Excerpts From My Book

I have written a book that is about my life. And since Subud has been a core component of my life, it is also a book about Subud. I will be posting a new excerpt on a weekly basis. Here is are the first two.

A Brief Introduction to the Latihan

And a User's Manual

This book is meant for those who might be interested in starting down the path of Subud and the Latihan. It is also for those who have already begun already, and perhaps either need some help sticking with it or navigating obstacles they run into along the way.

I rely primarily on the explanations given by the originator of this practice, Bapak Muhammed Subuh Sumihadiwidjojo, interpreting them according to my own understanding and through my own experience.

In a way I guess this is a kind of guide book. A travel guide. It is my textbook of medicine. It is the sharing of my practice and the way I practice it. And it contains advice to practitioners new and old to take and leave it as they like.

It is my journey and I set out here how I have travelled the road. And gives tips on how to travel along.  Where to stay at night.  It is a story of how to get from here to there. A travelling companion.

Stand and Begin

There is nothing I can compare it to. I stand. Relax.  Feel all thee movement in my feet, knees, ankles, hips. Shoulders. Trunk. The breath. The heart beat. Moving.  Overriding all that are these thoughts going on, running all over the place wiggling in and out. What is up with my daughter on that Zoom call we had today?  My wife is really bugging me, always telling me what to do.  Cant wait for my morning coffee after this.  I submit inside. I surrender. I am open to whatever it means to say the Will of God. And that vibration starts. It's very subtle at first. Can hardly feel it. And I distinguish it from all those other movements of my body that are also there.  Its different. It's a kind of grace. A receiving.  That same vibration that was there at the beginning. And then out of being in this place and beyond my wanting it and pushing it, there is a movement in my legs. They are moving on their own. I am not making this happen. It's just happening. I take a step. Another step. I am walking. It's not my usual kind of walking.  I am being walked in a way.  I am moving in a kind of a dance and I am being danced. My hands move in the same way. My arms.. And my whole body is moved into a dance.This is coming from somewhere unknown to me. Maybe my eternal soul? And  I have a voice.  Music.  Such pure harmony.  This is it. This is the latihan, my spiritual practice.  This is what it is. It's what I do and what is done to me.  Every day.   When the vibration begins .