Image: Yves Klein’s untitled fire painting

On this, the evening of the Chinese New Year, I hope to erase some of the ickiness I put out there with my last post and reclaim the day (and year) with something positive and hopeful. Despite some negative forays into the world of recorded meditations and hypnosis, I did discover, along the way, a truly quality product and hypnotist/meditation guide. The company/project is called Universal Creations and their creatrix is Rebekah Vandenberg. These are guided meditations with a hypnotic quality, which cover subjects like “Trust,” “Energy” and “Perfect Being.”

As a writer/journalist, I can tell you that my conscious analytical mind is like steel so it is no small feat for someone to be able to penetrate that fortress and assist with subconscious suggestions. Despite having enjoyed other meditative/trance/hypnosis CD’s there always seemed to be something missing, that je ne sais quoi. But Universal has it all. Vandenberg’s voice is peaceful, flawless and rich–easy to relax to. The music and sound production is really high quality. And at points, she even mixes the audio so that different tracks play in each ear. My theory is that this scrambles the conscious cognitive level enough temporarily to allow for the subconscious to pick up the slack and absorb what it needs to absorb.

I was lucky enough to have discovered a couple of these amazing Universal Creations tracks at the Bodhi Tree for $1 each (samples, no doubt). If you check out the Universal Creations site (which is aesthetically pleasing, to boot), each track costs $30. Unfortunately, it’s a bit steep for my budget but well worth it, in any case. I’ll be saving up my pennies for a couple more soon and let you know how they are.

The tracks I listened to also helped me to erase the bad vibes from the previous Stanley Haluska recordings (see my last blog post) which I now dub Haluskanations (in hopes that their energy will not have the power to manifest in my reality again).

A few years ago I started getting into meditation and hypnosis CDs. I found that they were the only thing my stubborn subconscious couldn’t battle. And so suggestions–of a positive nature–could easily enter my mind to remove old blockages and create peace and innovation in my life. One particular hypnotherapist here in L.A. helped me a lot so I decided to loan his CD to my buddy Jack. Unfortunately, Jack didn’t have the same response to what I perceived as a “soothing voice.” He quipped, “The guy sounds like he’s wearing a trench coat and waiting for you in a dark alley.” In short, his summary, “The guy sounds like a perv.”

Alas, always on the hunt for new voices, I went to the Bodhi Tree Bookstore and noticed a box of “bargain” CDs. So I chose a few hypnosis CDs from various artists and decided to give them a shot. I found one in particular unusually effective. The guy’s name was Stanley Haluska. He had an extremely monotone, old-mannish voice which irritated me at first but after I gave a track a complete listen-through, I realized that his hypnosis was unrivaled. Usually hypnosis CDs get me into a relaxed “suggestible” state, but this one actually hypnotized me. It actually put me (neurotic me) in a completely dream-like half-waking state of deep suggestability. I had hit the jackpot…or so I thought.

So I continued to listen to the track sporadically and recently went back to it. ‘Bingo,’ once again I was in a state of deep hypnosis (not an easy state for most to get in). Overjoyed, I ran to my computer to Google Haluska to see what other audio goodies he had on offer. Imagine my surprise when I came upon this entry on a local ABC news site: “Counselor Arrested as Sex Offender.” That’s right, my favorite hypnotist was arrested on two counts of sex with a child under 12 years of age, just four months ago. That would have been about three months prior to when I saw his CDs in the ‘bargain’ bin at the Bodhi Tree.

I do recall the sales girl having said to me, “Wow, this is a pretty good deal on this CD. It was really popular.” There are no good deals…only uninformed consumers. Alas, Haluska wasn’t the hypnotherapist my friend Jack had dubbed “a perv,” but I’m now starting to wonder whether he wasn’t on to something in regards to their soothing voices–voices capable of deep manipulation.

In closing, I will not, surely, give up my hypnosis CD habit. I’m an Angelino, and one who is fascinated by ways to coax my subconscious into functioning at optimal levels. But, I will not be listening to my Stanley Haluska CD–effective as it may be. I have to admit to feeling a little ‘dirty’ from the whole experience, and wondering what he said to me while in that state…’dont’ tell anyone where I touched you,’ comes to mind…eeuw and he touched…gasp…my mind.

Happy New Year, after a long (and dare I say even European-length and influenced) vacation.

Earlier this week I heard from a friend (of a friend) that Veronica de la Cruz of CNN was working on a documentary on the impact of the Obama presidency on people of mixed races and was looking for people to interview. I naturally threw my hat in the ring as a Jeurasian (Jewish Asian). But as I was writing up my email explaining my position on Obama, and so forth, I began putting into words something that I have been thinking about for a while.

There has been so much talk of the ‘changing face of race in America’ that pundits, analysts, etc. have neglected a huge chunk of zeitgeist (perhaps because it frankly doesn’t relate to the lowest common denominator majority of the U.S. population). Obama’s historic presidency goes beyond having implications on race. He is, by and large, the first “citizen of the world” President of the United States. Race is naturally still an issue (probably always will be, just as sexism and gender roles are and always have been). However, a more future-focused identity marker, which Obama waves the banner for, is his unusually culturally diverse background–not just the color of his skin.

For those of you not familiar with the term ‘citizen of the world,’ Obama essentially encapsulates it. He is not only of mixed race, but his father was from Africa, he went to school in Indonesia, lived in Hawaii, and I believe speaks basic Spanish, Arabic and Indonesian language (a form of Malay). Every NASCAR dad redneck in America scoffed at his comment that it was shameful that more Americans did not speak a second (or third language)…but he’s right. You see, ‘citizens of the world’ have an advantage over the average person because they are global chameleons. Open, flexible and comfortable in many cultures–they are the bridgers and uniters of the human race.

Another public eye ‘citizen of the world’ that comes to mind is the handsome and talented Viggo Mortensen. Beyond his unusually (and Viking ‘white hot’) name, Viggo was born in New York to an American mother and a Danish father. His parents met in Norway before moving to Venezuela, Argentina and Denmark. He speaks Spanish, French, Italian and Swedish. Whew, what a resume!

I relate to Obama and Viggo because I myself come from a culturally varied background. I was born in London, grew up with a Portuguese nanny, went to a French elementary school, have lived in L.A., N.Y., and Amsterdam (where I studied as well). I speak Portuguese, French, Spanish and Dutch. And as the result of a Chinese/American coupling, I appear to be of “ambiguous ethnicity.” The latter is a lucky break, as I have been treated like “one of the family” by Greeks, Italians, French, Israelis, Spaniards and so on. Overall, this background has, I believe, made my life richer.

However, I have always struggled with my own ‘citizen of the world’ status as it has caused me much inner conflict and angst about where exactly I should be living. I felt really at home in Amsterdam, but after four years began to feel like I would never fit in. I moved back to L.A. where I also felt at home (having grown up here). But now, I once again feel hunger pangs for Amsterdam. Luckily, I have my Dutch American ‘citizen of the world’ friend Mieke Eerkens to share these sentiments with (we met in Amsterdam, and she too grew up in L.A. but to Dutch parents). However, I get a little sad when we speak Dutch. That goofy sounding language is kind of like the sound of ‘home’ to me, my second home.

I have no doubt that Obama and Viggo and other citizens quietly suffer in the same way. However, being the President of the United States and a major film actor, you can be sure that they are/will be afforded a lot of jet-setting, even during a recession. Surely actors like Johnny Depp (despite his Francophilia) feel misplaced too, whether or not they get to travel all the time. A few months back I was at a cocktail party in the Hollywood Hills and happened to get into a conversation with Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, who told me that he lived in Sweden and was just visiting. I voiced this same “torn” ‘citizen of the world’ feeling to him and he admitted that he didn’t have that problem since he travels all the time for work and is often back in L.A. Then again, he is a full Swede living in Sweden–albeit leading a celebrity’s life.

For those of us hybrids, it’s not that easy–which is why, I am hoping and praying that things will change under Obama–that under his ‘citizen of the world’ presidency the world will open up to us. Perhaps then, living here in L.A., airplane-hours away from any semblance of sophisticated global culture, a can still somehow feel connected to my other home.