Alas, my friend and I, who went to see Amma last night in Los Angeles, have decided that she is not the real deal. Worse, it appears that Amma is a psychic vampire, siphoning off the energy of her devoted followers.

My friend had contacted me earlier in the week asking if I wanted to go see Amma. She is an Indian woman who travels the world offering "free hugs." Someone in his singing class had gone to see her and had some sort of spiritual experience. He was curious, and so was I.

Coincidentally, I had recently heard of Amma just a month ago when I stumbled across an anti-Amma blog called "Cult of the Hugging Saint." Strangely enough, this blog was online last night when we checked it from the event (via my Blackberry), but when I went to look at it today, the blog is no longer available. Hm.

Given a choice, would you rather be beautiful but brain-damaged, or average-looking but living with full mental capacity? Not surprising, scientists are finding out that Botox, that oh-too-popular wrinkle treatment, can potentially travel into the brain, at least in lab animals:

One of the deadliest poisons in nature and a possible bioterrorism agent, this neurotoxin reached the market, in very dilute doses, starting in 1989 as Botox. A big reason Botox and its cousins, such as Myobloc, were OK'd was that preclinical testing showed that after being injected, they did not travel along the body's highways—nerve cells—to the brain and spinal cord. Yes, there was some evidence the toxin slipped into the bloodstream or the lymph system, but Botox in the bloodstream cannot enter the brain, says its manufacturer.

Dan Caro was in an accident as a 2-year-old child where he received third degree burns on over 70 percent of his body. He lost his fingers...and his toes...but he grew up to become an accomplished drummer. Check out his website and the video on the home page for his inspiring story. My favorite part is where he explains at the end that the burning was actually a gift, because it gave him everything he has today:

http://www.dancaro.com

This is a good reminder that sometimes our biggest challenges can be our biggest triumphs.

I got caught in the rain this morning as I was walking back from Trader Joe's with two armloads of groceries. I had no car and no umbrella, not even a raincoat. Fortunately, the rain was more of a light drizzle, and it was not too cold. Walking back home with the raindrops on my face, I was struck by how enjoyable the feeling was. Maybe if I had known it was going to rain before I left I might have waited until it cleared up, and then I would have missed the refreshing drizzle.

I thought about how we are trained to automatically run for cover when it rains, once we get past that age where splashing around in puddles is "appropriate." How many times do we shut ourselves off from an experience just because we're wired to?

I made a mental note to try to be more open and appreciate the rain more, both literally and figuratively.

Pretty soon modern psychiatry will label every personality type as a mental illness. The latest from the LA Times:

You know them. I know them. And, increasingly, psychiatrists know them. People who feel they have been wronged by someone and are so bitter they can barely function other than to ruminate about their circumstances.

This behavior is so common -- and so deeply destructive -- that some psychiatrists are urging it be identified as a mental illness under the name post-traumatic embitterment disorder. The behavior was discussed before an enthusiastic audience Monday at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn. meeting in San Francisco.

This will be yet another excuse to come up with yet another psychiatric medication that yet another population of people will be taking to numb themselves and their feelings. Sigh.

Are we living in a medical police state? Since when is it a good use of police time and resources to go after a mom who wants to treat her son's cancer with natural remedies? Don't they have better things to do? It's not like chemotherapy actually guarantees a cure, and it can be extremely detrimental to quality of life.

Here's the story from the Associated Press:

Authorities nationwide were on the lookout Wednesday for a mother and her 13-year-old cancer-stricken son who fled after refusing the chemotherapy that doctors say could save the boy's life.

Colleen Hauser and her son, Daniel, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma, apparently left their southern Minnesota home sometime after a doctor's appointment and court-ordered X-ray on Monday showed his tumor had grown.

I really loved this blog entry from Kundalini Yoga teacher Patrick Lacho. He talks about "sideways people" - i.e., people who get us off track and turn us "sideways."

http://kundaliniyogabootcamp.com/mind-body-soul/philosophy/sideways-people/