Steemit Introduction Post

Sawasdee Krab Steemit!

Steemit Introduction Post

My name is Hunter.

I was introduced to Steemit by a good friend of mine, @acromott, and further encouraged to create through this medium by @karensuestudios, and @threebagsfull.

How I hope to contribute to this wonderfully creative, entrepreneurial online community is by imparting my insights into the processes involved with healing - physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

My day job as a licensed massage therapist, or as a bodyworker (as I prefer to call it), has given me direct experience of the healing power of conscious touch. Massage being a component of what constitutes bodywork is what I've been practicing professionally for the past 5 years. As I'm sure the readers of this introduction post will readily have questions for me regarding the distinctions between the terms massage therapy and bodywork, for the sake of covering more ground about who I AM, as a person, I will write in much more detail about these differences in the future, so stay tuned! Other modes of therapy which I’ve directly experienced and/or practice routinely, with the intention of personal growth, but, which are outside the scope of my professional practice, include, psychotherapy, gestalt therapy, transactional analysis, breathwork, inner child work, envisioning practices, dream interpretation and journaling, taking psychedelic substances, elimination dieting, vegetarian dieting, paleo dieting, fasting, abstinence (various forms), yoga, self-authoring, and meditation.

My intention and goal is to help people learn more about the impacts, both positive and negative, each of these therapeutic practices have had on me according to my own personal experiences with them. I found that during some of the most difficult and challenging stages along my development, it was the accounts of complete and total strangers who risked being vulnerable and spoke publicly about their personal struggles that helped me understand what tools were available to me, and also, that I wasn’t alone in my suffering.

Note: I will not disclose any specific information about the people I’ve participated in these activities with out of respect for their privacy. Any and all names that I use when discussing the modes of therapy involving others will be given pseudonyms.

I’m not an academic. In fact, other than massage therapy, I have very little formal training in any of these subjects if at all. Informing you of this is not to negate the validity of my experiences, or of my own self-directed education, but rather to help you see my limitations from the start, that is, if you view not having gone through formal education as a limitation. My interests in these practices are comprised of a combination of a natural interest in ideas and out of the necessity to outgrow an adaptation strategy which served me as a child, but hindered me as an adult. What I say about these practices are strictly the result of my own subjective experiences with them and my thoughts regarding their utility. Anytime I make a truth claim, I will make sure to cite my sources. If you, the reader, find yourself disagreeing with something I say, or believe that I’ve misused or don’t understand certain concepts, please let me know - I don’t want to spread misinformation and I’m not an expert, just an enthusiastic practitioner and an experimenter determined to know as much as possible simply for the sake of learning. I choose to presume that others have something valuable to impart, and that the very limited number of things which I believe I do actually know is very small relative to the collective genius of our species, and even smaller than the infinite amount of things that we will never know. It is my opinion that, as a non-academic, I’ve had the benefit of original and authentically derived insights without presumption about what to expect from these various practices, as opposed to, just substituting intellectualizing about what I’ve read in a book without actually experimenting with the concepts therein, and thereby, confusing my capacity to neatly organize concepts in my mind with having actually gained true understanding of the underlying principles put forward by the experts who lived through what they taught. Presumptions about how things work in the real world without putting in the time to test your theories in the real world, is all too common, and the source of so much confusion resulting in unnecessary suffering. In other words, I’ve practiced what I’ve preached; I practice what I preach; this is partially what I mean by true understanding. A disadvantage, and not an insignificant one at that, of not having formal training in the modes of therapies which I’ve stated above, or much academic training all together, is that, I haven’t had relations with many authority figures or co-students who could challenge my thought processes directly and who could call me out when I was perceived to be making an error. So take everything that I have to say with a grain of salt and a heavy dose of skepticism, but most importantly, whether cognitively rigid or gullible, practice what you preach - take what you want and pay for it.

Naturally, an audience member within this community may ask, 'what drew me towards Steemit, especially, when there are far more developed, more beautiful, simple, readily available social media platforms, whereby, one could express oneself without having to learn how to import images through imgur.com and how to use beginner programming tricks? or why not utilize a platform which is not inextricably linked; and therefore, requiring of its users to have a not-always-so-brief discussion about the intricate complexities of blockchain technology, and its significance in a cultural and global context with your average person whose only exposure to blockchain tech is, perhaps, only having heard the word bitcoin touted before (and often in a negative context, e.g., BTC is a bubble, tulip mania, or in a bloviated hype about the next BTC and how to become über rich from obvious conmen)?’. For which I'd answer, because, philosophically, I value free markets, property rights, accountability, transparency, and privacy, and also in reducing the power of corrupt institutions both public (the state) and private (amoral greed). I believe that blockchain technology can be the difference between the domination of humankind via an Orwellian state, and a state of being allowing for the free movement of all peoples without being involuntarily, financially bound to one another in a win-lose relationship, at least, for now. In America, where I currently live, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube which dominate the market have been acting in distinctively partisan ways by demonetizing and silencing anyone who doesn’t tout the party line. I believe that Steemit as well as other up-and-coming social media platforms are posing a long-term threat to the consolidation of financial power which these gatekeepers presently hold. I view this potential as very real and very good for society as a whole.
Now! Enough with the words, here are some pictures which I think portray a much clearer picture of what I’m like, enjoy :-)

I'm the furry one ;-)

Still the furry one...

Bouldering at my gym, Photo cred Ellen V. Baker @ ellenvbaker.com

Warrior 2, Photo cred Ellen V. Baker @ ellenvbaker.com