April 26th 2010 (Day 33)

Today is an auspicous day for me. Saturn makes its fourth of five oppositions to Uranus in Virgo/Pisces today. Expect tension to grow – internal and external as change, creative solution and vision of what could be strain against the established order of the past. I work with astrology and planetary behaviours to shape my lifestyle and grow my dreams. Do you believe in galatic or universal law? Weather you do or not, there is a supreme force present in this earth realm co-creating with you as an individual and as a collective. I have grown acutley aware of this force working with me as I draw closer and closer to my dream date, May 30th that is
I have been working closely with this energy as to harness its infinite potential to carry me along and when I am on the road, I will hold strong the deep inner vision of this inspiration within me and within you. For it only truly works in your favor when you begin to realize and actualize the supreme oneness that we all came from. The planets tell a story. In fact they can explain every impulse or motivation I may have. I have come to know this is true when all the signs, gut feelings and synchronicitys in the(my) world take on a bit of a quickening; I can feel my inner planets making a shift; conspiring to align the growth of my dreams with nature. Like the spinning of the planets on their axis’, one cannot get too caught up in striving or desire toward something. All things will come in their time, when they are ready and when I am ready to be that.
Best
Sonny

April 21st 2010 (Day 38)

What does it mean to find a cure? In a tribal sense the shaman or medicine man/woman of a tribe would treat illnesses with the use of different plants or herbs. It was very real and practical the remedies for treating or curing the body. If a warrior returned home with an arrow through his shoulder; this wasn’t time to start shakin the rattle and go into trance, however this method of trance inducing rhythms captures the attention of our brains’ waves allowing it to focus and settle into the specific pattern. Once in this wave pattern (just as sleep is a different brain wave than when you’re awake) the individual and the medicine man are open more widely to receive the energies that heal us. If we want to heal or cure faster, it is as if we must prepare our bodies for the new level of understanding or energy in order for us to experience the maximum benefit. Otherwise it can appear that we’ve cured or fixed something when really all we’ve done is provide temporary relief such as popping an aspirin.
In my case, as someone who experiences a neuro-muscular disorder, I know that I may be past the point of what society calls a cure. I have healed myself in a way that I have grown to accept, love and enjoy the vessel I have been sent to work with. It comes down to how you feel about yourself; about falling in love with yourself, not in an egoic or narcissistic way, but a healthy and respectful path of loving others as myself.
So what is a cure? What does it look like? Is there any point on struggling to find something outside of ourselves? Or is the true teaching of it all within us? Let us cease the search and the subtle “leaning” we do on so called science to provide, and get our bodies ready and prepared to receive the medicine that has been with us in every breath we have ever taken.

To heal vs. to cure. To me healing is growth. Grow open.
Best
Sonny

April 20th 2010 (Day 39)

I would like to offer my deepest thanks and gratitude to all of you for the love and support we have received already on this journey. As the days count down to departure I am being shown a wider sense of who and what we are. The ‘frame’ I have used to celebrate the very counting down to the beginning of such an adventure has commanded a sort of compression of growth and development, and to me growth is healing and healing is growth. Like the skin growing over a scab; it heals.

For years I found it difficult to embrace the very name of my condition and after attending an MD conference this last weekend I am again returning to the source of truth that what I couldn’t fully accept was my humanness. The very human condition we all experience proceeding the shock of birth; coming into the earth realm.

Today, with the future in mind, thanks in the heart and presence of my very being, the knowledge of preparedness is something that visits me at least once a day. When I was in Beavers years ago, one of the mottoes was “Be prepared” another was “Do your best”. So, I am doing my best to be prepared for this journey. I train everyday. This consists of strength and endurance training on and off my hand cycle. I have several disciplines that frame my mornings and evenings such as a stretching and yoga regime (or what looks like yoga For diet I eat ALOT of raw food, greens and fruits typically zipped up in to smoothies. I can say without a doubt that the very food I am eating these days contributes to not only a more alkaline lifestyle but has helped shape my very beliefs and confidence for this push. Where a lot of times the mind has said yes but the muscles say no; today I feel less and less “handi” and I keep feeling stronger. Dystrophy means ‘malnutrition’, so I choose to nourish my cells with this.  I will talk more about what I am doing to get ready and prepare for this journey and ultimately discover what a “cure” means for me and for generations to come in future posts. There is still much to do and we are asking for your help. Whatever you can contribute towards the Marathon is something else we don’t have to spend money on. Keeping our costs down; I would love to be able to donate 90% of what we raise to MD. For those of us in the world today that experience this in our bodies, funding truly helps make a difference for day to day living. I used to say I wasn’t looking for a cure; today there is a part of me that says “expect to find a cure, however it will not look like anything you can imagine”.

Thank you God. Thank you Mother earth for the gifts of our bodies. May you always help us to remember who and what we are, star stuff that landed in the ocean a very long time ago, showing up today as this, imperfect perfection.

Always prepared,
Best
Sonny

April 15th 2010 (Day 44)

I am creating a Love Corps. I am attracting people towards me who, in their hearts, know that there is a better way. These people know of a hidden truth deep within themselves and are lucidly aware that half the story of life has never been told.
This goes for most of life as we see it, including the realm of disease. A wise man once told me “Never accept appearances”, which is to say “remember who you really are!”. For I and I, are collections of trillions upon trillions of quantum cells of light showing up in this world. I am the one known as Sonny, to make it easy for my ego and other egos to accept what appears to be a solid body. Beyond this, we are extensions and direct reflections of this light to one another. This Love Corps is a group of people representing so many different aspects, qualities and gifts. When I see these people and we work together towards a goal, I am directly experiencing what I know to be truth, of myself and others and of the supreme force that fuels all of life.
Come, I invite you to be a part of this Love Corps; to sit or stand tall in this world; to lead by our example of our hearts depth; to go forth with courage knowing that it could all go up in flames at any moment from the sun going super nova.
Join me and the Marathon of Freedom towards creating the awareness needed as we inaugurate the coming of the golden age. I need you! to dig deep for the inspiration that is living you, that part of you that is beyond ego, beyond opinion and personal preferences, beyond labels. You are not your name, your name is a frame.
Be frameless!
Best
Sonny

April 12 2010 (Day 47)

On this day, 30 years ago, the legend Terry Fox began running off the east coast of Canada. If you havn’t been inspired by Terry’s existence yet, I do recommend exposing yourself to the Foxes powerful medicine. Still as potent today as it was then. I am certain I am not the only one that holds Terry as a true vision keeper and warrior of the light. Every culture, every generation, every ancient society celebrated their wayshowers. 30 years seems like a long time for some. For others it is a blink of an eye. In the wide scope of things, Terry carried on what has been a sacred tradition among warriors and sages for many many ages – The journey, or the heros journey.
It had been playfully brought to my attention today that this is the 30th anniversary for Terry’s Marathon of Hope. This year also happens to be my 30th birthday on the departure date of May 30th from the west coast for the Marathon of Freedom. In no way do I compare myself to such greats as Terry but what I have come to know is true is that if I haven’t a model or an example or a teacher or a wayshower to “show me the way” then my dreams and aspirations can never be firmly rooted in purpose and intention. This takes faith and courage; to accept everyone and everything as a teacher is a true discipline. It takes even more fortitude to never compare yourself or let others compare you to anyone or anything, besides God.
I know I am not blazing new trails through the highways and the hills of the Trans Canada. However I wish to use this route as an example or a metaphor of the many ways in which we can follow a path back and through our own hearts, to discover that each of us has the power to awaken that true hero potential and to follow this sacred path means to follow in the footsteps of many many a wise man and woman.

To the undying spirit of Terry the Fox, that still spreads it wings of light and sours this galaxy, waiting, for your very invitation!!

There is a hero within you without a doubt, is it trying to get in you or is it trying to get out !?

Blessings.

Sonny

March 30th 2010 (Day 60)

Today, as I rolled out of my apartment building out to my car to head to the gym, I was stopped by a small pigeon in the middle of the road. It clearly was struggling to fly. I wasn’t certain if it had hurt its wing or leg. I rolled over; stopping traffic, to investigate. I then learned that the poor thing had injured its leg somehow as its wings fluttered more rapidly the closer I got. We were both nervous. I said to it silently that I mean no harm and to not be afraid. It probably was frightened by the wheelchair. The only way to get it off the road was to pick it up, so I gently did and from my hands it attempted to fly away. Exhausted it only made it up so far before it did a nose dive back onto the paved road. There was a bit of blood on its beak. It tried this several times to fly away. I quietly encouraged it to “go, fly home”. I could feel that part of it not wanting to give up, to keep going and live another day. There was an intense feeling of sadness that came over me when I could feel its weary heart giving in to the struggle as It came down once more and landed on a muddy curb. It was then I picked it up, wiped away the mud from its eye, rubbed its head and spine to comfort it; it lay lifeless in my hands, perhaps trauma to its head or maybe its heart stopped. I felt the moment its spirit left.  Now, lying on its back, a final spread of its wings in my direction. I could feel the warm transmission of its energy with hovering hand as I repeated “journey well brother”. I wondered what I would do next, when suddenly a native man came up to me and asked “toast?”; picked it up and placed it amongst some trees and bushes.
So delicate is life. I understand the spirit of persistence, that will to live, is within me and all my relations.

Something within me died with that bird today.

Another interesting evolutionary experience.

To you all – journey well.
Best
Sonny

March 25th 2010 (Day 65)

What does it mean to die a little death? To be reborn? To draw closer to who we are? To peel away layer upon layer, dying to those things that we once held of ourselves as most sacred assumptions.
I am experiencing a letting go of many things these days. This can also relate to receiving too. Letting go of that part of me that is held up in receiving love or gifts from another. For example, I recently was given a bed from a complete stranger, having been camping out on the floor of my apartment since I moved in Jan 1st. I almost closed down at the opportunity. Not only from leaving the straight backed humbleness of floor sleeping but as well being given such a gift as to elevate my practice of. Other things have included life in general. Though overwhelming, the truth that the imperfect impermanence of this life is but a fart away, I cannot but muse the idea that a life of purpose equals a life of destiny and once this is fulfilled we are no longer needed.

Best Sonny

March 25th 2010 (Day 65)

Two videos discussing the medical side of Muscular Dystrophy followed by the Shamanic world view perspective of illness and disease. In order to become whole as an individual I must consider all angles. What a doctor might say may be just as important as a message from spirit guides and animals.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A0nj0dFbmU&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCPOGtqmCCI&feature=related

March 24th 2010 (Day 66)

Today I would like to replace the word ‘Synchronicity’ with the word ‘Love’. As I do this dance with purpose; that still point of life’s great gift, that one that seemingly makes its way around, knowing that it never has or ever will exist anywhere but within me; the course of study and frequencies of ‘love’ come at me with such an intensity of speed that to miss its presence is blind. When connected to your purpose you will experience an amplification of loves width and depth. Remaining connected is true discipline or as a great teacher said “Blissapline”. Do what you must to engage loves awesome power and the gift of synchronicity will become your daily bread. There is no doubt in my mind that magic does not exist in this earth realm.
All my relations. Gratitude.
Best
Sonny

March 23rd 2010 (Day 67)

The more I contemplate the concept of freedom, I am at once forced to face an even deeper mystery of time, or what I think time is.How many times have you glanced at your watch or the clock on the wall today? Can you feel into that part of you that is anxious to leave work and get home? We can be slaves to the clock totally forgetting about our subtle awareness to what I will call here ‘Galactic time’ or universal time. That’s why it takes days to fly to the moon when really to us it appears almost an arms length away. Time expands the further out we get from our earths spheres. I do my best to evoke this truth during those times I am sullied away from the present moment, allowing this 100 day count down to have significance and depth; unfolding the way it must in order to realize truth. There are pressures and pit falls and at any moment I can choose to submit or surrender my preferences to the sweet guidance of my own inner pilot, that one that is without space and without time.

Gee whiz, look at the clock, gotta go!

Best

SonnyD

March 22nd 2010 (Day 68)

I love reading my horoscope and having readings done for me whether it’s oracle or tarot readings. I breath in and take whatever insight or knowledge I gain towards my own personal growth and discard the rest. My latest one talks about the planetary movements affecting changes right now, as they have forever, and in my life this is certainly true. Moving towards any goal or dream will stir up obstacles and chaos. As these things arise it is of paramount importance to not take anything personally. Whatever comes up as a result of wanting freedom are just exams. Healing means to grow. This growth comes as a result of your awareness and the more you grow the more you experience healing in your life. Presently, the “exams” that are showing up are allowing me to grow into a deeper, wider understanding of who I am and what we are, Free beings.
A teacher said: “You cannot know freedom without having been to prison”.

Best

Sonny

March 17 2010 (Day 73)

Understanding a deeper truth of dreaming and having goals; there is a certain essential aspect of ‘letting go’ and allowing room for the universe to configure itself to my desired manifestation. This also very much includes practicing patience as my personal units of energy must arrive at and act in accordance to the new ‘phase’ of energy and learning. I may wish for a million dollars right now but do I have the personal power yet to hold and let flow through me such a large amount of numbers.

Thank God for the buffer of time to allow me to grow up and into the dream that is on its way.

A teacher once told a story of the first moon landing and all of the directional changes they had to make. Their goal may have been to land on the moon, however the route to get there went side to side all over the map…of the galaxy of course

Ah life.

Here is part 2 of the article from http://sportatitsbest.com/
Enjoy.
SonnyD

March 9th 2010 (Day 81)

Honesty can set you free and to be perfectly honest with myself I must admit the fact that I have felt fear; fear of losing, fear of succeeding, fear of death, fear of being blown wide open into love by a great force that is so huge and so wide. It’s all there. I suspect it would be unnatural to feel anything but fear at this point.

In meditation I am reminded that I created this also. I am scripting my life even as I type these words.

There is still much to accomplish towards this journey. It has become something bigger than myself now and must given direction, water and sunlight. I must deal with the fear as it arises for it won’t be something that goes away, on the contrary, as I expand so do the walls and limitations that confront my comfort zones in order to grow wider into handling more fear.
It isn’t that fear disappears, I just am able to see it more for what it is: False Evidence Appearing Real.

Best
Sonny

March 8th 2010 (Day 82)

A full weekend of working, or I should say ‘Enjoying’. I began some part time work on the weekends to supplement a full on training schedule. Both jobs I get to encounter all kinds of wonder-filled people. Meeting and greeting; all day I practice feeling into and intuiting where people ‘are’ before they even come up to me. As they approach I open the front surface of my body and stay wide open to that fleeting moment of experiencing who I am through another.
Such a wide variety of shapes and colors and sounds pass through me as concierge to other humans seeking info and purchase. The quality of the experience has been very much worth finding these two jobs, waking up early on weekends and going to bed late and ultimately taking that deeeep breath; moment to moment; amping up my personal units of energy to pull it all off.

Here we go again!

Best
Sonny and Chair

March 3rd 2010 (Day 87)

Met with my manager today and chipped away at the stone together; on the horn calling potential film crews for the journey. Also met with my nutritionist and experienced the joys and wonders of essential oils and aromatherapy.  The body has one sense, being, and through this sense, we as humans being, experience  healing via sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. I am open to all avenues of sensing this being if it in truth and aligned with purpose.

I am experiencing a quickening of meaningful events as the days unfold. What is featured on a daily basis is the presence of a purpose. Everything and anything I am engaging in has a voice; a certain lucid quality to the thing that, in its own language, is saying to me “yes, this is on purpose, you created this too, breathe it in and let it go as a manifestation of a great power within you and without you”.

I have been reminded on more than one occasion that the search for freedom comes with obstacles, however the second you are able to see anything as an obstacle is immediate proof of the existence or the potent potential of being free from it.
Pay attention. Open your eyes and accept that everything before you, including obstacles, is a direct result of the pure and natural condition we truly are. Free.

Best
Sonny

March 2nd 2010 (Day 88)

As part of this journey, I am creating the concerted effort required to eat, feel and be my best. This means allowing a lot of things I used to enjoy eating to become less and less apart of what I choose to fuel myself with. Darn. No more 7-11 taquitoes! It is a practice of phasing out the not so good things while integrating more healthy foods until my body is totally comfortable vibrating at a different level. I will not say it has been easy. I have a good friend who is coaching me though this process and helping me to integrate the subtle shifts in energy that come with such things as a vegetarian/raw food diet. She also offers acupuncture to help foster this transition. One thing I know for sure is that I have never spent $80 on fruit and vegetables alone.
Time to zip up another smoothie!

Best
Sonny and Chair

March 1st 2010 (Day 89)

Truly a great day today. Still feeling the electricity from yesterdays closing ceremonies not to mention the hockey game. As I sat there watching I could feel the embodiment of something much greater than I and I. Over the 17 days, a truly great spirit of inspiration (in-spirit) came down and passed through this small rock in the galaxy. Call it human, call it the ‘Olympic Spirit” call it nothing and just allow it to be what it is, a celebration of life touching all those receptive to the very movement of it, causing people to connect, smile, sing and unite.
With all the controversy surrounding the events held in Canada, here is something a teacher said about how we may think about this energy that awakens every few years.

What value is the tradition of holding the Winter or Summer Olympics every four years. Isn’t it just a big ego fest?

Answer:

The Winter and Summer Olympics are theatre on a grand scale just like Shakespeare’s plays. They have a little of everything in them and are therefore enormously instructive. Yes, you can clearly see the machinations of ego clearly displayed in some athletes and even in nation’s medal counts. Yet you can also see displays of great courage, humility, and service. Some outstanding human beings role model for the world selflessness and the power of cooperation.

The Olympics can also be quite instructive regarding the different roles and all the overleaves. For example it is quite entertaining and interesting to watch the warrior sports such as the bobsled athletes, the downhill skiers, and the hockey players. Artisans excel at figure skating and ice dancing while sages dominate the snow board sports like the half pipe. Most of the ski jumping and Nordic track is made up of scholars. There are a few kings and priests sprinkled in here and there like the men’s figure skating Olympic gold medal winner for the United States.

Naturally soul ages are clearly evident among the athletes with the mature souls putting their hearts and souls in their performances while the young souls go for appearances without heart and technical prowess. A few baby souls are evident putting on big religious displays and some hearty old souls are there to teach the world good sportsmanship and detachment. Karma and old rivalries are also quite on display and create some of the more dramatic moments in the Olympics.

February 25th 2010 (Day 93)

As days are whizzing by, the countdown to departure has become something the mind and body frame into a space and time. My body has become acutely aware of what it is to do next such as train, eat or sleep. Sleeping is a huge part of training as the amount of time it takes to recover is becoming shorter. I really don’t have anything else to go on other than the vital demands of the mind-body in its present condition. My soul or spirit however, isn’t experiencing this space/time. We know of the importance of the souls study while here in the earth realm. Despite any limitations, fatigue or burnout; the soul keeps going, keeps learning. For I, immersing with that everyday, is of supreme importance. The way I do this is through such behaviors as regular yoga/meditation, singing/chanting/beatboxin

g and such treatments as acupuncture.More on that later.What is your daily yoga? That thing you do everyday that brings you that feeling of source wholeness.

Remember: You can be stretching or om-ing or doing the downward facing doggy style but only when your practice encounters the challenge of moving deeper, breathing wider, stretching furthur; only then does the sacred practice of yoga begin.

Comments Please!

Best

SonnyD

February 24th 2010 (Day 94)

Wednesdays are my day off from training but not from other practices. Tis a good thing as I really need a massage. As much as keep my legs and lower half as active as possible; it is in my arms and upper body that get the most attention as far as working and training is involved. There isn’t much muscle in my …legs anymore to work on or grow due to deterioration and to exercise them too much can have reverse effects and be painful.

And so, I do dedicate an amount of stretching and yoga towards the whole body including my legs, but focus, while training on the hand cycle, goes into my arms.

Work with and towards your strengths.

What are your assets?

February 23rd 2010 (Day 95)

With intention comes a shift in dynamic energy. The bodies wisdom knows when there is a goal in the mind. It can feel subtle vibrations emanating from the spinal column. This dynamic energy is showing up as more focus on breath, endurance and a present fresh wakefulness. I also feel the need to nap more which are short cat naps but supply a good recharge for the day. Apart from the usual fatigue of my ‘handicappedness’; my intention is to go into the pain or suffering or exhaustion to simply discover what is there and who I am in the midst of it all.

Going on.

Comments please.
Video coming soon!

Best
Sonny and Chair

February 22nd 2010 (Day 96)

Thank you all for the kind messages. In order for this journey to happen I purposefully began the journey 100 days ahead of time. It has been going on for quite awhile now but a new sense of practice, discipline and freedom has entered my inner being.

The new year brought many shifts and changes. I moved into my own place (never lived on my own before) I began working 2 part time jobs and have been training full time and working on staying active and eating well. Needless to say, life has my attention. In many ways the marathon has already begun.

In what ways is life a marathon for you?

Till next time,

Best
Sonny and Chair

February 19th 2010 (Day 99)

Many people have asked me “why” I want to push myself across Canada. There are so many things I could say to answer this but words will never truly satisfy the feeling or call I have felt within for so many years. It is a call, in the form of a question that is reflected to me in every choice I make everyday. It is spirit asking “will you or will you not?” Will I aspire towards a life of love and freedom or will I wait for it to come to me? Or will I do anything at all.

For me this can be explained through the very act of how you choose to hold yourself while your standing or walking. Is your posture a symbol of how you approach your life? Do you slouch or is your spine straight? I understand this can be difficult for some, especially if you feel back pain, disability or not. I believe it is the willingness that can set you free. The willingness to try.

Freedom comes where willingness lives.

And so, ONE of the many reasons I want to do this is because I feel the willingness to do so. That feeling is a preliminary emotion. It is to be nurtured and grown and transformed into love and freedom.

It is like having hope. You can have all the hope in the world for whatever it may be but until you wake up and realize it is only but a call to action; you will always remain in the state of being hopeful versus feeling certain about your life and its purpose.

Comments please!

Best

Sonny

Growing up with my Grandparents and my Mum as my sole providers; I had extensive training in their skills and gifts, some of which included food, music, teaching and teaching music – one of my passions today.

So there I was sitting on the can, just after arriving in New Delhi where I was about to join my tour group that would later become some of my best friends. We would journey extensivley to sacred sites in India, visiting ashrams and temples, trek up mountains to see mystical caves and take part in ancient religious ceremonies; be mezmerized to witness some master musicians, round a dark allie and be invited to join in a spontaneous celebration where the locals were chanting Hare Krishna.

But I had to be quick, the bus was leaving and the “Delhi Belly” I was experiencing convinced me to never have curry again. Oh but it was so good and reminded me so much of my Grandfathers dishes.

The food wasn’t the only highlight of this trip, although it did give everyone something more to look forward to each day beyond the mind and heart opening encounters we faced. For me, I was blown open by the people. Religion or not, customs or not, the people of India were there to serve. Every member of the tour was made to feel like a god or goddess with such attention and care to the details of our needs. Truley and authentically devoted to our well being. Absolutley over the top.

Myself, being a western traveller, I was curious and excited to experience India from a wheelchair and to connect with others there experiencing the same. I always keep my senses open to accesability, be it elevators, ramps or banisters etc. It’s just on my radar. The flight there was decent too. I even got bumped up to economy (closer to the can). This happened several times as we had a number of domestic flights within India as well. Perks!

Whilst in India I encountered much poverty and illness. Of course healthcare is different in India, not everyone can be provided with support. I had met a young lad with Polio in Bohdgaya (this is where Buddha attained perfect elightenment beneath the Bhodi tree) who made his way on his hands alone. Down on the ground, his twisted and mangled legs wrapped around his upper torso. Where he lacked in leg strength, he made up for 10 fold in his spirit. He didn’t speak english but when he muttered “speed speed” I knew he wanted to race. The rate at which he took off on his hands and butt reminded me of my pursuit to the can on the airplane. We chased each other back to our tour bus…he won. It was my intention to see and spend time with disabled individuals during my time in India and what this young man taught me was so powerful, inspiring. He made art out of his disability in way I’d never seen. Hands calloused, cracked and dirty; even without a wheelchair he was so happy and free regardless of his dis-ease.

Everyone there shares the land and streets, the people, the pigs, the cows, the wild dogs. I strongly felt a sense of custodianship for the earth from every being. Not yours or mine. Some of the most impoverished families or individuals were there offering us their food to eat, when they had almost nothing to give. I recall a Baba (holy man) living on the street preparing some vegatables; we stopped and spoke with him, he shared much of his wisdom with us and offered to feed all of us with what he had. Beautiful.

It seems that everyone you meet on the street is like a mini-entrepreneur trying to sell you there service or product – just there way of surviving and India is a shopping MECCA! I purchaced a number of souviners in the way of postcards, pashminas and prayer beads, sandlewood necklaces and little Ganesh elephants. I also gave. It was reminded of us by our tour leader that it isn’t just what you get from mother India but also what you give. It didn’t have to be money, although that seemed to be the universally accepted transfer of energy once they had finished showing you around or singing you a song. The hand immediatley went out as to say ” Please, complete this cycle of the offering of my gift to you”.

It was contact. Peering into the eyes of a young homeless girl, mute, I was shown a great and powerful lesson. Now when I say “peer” I don’t mean a look then look away. I mean this silent eye to eye contact lasted almost 4 minutes. Her eyes spoke the words of so many generations that had come and gone before her. Contact me, ME! the real me! Stop and breathe with me for awhile and nothing else, for it is contact we all desire. Love.

By and large, India is not the most accessible country to travel in by wheelchair – lot’s of steps going up into temples, cobblestone roads and back allies (and we ventured down many a back allie to find the wildest and wackiest of what India had to offer). When I wasn’t riding in a pedaled or motorized rickshaw, or highup on the back of an elephant, I was in my chair or being piggy-backed by some of my tour groups most strapping men. I used to say I’d always wanted to back pack around India – never did I imagine that I’d be the back pack!

Wheelchair friendlyness always arrived and manifested the way it needed to in order to teach me a wider and deeper sense of recieving. If a ramp was absent, someone would be there lickity split to assist me. “Good karma” they would say. I was happy to offer the opportunity.

Your elders, if not your parents, are your uncle and aunt, and your peers are your brothers and sisters or cousins. I wish to dedicate this post to my family as everyone in India is family. I especially would like to offer this post as a prayer to my Grandmother where I learned of her passing while I was away. I didn’t get to say goodbye but as fate would have it, I found myself in Rishikesh, near the Himalayas, with my tour family. Blessed with a candle and flowers, I gentley let the small leaf-cupped arrangement out of my hands to float down the holy river Ganga into the foggy night sky. Om namah shiva.

In closing, I wish to encourage anyone desiring to experiences the true depth of what we are and to peer into what life is like in the east to go there and discover the many treasures mother India holds and has held for centuries. You don’t go to India and return the same. If you were to ask me what I got and gave to India, I would have to say – accessability. “Access-ability”. Not just in the physical sense but of the heart. How accessible are you? How is your ability to open your heart in the face of closure, in the face of not wanting to open it at all? India is such a sensational experience. If open to it, you will witness the light and the dark, an entire spectrum of abundance and poverty. We stayed in 5 star hotels and palaces AND we intentionally went into the heart of it all, the real India…

The university of the soul.

…and go with a good teacher

Namaste
Sonny and Chair

Click here to see my photo album.

Stayed tuned – Movie coming soon!

Kumar and Sonny. I wish to provide Kumar with a wheelchair.

When I said Sonny is a warrior, it implies an incredible amount of inner strength and being victorious in numberless battles during your life time. Please could you briefly describe your personal history and how you discovered your mission as a messenger in this Marathon of Freedom?

To begin, I would like to offer these words: “You are Freedom itself, embodied as the observer as you read this text; fluidly and dynamically. Remember now who and what you are, where you came from and where you are going.” “This process, the journey back, the inner work of remembering, that death defying choice to live the dream, to find and create your life with intention and purpose; can and will at times feel like running a marathon.” Like our old friend Pheidippides thousands of years ago; his was a message of victory. The question is, was that victory over himself or another?

Many of us feel a calling, a message, to share, to shout, to shine upon the world. I tell you this – face any and every obstacle that impedes you to give or offer your message with great humility and courage for there is a great teaching in the offering. My message is not unique, but it is served up in a way that only Sonny say’s it, therefore it is special. Mine is a message of victory over physical limitations and although there is still much to learn; I had to fall down many times to get up and get clear on the message I chose to give.

As far back as I can recall, I have always fallen down; physically tripped up and kissed the pavement without a banana peel in sight. This continued for a few years when at the age of five my mother took me to several doctors who all seem to think I was just being lazy. Deep down I knew this wasn’t the truth. I was very active as a child weather it was swimming, gymnastics, playing basketball or climbing trees for bananas. Until one day after weeks of bloody noses, muscle tests and shock therapy it was concluded that I had a particular type of neuro-muscular disorder; also known as Muscular Dystrophy. The degeneration of nerve and muscle affects my legs and hands. Today with hundreds of different types of MD it can be difficult to get caught up in all the names and lables of “she has this or he suffers from that.” Where awareness is key; I wanted to be free from the definitions. I wanted the truth. Something was telling me that I was more than a doctors diagnosis, more than my name; my body.

Now, at age 30, I still walk and use a wheelchair. I look back and ponder where and when did I start believing that what I have been given is a true gift and not a limitation, and I am reminded of a great man, a warrior, Terry Fox. Out of the millions of people Terry has inspired, I am one. I see Terry and the journey to cross Canada as his unique way of making art out of the dis-ease in his body. And therein lies a great secret to true freedom – take your limitations and make art out of them.

Nowadays is quite easy to see that most people live a very sedentary life. Now we can send a text from one part of the world to another in seconds within a couple of clicks. Why it is necessary for you to cross Canada, one of the largest countries in the world, to communicate your message?

I am grateful for the technology of today. It has afforded many of us a great deal of freedom. Still though, talk is cheap and if your question is true then I have my work laid out for me. Call me optimistic but I like to think there are more people than ever jumping on the “movement” movement and taking their lives to a new level. I know I am not blazing new trails by pushing across Canada…in my wheelchair; typically Canadian. The blessing of my life is that I am able to take all that I have and do and create an artful offering to the world through whatever means possible. I wish to connect with many people by being an example. I had to contemplate and later had been asked many times “what makes my journey different or unique out of hundreds of others doing something similar?” I would say, “Hello, I go by Sonny Davis. I experience Muscular Dystrophy AND I am pushing my wheelchair across Canada.” My message and purpose has everything to do with freedom including freedom from dis-order, dis-ease and dis-ability.

In 1979, Ste-Croix, one of the founder of the Cirque du Soleil walked 90 from Baie-Saint-Paul to Quebec City on stilts, convincing the Quebec government to help fund his production. Less than a year later, Terry Fox, one of the most beloved Canadians in history, started in 1980 the Marathon of Hope in order of raising money and bringing awareness for cancer research. Two absolutely different situations, that later on became by their own means into a huge movements and undoubtedly icons of the Canadian culture. What are your wildest dreams that the Marathon of Freedom will bring to the world?

After the classification card I needed to go to the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, as a member of Team Canada, was revoked due to again, “labels”; I knew that I wanted to keep rolling, training, moving and offering. I was already inspired by Terry Fox, now I had even more fuel to add to my message. I took that experience and created a way I could offer to the world what I had learned. What was a childhood dream became reality when I began the Marathon of Freedom in the summer of 2010. I wish to share the inspiration I received with others in order to discover what it is that is their deepest and truest gift and purpose, and to offer it to the world unabashed.

My wildest dream for the Marathon of Freedom is to have eliminated self doubt and en-able the planet.

While preparing this interview, the idea of being released from labels echoed in my mind all the time. Labeling people is easy, comfortable and very effective, the being set free of all labels is amazing and scaring at the same time. What do you do in order of avoiding being labeled and at the same time not labeling somebody else?

Be frameless. A key needs a door. If there’s no frame then there’s no door and the answer (the key) is in your hands. It is a practice. To be free in the moment from words, names and labels means to exercise not having an opinion, of anyone and especially your self. That includes preferences and first impressions. Yes I am out there raising awareness and money for my chosen charity and beyond that I am bringing the truth of what Muscular Dystrophy really is to the world, a gift. I need to play in the realm of labels for it to be understood in eyes of the public. I’m a guy that uses a wheelchair AND I can walk too. What do you call that?? I call it “walk and roll.” haha. I especially take delight in the confusion on peoples faces when they see me one day and I’m in the chair and the next day up and walking; now that’s just my opinion – so my practice would then become to breath it (confusion of others) in and feel it fully, exhale and release it to not having an opinion either way. The same goes for things that are irritating, like loud people. It is a moment to moment practice. Make it fun. It doesn’t have to feel like discipline. The point is to practice being free from your opinion of the thing. Try this in the realm of dis-ease and you’ve got a healing journey on your hands. Beyond that I stick to the simple wisdom of judge lest, lest you be judged.

Coming from the place of giving an scale to your effort, I really want people to understand the dimensions of this, because saying “crossing Canada” only takes two words, and they do not imply what it takes you to do it. So here comes the question…

Let’s say that my imagination wants to take a ride with you in your wheel chair. Could you describe a day during your journey crossing one of the biggest extensions on the planet?

Imagine your desire to create something that is bigger than what you are, well, bigger than your body anyways. What we are beyond our bodies is infinite. Realizing this, it didn’t seem like such a daunting task and goal to push myself in my wheelchair across the second largest country in the world. However, once the rubber hit the road, I received a healthy dose of raw truth and reality. I had an end goal in mind and I was determined to reach that goal by October 1st 2010. Whatever happened in between the start and the finish line; from day one, was truly put into the hands of the great mystery.

Building this vision manifested through the help of some very important players, one of which joined me on the road, Twyla Martin. This was a grassroots project coupled with the reckless abandon of jumping and trusting the net will appear. Not all of my ducks were aligned and I am glad they weren’t. I threw a date out there to depart; May 30th 2010 (my 30th birthday) and I met that date head on, leaving from Victoria BC, eastbound. I knew I wasn’t going to let anything stop or slow me down but pushing up to five or six hours a day began the wear and tear on my body, especially my hands. There is already degeneration of nerve and muscle in my hands due to the MD, and the up hill squeeze on my near surface veins would cause them to go numb on a daily basis. On roadside breaks; Twyla, who was also driving my support vehicle, would care for my shoulders and nutrition; gallons of fluids and bunches of bananas.

Eventually I got feeling back in my hands and would continue to push on to the next telephone poll. I would be in awe of the scale of beauty that was surrounding me; through the mountains, across the prairies, lakes, animals, sending love to road kill; trusting it was fast and painless, the head winds, the rain, the air, even some unexpected roadside donations. The presence of local Fire Fighters escorting us along route, stopping traffic, sounding their horns and sirens, was truly a special and extra-ordinary experience.

I had a lot of time to myself pushing along the shoulder of the #1 Highway. I would contemplate and meditate. My personal awareness would go from a more local state of being in the “mind and body” to total expanded oneness with the environment around me. Any constriction, closure or pain I would experience, was always balanced through fleeting moments of sheer delight and freedom. The eagle flying overhead, eclipsing the noon sun was enough affirmation for me to know we were safe and guided.

Being on the road definitely had its ups and downs. Quite literally, I believed that rolling downhill on wheels made it so I only had to do half of the country haha. Well this became the reality when after 3 months and 11 days and experiencing several setbacks along the way, including the sudden death of my father; I had to revisit my original intention and refocus my goal. Half way to Thunder Bay is what I accomplished, and I intend on completing what I started. Working through the limitations of my mind and body and despite any numbness of my spirit; Thunder Bay All the Way will happen in spring 2011. Stay tuned to www.marathonoffreedom.com

Pheidippides, the mythic Greek messenger and first marathoner at the end of his journey exclaimed to the Athenian assembly, “Nenikékamen”, (which means ‘We have won’). In 2011, you will be crossing the finish line of the Marathon of Freedom, what are the objectives that you plan to achieve at the end of this journey so you can happily say ” Nenikékamen “?

The essence of the Marathon of Freedom is about discovering who and what we truly are – free moving and loving infinite beings and putting forth real work in order to shine that in the form of a gift, offering or service to the world. I wish to raise $150,000 dollars and make a donation to Muscular Dystrophy Canada. I wish to help other MD associations around the world by speaking my truth to them and listening to their stories. I wish to see this message go on through the movement movements and the arts where anyone, disability or not, can have a chance to give their gift, which is the courageous offering of the call answered from deep within; to be free from it forever.

What phase one of the Marathon of Freedom - “Half-way to Thunder Bay” has taught me is that we humans live on such a huge and ancient rock called Earth, and that there’s ultimately no where to go but to move. Movement for the sake of movement…while I still can.

By being born and taking on a body; I have already won. Nenikékamen!

Sonny and Chair.

It has been amazing being a hitchhiker in your Marathon of Freedom, a great example of how the final frontier is not space but the space within us. Mindwriters will follow you very closely not only when you restart your journey or cross the finish line, way more after it. Thank you very much Sonny. Now I would like to address my dear readers. Sometimes the largest distance is the distance between people. Sonny is crossing Canada to reach you. He is officially doing this journey to fight for Muscular Dystrophy, and at the same time, he is taking a stand to conquer a sneaky malady, Empathy Dystrophy. How far does he have to go to connect with you? I invite you to meet Sonny half way and be part of a winning team. Donating is the most obvious way to collaborate and if you are not in the economical situation to take some dollars out of you budget, the good news is that there are many other ways too. Saying a pray for him, sending him an email wishing him well, talking about him to other people, contacting his team and offering them your help… just to name a few easy and economical ways to push him forward. At the end, if there is something I would like you to keep from this interview is this lesson, if nothing is stopping him, nothing is stopping me and you. Movement for the sake of movement. Claim your victory.

Visit, www.marathonoffreedom.com

The official Marathon of Freedom Calendar is available on the Merchandise page. Thank you so much for your support!