Category Archives: Life

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Thanks and prayers at Flight 93 National Memorial


Flight 93 National Memorial

Flight 93 National Memorial

By Donald Rubbo:

I took the off-ramp on I-70 to our destination, Somerset, Pennsylvania, and I noticed a road sign in my peripheral vision: “Flight 93 National Memorial.” As the words registered in my mind, I felt a deep quickening, and a bit of shock. I hadn’t thought of the United flight that crashed on this field on September 11, 2001, and the heroes onboard, for many years.

I was supposed to be on that flight, and my wife changed my ticket to the Saturday before so that I could come home early. There but for the grace of God.

We had left California on March 1st, 2013, driving up I-5 to Portland, Oregon, staying a night with my good friend Ed Barrow, and continuing northward to see my long-time friend Chetana Michaan to do healing work on her. Leaving Bellingham, Washington, I had decided that we would travel the northern route, taking I-90 to visit Yellowstone, and then we planned to continue on a northern route. But on March 15, in Gardiner, Montana, after exploring as much of Yellowstone as was open that time of year, we were sitting in a bar/restaurant and I noticed the weather report on the television. A huge storm was brewing, starting in the Seattle, Washington, area and was going to be quickly moving eastward, with massive snowfall predicted. Understanding that the Universe was giving me early warning, I decided the best route would be to go south, to Colorado, and then east on I-70.

We stopped in Ward, Colorado, on Sunday, March 17 to stay with Dennis and KayAnne Solem (my wife’s sister and brother-in-law) for a few days, and planned to get back on the road Tuesday. But we stayed an extra day to help them in their search to replace their car that had previously been totaled in an accident.

Bright and early Wednesday morning, March 20, we packed the car back up and drove off. We stopped in Topeka, Kansas that night, and the next night in Indianapolis, Indiana.

While we were in Indianapolis we looked at the map to decide our next stopover. Cheryl Lynne calculated where we might be after six or seven hours of driving along I-70, and she chose Somerset, Pennsylvania, as our next stop.

Friday evening we pulled into town, and because we hadn’t booked a hotel online (our usual procedure,) we looked around town to see what was available. As we were checking into the hotel, I mentioned to the women at the front desk that it was eerie to find myself in Somerset, as I was supposed to have been on Flight 93 that day. The owner of the hotel, who came out from the back and had overheard the conversation, said to me, “You have to go to the memorial site. Here are the directions,” and he handed me a piece of paper. I hadn’t really planned on going there, my emotions then were mixed, but since the hotel owner was insisting, I thought perhaps it might be a good idea.

The next morning we drove the 18 miles to the memorial, and although it was a cold, late winter day, there was one car ahead of us waiting for the gates to be opened.

The driver got out of his car and picked up some brochures that were by the gate. He walked over to our car and handed me one of the brochures. He started talking, and introduced himself. His name was Max, he was a retired pilot for Continental Airlines, and his plane had been in the queue at Newark Airport the morning of September 11, 2001, waiting to take off, right behind United Flight 93. I told him that I was supposed to be on Flight 93 myself, and only wasn’t because I had decided to return home early. He said, “You have real angels around you,” and I said, “So do you!”

He got back in his car as the gates were opened by a park ranger.

We drove up the long road to the crash site and memorial, and I felt the hair on my body stand up. We parked in the parking lot. The pilot first parked several rows from us, and then drove up and parked next to our car. He seemed to need the closeness. We got out of our cars and together walked slowly up the walkway. He asked to take my picture with his cellphone to send to his wife.

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Max told us that he knew it could very easily have been his plane that was chosen, his flight was scheduled to leave at about the same time as Flight 93, and by the grace of God he, his flight crew and his passengers were spared. The pilot told us his experiences that morning, of his flight to Orlando with a bunch of kids, and hearing bits and pieces from flight control about the unfolding horror. He and his co-pilot were first told that an ‘incident’ had happened, and then a little later that a plane had been hijacked. He told us he called the head flight attendant into the cockpit, and asked her to very casually walk through the cabin and see if any of the passengers looked nervous. She came back and reported that everyone seemed happy and cheerful. He then explained to her what he had been told, and asked her to bring him the crash axe, he was going to lock the cockpit door and if anyone tried to get into the cockpit he would kill them. Flight control directed him to land at another airport, but he requested that since he was so close to Orlando, to be allowed to complete the flight there. As his flight landed, he decided not to tell his passengers the terrible news.

This was his first visit to the memorial, and he stayed close to us as we made our way up to the crash site and the marble wall with the names of the crew and passengers.

There were only a handful of people that early at the memorial, but Max was so impressed that I had escaped the fiery death of Flight 93 that he told everyone, including the ranger standing guard, that I was supposed to be on that plane. One older woman from Minnesota was so overcome that she tearfully asked to hug me, and had her daughter take her picture with me. She said to me, “I am so glad you are still here.”

The unnatural, long rut carved into the ground and the boulder marking the site of the impact gave me a terrible sense of the reality of the crash, how the twisted, unfathomable intentions of a few changed the world forever that day.

Standing before the large memorial, gazing at the names of the passengers that were carved into the cold marble, I knew that Divine intervention was the only explanation that my name was not etched into this wall as well. God obviously had some more work for me to do.

Waves of powerful emotions washed over me, and tears came to my eyes.

In 2000 and 2001, I had been traveling to New York about every two months for two weeks at a time, to treat my mother as she went (successfully) through uterine cancer therapy. I always took Flight 91 to New York, and Flight 93 back to San Francisco. In early September my mother underwent surgery, for which I was there, and a few days later, she was well enough (her doctor found no evidence of cancer anywhere in her body, including in her removed uterus!) that I felt confident about my mother’s health and asked Cheryl Lynne to get me home earlier than planned. I took Flight 93 to San Francisco on Saturday, September 8, 2001.

Three days later, in our home in San Rafael, California, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, we were woken early by the clock radio with the unbelievable news of the attack. We rushed out of bed and turned on the television, and watched, horrified, as the events unfolded.

In the shock and horror of the moment, I didn’t realize that I had almost been on Flight 93, that I had been spared.

The Twin Towers held so much meaning for me, in the sixties and seventies I lived on Canal Street in lower Manhattan, the SoHo area, and I had watched the Towers rise; from the holes in the ground that were dug for the foundations to the very top, the Windows on the World restaurant. As a young child, I was excited to see all the old artifacts brought out of these pits: from wooden ships to ceramics, to glassware, attesting to the fascinating history of early settlements in New York. I had been to the rooftop of Tower One many times, and delighted in the view, in all directions, of the magnificent city of my birth.

My aunt, a Federal judge, worked in one of the Towers; on the morning of September 11, 2001, she watched from her seat on the bus as the planes struck. She called me on her cellphone to let me know she was okay, and to pray for everyone who was in the Towers to get out safely.

My brother, George, worked at one of the restaurants in Tower One, and of all days, he slept in that morning. God spared my family.

I immediately knew that I had to offer my healing prayers to New York, America, and to the world. Feeling the powerful need to do what I could to help, I went out to Gerstle Park to teach my early morning Tai Chi Ch’uan and Qigong class, and I led my students in cultivating and sending out powerful, loving, positive, healing energy.

Two weeks later, we organized a large healing circle in our community, hundreds of people, all of us united in sending out love, healing and restorative intentions to all of the victims of this dreadful attack on our nation, to my hometown, to my country, and to the world.

For most of my life, my purpose has been to help others on their paths to healing, to recovery, to becoming whole, of gathering people together to bring healing and peace to themselves and the world.

Last Saturday morning, standing at the Flight 93 National Memorial, guided to be there that particular day by Divine Providence, I realized that I hadn’t taken the time to process the enormity of how this tragedy impacted my life. Many thoughts went through my mind. As a martial artist, how would I have acted, and interacted, with these passengers who took decisive, heroic actions, knowing they were doomed and acting anyway? Reflecting on my past actions where I had come to the rescue, without thought of danger to myself, of others in distress, I’m fairly certain that I would have been right there with these heroes all the way.

I felt a close kinship and bond with each one of the passengers and crew, and deeply grateful for their heroism. I read Laura Catuzzi Grandcolas’ name, a woman from my adopted hometown of San Rafael, California. There is a memorial to her and her unborn child in downtown San Rafael. We passed it many times, but I hadn’t stopped to consider the coincidence.

I give thanks to the Divine and my Guardian Angel for sparing me that day, and offer prayers to the victims and their families. I have a renewed sense of purpose for my life. Making this world a better place for everyone has always been the fiber of my soul, but now I feel that a part of myself was returned to me last Saturday, I was made whole and my life’s work was affirmed.

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An encounter with Donald’s father’s spirit, on December 5, 2012


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We had been staying in New York this past fall, with Donald’s brother Thomas, in the Bronx. One day in late October we took the subway into Manhattan, and after walking around a bit, we found ourselves in the East Village. We just happened to be on East 14th Street, and Donald looked around and said, “We’re near the bar where my father died.”

Donald’s father, Don Rubbo, had a long history of heart disease, and had been near death a couple of times before, from heart attacks. Don had hazel-colored eyes, was a heavy drinker, and he had turned bitter from the many setbacks and betrayals he had experienced in his professional graphic arts career. Born in Connecticut on December 5th, 1926, Don was Italian-Irish, and had served time in the Armed Forces during World War II. He had been in the Navy, and was stationed on Guam. Because Don had witnessed, from Guam, the testing of nuclear weapons at Bikini Atoll in the 1940’s, and had seen the mushroom clouds and had felt the powerful and unsettling shock waves from the blasts (and a year earlier had also been appalled when atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) he was vehemently against using atomic and nuclear weapons for any reason.

Don Rubbo passed away in January of 1979, after a long night of drinking at a neighborhood bar near his apartment. He’d been hanging out with his buddies at the bar, and when it closed at 4 am, they went to breakfast together at a nearby restaurant. At 6 am, when the bar re-opened, they all went back to have more drinks. Don said to his friends, “I’m tired now. I’m going to rest.” He put his head down on his arms, which were resting on the top of the bar, and a little while later, the bartender noticed that he wasn’t moving. He was 52 years old.

The previous December (1978), Don had been hospitalized after suffering a massive heart attack. His doctor called Donald (who was living in California) from Don’s bedside. Don was unconscious, and the doctor told Donald that he should get to New York right away, as Don was not expected to live much longer. Donald asked the doctor to put the phone to his father’s ear, and Donald said to his father, “Dad, I’m on my way. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Donald arrived in New York very shortly after that phone call, and found that his father had left the hospital and went back to his apartment. Apparently, right after the doctor hung up the phone, Don woke up, ripped the tubes and wires out, and told his doctor, “My son is coming. I have to go home and get ready to see him.”

Donald walked into his father’s apartment and found him on his hands and knees on the floor of the bathroom, vigorously scrubbing the grout between the floor tiles with a toothbrush. Donald was horrified, and said, “Dad, what are you doing? Get off the floor! You’re sick, you’ve got to go and rest!”

Don looked up at Donald and said, “I’ve got just one more lesson for you, son. No matter what you are doing, whether it’s creating art or scrubbing the toilet, always put your heart into the job, and do the very best you can. Make everything you do a labor of love, no matter what it is.”

That late-October day in Manhattan, in 2012, I took a photo with my cellphone of the outside of the funky neighborhood bar on E. 14th Street where Donald’s father had died, and then didn’t think anything more about it.

During our drive in late November from New York back to the Bay Area, we did not have a set itinerary, just deciding kind of last minute which highway, Interstate 80 or Interstate 40, we would take. After we chose I-40, we took it one day a time, and let the Universe guide us.

While we were in Las Vegas, visiting with our son, Julian, we were hearing on the news about a very large storm about to hit northern California. Although we wanted to go north, and cross into California at Tahoe, we were concerned about the mountain roads closing from heavy snowfall. We discussed going West, to southern California, and then driving north up the coast to the Bay Area.

The morning we left Las Vegas, on December 4th, 2012, we stood in the parking lot of the hotel and flipped a coin. Heads for going West to the Los Angeles area, and tails for going Northwest to Reno and then into California.

Tails it was, and we got in the car. We took 95 North to 80 West, and arrived in Reno around 6:30 or 7:00 that night. While still in Las Vegas, I’d researched rates for Harrah’s Reno, about $75.00, but I hadn’t booked it as we didn’t know what city or town we’d be in that night. We parked the car on a downtown street in Reno, and sat in the car discussing finding a hotel room. Looking to our right, we saw a Vietnamese restaurant, and decided to go inside for dinner. We had the best Pho (rice noodle soup) that we’d had in a very long time.

Full and happy from finding this Pho restaurant, we got back into the care and drove to look at a couple of motels (the rooms were sleazy, dark, small, yucko, expensive $75.00/$80.00!) I got online with my cellphone, and looked at Harrah’s website. They were having a last-minute online special, $23.00 a night, for a huge 4-star room! I booked it immediately, beyond grateful for modern technology.

The next morning, we went outside the hotel to find a cup of coffee, and right at the first corner we came to, we saw a wall plaque that read, ‘Blarney Stone,’ and above the plaque a rock was set into the wall. We stopped to look at it and read the inscription, and we heard a voice behind us.

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“Good morning! That’s a rather interesting rock, isn’t it?” We turned to see an older gentleman, obviously down on his luck and a street person, but since we never turn down an opportunity to connect with another human being, no matter what their circumstance, we chose to continue the conversation. We were very happy we did.

Jimmy Cunningham turned out to be a delightful man, with quite the ‘gift of gab.’ We had a wide-ranging conversation, we talked about politics, Hurricane Sandy and the storms brought on by climate changes, among many topics.

Jimmy was a Vietnam Vet, had been homeless for years, and was an admitted alcoholic. He had hazel colored, drink-reddened eyes, he was Irish-English-Italian, and had served in the Navy. He had been stationed on a nuclear submarine during the war.

Because of his experience on this nuclear submarine, he was adamant that the United States ban all nuclear weapons and close all nuclear power plants. Jimmy thought nuclear power was too dangerous, especially, he said, after what happened in Japan after the tsunami hit.

After we described the healing and transformative work we do around the world, he asked us, where did we think God was? I said to him, “Well, why don’t you tell us where you think he is.”

Jimmy replied, “God is in every molecule, in everything that is alive.” We couldn’t agree more.

As we stood there on that corner, on that cold, blustery day in early December, Donald and I both (as we later discovered) had a felt-sensation of Donald’s father, Don Rubbo, looking out at us through Jimmy Cunningham’s shiny hazel eyes.

On that cold, blustery December 5th day, in downtown Reno, in front of the Blarney Stone.

On that cold, blustery December 5th day, Don Rubbo’s birthday.

Just the other day, as I was looking through the photos on my cellphone, to delete some to make room for more, I found the photo I took on October 26th, 2012, of the dive bar on E. 14th Street, in the East Village of Manhattan, where Donald’s father had died in 1979.

I hadn’t noticed before, the name of the bar is:

Blarney Cove.

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Have the flu or a stomach virus and can’t eat? Try Asian rice porridge,


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If you are suffering from the flu, or the latest nasty stomach flu, and can’t eat any solid foods, here is a great recipe to build your strength and immune system. It is absolutely the best for anyone who is having trouble eating food, during any illnesses.

We used to cook this all the time in our immersive, sleep-away retreats, to give our retreatants extraordinary nourishment and strength-building breakfasts, for the strenuous practices we put them through!

Jook, congee, Chinese rice porridge, Vegan recipe:

1 cup white or brown basmati rice, washed
2 (or more) quarts water

Place the rice and water in a soup pot, over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil.

Turn down the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for two or three hours, until creamy, and the rice is completely broken down.

Garnishes:
Fresh ginger, sliced
Scallions, chopped
Soy sauce to taste
Roasted sesame oil to taste

You can make a large batch, and keep in the refrigerator. Eat this nourishing, strengthening breakfast daily.

Jook, congee, Chinese rice porridge, Chicken recipe:

1 cup white or brown basmati rice, washed
2 (or more) quarts water
1 ½ pounds bone in chicken legs or thighs, skin removed and excess fat trimmed off

Optional: for more flavor, brown the chicken in the soup pot, with a little bit of olive oil, before adding the rice and water.

Place the chicken, rice and water in a soup pot, over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil.

Turn down the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour. Remove the chicken, put aside to cool.

Continue to simmer the jook for another two hours, until creamy, and the rice is completely broken down.

Once cool, shred the cooked chicken and discard the bones.

Garnishes:
Fresh ginger, sliced
Scallions, chopped
Soy sauce to taste
Roasted sesame oil to taste
Cooked chicken

You can make a large batch, and keep in the refrigerator. Eat this nourishing, strengthening breakfast daily.

Check out the Wikipedia page on Asian rice porridge for the history of this great, restorative dish!

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We’ve received some interesting feedback on using commendations from two United States presidents.


To quote one of our country’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, “We must all hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately.”

We’ve received some interesting feedback on our using commendations we’ve received from two United States presidents.

Some people are offended by our being so bold and being proud of our accomplishments and showing what we have achieved.

There are so few people in the world who have received accolades from the highest office in this country, and even fewer people in the world who are doing the work we do. We honor and respect all those who have given of themselves to make this world a better place.

Although Obama and Bush, the Presidents who have praised our work, may not always be in alignment with our core values, the fact of the matter is that they are in the positions of being two of the most powerful and influential people in the world.

Therefore receiving an acknowledgement for the good work that WE do in the world is just that. And, not all that good people do in the world is good, and not all that bad people do in the world is bad.

This is where the power of discernment comes into play, otherwise we as humans through our ignorance throw the baby out with the bathwater and find nothing to unite us or find what we all have in common, which is why we chose the simple, human act of breathing. And including intentions with our every breath, such as love, greater health, success, safety, peace and harmony worldwide, sets these positive intentions into the Universe and the more people who join in this movement the greater the vibrational frequency of these positive thoughts and emotions permeate and take permanent root in our collective consciousness.

And this is exactly what our movement is about, finding what we all have in common and setting aside those seemingly insurmountable differences. We work for peace, peace all around the world.

Some people are offended by what they perceive as the failings of President Obama in enacting, or not enacting, many of his policies, and direct their anger at him. By supporting the positive aspects of what Obama is saying and doing, we are creating the conditions and energy for these positive aspects to grow and benefit millions of people. We don’t just sit and ask ourselves, “Well, how can Obama make our lives better, and why isn’t he?” That is our responsibility, and we work every moment of our lives to bring this into our reality, but not just our own reality, for the good of the whole world.

How do we achieve peace and acceptance of our differences if we don’t find it first within ourselves?

Rest assured that your intentional breath merged with  the collective powerful, positive intentions are always present to help you, and everyone else, in your evolution to your highest potential.

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Our Extraordinary Breath Campaign on Indiegogo!


In our ongoing quest to merge cutting-edge technology with ancient wisdom, we are delighted to find the popular, fast-growing online phenomenon of crowd-funding websites. In this time of economic uncertainty, crowd funding has become a way for people, start-ups, established businesses and nonprofits to get financial support to realize a wide variety of activities. You may recall the extraordinary success of the campaign to raise funds for a vacation for Karen Klein, the bullied school bus monitor. Although the intention of the person who created the campaign on Indiegogo.com was to give her a vacation, this Campaign highlighted the culture of bullying in our schools, and went on to change the conversation of bullying across America, even across the world.

Early on, we saw the trend toward the inevitability of a more digital world, and we were among the first to self-publish an eBook, The Extraordinary Breath, Making the Power of Deep Breathing Work for You, in 2007, while many others, including the publishing industry, were fighting against the tide of technological progress. Now, of course, the sales of eBooks totally eclipse printed books.

And so now we are taking it to the next level and have launched our own crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.com.

We chose Indiegogo for three reasons, first, because of the cultural importance of the Karen Klein campaign, second, for their Flexible Funding option (which other sites don’t have), and lastly, for the future-forward philosophy of its founder, Danae Ringelmann.

Our goal, with this crowd-funding Extraordinary Breath Campaign, is to enhance the health and wellbeing of everyone, providing easy-to-use, future-forward tools and events to bring people back to automatic, full deep breathing.

Over a decade ago, we were inspiredto distill our (up to then) combined 60 years of experience in the martial, meditation and health and wellness fields into the Extraordinary Breath. It’s a simple, effective and instant method to achieve profound, long-lasting health benefits, and as we wrote above, we published The Extraordinary Breath in 2007. Then in 2008, during the devastating global financial collapse, we saw widespread suffering and the failure of the banking systems and the world’s economies, which created an atmosphere of collective fear and anxiety, which then contributed to stagnation and further collapse.

As human beings we always have choice, even in the darkest of times, and we chose to make a difference. We knew we had a time-proven, quick, self-administered way to alleviate the stress and fear that was paralyzing our world so we released the first chapter of our book as a free digital eBook. Our intention was to encourage hope, recovery, fearlessness and limitless expansion for humanity. To reach as many people as possible, our extraordinary volunteers have translated it into six additional languages, and more are coming.

An Extraordinary Breath: our intention and our breath are one.  Every long, deep and even breath consciously balances mind, body and spirit.

We’d love to have your support for this important Campaign. Please join our global movement to celebrate the profound health benefits of intentional deep breathing and unite communities in peace, love, health and harmony worldwide.

The Extraordinary Breath is different than other deep-breathing methods, this system is more than merely bringing a greater volume of air into your body; as you inhale and exhale, long, deep even breaths, your positive intentions are synchronized with your breathing.

Science has proven that every time you think a thought, feel an emotion, or perform an action, your neuro-circuitry changes. When you take charge of this process, through the Extraordinary Breath, the positive changes can become limitless!

We encourage people to find within themselves what we all have in common, and we chose the breath as a focal point because it is one of the most overlooked and underutilized superpowers in the human experience, and it is the most basic element of our existence. As Donald teaches, we (you, me, every human!) can live for weeks without food, and days without water, but only moments without breath. The Extraordinary Breath, intention merged with breath, connects the human race on the deepest level possible.

As visionaries, we know that mind body-medicine is the medicine of the future, and scientists are now creating models of treatment based on an individually tailored approach to curing illness and disease.

And as pioneers in the mind-body medicine field, we were among the first to bring complementary medicine (known now as mind-body medicine) practices into America’s hospitals. This was in 1994, and we had been invited by Leslie Davenport, the director of the Humanities Department at Marin General Hospital, to design and run a Wellness program. This successful program ran for thirteen years, and had a tremendous impact on the health and wellbeing of our community in Marin County.  We also worked with other Bay Area hospitals and HMOs and the V.A., helping them develop their own Wellness Programs.

In the early years, in order to dissolve the walls of resistance and fear put up by many doctors and powerful medical associations toward these new (to them!) holistic views of health and healing, we had to vibrate only in wisdom, knowledge, love, compassion and understanding. Although change came slowly, we were helped on this path by many brave, forward-thinking doctors, nurses and alternative care practitioners. Now every hospital and doctor’s office in the country offers a more holistic approach to caring for their patients.

“Donald’s presence and healing gifts have been a tremendous resource to many of our patients who have pursued complementary healing modalities along with conventional medical care. He is such an asset to the community.” — Leslie Davenport, MFT, Institute for Health and Healing, Marin General, Novato Community Hospitals, California Pacific Medical Center.

Letter of support from President Obama

We have dedicated our lives to making the world a better place for everyone, in our every moment; our work is our passion, our heart and our life. Our global health education nonprofit, The Paul D. Pickens II Research Foundation, has been in the forefront of positive change in the health and wellness fields since its founding in 1997. P.D.P. II Research Foundation is a 501 (C.) (3), founded by us in honor of Cheryl Lynne’s brother Paul, who passed away in 1995 from complications from HIV.

P.D. P. II Research Foundation’s mission is to improve health and elevate consciousness worldwide by raising awareness of the profound health benefits of ancient healing systems. We do this through teachings, eBooks, Youtube videos and DVD’s, and by creating global healing events, that give people the tools to take control of their health and their lives. As a nonprofit organization, we define success in terms of enriching people’s lives and building healthy communities. We believe in the power and potential of every person to control and direct their own free will, and we want to see everyone, everywhere thrive in a sustainable manner.

We need the help of everyone who reads this, and we ask that you forward this on to as many people as possible. We know our Vision for this Extraordinary Breath Campaign is on a grand scale, and we believe, with your support, it is achievable. And, although we are keeping our Goal amount at a reasonable level, we’d like to fund all of the areas of expansion listed in the Campaign. We hope that we raise more money than our target amount, and rest assured that we’ll put all of the funds into continuing to manifest these worthy Extraordinary Breath projects.

The inspiration for our work is every single person in the world, we continually strive for ever greater heights of accomplishment, for a healthy future for everyone.Let’s work together to give humanity the breath for hope, healing, love, understanding and peace.

Go here to for more information and to Contribute to the Extraordinary Breath Campaign

You can help boost our Gogofactor by ‘Liking’ the Campaign, and/or making a Contribution, of ANY amount. With your support, Indiegogo will feature the Campaign on their homepage, and interest the Press!

Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

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Donald and I reveal how to harness the infinite power of mind to access divine miraculous healing.


We are so excited to announce the release of our latest eBook, The Art and Mastery of Bio Energetic Healing – Rubbo Energy System of Transformation.

It is truly a labor of love, and it was a delight to write. Donald decided to pull out all the stops, he’d been asked for years to write about his methods of achieving the highest levels of healing in his clients, what others would call miracles. The words just flowed out of us, with ease and grace, and we knew that the Universe was guiding us, in fact prompting us to share this wisdom with the world.

Here are some excerpts:

“We have experienced this co-created healing effect time and time again in our private practice, our clients come to us with life-threatening illnesses, and through our work they transmute their illnesses and bodies into states of extraordinary good health, and transform their lives.  You can read an account of our client’s (Dan Reich) inspiring journey, from being diagnosed in 2002 with a brain tumor and told by his doctors that he had six months, to a life of full wellness, here:  http://www.danreichandfriends.com/Survival.html .

In 2001, Maria Rubbo (Donald’s mother) was told by her doctors that her body, according to numerous tests, was riddled with cancer that had begun in her uterus. Donald spent days at a time with her, in deep meditative healing practice, for almost a year, and immediately after surgery to remove Maria’s uterus, her doctor was stunned to find no evidence of cancer in Maria’s body.  She did not require radiation or chemotherapy, and Maria is cancer free to this day.”

and:

“We are proud to be pioneers in the Mind-Body Medicine field. In 1997, Leslie Davenport, then director of the Institute for Health and Healing at Marin General Hospital, approached us about starting a Wellness Program featuring Qigong at the hospital. Leslie knew about our work because Donald had been teaching Tai Chi Chuan, Shao Lin Chuan and Qigong in Marin since 1980, and at that time Leslie’s thirteen year old son Andrew had been studying with Donald for almost ten years. Leslie asked us to audition by leading a Qigong class for the decision makers at the Institute and invited guests.  She told us that the Institute was also going to audition other Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan teachers, including some from San Francisco. After our audition class, we didn’t hear anything for a couple of months, and then Leslie called us to say that our audition class had been the overwhelming favorite, and when could we start?”

Qigong for Wellness, 1999, Marin General Hospital

and:”Priming the practitioner’s mind: The frequency of the feeling of love is the highest vibration of thought/wave. We recommend love as the foundation of your healing intention, and as you become familiar with the exquisite frequency of love you can then create infinite layers and levels of intention.”

Check out the eBook at our website ASustainableBalance.com!

Being One with Universal Energies – Primordial Qigong


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This exquisitely beautiful form was purportedly developed by the  Taoist sage Chang San Feng, and is a precursor to Tai Chi Ch’uan.

Through his practice of Primordial Qigong, Master Zhu Hui cured himself of a potentially fatal case of hepatocirrhosis, and dramatically heightened his sensory awareness and intuition to such a degree that he could visually diagnose his patients and administer the correct treatment without error. Zhu Hui became quite famous in China, and after establishing the ‘Tian Ta Guo Qing’ hospital, treated seventy or more patients a day for several decades.

It’s claimed by its adherents that practicing Primordial Qigong enables you to ‘turn back the hands of time,’ because you are moving backwards through the seasons. The form consists of two parts, A & B, repeated for a total of four times. You begin the first Parts A and B facing East, moving counter-clockwise through the form, and conclude them facing South (which is clockwise from where you started, facing East.)  Starting the second Parts A and B facing South, moving counter-clockwise through the form) at the conclusion you are facing West (clockwise from South.) And so on through to the end of the form.

When you’ve practiced the form for a while, you’ll notice that you are creating a double circle, a circle within a circle. Women are usually the first to notice this phenomenon, interestingly enough.

Some of the movements in the Primordial Qigong form stimulate the pituitary and pineal glands, and help to awaken the Third Eye and increase intuitive abilities. Practicing this form has definitely increased our hyper-sensory awareness and intuition.

In its construct, Primordial Qigong can be viewed as a three dimensional physical mandala: it encompasses all of the primary aspects of Taoist philosophy: the concepts of yin yang, the trinity (heaven, earth and man), the Five Element Wu Xing theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM),  the I Ching, the Bagua and the mystical aspects of numbers.

The Primordial Qigong form reflects the Taoist theory of the birth of the universe. These concepts were based on the ancient Chinese sages’ observations of nature, their perception of the alternating balance of energy of the primal forces (yin yang) and the integral relationship between heaven, humanity and earth. These Taoist sages postulated that from the pre-birth state of WuJi (Original Emptiness) came the primal spark and from the primal spark, Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) was born. From Taiji, yin yang manifested as opposing forces.

The Bagua, which represents the fundamental principles of reality in Taoist cosmology, is integrated into the Primordial Qigong form: the eight interrelated concepts  – the eight trigrams-

are represented by the placement of the body in the Center facing the cardinal directions and awareness of the intercardinal directions: northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest, as one turns both counter-clockwise and clockwise throughout the form. The bagua signifies that change is constant, each movement of your body through time and space creates change.

Primordial Qigong has been called Wu Ji Qigong, Tai Chi Enlightenment and Enlightenment Qigong, by other teachers of the form.

You can learn more about this from in our eBook Primordial Qigong, by visiting http://www.PrimordialQigong.com.

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Boulder Rocked at Shine! Powerful healing co-created for humanity


Connecting to one’s true nature of being, with open hearts and receptive minds.

Last night we co-created a wave/particle of extraordinary healing energy at Shine Restaurant and Gathering Space, in Boulder, with some fantastic, powerful visionaries! As the energies got more powerful the crowd in the smallish room got bigger, and by the end there were about 50 people with one exquisite intention: connecting with the entire world for profound healing, love and happiness.

Thought precedes form, and like many ripples moving outward through the vast ocean of consciousness, the light and love blanketed the world, and settled into hearts in all countries. From one drop (thought-intention), many drops are created, and these resonated with the highest frequencies of love and healing.

Donald explained that we don’t consider ourselves teachers, as we’ve moved beyond that phase, we are Re-Minders, we are here to remind people of their true nature of being.

In fact, Donald and I no longer use the word Master before our names, this is because the title Master connotes that we are above others. ‘Master’ creates the illusion that we have special powers or knowledge that others do not, and we know that to not be true. These powers often remain latent in others and just need the spark of inspiration to be ignited. We feel an urgency to empower everyone we come into contact with to possess self-mastery, to believe in themselves and the higher power of their own minds.

This is a time of accelerated evolution for humanity. Consider the computer, which is called an electronic brain. Computers were developed in the 1950’s, and were stand-alone data processing and storage units. By 1986 the Internet, as we know it today, was born. We have the power to access instantaneously the limitless information that exists globally. And if you have a laptop or a smartphone, which almost everyone in the world does, you have access to more wisdom, knowledge and information than was contained in the great libraries of the ancient world, including the Royal Library of Alexandria and the Imperial Library of Constantinople. Now information is no longer just in the hands of the elite, the ruling classes, it available to everyone.

All of this happened because of thought, the intentions and actions of men and women who dedicated their lives, energies and resources to build the electronic brain, ie the computer. Because of these visionaries, humanity has reconnected with the lost art of wisdom and knowledge. We are truly connected on many deep levels, and Donald and I are here to re-mind humanity of this profound connection.

We are not stand-alone, isolated entities, we are connected to each other, and to Source, however you define Source (God, Jesus, the Tao, Enlightenment, etc.) Just like coral reefs, which are symbiotic colonies of living organisms (polyps) having an individual experience yet connected by the coral bed (when one polyp is either positively or negatively affected, the entire colony is affected), we are likewise connected to each other. Just like the coral reef, we view the human being as a living organism having an individual experience while connected to collective consciousness. Therefore, by raising the vibration of one, through cultivating and maintaining the highest frequency (the emotion of love), all in the world are positively affected. Love is the answer.

Humanity is being propelled into the most rapid evolutionary changes in recorded history. Now is a time of re-awakening, of being re-minded of our own true nature, our limitless potential. We find this to be an exciting, inspiring time to be alive, an honor and a blessing to witness and participate.

Last night, we cultivated love and healing through our Extraordinary Breath (intentional breathing) and qi cultivating practices, for all in the room, first directing them to do it for themselves, then for everyone else in the room, then spreading out into all of Boulder, then outward to all the towns around Boulder, outward to the entire state of Colorado, for our country, for the countries to the north and the south of our country, and finally for the entire world.

It was truly powerful and inspirational. Our deepest gratitude to the brilliant Adam Shapiro for hosting us, and the incomparable Jim MacRitchie, for understanding the importance of our work and tirelessly promoting the free community healing, and our upcoming Qigong Tui Na workshop. And our deepest thanks to my sister the poet/artist KayAnne Solem, and my brother-in-law, Tai Chi Chuan teacher Dennis Solem, for rallying their friends and colleagues to participate in this beautiful event.

We are honored to connect with Jim MacRitchie,  is one of the greatest pioneers of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Qigong in America. It is through his efforts thirty years ago that acupuncture was recognized and legalized in the state of Colorado, opening the way for the thousands of practitioners who have graduated from the TCM schools of Colorado.

We are delighted that our colleague and friend Anthony Guilbert’s schedule opened up, and so was able to join us. Anthony is among the new generation of mind/body thought leaders, a rising star in the American Taoist culture.

With these visionaries, and many others in the audience, magic was created and we all floated on clouds of bliss for the rest of the evening. We are still feeling it this morning.

Please join us in creating magic around the world. Here’s a link to our schedule of upcoming events: workshops, retreats and free community healing: ASustainableBalance.com.

You can support this important global healing work by making tax-deductible donations (click here for the secure link to make a donation), or by purchasing our divinely inspired artwork to grace your walls with extraordinary healing energy (click here for the Artwork) or our eBooks, Primordial Qigong and Extraordinary Breath, available on our websites Primordial Qigong and ASustainableBalance.

Bless you, and may the healing and love we generated last night fill your life with limitless possibilities!

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“But what about the children who are born with deformities and illnesses, or get cancer?”


During a recent day-long teaching that we had been invited to present to a new community, we encountered an interesting but not uncommon situation, although it was one that we had rarely experienced in our over thirty years of teaching others how to access their innate healing abilities through ancient, effective self-directed transformative arts.   

After the morning session broke for lunch, two or three people posed some rhetorical questions to each other: “But what about the children that are born with deformities or illnesses, or who get cancer? How can what he is teaching really work, when there are people who die every day or suffer terribly from conditions beyond their control?”  

They were, and are, good questions, but it seemed that they didn’t really want the answer because they left after lunch. In their confused state, they rejected our message of hope, healing, love, generosity and self-empowerment. “Love is the answer,” Donald said, repeatedly, during the morning session.

Donald had been talking about the power of thought, how focused positive intention, over a period of time, can create good changes in one’s life, and the world, if the belief system is there to reinforce and maintain the changes. He led the group through profound deep-breathing exercises and meditation practices to get them in touch with universal energies and discover their own limitless potential.

They must not have liked hearing that they have the power, and the responsibility, to control and direct their own minds and in doing so, could reap limitless positive rewards, in their own lives, in the lives of their loved ones, and in the world. They may have preferred to stay, as Donald had pointed out that many in the world are,‘comfortably numb.’

And so, to prove to themselves that our message could not possibly be true, or work for anyone, they chose to leave. But for those who came to our teaching that day with open hearts and receptive minds, the benefits they received will have lasting, positive effects in their lives. They recognized the truth of it, and in that recognition they understood how to change the old programming (negative thoughts, behaviors and beliefs) that no longer served their highest will and good.   

Donald did address this question, quite eloquently and compassionately in his teachings later that afternoon, and I wish those who left could have heard it. Maybe they would have understood.

He said, “Some of you, during the lunch break, posed the question, well, what about children that get cancer, or other illnesses, and can’t use the power of their minds to heal themselves? I understand why you asked that. Please remember, I’m just a messenger here, I’m not God and there are some things that not even I can explain.  But in the last hundred years, there have been unthinkable advances in medical care, for example children that would have died at birth back then have the chance to live and to thrive. These breakthroughs come from the power of thought, from the minds of the doctors and scientists who say, there has to be a better way. So, yes, you ALL have the power to change your own reality, through controlling and directing your own minds.”

It is in the state of believing in ourselves that we create a positive future.  When we are in the state of doubt, we default back to dysfunctional programming.

John 20:29. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

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Quantum Healing on a Global Level


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For a while now, we’ve felt called by the Universe to bring our wisdom and healing on a global level. We released a free eBook, The Extraordinary Breath, in six languages so far, and have had thousands of downloads from just about every country in the world. This free eBook has the One-Part Breath, which we took from our larger eBook Extraordinary Breath, to give people worldwide a simple, easy and effective deep breathing practice to reduce stress, increase health and promote community and global harmony.

Part of our vision also includes gathering people together, wherever we are, for free events, and co-creating a state of health, happiness, prosperity and empathy for them, their loved ones, their communities and the world, because we remind them that they are connected with the whole world, not separate from it, and whatever good they do creates more good for everyone, regardless of whether we perceive them as enemies or loved ones.  

In our workshops, which are fee-based, whatever we teach is always enhanced with connecting people to their higher selves, deepening their intuition, and developing their skills and talents to benefit not just themselves but all others as well.  

Donald also does private appointments (healings as well as forms work) wherever we go, with this same intention, of reminding people of their own innate healing abilities, and their connection to Universal energies, and that they have the power, and the responsibility, to control and direct their own lives.

All our work is done through our global health education nonprofit, the Paul D. Pickens II Research Foundation. This organization was founded in 1997, and named after Cheryl Lynne’s brother, who passed away from complications of AIDS in 1995. Paul was a talented martial artist, a student of Kuo Lien Ying, who bore the unknowable pain and indignities of his fatal illness with grace, charm and courage. Every single person that we’ve helped through our work, and there have been thousands so far, has given us the opportunity to thank the Universe for Paul’s influence and inspiration.

Here’s our travel schedule so far (more to be added!)

San Blas, Mexico:

Healing Begins in the Imagination – Free Healing Evening for the Community – April 27, 2012. The Rubbos present an inspiring evening of deep, joyful healing. Using transformational breathwork, meditation and movement, they will help you call in Divine energies for healing mind, body, spirit and planet. Connect to the Earth and the Heavens to bring about miraculous healings for you, your loved ones, your community, your country and our world. Donald and Cheryl Lynne’s mission is to awaken and inspire as many people as possible on the planet to the infinite potentials and limitless possibilities within each one of us.

Awakening Your Inner Nature Day-Long Workshop – April 29, 2012. Awaken all your senses and deepen your intuition. The Rubbos will help you to develop a felt-sensation of living continually in a higher vibrational state, which is the state for manifesting your heart’s desire: whether it is good health, abundant wealth, better living, better relationships or a deeper connection to the infinite universal energies and higher consciousness.

Boulder, Colorado:

Healing Begins in the Imagination – Free Healing Evening for the Community – June 2, 2012. The Rubbos present an inspiring evening of deep, joyful healing. Using transformational breathwork, meditation and movement, they will help you call in Divine energies for healing mind, body, spirit and planet. Connect to the Earth and the Heavens to bring about miraculous healings for you, your loved ones, your community, your country and our world. Donald and Cheryl Lynne’s mission is to awaken and inspire as many people as possible on the planet to the infinite potentials and limitless possibilities within each one of us.

Qigong Tui Na  – Increasing Intuition, Sensitivity and Ability through Directed Intention Workshop – June 9 & 10, 2012. Sponsored by James MacRitchie, L.Ac., Diplc. NCCAOM, and hosted by Adam Shapiro, L.Ac., MSTCM

Qigong Tui Na, as we learned it and as we teach it, is more than just physical manipulation of the patient’s body. The practitioner’s mind is the agent of change here, and the more time and effort you spend training your mind, the greater the heightening of your hyper-sensory awareness you will gain.   The advanced level of Tui Na practice involves all of the senses, and a calm, focused and directed mind. This requires more of a connection between the practitioner and the patient, quiet listening time, a felt-sensation of the energy flows of oneself, one’s patient and the environment, and a commanding of these energies, than might be usual for the practitioner.  But the rewards are so much greater as well, the potential for the practitioner’s intuition, diagnostic abilities and positive treatment results to expand are limitless, the more one engages in this type of bio -energetic medicine, the more one’s skills and certainty, and number of happy clients/patients, will grow.

New York City, NY:

Healing Begins in the Imagination – Free Healing Evening for the Community – July 7, 2012. Sponsored by Douglas Garn. The Rubbos present an inspiring evening of deep, joyful healing. Using transformational breathwork, meditation and movement, they will help you call in Divine energies for healing mind, body, spirit and planet. Connect to the Earth and the Heavens to bring about miraculous healings for you, your loved ones, your community, your country and our world. Donald and Cheryl Lynne’s mission is to awaken and inspire as many people as possible on the planet to the infinite potentials and limitless possibilities within each one of us.

Quantum Mind Power Day-long Workshop – July 14, 2012. Sponsored by Douglas Garn. Deepen your Intuition, Awaken your Third Eye, Engage all of your senses, Connect to the Source, Live stress and fear free. Transformational Breathwork: The Extraordinary Breath, deep breathing system based on ancient Chinese healing wisdom. Energybody Chakra Clearing: Cleansing and clearing your chakra system and strengthening  hyper-sensory awareness. Develop a felt-sense of the subtle energies of the universe, learn how to receive and send information.  Third Eye Opening: Modern meditation techniques to merge with one’s Higher Self; connecting the pituitary and pineal glands to awaken your superconscious. 

Scuol, Switzerland

Holistic Wellness Retreat  – July 22 to 27, 2012 – Our annual retreat, training body, mind and spirit in the pure mountain air of the Swiss Alps.

Check our website for more information!