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EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK:
VINCE'S GYM
Neo
Stuns All of Us
One time just as I was getting back from school, Rick had been
watching the gym and because a woman named Gladys had cut her
leg very badly walking past a junker car that was parked next
door to the gym. They car had been in an accident and it had a
large piece of the body that was jagged and sticking out. Gladys
had cut herself very badly and she was gushing blood profusely.
Evidently, the first aid kit that I had at the gym was not
sufficient to care for her wound. I was freaking out,
“Christ!, I
yelled at Rick, “Did you call an ambulance!”
Rick was a bit
freaked even though he use to work with paramedics. Rick said,
“I called them and they said they will get here as soon as
possible, but that they are back up with calls.”
He said, “They
told us to do what we can to stop the bleeding and if we can to
rush her to emergency!”
I really
started losing it, “Shit!” “The way she’s bleeding she won’t
make it unless we rush her there now!”
Rick said,
“Juan and I figured that would be too risky unless we stop the
bleeding now.”
I was
practically pulling out my hair and I yelled, “Holy Christ!”
Stop the bleeding!” “I don’t have any thing except my belt for a
tourniquet!”
It turned out
that Juan had a very extensive collection of medical equipment
in his truck. To me he looked like he could perform any sort of
surgery on the spot that did not require a lung machine or a
blood pump or other types of extreme equipment. To me it looked
like there was enough surgical equipment to perform most
battlefield surgeries, at least from the few books that I have
seen on the subject. I was wondering as I was asking him if I
could help him in anyway, (Juan had a manner about him that made
you be at your best).
He said, “You
could lock up the gym until we get this under control.”
“Right!, I
said.
I promptly
locked the door. The only people in the gym was Juan, Rick, a
big guy named Brian, and his workout buddy, who I think was
named Lou. Of course there was Gladys.
He dug in one
of his bags and pulled out several items, such as needles and
thread for sutures, sponges, several cloths that appeared to be
sterile, soft and absorbent, a few different types of scissors,
a few metal picks? He placed several things that looked like
surgical clamps of a variety of sizes and shapes. He placed on
the cloth several cutting instruments. Next to those he had a
few little pouches that were folded, and then he pulled out a
stainless steal bowl and some jars that had an assortment of
powders and herbal looking stuff. I had no idea what they really
were. He opened a few jars and mixed a few ingredients into the
bowl.
He handed the bowl to Rick and instructed him to go to the
bathroom and fill the bowl three quarters full or water that was
a bit hotter than lukewarm.
He had also
pulled out a folding gurney of sorts which we had place her on
so that she could lay comfortably on it while he was cleaning
her wounds as he was keeping the blood flow down. Juan
instructed me to hold her left hand and to talk to her in a
soothing manner. He told me to think towards her with confidence
and love. I tried to ‘send’ these feeling to her, hoping it
would have the desired affect that Juan wanted. Juan had taken
his belt and put a tourniquet on her thigh.
I thought, “Oh
that was the right thing to do, I’m glad I thought of that.”
I could see that he
was holding her eyes with his and she looked as mesmerized as
snake by a snake charmer. His voice was hypnotic, and he was
telling her to be calm and assuring her that her bleeding was
slowing down and that she was helping him to bring the blood
flow to a stop.
He place his
hand gently on her solar plexus, and then he got a really
intense faraway look in his eyes and his pupils became
pinpoints, without warning and with blinding speed he reached
out deftly and seem to strike her lightly in the center of her
forehead just between her eyebrows.
I thought I
heard a weird sound, sort of like a crackle of static
electricity or something, and it was right at that instant I
thought I felt a strong tingling in the hand that was holding
hers.
I could swear I
felt or heard a buzzing in my head, I could not be sure. Also
right as he struck her, she seem to behave as if a current of
electricity went through her and her pupils expanding all the
way to their limit, to “The event horizon”, I don’t know why
that term had come to mind. But before she could recover, just
as her pupils were starting to contract, Juan lashed out again
with blinding speed and brought down the cup of his hand on the
crown of her head.
I thought I
heard that weird sound again and I could have sworn that I saw a
weird pattern and colors of energy between his hand and the
crown of her head. Again I felt the tingling in the hand that
was holding hers, only this time it was stronger and the buzzing
inside my head seemed louder and stronger.
He pulled out a
bunch of funny looking needles from a pouch that was deep in his
medical bag. He put these funny looking little needles at
certain locations around her wound and also further up and down
her leg.
I learned later that
these needles were acupuncture needles. He pulled out a
handkerchief and a jar of leaves and flowers of some sort and
these he put into the center of the handkerchief and he wrapped
it and he gave it to her to hold.
He had her
holding a cloth that was wrapped around something and he
instructed her to breathe in slowly and deeply the fragrance
through her nose and not her mouth, he emphasized this advice a
couple of times.
Even when he
had to look away from her gaze to look down at her ghastly
wound, he was instructing her in melodic tones to breath at a
certain cadence through her nose, to take in the fragrance that
would wash away the pain, wash away the fear, telling her how
her body was feeling very heavy, and how grateful and blessed he
felt that she was helping him to slow down the blood and helping
him to make her leg numb and free from pain.
He was telling
her no pain, no bleeding, nothing to fear, then as he was
chanting while working on her and occasionally locking her gaze
with his, and then they spontaneously started chanting together,
no pain, no bleeding, nothing to fear. I have been to a
hypnotist and I have been under fairly deep, this seemed to go
beyond mere hypnosis, this seemed to me a lot like a freaking
Vulcan mind-meld.
It seemed like
at that point their nervous systems had merged into one and she
was he and he was she. She had a look of calm surrender on her
face. He looked down breaking her gaze as she maintained a look
of rapture?
Juan said “Your
bleeding has stopped.”, and it had even though the wound was
quite ugly, deep and long.
He said to
Gladys, “Thank you for stopping your bleeding, you have made me
very happy.”
She looked at him as
if making Juan happy was the only thing in the world worth
living for.
She said in a
far away voice, “Your welcome, I am glad it makes you happy.” as
she gave him a beatific smile.
Juan was sponging the
remaining excess blood and solution that he had applied, and
then he picked up one of the scissors and started to trim the
ragged flesh. I heard someone making a choking sound behind me
and I turned around in time to see Lou fainting and his friend
Brian responding by helping Lou to lay gentler on the floor
instead of falling flat on his face. I looked at Brian and he
looked green around the gills.
Rick saw where
my attention had gone and he looked at Brian and in the most
commanding tone I have ever heard pass from Rick’s mouth.
Rick said,
“Brian, take the chair and close your eyes!”
Brian responded
as readily as I had with my former drill instructors. I looked
at Rick, he looked grim but in charge of the situation. I
imagined those years of working with paramedics were paying off
for him. He asked me how I was holding up. I reassured him that
I was okay. Juan seemed to be oblivious to us and he seemed to
still be merged with Gladys. His pupils were still pinpoints and
hers were still all the way to the ‘event horizon’.
He took a type
of scalpel and he made about four quick incisions in a certain
order. He held her gaze intently, then he looked down for a
split second to make the first incision, then hold her gaze,
then another incision, --- He repeated this four times, and the
entire time he chanted with in tandem with her, their voices
seemed as one, “No pain , no bleeding, no fear.” At least four
to six more times. A few more cuts with the other pair of
scissors and then he was wiping her wound again.
Both of them
chanting as one, “No pain, no bleeding, no fear.”
Then “they”
said, I will close your wound.” Hearing them speak as one had my
mind reeling.
They said, “You
will feel several tugs and they will feel right.”
Then they said,
“No pain, no bleeding, no fear.”
Juan began to
suture her up, and I was thinking, “This is too cool!” “Weird
but cool!”
He was holding
her gaze and then he felt more than saw where to put the needle
in.
They chanted,
‘No pain, no bleeding, no fear, and as he finished the first
suture, they both chanted in unison, feels right!”
They repeated
this a few dozen times, “No pain, no bleeding, no fear… feels
right.”
It seem that between
each time a suture was completed Juan performed an odd looking
pattern around the borders of her wound almost like a caress,
not sexual, but much like a caress, I not entirely sure of this
though.
When he
finished with the sutures he put the rest of the instruments in
the bowl of solution, and he continued to sponge and caress or
very lightly massage her closed wound and the surrounding area.
During this procedure his gaze never left hers. Both of their
irises were opposite of the others, his pinpointed and hers
dilated all the way.
For some reason
I wondered if he was not somehow magically emitting some type of
energy to her injury to help it to heal, I think the reason I
wondered that was because every time he culminated with a
certain movement in the ministering I would feel an on again,
off again type of tingling or pulsating in the hand that held
hers. He loosened the tourniquet completely but left it there in
the same region of her thigh.
Juan stopped
his caresses, and put his left hand on her solar plexus again.
He then put his right hand gently on the crown of her head and
kept it there.
They said, “You
will breathe slowly and deeply.”
They said, “As
I breathe in slowly and deeply, you will be breathing out slowly
and deeply at the same time, at the same pace.”
I looked over at
Brian, he was still put out with his eyes closed, and Lou was
out like a light. I looked over at Rick to see if he was sharing
my hallucination. He looked at me and I could tell what was
happening was pushing the limits of his experience.
I thought too
myself, “Good, I’m not imagining things, or we are both sharing
the same freaking hallucination.”
The flecks in
his emerald green eyes were swirling in patterns that were odd
and seem to have a life of their own. His eyes reminded me of a
Tokay Gecko except that a gecko’s irises are oddly patterned
while Juan’s irises were the tiniest of pinpoints. Her eyes were
still wide open and all I could see was a black abyss of her
pupils, it felt that if I looked too long there I would somehow
fall in. The whites of her eyes were snow white and she still
had that look of rapture on her face.
They said
together, “When I breathe out your will breathe in.”
They said,
“When I breathe faster, you will match it.”
It was almost
impossible to know who was instructing who. They both started to
breathe in unison, perhaps they already were, but it appeared as
if they were now completely merged. Juan breathed in slowly and
deeply and Gladys was breathing out slowly and deeply in
complete tandem with Juan, then they would reverse the polarity
of the breathing and still they would be in tandem.
Their gazes
still locked and at the end of each cycle they would chant,
“Feels right.
As the ritual went on
I noticed that when either of them were almost exhaled all the
way out their chant of ‘Feels right’ seemed to have a
little less power. I don’t know why I noticed that or if it was
accurate. They increased the speed and depth of their breathing
to the point of which I though any normal person would be
hyper-ventilated and pass out. I started to feel a familiar
vibratory feeling through my body.
I looked over
at Juan’s eyes and the patterns seemed more bizarre and the
swirling seemed faster. I wanted to ask Rick if Juan’s eyes
looked that way to him also. Soon they started to reverse in
that the speed of their breathing but not in the depth of their
drawing the air into their lungs. They kept up with their
chants, the only thing they said together now was ‘feels right’
at the end of each inhalation/exhalation.
Then the chanting
stopped.
The vibrations
that I was feeling were getting stronger. I looked at Juan’s
large hands and I swear it looked as though there was an
excitement of energy around his left hand and her solar plexus
and his right hand and the crown of her head. The breathing was
getting ridiculously slower and very deep, slower and deeper
than I would have expected to be possible for any human being.
Without
warning, from the vast depths of Juan’s lungs he let out an
explosive and loud exhale and simultaneously Gladys suck in an
equally explosive and opposite gasp of air, and for some reason
as I quickly glance at both of their eyes, I thought of Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead and how he must of made a
explosive gasp of air the way Gladys did. As I said, I had
quickly glanced at both of their eyes while these thoughts were
going through my head and I also noticed that as this
simultaneous and opposite exchange of breath happened, Gladys’s
irises closed completely to barely perceivable pinpricks and
simultaneously Juan’s pinpointed irises snapped with almost a
seemingly violence all the way to the ‘event horizon’. Then in
an instant after the vibratory sensation overwhelmed me and I
saw/felt a golden explosion inside of my head, where my minds
eye was.
It felt like
the most powerful pre-out of the body experience I ever have
ever felt except I do not recall leaving my body per se during
or after this sensation. I lost my sense of being me explode and
wash away into a field of universal bliss. I lost all conscious
though or sense of self, I lost time.
I don’t know
how long it was but a new guy named Norman was shaking me, I
found myself somehow sitting in my chair at my desk. Evidently
Juan and Rick had taken me off the floor and put me in the
chair. Norman was shaking me and I was hearing his voice from a
seemingly distant place devoid of time/space or things or
thought.
It was if my
consciousness was being born for the first time.
Norman yells, “Vinny!”
I hear the call from everywhere and nowhere. Finally I saw the
fabric of the reality of the gym form around me. At first it was
as if torn fabric was piecing together to cover golden light. I
felt like I didn’t want to quit being in the light, it was more
of a feeling than a thought really.
Slowing all of the torn fabric of the gym reality pieced
together, the light was gone, the bliss was gone, and the
freedom from thought and fear and pain was gone. Only an
increasingly vague memory of what was survived. Later, Norman
told me that he spent fifteen minutes to bring me around.
He said I did not appear to be knock out or hurt, and he said
that I appeared to be fully awake but that I had the biggest
look of pleasure on my face and I would not pay attention to
him. He said that my eyes appear to be focused on the distance.
During my time
‘Out” Brian was in the bathroom puking and Lou was still laying
on the floor with a cool damp cloth over his eyes. I looked
around and Brian was done with his puking and checking on Lou.
Also during
this time Juan and Rick had carried the Gurney or stretcher and
placed her in the back of Juan’s truck. Brian took the
opportunity to take advantage of Juan’s focused attention on
Gladys and he snuck behind Juan and roughly grabbed Juan’s
bicep. Juan turned around and gave Brian a look that caused
Brian to let go of Juan’s upper arm. Brian had that uh oh look
on his face and tried to cover up his discomfort with the last
thing that was on his mind before Juan turned to give him the
look.
Brian yells
out, “WOW!” “Your arms are far from skinny, but they’re not as
hard as I thought they would be.”
Juan just gave
Brian and enigmatic look.
Feeling more
discomfort, Brian blurted, “They’re not hard like mine… mine are
rock hard see”
In a perfect
mimicry of Sean Connery, Juan said, “Your mother must be very
proud of you sweat heart, Now go powder your pretty little nose
and leave me be!” The imitation was meant to take the edge off
and to mock and humiliate Brian for being overwhelmed by such
petty concerns, especially in light of such serious
circumstances. Brian’s face burned bright with shame and he went
back in the gym with his tail between his legs.
Juan comes back
into the gym and looks at Norman, Lou, Brian, and me and said,
“Do not tell anyone of what transpired here today.”
It was a command and
also he seemed to acknowledge that his wishes would be
respected. He gave a long look at Brian.
Brian, face
still a bit red said, “Not a problem, my lips are sealed.”
I knew that Brian
would not mention anything about Gladys’s injuring or what Juan
did for her.
I followed Juan
outside, and I heard him say to Rick, “Rick, can you drive a
stick?”
Rick assures
him that he can because his truck had a stick.
Juan said, “I
want you to drive to the hospital and I will be back here with
Gladys, to make sure she stays fine.” “When we get to the
hospital, we will take her to emergency, and then I will walk
home.”
Rick looked at
Juan with puzzlement. Juan looked at Rick and it seemed as if
his eyes took on that compelling swirl as he spoke to Rick.
“Rick, you will stay with Gladys until the doctors administer to
her, then you can leave.” “The doctors will ask you what
happened and then they will ask you how she was treated and who
it was that treated her, you will not tell them anything except
that an unknown stranger happened along, a doctor perhaps and he
administered to her.” “You will tell them that you went to try
calling the hospital again and when you came back the stranger
had left without a trace.”
Juan said, “You
will stick to the story.”
Rick said,
“Sure I will do as you say, but what about the other guys in the
gym and what about Gladys?”
Juan said, “The
guys in the gym will not speak a word of this … ever.” “I have
Vinny’s word, right?”
I said “Yes, I
wouldn’t tell the authorities.”
Juan seemed to
smile knowingly as he asked, “Are you okay?”
I said, “Yeah,
never better.” Actually I was not so sure of that.
He said,
“Good!” He looked at Rick and me and said, “Gladys will not even
remember the incident.” “She will wake up in the hospital, and
wonder where the time had gone.”
I thought of
what I read of Jesus, when he would command the people he healed
and all of those who witnessed the healing to not tell anyone of
what they saw.”
Juan walked
over to Gladys and put his hand on the crown of her head and
their gazes locked and he said, “Gladys?”
She said,
“Yes?”
Juan said, “You
will not remember this, and you will not speak of this.”
Then in unison
they said, “You will not remember this, and you will not speak
of this.”
Then by herself
Gladys said, “You will not remember this and you will not speak
of this.”
Juan broke his
gaze from hers and gently pulled his hand down from the crown of
her head and covered her eyes. He held his hand their briefly
and then we could hear the soft sounds of her snoring. Gladys
had fallen asleep. Juan says, “Ready to go Rick?”
Rick said,
“Let’s do it!” and off they went.
It was over a
month until the next time I had seen Juan again. Even though in
some ways I was uncomfortable around Juan, I didn’t realize how
much I would miss him. He seemed like no other person I had ever
met or known.
There were a
lot of unanswered questions about him that I wanted answered.
After a month went by with out sight of sound of him, I thought
he had gone forever. I thought that perhaps he was afraid of
getting arrested for practicing medicine without a license. I
wondered where he learned how to do that, and I couldn’t help
wondering that some of the things that he did were not taught in
medical school. I could not help hoping that one day I could
have the skills to be of such help to people if the occasion
ever arose. I know that Juan said that we should never talk
about it, but I talked a bit about it with Rick feeling that
Juan would not think we were breaking any confidences if he and
I kept it amongst just us. I sort of felt that Juan could trust
us because we had sort of gone through a trial by fire with him
if you will.
I was
interested in Rick’s perceptions of the entire incident,
especially since he had been around paramedics. Rick agreed that
the whole thing was strange, and he also mentioned that it went
beyond regular paramedic procedures.
He said, “My
great grandfather supposedly could do faith healing, but
watching what Juan did seemed much more than that.” “It looks
like it went way beyond hypnosis.” “It looked like they were
both one person for a bit.” “It’s the weirdest thing I ever saw,
no one but you would believe it, and that’s because you were
there.”
I said, “I was
there and I am not sure if I believe it!”
Rick said, “I
hear you!”
I hesitated and
stumbled but I asked Rick, “Did you see any sort of energy or
colors between Juan’s hands and her body?”
Rick looked at
me oddly and said, “No, but it did seem like she jerked from an
electric shock of some sort a few times.” “I have never seen
anyone’s eyes that dilated before, at least not in daylight.”
“Both of their eyes were strange looking, although Juan has the
weirdest looking eyes I have ever seen anyway.”
I was thinking,
“Thank you, I am not entirely nuts!” I asked him, “Rick, did it
look like I fainted at the end?” Rick said, “No, you looked
weird though.”
“Weird in what
way,” I asked?
Rick said,
“Well it looked liked you were feeling concerned but also good,
and then at the end when both Juan and Gladys jerked and their
eyes got weirder, your body also jerked at the same time and
then the pupils of your eyes went shut for an instant and then
they dilated all the way out.” “Man you looked blissed out, like
someone on a real good acid trip or something.” “It’s funny
though.”
I said, “What
do you mean?”
Rick said, “You
sometimes get a little bit of that look on your face when you
get ready to lift a real heavy set, you know like when a lift
requires all of your attention.”
I said, “That’s
kind of how I felt, but what I felt during the end of Juan
treating Gladys was a thousand times more powerful.”
Rick said, “I
don’t doubt it!”
I asked Rick
what happened at the hospital.
He said, “They
asked me if I worked on Gladys and I stuck to the story and told
them a stranger claiming to be a doctor treated her.” “They
asked who the doctor was and when he would be in, and I told
them I did not know.” “They mentioned that he must be a surgeon
because his work was exceptional.”
I pondered over this and everything that had occurred and I was
more curious about Juan than ever. I hoped that Brian, Lou and
Norman would keep quiet about the incident, not only to honor
Juan’s wishes, but I did not want police or the city to be
snooping around closing up my gym or some such thing.
I never heard
Brian, Lou, or Norman speak of the incident. I think Brian and
Lou were both afraid of Juan, even though they have always
demonstrated in the Gym that they consistently moved much
heavier weights in all of their exercises than did Juan. Juan
never demonstrated any aggressive tendencies or demonstrated any
skills for fighting or a willingness to fight., but despite all
of this they seemed to have an unspeakable fear of him, not so
much that they would recognize it as such to admit it to
themselves,
One day
however, Brian was bragging about how he managed to sneak up on
Juan and grabbed a hold on his upper arm. The other guys were
shocked and a bit disbelieving. They asked Brian how he managed
to pull it off. I was listening intently to see if Brian would
break his vow to Juan. Brian didn’t, --- he would just say he
caught Juan unawares. I couldn’t believe it, - these guys were
excited, asking Brian what his arm felt like.
One of them
asked, “Dude, are his arms big?”
Brian says,
“Well his arms aren’t skinny, but not overly big either, at
least not as big as mine or Lou’s or even Rock.” “But they are
really soft, not hard like ours.”
I felt
protective of Juan, especially since he was not there to protect
himself. I knew the type of softness that they were talking
about. A lot of guys have this misinformed macho thinking that
muscles must always feel and appear hard. If you don’t believe
me watch a guy tense his muscle even to a friend that they trust
is not attacking them. It is not just a discomfort with
intimacy.
There are
plenty of guys who do not have those issues and yet they will
still tense. When you grab them unexpectedly, you will feel soft
muscles tense up. The muscles are not as lose or soft as they
should be.
I know this is a concern for most males because when a guy will
grab my arm expected or not, they are so relaxed that they often
exclaim, “Wow your muscles are soft.” I try to explain to men
and women that a muscle should be very soft when relaxed, so
soft that you are only able to hold your posture, you should be
hard only when they are contracted. Loose soft and trained
muscles are able to produce greater speed and greater force of
muscular contraction.
I told Brian
that he was an idiot for ascribing to that philosophy. I said,
“Brian, I have told you guys countless times that soft is best
until it is needed, and if you don’t believe me, read what Bruce
Lee had to say on the subject.”
I constantly told
these guys that it was the main reason why I could outperform
them in every movement despite their fare greater size and
weight. The sixth week of Juan’s disappearance, he finally shows
up. I was thrilled to see him again.
I said,
“Welcome back!, “How ya been?” “I have been worried about you.”
He said, “No
worries mate, everything is jus apple.” and then he hands
me fifty dollars.”
I said, “What’s
this, two months in advance?”
He said,
“Twenty –five for last month and twenty-five for this month.”
I said, “Juan,
you were not here, I am not charging you for not being here, and
don’t forget, you did not sign up for a year.” “I refuse to take
it, unless it is for the next two months.”
He laughed and
said, “Okay mate, I pay two months in advance, and I forget this
I owe you.”
I said, “You
don’t owe me, I’m just glad to see you back.”
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(GENESIS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(EXODUS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(REVELATIONS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(JUDGMENT DAY)
ADVENTURES IN MARINE BIOLOGY
THE MARINES: GOD'S CHOSEN
WARRIORS
CONVERSATIONS WITH NEO
NEO TEACHES ME THE ART OF WAR
& PEACE;
His Version of The Matrix
MEMORIES OF MY FATHERS
ZEN & THE ART OF RESISTANCE
TRAINING:
A Yogic & Scientific Approach To Weight
Lifting
ZEN & THE BIOLOGY OF
TRANSCENDENCE:
The First Matrix of Psychic
Phenomena
ZEN & THE ART OF KINESIOLOGY:
The Yogic & Scientific
Approach To Movement
ZEN & YOUR ENERGY SYSTEMS
ZEN & VARIOUS ASPECTS OF
TRAINING
HOMEPAGE TO VINCE'S GYM
HOMEPAGE |
