-undiscussed tensions created by colonialism that manifest themselves in the art on display here. A special self-guided tour is available throughout June focusing on four specific pieces, and I will be lecturing on National Aboriginal Day (June 21) about this in more detail.
These discussions have seemed more and more urgent at the museum lately. Within the last month, our summer students and docent trainees have been learning about the power dynamics underpinning much of contemporary Inuit art. Meanwhile, the Makivik Corp and NFB have launched a new website tracing the histories of the two most famous forced relocations of Inuit. The story was also further explored recently on the CBC.
So, it was with interest that I opened a new informational poster produced by the Government of Canada and promoted as part of National Aboriginal History Month educational offerings dedicated to "Canadian Arctic Expedition: 1913-1918" this morning. The poster is a small portion of the text of their expanded webpage about the expedition on the Northern Strategy website.
The text emphasizes the contributions of non-Inuit explorers who visited the Arctic over a five year period in two primary fields: scientific discovery and establishing sovereignty for Canada. As a result, the language downplays or ignores important traditional knowledge of local Inuit. For example, the poster explains:
The Expedition discovered five major Arctic islands as well as a number of smaller ones, established the outer edge of the Continental shelf and mapped Arctic coastlines.
I'm quite certain local Inuit were aware of these islands prior to their "discovery" in the twentieth century. Further, the poster insists on the importance of the expedition for establishing Canadian sovereignty and "control" repeatedly, while painting Inuit as helpers at best and props at worst. None of the Inuit pictured are named, though all southern explorers are, and their involvement is described tellingly:
The Canadian Arctic Expedition had a significant impact on the knowledge and understanding of Northern people, particularly the lesser known Copper Inuit. Diamond Jenness' extensive anthropological studies and collection of artifacts provided great insight into the daily life and culture of Inuit. A large number of Inuit men and women made invaluable contributions to the Canadian Arctic Expedition, acting as guides, seamstresses and cooks, as well as assisting with a number of physical tasks around camp. The relationships established and the knowledge exchanged during the Expedition had lasting impacts on the North and provided a basis for future relations between the Canadian government and Northern peoples.
It seems significant that the anthropologist Diamond Jenness' studies are noted specifically as expanding southern knowledge of Inuit culture, while the Inuit themselves are relegated to background players. They assist with menial tasks around camp or guide the explorers (presumably to the places they "discovered") but these "invaluable contributions" serve only to assist with the "real" discoveries made by the explorers and scientists.
National Aboriginal History Month seems like an appropriate time to examine the way we talk about the relationship Canada has with Aboriginal peoples, and this is as good a place to start as any. Thinking critically about historical events is important, especially when their consequences continue to be felt today. If you're interested in learning more about the complexities around Inuit art specifically, I invite you to come visit the museum this month and explore more. There's quite a lot to talk about.
– Posted by: Alysa Procida, MIA's Curator


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Donald Bales , "Beginning PL/SQL: From Novice to Professional "
Apress (August 24, 2007) | ISBN: 1590598822 | 476 pages | PDF | 5,5 Mb
Apress (August 24, 2007) | ISBN: 1590598822 | 476 pages | PDF | 5,5 Mb
Get started with PL/SQL, the built-in language that every Oracle developer and database administrator must know, in Beginning PL/SQL, a fast-paced and example-filled tutorial. Learn from author Don Bales' extensive experience to discover the most commonly used aspects of PL/SQL without wasting time with obscure and obsolete features.
Author Don Bales takes his 20+ years of experience and a wealth of statistics he's gathered on PL/SQL usage over those years and applies the 80/20 rule – cover what's most needed and used by PL/SQL professionals and avoid what's not necessary! The result is a book that covers all the key features of PL/SQL without wasting your time discussing esoteric and obsolete parts of the language. Learn what really matters, so that you can get to work feeling confident with what you know about PL/SQL.
Discover the 20% of PL/SQL that gives you 80% of the bang–key topics covered include variables and datatypes, executing statements, working with cursors, real-world objects, debugging, testing, and more.
Learn how to write production-level, object-oriented PL/SQL–you'll explore relational PL/SQL, but unlike most other books on the subject, Don Bales emphasizes the use of PL/SQL's object-oriented features as well.
Work through real examples of using of PL/SQL–you'll learn PL/SQL by applying it to real-world business problems, not by heavy theory.
What you'll learn
How important SQL is in PL/SQL
How to use PL/SQL in both a relational and object-relational setting
How to create maintainable, modular, and reusable PL/SQL program units
The importance of testing as you go, and of building a permanent test plan for each module
The importance of building debugging capabilities into your code and building a permanent debug facility for each module
The importance of documenting as you go, and in the process building a permanent documentation set for your reusable modules
How to apply modular PL/SQL to solve real-world problems
Who is this book for?
Anyone who wants to learn how to create stored procedures against an Oracle database using PL/SQL. Programmers developing applications to be deployed against an Oracle database will need PL/SQL to take full advantage of the power Oracle has to offer. Database administrators who wish to implement functionality exposed only via PL/SQL package interfaces will also find this book useful.


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Your Stories
Over the years we have collected wonderful stories and accounts of how the teachings of Yogi Bhajan have affected lives.
Personal experiences with the practice of Kundalini Yoga, perspectives on incorporating the 3HO lifestyle, solstice and other event stories, and accounts of the transformative power of the teachings of Yogi Bhajan abound in this growing section of rich content, showing and sharing our history, our challenges, our victories and our unity as a global spiritual family.
If you would like to submit a story, send it to 3HOWebEditor.
You may also be interested in:
- We are All a Part of the Same Thing: Recognize that the Other Person is You
- The Peace Cranes from Hiroshima Bring a Prayer to New Mexico
- Marriage on the Spiritual Path
- Cleansing the Psyche with Sodarshan Chakra Kriya
- The Deep and Powerful Alchemy of White Tantric Yoga®
- What Is Kundalini Yoga?
- The Beginning of 3HO
- How the First Teacher Training in the Czech Republic Came to Be
- The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face
- To Be or Not to Be at Winter Solstice
- 1 of 22
- ›


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Any parent of a teenager or adolescent knows that his or her most significant challenge in increasing a child's physical activity is technology. As I write this column, my 12-year-old daughter is locked away in her room (having talked her way out of swim-team practice), mesmerized by talking with her friends on IM and MySpace.com, which has more than 100 million profiles with 230,000 new members signing up every day, according to a Sept. 10 article in U.S. News and World Report. This site, as well as Facebook.com, is focused almost completely on teens, college students and young adults. An estimated 80 percent of college students now have a Facebook.com account. These sites are engaging and entertaining, and they are holding young people's interest for hours a day.
This trend of social and entertainment Web sites is no longer a harbinger of what is to come. It is here now. This type of technology has been one of the greatest contributors to the child and teen obesity epidemic in our country. The fact is that it's more fun for most teens and young adults to interact with technology than to take the time to exercise. There have been many attempts at combining technology with exercise, and many more are in the works right now. To date, few have found the key to fusing these two elements in a simple and elegant way that will actually make young adults and teens look forward to (or at least not dread) exercise. Popular personal entertainment devices have shown how entertainment can assist in exercise adherence. However, equipment manufacturers need to build these capabilities into their club-based machines. Design engineers are building far too many products without being in touch with the needs and wants of this burgeoning population of exercisers.
So what can the industry do? The easiest answer is to look at how the Internet Generation (those born in the mid to late 1980s to early 1990s) is using this technology. Some of the top uses are to communicate with peers and meet new friends; listen to new bands, music and other media; and read news stories and articles on meaningful subjects. Teens also shop for products from cars to clothing and watch TV, videos or movies.
However, this population will not ignore exercise forever. At some point, they will look in the mirror, not like what they see or have a health risk pop up that they weren't counting on. At that point, many will engage in exercise, and some may even sign up for health club memberships.
To attract teens and young adults to exercise, we can create products that allow them to download music for free after they've exercised for a certain period of time. Another option is to establish communities around activities and sports that they enjoy such as skateboarding and snowboarding. We can also create friendly competitions between them and their online friends to see who has made the most progress and lost the most inches. Manufacturers can embed and upgrade Web-based entertainment on club exercise equipment so that teens are enticed to come to the gym to view a new music video or see a new movie. This technology can also be used to motivate them for upcoming adventure trips or the snowboarding season. If you make popular games available on your equipment, your teenage members will be able to get their gaming fix even while riding a stationary bike.
It is not a pipe dream to think that forming relationships with gaming and entertainment companies will likely change our industry as we go forward. Some of these discussions are already taking place.
Gregory Florez is CEO of FitAdvisor Health Coaching Services and First Fitness Inc., which was rated as the No. 1 health coaching online training service by The Wall Street Journal. Florez can be contacted at [email protected].


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"The West: Encounters & Transformations" takes a new approach to telling the story of Western Civilization. Rather than looking at Western Civilization only as the history of Europe from ancient times to the present, this groundbreaking book examines the changing nature of the West-how the definition of the West has evolved and transformed throughout history. The text presents a balanced treatment of political, social, religious, and cultural history and emphasizes the ever-shifting boundaries of the geographic and cultural realm of the West. Overview of Western Civilization. Readers interested in the history and development of Western Civilization.Levack, Brian P. is the author of 'West Encounters & Transformations 1300 to 1815', published 2006 under ISBN 9780321384157 and ISBN 0321384156.[read more]
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Tedward wrote:I also understand that collaboratve displays do not need to use CCC or the more versatile Base8 but they are simply ways to make coordination easier. We don't have to use them to have collaborative displays but the more builders we join together the more complex it becomes. If those builders cannot meet in person and test-fit their modules together and make adjustments something like CCC/Base8 becomes necessary and tends to result in MOCs being less complicated/intricate to fit in.
One thing I'd like to say is that using Base8 still allows complicated MOCs. My display is Base8. My big mountain is a huge block, however, with the adaptations I made to it (including adapter modules), it is Base8 compatible (well, extended Base8, I added a 16 brick high cliff edge as well as the 8 brick high standard cliff edge). The castle on the top of it is Base8 (though the river that connects to the water fall is a bit custom).
And actually, Base8 is really easy to be compatible with. In a big display, even a module built on a 32x32 baseplate (or whatever size floats your boat) really looks ok, but is easily tuned with a bit of brick and plate to rough up the edge, and maybe some tuning to match up roads and rivers.
I would love several other folks to show up with a bunch of Base8 modules and see how we could fit them in with my stuff to make an even larger mountain...


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February 12, 2013
Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Gets Faster Go-Karts
Lehigh Valley Grand Prix has converted its fleet of karts from 6.5hp Honda engines to 9hp Honda engines. This change will give customers the opportunity to race the fastest indoor concession karts in the U.S. with no prior qualifications.
"We are always striving to offer the ultimate racing experience here at LVGP. We felt that the change was neccessary to continue to improve our product. We have tested the converted karts to make sure that there were no safety concerns and we are confident this will only enhance what we offer at LVGP," said Mike McCreary, owner at LVGP.
The new 9hp engines will give better torque to drivers and will make the heavy guys a little happier with their lap times! The decision to continue to use Sodi gas-powered karts was made due to the fact that they are still the best product on the market. Sodi is the the top kart manufacturer in the world and its products can be found at all the major indoor karting competitions. Lehigh Valley Grand Prix offers indoor go-kart racing at 649 S. 10th St. in Allentown.
Source: Lower Macungie Patch.com
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