Michael Alahouzos
Staff Writer
Dr. David Lowry is one of Pepperdine’s unique professors, though he might be the last person to admit it.
“I feel ordinary, among extraordinary people,” Lowry said.
Lowry has been teaching yoga to students for eight years of his 15-year residency at Pepperdine as a mass communication and human communication professor. As if yoga isn’t enough to distinguish Lowry from his peers, he also has a unique office.
“We are all one … Stay constantly present and alert, see that the Divine is at work this very moment … some of these (quotes) are well-known, some I wrote myself,” said Lowry, who hails from Abilene, Texas, and earned his doctorate in education in 1982 from the University of North Texas. His bookshelves are littered with index cards and quotes that uplift him, and he said he hopes that they uplift his visitors in a similar way when they enter his office.
“I want you to come away with something from me,” Lowry said.
Despite all this, he still believes himself to be the most ordinary person at Pepperdine.
“I am a spiritual being having a physical experience,” reads a telling quote on his shelf.
In the last year, Lowry has taken control of a Web site devoted to relationship success. The Web site, www.consciousloving.com, is a place where people seeking help can take advice from others seeking help via an open forum discussion board. This board also is a place for people with troubles to get in touch with a real expert on family communications — that is, Lowry himself.
In the two years he has operated the Web site, Lowry has seen more than 56,900 posts added to the forum from more than 4,500 registered members, and has personally answered 1,100 letters from people who need help. By Christmas this year, he will have answered more than 1,300 of these letters.
“We try to answer them all,” Lowry said. By answering these letters, he said he believes he is learning more about his own beliefs than ever before.
He’s not the only one trying to help people, either.
“My wife (Mary Ann) runs a bulletin board for Pudendal Nerve Syndrome,” which is a rare, chronic condition in which pain is caused in the lower central pelvic areas for no apparent reason.
Lowry said he sees his wife as a full partner in all he does, including his Web site and healthy living campaign, though she is not a practitioner of yoga.
In addition to these selfless and defining aspects of his life, Lowry also runs a prayer table out of his office.
“I’ve been thinking of putting it out (in the hallway) again … everyone has trouble in their life, but nobody wants to admit it,” he said.
The prayer table serves a purpose: When students, faculty and staff walk by, they may write a prayer request, anonymously if desired, and drop it in a box for Lowry to read. If the request asks for a call, he will call the person.
He also puts out a small bucket of blue stones to remind passers by that God is with them whenever they feel the stones inside their pockets. Lowry encourages students to take and use these stones, as well as what he calls “Blue Dots,” which can be placed on binders and notebooks as reminders of the student’s purpose.
“It’s not like running away, but it helps you get by,” he said. “The students get so caught up in work, it’s good to be reminded. There are plenty of ministers … sharing is just a first step that I like to give.”
So far, he has given out more than 400 Blue Dots.
Lowry said he thinks it’s corny, but he would like to get his message out to everybody. He sees the potential that he believes we do not see in ourselves.
“This place has a lot of power,” he said. “These people are going to be people who are going to rule the world. You might want to be friends with them.”
Lowry will be teaching in Lyon, France, for the 2005-06 terms, and said he is very much looking forward to being there.
“I don’t speak French yet,” he said. “I’m learning and teaching myself. I’m watching videotapes … I could ask you if you’d like to have lunch with me.”
Despite feeling like an ordinary person, Lowry is taking people places. He continues to teach yoga to students on Saturdays from 11 to 12:30 in the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Pavilion, and plans to continue maintaining the online forum into 2005.
11-18-04
