Continued from Chapter 12.
“Our ancient experience confirms at every point that everything is linked together, everything is inseparable.” Dalai Lama XIV
San Diego Padres / Vector.meBy Richard Juarez
“Hey man, take a look at this!” Tony was looking through his binoculars toward the Padres’ bullpen. “Look at the guy in the stands next to the bullpen pitchers’ mound. He’s talking to Luis DeLeon, one of the guys warming up. And he was just shaking his hand. Doesn’t he look familiar?” He handed me the glasses.
“Here, hold my hot dog for me,” I said, “and don’t eat any of it. I don’t have much left.” Tony had already inhaled his hot dog. I looked through the binoculars and found the bullpen. “No way! It can’t be. That looks like Don Emilio! But I don’t think so. I knew he was still in town, but he never said anything about going to a Padres game or even liking baseball.”
“Let me look again,” said Tony reaching for the binoculars as he chewed on something. I saw fresh mustard and ketchup on his face. “Yep, that’s him. I recognize his blue windbreaker.”
“Look at him,” I exclaimed, “talking up a storm with DeLeon like they were old friends.”
“DeLeon just shook his hand again, then went back to warming up,” said Tony. “Don Emilio’s waving goodbye and walking up the aisle.” Tony put the glasses down. “Well, I’ll be! All the years we’ve been coming, and we’ve never been able to shake anybody’s hand.”
“That’s because we sit out here in the cheap seats,” I said. We were seated in the middle of a general admission section, five rows up, and about 15 feet above the center fielder’s head.
“I wish we were sitting up close to the action!”
“You should try increasing your energy and your vibration,” I said grinning.
“I have! I’ve been focusing on my breathing all week, and on being closer to the action at this game, but it didn’t work. I really wanted to see this game up close because the Dodgers are my favorite team after the Padres. I was hoping I’d be able to come up with the extra seven dollars to get a field level seat near the bullpen.”
“And an extra seven for mine. See, that’s why you didn’t get it, you were only thinking about yourself. You weren’t putting that energy into a good seat for me too.”
“Well,” responded Tony, “one day I’ll have a job that pays decent money and I’ll be able to afford good seats. Two of them.”
We continued watching the players warming up, as the Dodgers came off the field, and the Padres went on for infield practice. Tony looked back toward the bullpen with his binoculars. “Don Emilio isn’t back in his seat yet. I wonder where he went?”
“Hola mijos!” Don Emilio called out to us as he stood at the end of our row of seats. “Nice night for a ballgame, que no?”
“Hey, Don Emilio!” Tony shouted, waving my empty hot dog wrapper. Our teacher made his way past an elderly couple sitting at the end of the row, squishing their peanut shells as he stepped in front of them. “How did you find us?”
“And how did you even know we were here?” I asked, as he sat down next to Tony. “We saw you through the binoculars, sitting over by the bullpen.”
“Oh, I had a feeling you’d be coming to the game. I thought about coming, but was not sure I would be able to until late this afternoon. Then I had no way of contacting you after you left home. Did you ride the bus?”
“Yeah. We rode the Padre Express from Horton Plaza Park downtown,” I said.
“So how did you know where to find us?” Tony asked again.
“Well, I had narrowed it down to the outfield bleacher seats. I figured you did not have much money to spend on tickets, because I was sure you would want to save some to spend on food. Nothing like good hot dogs at a baseball game, que no? Even in Mexico, I like to eat hot dogs at the games.”
“Yeah, Tony really likes ball game hot dogs,” I said sarcastically. “He had two of them.”
“But you must have walked right to our aisle,” Tony persisted, ignoring my hot dog whining. “We saw you leave your seat just a little while ago, so you didn’t have time to search for us in all the aisles and seats.”
“I did not search for you. My life as a shaman is about energy work. I followed our energy connection. Other than the pitcher Luis DeLeon, you are the only ones here that I have a strong energy connection with. I picked up your strong enthusiasm for the baseball game, so I focused my energy on our connection and allowed my body to follow that connection. I walked along the main walkway up there, and turned down this aisle because it ‘felt’ right. As I walked down the aisle, I did not have any intuition about you sitting at the top and I did not feel any connection on the right side of the aisle either. So I looked over to the left side as I continued walking down the aisle, and there you were.”
“He’s amazing,” Tony said as he turned to me. We both just shook our heads.
“Well,” Don Emilio continued as he stood up, “the game will start soon. Come on!” He was looking straight at Tony.
“Where to?” Tony asked.
“Next to me, over by the bullpen. I have tickets for both of you, complements of Luis. If we hurry, maybe we can see him before he leaves the bullpen pitching mound.”
Tony and I just looked at each other in surprise. Then off we scrambled, following Don Emilio. We reached the seats just in time for Don Emilio to introduce us to DeLeon, a relief pitcher for the Padres. And we got to shake his hand before he sat down with the other pitchers in the bullpen.
“Man, what a night,” said Tony. “Great seats, and we finally got to shake hands with one of the Padres. Amazing!”
“Yeah, and you got to eat two hot dogs.”
Tony laughed, and turned toward Don Emilio. “I’ve been wanting this for a long time.”
“So you have been focusing energy on that thought, and made it happen,” said Don Emilio.
“Well, yes I have been. But that didn’t do it,” Tony protested. “You’re the one who…”
“Do not sell yourself short on your ability to pull in some magical powers from the universe. I think you are the reason I had the urge to go to this game, and the reason Luis had the thought to leave tickets for us, just in case. I had previously told him I occasionally come to San Diego to work with you. You see, that is how it works. That is the magic of the universe. You just worked some magic.
“The examples of energy connections are all around us,” he continued. “Many, many people, who know nothing about what you are learning, have experiences where they ‘sense’ what someone else is thinking, they know what someone is going to say before they say it, or they know when and where a friend is going to be. It is real. And the key to consistently being able to know such information, or getting what you want, is to keep your spiritual energy at a high level, constantly striving to increase your energy and to plug your energy leaks.”
“With it being all around us like that, maybe this shamanism stuff is not so weird,” said Tony. “It’s sorta normal.”
“It is normal,” said Don Emilio. “The only thing different about the shaman’s approach is that your ancestors made a science of studying this phenomenon. Shamanism is the science of working with energy, spiritual energy. And because everything in the world is energy, and since all things are related and connected by energy, we know that we are dealing with our connection to Spirit, to God. So for us, working with energy is a spiritual practice. We know that at the core of our beings, humankind innately strives to move closer to the light, closer to union with the Spirit. We know we can do that by working on increasing our spiritual energy. We know that everything we do, think, or say can have an energy-building or energy-depleting consequence. So if we are serious about our connection with Spirit, everything we do, think, or say is part of our spiritual practice.
“That is why in native cultures they refer to the shaman as the holy man. When an older shaman has spent his life striving each day to increase his energy connection with Spirit, he is full of this spiritual energy and is able to do things such as physically heal others by correcting a person’s energy imbalance, read minds, or hear messages from animals, trees, water, or the wind. He may achieve a level of spiritual energy where he is truly connected and able to communicate with spirits of nature, his own spirit guides and teachers, and maybe with the saints and angels.
“You do not need to try to become like that holy man. You are simply trying to be as full of spiritual energy as possible. As beginners, you are breaking out of old habits of thought and action that deplete your energy. And you are learning what to incorporate into your daily practice that will help build your spiritual energy and move you closer to a union with Spirit.”
Copyright © 2013 Richard Juarez
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Wow……The more I know Don Emilio, the more I like him. Hi is an excellent Teacher, Friend and Spiritual Guide.
I love baseball and totally felt the boys enthusiasm for the game and excitement about being connected to one of the players and getting great seats from Don Emilio. I’m also thinking of fine tuning my energy connections. Thanks Richard!