PREFACE to Cheri's Book by Cameron Powers

Cheri Shanti’s musical path and mine have followed some very similar
trajectories. I was very honored when she requested that I write this
preface. My evolution as community musician has culminated in
the creation of a non-profit organization called Musical Missions
of Peace which raises funds to carry community music-making into
international arenas. My non-profit organization has recently helped
fund an American woman to travel through Iran, sowing the seeds of
connection and friendship by joining in village festivals across the
Persian countryside.

Musical Missions of Peace also currently supports music lessons for
Iraqi refugee children which in Syria and in Jordan. These schools
provide employment for displaced professional Iraqi musicians and
help ensure that the valuable content of ancient Iraqi musical tradition
is not lost during these times of upheaval.
My community music engagements have ranged from Native
American festivals in Peru and Mexico, to Greece and finally, during
recent years, to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon.
My years of study of the ancient micro-tonal music scales and the
music of the Arab world have enabled me to feel a sense of belonging
in many far-flung community settings in the Middle East. Ah, if only
the politicians could experience some of these same things!
Early in life I spent years in counter-cultural communes across the
Western states in the USA and I led many live music events when it
was time to celebrate.

I have had the great pleasure to join with Cheri in some of her Colorado-
based community “Muse” and “Fire Ceremony” celebrations and have
been delighted to feel the powerful energy and clarity of vision which
she brings to each occasion.

Baghdad, Iraq: Unified by a favorite old Iraqi song we stand and
move our bodies together while the high-rise buildings burn and
the invading army tanks drive by. Musical reality is more cohesive
than military reality. This is what I have discovered. When will the
soldiers lay down their guns and pick up the flutes and the lutes and
the tambourines? The ancient wisdom tells us that this option does
exist! It works for us here on the streets of Baghdad: we are American citizens singing with Iraqis here in the ancient Iraqi capitol even as we
all mourn the destruction.

In this book, Cheri reveals her experiences drumming with women
in India and we discover that there are indeed other tools for cross-
cultural commuication which, unfortunately, are generally omitted
from US foreign policy around the globe. Connecting through the
universal language of music offers us familiar and respectful ways to
bridge worlds.

Sina, Peru: Tucked into a village in a valley high on the slopes of the
Andes above the Amazon jungle the Inca-speaking families are into
the third night of the celebration. Clapping their hands for rhythm in
their dance they sing of the loneliness of the vast mountain landscapes.
They sing of the pain of lost loves and of the hopes for new romance.
Eusevio Qispi has planted the cornerstone for his new house! Tears
come as he sings in anticipation of the arrival of his new bride! No one
mentions the one awkward detail: he has yet to succeed with romance
and the bride is entirely imaginary. But never mind! Four days and
nights of singing and clapping the village rhythms will surely help to
conjure her up!

Cheri’s elucidations of the roles music plays in tribal societies around
the world make it clear that brides can indeed miraculously appear
when the right music is played long and sincerely enough!

West Bank of the Nile, Egypt: The piercing wails of three ancient oboes
ride atop the skilled drum-strokes on the skin of the big bass drum.
Dressed in their white robes the village men whirl at opposite ends of
their ceremonial dancing sticks. The flavor of a martial art stylizes the
dance. There are no gaps in the music between midnight and dawn.
Once again all turmoils and struggles have been laid to rest for an
entire night. From time to time a woman dances solo in the center of
the courtyard beneath the appreciative gaze of the assembled men. All
is just as it should be. The atmosphere is absolutely Egyptian! Eight
thousand years of ancestral rhythmic tradition manifests once again
and carries our energy up into the sky!

In this book we discover that Cheri has been laying the same foundations
for rhythmic tradition right here in the USA! Her work offers a place
for us here in the US to find this kind of experience, a place to lay down the struggles and turmoils of the world and be together, in spite
of our differences, and celebrate life in community.

Naxos, Greece: Tonight the island drummers and musicians have
congregated in a small town near the northernmost Mediterranean
beach. While the lines of dancers revolve under the moon a wave of
energy carries the energy to new highs: the rhythm has suddenly shifted
from seven-beat phrases to eight-beat phrases! Without a single break
the band plays until past dawn. Dancing all night is something taken
for granted as a natural human right!

Cheri’s clear statements about the strangeness of some of the still
existing rules about MUSIC “disturbing the peace” here in our
homeland can help us bring about changes in values. There are few
cultures in the world where music making on a community level are
so restricted, repressed and devalued as it is in the US. The freedom
to gather and play music, anytime, anywhere is not something we are
familiar with in the US.

Sinaloa, Mexico: It’s now four o’clock in the morning in a small
mountain town. A group of fifteen guitar players serenade the
crowd from the front porches of randomly chosen homes along the
neighborhood streets. The highly amplified dance band in the central
plaza has finished for the night. Now there is acoustic space for random
improvisation! This village has truly come alive!
Here, as in most of the indigenously intact cultures in the more
tropical parts of the world, the music is “by, for and of” all the age
groups in the community: the children, the teenagers, the adults and
the grandparents.

In this book you will find beautiful descriptions
which hint at the beauty of this reality, although, as one of her quoted
contributors mentions, you really had to be there!

Deep in the Grand Canyon: The rhythm fever is upon us! Anything
will do: we extract whatever pots and pans and jars and cans we can
find from the cooking gear on our tethered rafts. Spoons make great
drum sticks! Which parts of our primal identities will emerge during
the next few hours of frenzied playing? High moonlit rocky crags stand
sentinel for the duration of the night. Musical moments are punctuated
with the sights and sounds of ecstatic human bodies diving into the
fast-moving river waters of the Colorado. Everyone swims back more. The next day there is a special satisfaction in the air.

In her chapter on the glamorization of popular music, Cheri gives
our young folks some encouragement for personal participation in
the communal creation of rhythm and music even as we observe the
trends toward electronica.

Amman, Jordan: Thirty Iraqi refugees gather in a friend’s apartment.
Dinner is shared but then the drums and instruments come out of their
cases. As the rhythms bubble out of their fingers onto their drums,
the refugees burning questions around basic survival gradually recede
from the forefront of consiousness. Someone has begun to sing. An
ancient stringed instrument, the Arabic lute, is in the hands of a skilled
player. Drums begin the accompaniment. A violin appears. Five hours
later the dancing and singing are still in full swing. Spoken words and
conversation will have to wait for another time. Now we are in a space
made sacred by the rhythms of the ancient muses of the Mesopotamian
Tigris and Euphrates river people!

What are the glues and fabrics of cultural identity which can hold
people together even in extreme times of disruption and catastrophe?
Cheri examines the trends in music teaching in American schools and
makes some clear-cut suggestions.

Boulder, Colorado: Seventy-five dancers reach the stage of screaming
and singing out their ecstasy. Four percussionists are here in the
ballroom well into the second hour of rhythmic ebb and flow. The
sound is live and no amplification is needed. The drummers and the
dancers adjust the tempo and no electronic tracks are included. A
wave of refreshment rolls through our consciousness as we celebrate
our freedom from the usual electronica. Cheri Shanti is one of the
drummers.

What do all these scenes have in common? Music is flowing. Love is
flowing. Bonding is happening. No one is divided. No one is separate
or left out! No one has reason for plotting or trickery. We are all
one. Even aging bodies feel pain-free and young again! The elixir of
communal music is being served by these drummers and musicians
who have evolved to become the local shamans and priestesses. The
ancestors are having their say and harmony has been achieved. What
a magnificent model for the rest of life!

Yes We Can... Barrak Obama New President

Tears of joy on the faces of so many people last night with the sweeping victory of Barrak Obama! I shared the tears of joy and hope watching the new first family on stage, and my heart was so touched to see skin of all colors embracing in front of the world. Seeing the call to union and peace prevailing over the color of the skin or differing backgrounds.. my heart filled with hope and even more, with faith.

We now have a leader who has some connection with the people, who can inspire the masses to action and who represents something so much greater than just the presidency. We now have a voice, and an ear in a place of power.

So now when I wonder, Can we really shift the tides and start moving towards something greater than greed and rape and pillage consciousness.. my heart says..

Yes we can...

Can we now begin to act with personal responsibility and accountability on an individual and global level..

Yes we can...

Can we offer opportunity to all..

Yes we can..

I know he may not be as wonderful as he seems (or maybe, just maybe he really is), and I'm sure he will make mistakes and have many challenges.. but in my heart of hearts, he represents something noble. He inspired the people to act, to vote, to stand up, and be counted, and he has activated this country like no other president before.. I have faith in him, and I even like the guy to be honest... and his wife.

I give thanks for the new beginning and that maybe we will be able to finally pass on a better world to our children than the one we have now because we finally chose to get up, stand up, be counted, and try something new and different..

Yes we can build a better world... and it starts with YOU and ME...

Barrak said it well, the victory is OURS as much or more than his... we made a ripple in the pond...

Keep it going.

When will we care?

Today I went into Book Ends Café and was sharing with the young barista about the broadcast I had just heard from Democracy Now on the raids and the infringements of our rights happening around the Republican National Convention in St. Louis. His response was, “I just don’t care.” While I understand the apathy and how it happens, I am still somewhat shocked at the complete unwillingness for so many of us, myself included too often, to really stand up, get vocal, organize and fight for our rights.

Will we care when we have curfews and police on our streets brutalizing innocent people just because they feel like it and they can? That’s happening now, today, do we care yet? Would we care if it was us or someone we know personally who’s house was ransacked, camera cards erased, video camera’s taken, houses broken down and put under arrest for doing nothing but exercising our rights, according to our constitution? That too happened today, do we care yet? How close to home does it need to be?

Will we care when yet another war monger president is in office, inciting more hatred, death, revenge and mass destruction in the name of the “Proud and the free,” creating more enemies in the world for our children to have to try to make peace with? Would we get active if we had to consider, as people in other countries have had to do, putting a machine gun in the arms of our 5 year old sons, brothers, cousins, to protect our families and homes? Would that make us care?

Will we care when some of these angry people finally get thru and land on our soil and start to wreak the havoc here that our country, in the name of freedom, has there? Will we care then? Will we care when it is us who are seeing our friends, cafes and streetcorners blown up by car bombs?

When will we really care? Everyone’s so busy, few people have the energy to care. Like this young man, it was a bother for him to stay informed and he got to upset and felt like there’s no way to make it shift perhaps… I know I’ve felt that a lot.

Listening today to what is going on at the Convention, the degree of the fear mentality, the control, the police state-ness of the whole thing triggered some place deep inside of me. I felt it in a way I haven’t in some years, and the graveness of this election, and the coming months is weighing heavy on my heart, even though I live in the Boulder Bubble, and everyone’s happy and excited for Obama. Even though I know all things work in the way they are meant to, and all the spiritual hoo haa that I know to be truth, even still, the gravity of our current political reality is beyond my comprehension for sure. I have felt it for many years growing to this place, and in my own way of keeping my own sanity, I have stayed quietly reflecting, praying, and trying to counter the “powers that be” by not subscribing to the fear, the dogma or even the media’s attempts at brainwashing and manipulation. I see much possibility and not all of it is as pleasant as I’d prefer. I feel edges of civil unrest, and would not put it past the current regime to fuel that fire to distract us more, as they are doing now with the raids, and the arrests of conscious media and activists folks such as those working with Democracy Now and Food not Bombs.

My call to action is to visualize the world as we want it, but beyond that to ACT and to support those who are out there on the “front lines” of this heated political time in whatever ways we can: $, letters, food, support, prayers. I was an activist when I was in college, and I had to stop because my fire gets a little too hot, and I knew I’d end up in jail or getting shot. It takes a lot of courage, a lot of guts to get out there and really do the work that our true freedom fighters are doing there to tell us the truth and report what’s going on. I just want to honor those people, and say “THANK YOU.” You are doing what many of us are too afraid, too consumed, too apathetic or too “busy” (ha ha) to do, and I am so proud of you when I hear you on the radio, see you in the streets, stepping up for us. You are the soldiers of the people, fighting peacefully, and I pray the power of the almighty, call it whatever you like, is with you to keep you strong.

Music: By George Moore

Found this in a paper in Lyons, CO the other day.

So beautiful, wanted to share it.

"Music"

The first music was accident
perhaps, the clanging of a stone
against the solid resonance of tree,
the slipping of rocks down a stream
in high season, some impossible
whining of the limbs pushed
up against their leaning neighbors.
The ear picked it up almost
coincidentally, at first, a song,
something the brain said but
did not say. The pattern was born
out of a longing no one had known,
and appearance in the wind,
At the back of the mind.
This was the moment of music
but more, the moment of human
anticipation,of humanity,
springing to life within the animal skin.
There was something more
waiting in the wings
the rush of the senses in synchronicity.
The words would follow but not
for ages, at first it was only noise
made to sync like a river, water
sounding it's own depths, moving
stones down it's long corridor,
cave echoes, the shouts of wordless
desires from god-high cliffs
But the words did not matter
when the body performed it's rite
swaying day out of night, grieving
voicelessly for the disappearances
But the music did not leave the trees,
nor the stream, it simply inhabited
the living and the dead,
those who would come back again
as if they were the very singing,
and the cave dwellers who knew
the earth was their mouth
and that they were the voice
of it's deepest shadows.

From Crestone with Love

Windy Day
Blows me open
Blows thru me like the mystery

I am raw
Unbridled
Unhinged
Unkempt
Free like the wind

Oya: My beloved sister of eternity
Pulsing around this globe of grace

Infinite kiss of the Divine
Blessing me
Eternally

This magical place
Stillness reigns supreme
It is tangible here
The peace
The depths of stillness
Even as the wind rages wild dust tornados

Stillness Lives here

This is it's home
I am blessed once again to dance with her here.

From Musical Missions

Riding back South across the border into Jordan we arrive in Amman. Our
driver jokes every time we pass a picture of the blue-eyed Jordanian
King Abdulla that he must be the "King of Denmark." In reality, the
king's mother is American.
To the north in Syria we had been surrounded by pictures of the
Ophthalmologist from London who is now President of Syria, Bashar Assad. As I
said, people in these parts of the world know better than to associate
people with the governments which rule them.

Walking down the early afternoon street in Amman on our way to a coffee
shop we look up to the sky as the incredible roar of US fighter jets
buzz the city on their way to Iraq, enforcing the rules of the American
empire.

How many empires have preceded? egyptians, hittites, israelites,
assyrians, babylonians, persians, macedonians, romans, byzantines, sassanids,
umayads, abbasids, seljuk turks, crusaders, saladin, mongols, ottoman
turks, etc... to name a few...

Check out the History of Empires in Middle East in 90 Seconds
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/imperial-history.html

Notice the Age of Nations and Borders which began under European
Colonialism. This animated history of Empires in the Middle East in 90
Seconds is well done but it is actually an extreme simplification of a much
more complex history. Each "empire" left a legacy of scattered villages
wherein the population preserved certain languages and ways of living.

Although taxes were demanded afresh by each new empire and a certain
amount of violence erupted as new conquerors confronted old rulers, it
wasn't until the age of "Nation States and Borders" appeared in the 20th
century that large numbers of people were suddenly trapped, frozen in
place, behind artificial borders created by foreign mapmakers in ways
that separated brother from brother and tribal member from tribal member.


Referring to the nomadic nature of local populations, a member of the
Saud family, reportedly in tears, told the Europeans in Paris in 1925
that the seeds for hundreds of years of conflict would be sown if borders
were drawn in the Middle East. The European powers went ahead and drew
the borders anyway.
Are we witnessing the consequences of this border-drawing map-making
frenzy?

More soon about our current work back here in Jordan.

Please encourage your friends who may be interested to add their email
addresses to our list at:
http://www.musicalmissions.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi
Or have them just send us an email requesting to be added to the list!

Thanks and More Soon, Cameron
Please reply to this email if you are so inclined. We love to hear from
you!

To support or read more about our 501c3 non-profit organization:
www.musicalmissionsofpeace.org

Cameron and Kristina:
www.musicalmissions.com

Musical Missions Post: From Jordan with Love

Cameron Writes:
We spent last night surrounded by 30 Iraqi refugees singing the "old
music" for us: this gathering had been organized to honor our return.
Our host works diligently with his violin to magnetize us all into the
unified field of the music. Tonight is not a night for discussion.
Underlying all the singing voices are the instruments: two ouds, two
drums, a violin and a nay (flute) and as the night grew later more people
were drawn to dance.
Two of the women present are accomplished singers and their leads are
given appreciative space. One of these women is also a fine
percussionist.
After midnight the most revered Iraqi maqam singer began to weave the
poetic lines of his "mawals," or arrhythmic incantations, which truly
give voice to the old spiritual wisdoms of Iraq.
"Sama'i!" "Listen carefully!" is repeated to encourage absolute focus
on the poetry and the musical scales.

As I look at the faces around me, all men and women who are now exiled
from their homeland, I can see the different mixes of hardships and
suffering. And I see the childlike joy with which the music emerges from
their souls.

We have begun dialogue with the owner of a music shop regarding our
Musical Mission of Peace designed to offer support to Iraqi refugees here
in Jordan by financially encouraging their children's musical
education.

We will soon make a loop through Syria where an even larger number of
Iraqi refugees are currently in residence. It is said that at least two
million Iraqis have fled to Jordan and Syria to escape the disorder and
violence in their homeland. But neither Jordan nor Syria has the
infrastructure to offer employment to so many. That is why we are here. We
will do what we can, in our own musical way, to provide a pipeline of
financial support from sympathetic Americans.


Kristina Writes:
May 9, 08 Day one
As I walked down the street today in Amman, Jordan, tears came to
my eyes. I felt like I had come home. This feels like home to me not
because the sights are familiar or particularly beautiful. The
buildings are mostly grey concrete colors. The streets are dirty. Many people
smoke and I dislike the smell of tobacco inside the shops. It's just
that there is something else in the air that feels more powerful than the
smoke.
So how do I explain to you what it is?
Maybe security is a part of it. If I should fall down everyone
around me would come to my rescue. If I should get lost someone would
personally guide me back to my hotel. No one is trying to steal my purse.
Every shopkeeper and almost every other person I meet on the street is
saying a sincere "Welcome" or "Hi."
Maybe it is that there is less fear. I have very little fear
here. My heart is so open, because every other heart it meets is so open to
me.
I guess another word might be "relief." I don't have to be an
island. Women in the lobby of the hotel, whom I have never met before,
motion for me to sit down next to them. I am welcomed. I don't have to be
alone. Relief to know you're surrounded by loving beings.
Isn't that what home is?

I've heard that there is no word in Arabic for "alone", the closest
word means "lonely".
I wonder why I, an American, need "retreat time" or "personal
space" or "time to collect my thoughts" or "time to regroup" or just time
to shut out the world and rest? For an Arab, time alone is just
"lonely." Do we Americans tend to stress each other out? Why do we need a
break from each other? Here they just like to sit close to each other and
feel the connection. The air is filled with the currents of acceptance,
less judgment, more connection. Like Fayez the hotel owner here says,
"Arabs are your friend immediately." You don't have to "earn their
trust." It's just so much easier this way.

www.musicalmissionsofpeace.org
www.musicalmissions.com

From a Musician: On Bars & Music

This is a commentary from Neville Harson in response to some feedback I was requesting for a subject in my book: Neville is a wonderful musician living in Boulder. Here's his input:


"I had a strong (positive!) reaction to one of the questions you sent. Here are my thoughts:

Your question was: "Do you feel there is a need for alternatives to bars/nightclubs for community music participation? Why specifically? For example: what don’t you like about bars, what doesn’t it provide, etc…"

You even said it last night: it's an honor for musicians to play to an audience who actually listens!

Rhetorical question: How did we as a society get to the place where that is the exception rather than the rule?

It is indicative of the general lack of listening skills in our culture, not only with the arts, but with conversation etc. It's rare for many people to find a friend who really listens.

Bars are not for listening. You don't go to a bar to hear a band. You go to see friends, consume intoxicants, and SEE a band. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that. But most musicians don't want to be seen. They want to be
heard. And it's hard to compete with conversational noise in a bar (not to mention all the other noises).

Another factor: alcohol is the wrong drug for listening. Alcohol and cocaine are "talking drugs."

But why do we need the drugs anyway?

My ideal place to play: a Listening Room, which would be billed as such. No alcohol served. Maybe tea, but out in the lobby. I like the idea of beanbag chairs,or pillows and mattresses, to encourage inactivity on the part of the audience (unless it's music for dancing). Everyone's on this journey together. No one admitted after the performance has started (though maybe between songs would be okay, like at the
symphony). Two 30-45 minute sets with a break in the middle for socializing, etc. (Like Gypsy Nation, socializing should be discouraged during the music).

Let the audience know how long you'll be playing for when they come in, so they can plan accordingly.

In order for live music to evolve, the audience has to change. And in order for the audience to change, the context and rules (written and unwritten) of the
space has to change..

Honoring the Stillness

Last night's muse was so symbolically sweet! As one of the last nights of winter, as the sweetness of spring is approaching, the energy was still, quiet, deep, contemplative and reflective. The sharings of stillness were profound! Just hearing each other breathe, sigh and relaxing deeply without any need to do anything was a soothing reminder of our connection, and an honoring of winter's teachings!

Grace in these shared moments permeates the room, and every person present. It was as if the exhaustion of winter was running thru us, and we were willing to be spent together in that space, willing to succomb to death in the moments just before rebirth!

Thank you to those present for honoring the stillness in yourself, and together as a community.

Sweetness!

Excerpt from Chapter 4: The Glamorization of Music & Decline of Music Making in Western Culture

“What is happening to raw music? Some people would rather listen to techno than create raw music. The very magic of synchronizing group music and dance is going away. A lot of tribal dance was dancing the same steps to create togetherness with the raw backbeat and magic that only drums, flutes, bells, stings, and singing can create. Dancing to a computer can never be the same to me. “
Johnny, Denver, CO

Making music together has shifted from a community sharing to a profession that has alienated the larger community from a very real and basic human experience. It has become a lost art form, something “scary” for non-musicians or “ordinary” people, and unfamiliar even to trained musicians in any out of context way. Many trained musicians can’t improvise, don’t know how to play from the moment or their heart. In this shift, we have lost something very valuable and indescribable. We’ve lost an inclusiveness, an openness and a willingness to “play” with each other, and in that, there has been a loss of intimacy and connection. The musical experience is more and more now dictated by the performer or DJ, more or less, and the opportunity to experience true group expression thru chanting, music making and story telling is more or less non-existant in the vast majority of bars, nightclubs or music venues. Music has become far more of a spectator sport and a commercial venture than a simple sharing of the human spirit. In my perspective, the commercialization of music is a major contributor to an overall feeling of dis-empowerment in ordinary, everyday people in relation to their own connection with music. For many adults, music was maybe in their lives as children, but for one reason or another they gave it up before they left highschool and never touched an instrument after that. Perhaps they quit because they didn’t think they were “good enough,” or “serious enough” or maybe because there is this illusion that everything we do has to be for profit, and playing music “just for fun” isn’t enough of a good reason to do it when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed.

As a society, we are taught that we “Go and see” music, that there is an “appropriate” place to “go and see” music (bars, nightclubs, etc.), and that we have to “Pay” to see people “Perform” or “Pay” to have lessons for the priveledge of learning. The free sharing of information that happens in more traditional cultures with music, the passing on, generation to generation of rhythms, songs, dances and musical etiquette, just isn’t always prevalent in the western culture. It has been a progression over time of commercial interests, again need and greed on the part of artists, and corporations, and the seemingly always present concept of the western mindset that everything has a price and can be bought and/or sold. Music and the arts have suffered tremendously from this way of being as it has shifted the consciousness of creativity from one of a playful exploratory child to a business man making deals that please the audience.

It is difficult to really imagine, now for many of us, that there was a time when music wasn’t a commodity, a specialized “skill” or a game of money. There was a time, and it still exists in some tribal communities, that music was simply for the sake of music, a way of life and a part of life. It wasn’t relative if you had a “look” or not, or how much you could turn on the opposite sex, it didn’t matter what kind of clothes you wore or who you “knew,” and you didn’t need to know every mode, scale or methodology to be an active participant, whatever piece you felt to contribute, dance, story, song, drumming, was equally valued and appreciated as a part of the whole.

“Serious music, which sticks to the strict, life inhibiting rules of harmonics and the twelvetone system is not capable of creating a new culture." (Grandpierre) Both classical and contemporary music "expect the audience's pregiven consent and forebearance. There are no participants here, just performers and listeners. Fake 'folk music', beyond its commercial uses is only good for damaging the word 'folk' and for frightening as many people as possible away from true 'folk music' Let's add to this the sleep inducing hits of light/pop music and we can say that the overwhelming part of today's music is quite simply only good for exposing man to his own misery and for manipulating him so that he can be even more manipulated. The music that used to be so vigorous and alive that neither man nor animal could free himself from its magical power is now a disemboweled mammoth on tip-toes." (14, p. 24)
Grandpierre, Hungary


In general, in the 20th century, the mainstream culture in the west has gone deeply into the capitalism of music and away from the concept of music for the people, by the people thru this process of “glamorization” of music, the artists and the whole lifestyle around it. “The history of the American Music Industry is a disheartening one, which largely details the exploitation of artists and musicians by opportunists and those without the musician's best interests at heart.” (16) Rock, pop and hip hop in particular have created an idolization of a lifestyle that is for the most part (there are exceptions of course) a relatively unhealthy one that is overly glamorized and filled with drugs, alcohol, sex, guns, and vanity. Just watch a few minutes of MTV or VH1, or look in a pop magazine and see what is being portrayed to our youth and the entire population as “Cool,” and you can easily get a concept of what is being “sold” en masse to mainstream society and in particular to our youth.

I do recognize that there are artists who break this stereotype, I know several personally and greatly admire their inner resolve to set a good example in an industry that sets a lot of poor examples of integrity, community and self respect. The reality is those artists, overall, get a lot less media attention, and a lot less exposure to the people who really need to hear their messages and see their examples. Many of them are preaching to the choir really, performing for people who are already somewhat aware of their messages and in support of them. In the past few years, it seems there are more and more up and coming artists who are realizing the power they hold to influence their listeners and are making wonderful contributions to the world thru their arts. I look forward to the emergence of more of those beings. I also appreciate those elder artists, such as Bono, of U2 who are setting positive examples by using their influence, money and success to launch humanitarian projects and serve the world.

Evolutionary Emergence

The first Muse of the Spring Season here in Boulder and I am so yummified! Choosing to learn to play and explore and express together in this way is a statement of intent I feel towards a more participatory life with each other. To really show up, be seen, be heard, and also witenss and hear the voices of those sharing the space is a sweetening of the soul, a warming of the heart, and an invitation to more intimacy in life.

I am always so touched and so grateful to watch the unfolding!

Last night there was a moment when it seemed voices were coming from everywhere, creating a magical weave of masculine and feminine spirits in supportive harmony. It was really a beautiful tapestry of vocal play, but there was a unique quality in the particular notes and frequencies that seemed to create a portal that I can not explain fully, except to say it was deeply primal and totally futuristic & evolutionary at the same time. I was transported thru time and connected in to the voices of other peoples in far away lands, felt their eyes watching us somehow, acknowledging us, singing with and thru us. I felt the presence of such grace, such wisdom, and such support for us, here and now, doing this playful profound work.

This next series of the Muse is dedicated to the Practice, to embodying the Muse in life, as we do our Yoga, as a mindful practice to be conscious of in every breath, in every moment. To deepen, to do the "work" thru the play and to learn each other more intimately. How can we support and listen, and co-create with more sensitivity to each other, with more clarity of intent, with deeper willingness to serve the Divine in each other thru the Muse? The re-birthing of community music making is ready for an evolution, and in Boulder, we have the opportunity to set an example of creativity, communication, support, and empowerment thru this vehicle. Bring it on!

Possibilities for Transformation

Tonite I recieved great blessings in the sharings of many hearts all tuned to the chords of community.

I am inspired and touched to my core and somehow I am even more committed to this great work: the Alchemy of the Soul, and the Personality, and even more so the Great Alchemy of Global consciousness.

Each of us is such a vital piece of the whole. The transformation of consciousness that is emerging is doing it's dance in every person it seems. Some are more resistant than others, but still I see this magic working it's way into the heart and mind of each person. Something wonderful, magical and revolutionary is brewing up in the cosmic soup of consciousness, and we have a responsibility to step up, step in and do our part, to whatever extent it is possible. Not just for us, but for our children, and their children.

To invite, support and encourage those who have skills, resources and wisdom to connect, collaborate, and support each other whole heartedly is a crucial piece that we can all take part in. Encourage dialogue, encourage mutually beneficial relationships, talk to those people who you think are so "different" than you, and give an opportunity to find the common ground, give what you have and know that IT IS ENOUGH to make a difference.

We are in such desperate need of GOOD leadership on all fronts. We need more solid able minded beings who know how to move between the worlds and people who can help assist in the in between spaces. We are in need of more liasons between corporate consciousness and New Paradigm consciousness, we are in need of more sharing, more relating as humans, as friends on Planet Earth. We don't have to always agree with each other, or try to change each other, we can't get rid of "one" for the "other" but we can learn to honor, respect and find creative ways to let all voices be heard and respected!

The time now is for integration and exploring how we can dance together. Trying to fight the inevitable is just a waste of time and resources, but learning to utilize what's already in action and move within the matrix to shift energy is an invaluable skill in today's world, and will be increasingly so in the future! We all know, there is no "going back." There is only learning from the past and using that wisdom to guide us into new possibilities and openings. From here, we have to move much more consciously, with much more respect and contemplation into tomorrow's playground of possibility!

There is nothing "too hard" or "too much" for us! Humans have proven that over and over again, we can create ANYTHING we want! What do we want? Really, what do we want? If it's only money, or only stuff, we've missed the essence of life. I think for most people, it's more than that. In the depths of the heart's longing there is a call to help, to serve humanity, to do something that matters in the world, in whatever small or grande way, whether it be feeding our children, or feeding a hungry nation of children. We all have something to offer.

Remembering the grace and the sweetness of community, of family, of sharing the simple pleasures of life, good food, good conversation, fire, starlight, dancing and singing together. For me, that's the essence of life... the essence of love is sharing!

Great gratitude for this night, and this open inspired heart.

Late Night Contemplations

Laughter
Children's voices
Sweet songs of surrender
Thru the wind in the palms

Grace lives in this place
In each pair of eyes
In each story
In each face

Yemaya rolls gently thru
Oshun's overflow
Embracing Gaia's womb
in the softest most sensual embrace

Air clean
Charged by Pele's breath
Ocean pure
Crystallizing mind of zen

Moonlight above my head
Fire at my feet
Earth trembling
Passion Play

The Earth she is alive here
In every instant heard
She rolls and swirls and screams here
With benevolence and rage

Magic in the shadows
Made by the silver moon
Demons dwelling just beyond
the undulating ironwood's stringy locks

Mystical and omnipresent
This sacredness of life
With the power to seduce me
I welcome Her each night...

Fire light
and voices softly sharing
Illuminate my heart and soul

Deep Nite Delite

The Midnight hour
Soft
Hpynotic
Entrancing
Casts its seduction on me
And oh, I go so willingly
Into pearly starred sky
and mystic night awaiting..

Embracing me now
The Beloved of beloveds
Dancing in me now
Like the seas swelling surges
Pulsing the swish and sway
of Mama Gaia's big swirly sea hips
Me, I like to take sweet soft sips
Seductive dips and slips into her glorious vast depths..

Always receptive
Always giving
Always emerging with truth
Always captivating
Like the night skies

Deep nite delite..
Sounds of the earth's aliveness..
Water flowing
Critters buzzin
Ocean's breath a comfort beyond illusion

Full moon
Full life
Full heart of love

Pulse of Gaia

Beneath me
I feel her pulse
Calling to me
Always, eternally..

She is the medicine I take voluntarily
To soothe
To teach
To acknowledge grace
To remember truth

She is always waiting..
Echoing
Loud
Resonant
Seductive rhythms of nite

Calling me inward
to the sanctuary of my self

The outer worlds of distraction
Gone
The chatter of the mind
Gone
The business of the day
Gone

Only the Pulse of Gaia
Resounding in my ears
Thru my body
Nature is my confidant
My eternal ally


Day by day
Side by side
Hand in hand
Step by step
I learn this wisdom way

Rhythms of Yemaya
Entrancing
Evocative
Always present
Big pulsing power of ocean blue
Like the blood in my veins
Like the breath thru my spirit

Effortless
Always returning
to the shores of renewal

The Pulse of Gaia

Techno world forgotten
Cars, traffic, rush rush rush
Forgotten..

As I merge
Again and again
In silent seductive surrender

Take me, Yemaya
Far out to the depths of your eternal blue
Into the heart of the swells
to ride in joyful playfulness
with the dolphins and the whales

The Eternal wisdom keepers...

Pulse of Gaia
Frog songs at night
Bird songs when dawn returns

Always the Pulse of Gaia lives in me

Remembering the wisdom way

Remembering
The Pulse of Gaia

Day by day
Side by side
hand in hand
Groove by groove

Eternally dancing in delite upon her womb

Gaia
Yemaya
Seductive passions of love's truths
I will always succomb... willingly
Joyfully..

Polalu Valley: Hawaii

Trembling
bone crunching
jowels of hell
With eyes of fire piercing eternity

Eternal Guardians
Always watchful
Always foreboding
Always vengeful

Some place of evil doings
Terror beyond the imaginable
Lives here on this island

Spooky
Cursed
The forbidden land
Protected but wrongly taken

Deep pulsing mother earth
Yoni fat and moist
Dripping most enticing delites
An Eden poisoned.

What stories live here
I feel the bones
I see the blood
I know mine are here too
My blood and bones

Savage beyond the conceivable
A fortress impenetrable by design

Haunted forests
Ironwood dancing
Featherlike in the raging wind
The wind that never sleeps here

He he o a na..
He he o a na...

I come to pay my respects
I come in peace
I go in peace.

Feedback on Rough Draft of Book

Angel Cheri, I have read a lot of your book. Thanks for sending for feeback, via email. Again I see what a Super weaver you are of the tapestry and a profound messenger.
You deliver & compose powerfully for the community. Thank you for your assistance and for sharing your wisdom & insight.

You cover so many bases. And some amazing & inspirational stories in there. I realize why you couldn't sleep alot of nights, you have had so much to get into words and to realease out of your head. It's great that you have included Tayler & I in your book in the way that you have, and others in our 'tribe' and other 'tribes' That's cool. I see how so much greatness can come from this getting composed and out there. Nicely done.

Very glad you have had this time to upload/download and proceed with what you are up to and what you are here to offer the world and yourself. Thanks for following your intuitions and callings. It is my hope that we can all be supported to follow through with this process that can hugely effect the consciousness & direction of our souls and the planet.

It can be quite subtle but profound in the scope of it all. ay.
Talk w/you later. Hugs ~*
Jen

Excerpt from Chapter 9: Moving thru Chaos: Professional In Service to Community

Moving thru Chaos &
Professionals In service to the Community Spirit

It seems that there is a missing Link in the Community Music arena that I feel called to mention, and that is the integration of all levels, meaning in particular, those who have dedicated their lives to studying the intriciacies and subtleties of music, those who we call “Professional Musicians.” I personally know of many people who have had all or some part of their original inspiration come from drum circles and/or open community music jams. Some part of the experience opened them up to a part of themselves, or to their own potential, or maybe it exposed them to the magic of rhythm in community and how it feels to create an ecstatic experience with and for others. It was from that place that they got to where they are now being paid to perform, traveling all over the world performing with famous or semi-famous bands or as solo artists, with their own bands, etc. I can speak for myself in that drumming opened me up to discovering I could sing, and improv and make songs, etc. I now have recorded 4 CD’s, have my own band, and have performed all over the country as a solo artist: all of it was inspired by what I experienced in these raw, spontaneous sessions in different communities drumming, dancing and creating together.


A lot of my friends and colleagues who have left the Community Music scene to go into professional music talk about Chaos as a part of what pushed them out and away from wanting to participate in community music making. I can understand, as I am often challenged by it in my work and every time it comes up I have to find a creative way to accept it, honor it and move thru it. Chaos is a real part of the human experience, and how we deal with it or run from it is also worthy of examination. If we all just run from the chaos instead of working to bring order and harmony back from the edge of insanity, then the finer teachings that music has to offer will never be fully transmitted. If all those who master elements of Music (in any form) continue to abandon the chaos out of frustration, fear or not knowing how to move thru it, then how can this movement continue to evolve? And, how does that foster strength in community, or teach anyone anything? It may be a bit of a stretch here to say this, but it bears some metaphorical resemblance to ditching out on a child because they are too difficult to discipline. The wild, free abandonment that happens sometimes in Music Making is like the mentality of an undisciplined child who is just so lost in themselves and the experience of life that they can’t see past themselves!

I feel that those who have attained higher levels of proficiency and skill could greatly serve their communities by participating and helping to create solutions, modeling different aspects of musicality, and sharing what they’ve learned instead of just ditching their roots completely.

or running away because it’s too hard. This is not in any way to say that they shouldn’t step out into their professional callings and become the best they can be in their chosen expression! I just feel called to offer the possibility that by occasionally showing up and holding space in their communities on a more roots level, they can provide a source of deep inspiration, and set an example for what’s possible!

In my research, I found an example of this kind of thing in Hungary in the táncház movement. “This model involved strong cooperation between musicology experts and enthusiastic amateurs, resulting in a strong vocational foundation and a very high professional level. The involvement of experts meant an effort to understand and revive folk traditions in their full complexity. The movement revived broader folk traditions. Started in the 1970s, tanchaz soon became a massive movement creating an alternative leisure activity for youths apart from discos and music clubs—or one could say that it created a new kind of music club. The tanchaz movement spread to ethnic Hungarian communities around the world.” (Rolk hungary)

Inspiring a movement is a pretty exciting concept to me personally! I’m in! Imagine what could be inspired if the Professionals of Music actually returned to their roots on occasion and offered themselves in service to the community in a way that wasn’t about “Watch me perform” but was instead about, “Come on, let’s do this together!” The entire group would benefit, and that musician would receive so much love and gratitude for their sharing, and so much respect from their community of Music Making Lovers. I have a strong network of “Professional Musicians” whom I invite regularly to my community sessions in Boulder. Very few of them have ever come, not yet. I will continue to hold this vision in my heart that one day they’ll show up and together we can inspire and show possibilities that have yet to be fully experienced for many people, and maybe even start off a Revolution of music that I’ve been dreaming about for years, that is truly “For the people, By the people,” where everyone is empowered to express and to participate equally, where there are strong models of cooperation, listening, communication, dialogue, dynamics, play and mutual respect interwoven into the fabric of the Groove!

Raining the Tears of the World

God is dumping the seas upon our heads
Days and days of rain
Relentless
Like a flood pouring from the skies.

This island is drenched
Saturated
Soaked
Like I would be
Were it not for this screened
Roofed sanctuary

The rain comes thru
In little spatters
Spits on me and this screen

Sweet sounds
Water makes
Smacking big green tropical leaves
Thumping a constant drone
Like the raging seas
Smacking again and again
Into black, volcanic rock

It is night again
The Cokee’s sing still
With sheets of water pouring upon them
Still they sing
Finding each other
Thru the eternal watering

Rhythm songs
Frogs are masters
Echoeing above it all
They pierce the night
Melodies divine
Rhythm rhapsody ride

I love to listen
All night long
Sometimes it’s hard to sleep
I want to hear it all
To absorb it
To make it part of me

This place
Pure, Free, Abundant in Life
I want to merge with it
So I stay present thru the night
Listening in my dreams

The rain always comes again here
Breathing moments before it falls again
All night long
All day long
The rain is my solid companion

Barely above the wind and rain
The ocean roars
Loud in my ears, I breathe to it
In and out with the surf
Rhythmical
Always present
Always powerful
Wild, white water
Cascading against black rocks
I see it in here
From my bed
I see it
As part of me now

God is weeping the tears for a million lives lived
For those whose lands are filled with terror
Whose eyes may never see
The beauty that I know
In every moment
In every day

Even here
With the rain falling
Hard, fast and constant

Still
There is beauty beyond beauty

Excerpt from Chapter 1: The Lost Connection

Symptoms of a Lost Connection


“Outside of our skin
We can begin again
To Merge
To Touch
To Know Another as we can Know Self…
Reaching Out
Reaching In
I Begin Again….”
Cheri Shanti, 2002m

One of the truths of our time is this hunger, deep in people all over the planet for coming together into relationship with each other.”
-Mary Caroline Richards


It seems more and more when I share with my friends and family, there is this underlying feeling of being “overwhelmed” in life. Life is “crazy” or “too much,” or “I can’t keep up,” just seem to be normal every day phrases I hear everywhere I go. In the grocery store, on the phone with people I know, walking by someone on the streets, or in the café, I hear it everywhere. Life is moving fast, technology has us frying our brains with cell phones, computers, TV screens and constant bombardment from wireless frequencies in every café, home and public building, and the demands on our wallets are increasing faster by far than the wage increases. The media is filling us with images of death, destruction and global devastation and rarely reports anything positive that inspires us. Our world is at war, the future for our children is intense and scary, global warming is imminent and many of us seriously wonder if our government is indeed a democracy “By the people for the people.” The people are, for the most part, so overwhelmed by trying to survive that few notice or have the energy left to care, much less be active in trying to change things. Plenty of people feel and live in the reality of “Me against the world” in their minds and feel the effects of isolation and “individualism” to it’s extreme.

Depression, anxiety, and what I personally have begun to call “Overwhelm Syndrome” are increasingly common in all ages of people today and create an increased feeling of “aloneness” in those who suffer from it. The World Health Organization says that depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide, an estimated 5.8% of men and 9.5% of women world-wide will experience a depressive episode in any given year, and an estimated 121 million people world-wide currently suffer from depression. It is estimated that between 10-25% of children suffer from one or more mental illness today. Approximately 18.8 million American adults have depression and more than 19 million American adults have an anxiety disorder according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. One of the most commonly shared experiences in those suffering from depression, anxiety and overwhelm is the feeling of being “lonely,” or isolated, or the feeling of not fitting in with the way the “world is.” Breathing Space of Scotland says, “This comes with living in a world where certain "ways of being" have come to be expected. You might feel isolated if you cannot celebrate or show part of your identity.” In addition, a lack of opportunities to "get involved or “participate” contributes greatly to a sense of worthlessness, aloneness and isolation.

"All the lonely people, where do they all come from?" I just had to quote a well-known Beatles song. I share this feeling of being perplexed at the sheer volume of people who are dealing with feelings of intense loneliness and depression in America. I personally know dozens of people, with seemingly normal and fulfilling lives, who are taking medication for depression. These are only people I know PERSONALLY. I can only imagine what the statistics are for this country as a whole.

Twenty years ago, I rarely heard of depression. Now it is an American pandemic. I believe this phenomenon is a product of our society and overall mindset. We are conditioned from childhood to be fiercely individualistic and self-centered in order to survive. We are taught that the basis of a meaningful life is personal achievement. In many other societies the welfare of the whole community is the focal point, and cooperation is the means to the end. In American society, the success of the individual is most important, and competition is the means to the end. Deep and meaningful relationships (love) with other people are second at best on the list of our priorities. They are often never wholeheartedly sought and or given the extraordinary amount of time and effort we expend towards personal achievement. If they are developed, many often fade from neglect.
Loneliness and feelings of isolation are widespread in our society for a reason: We ARE lonely and isolated, if not physcially then emotionally. Our hearts won't lie to us, they hurt for a reason. They are being deprived of the most meaningful thing in this life at the expense of the most meaningless.”
Neville Palmer

As Neville makes clear, we don’t need a psychologist or sociologist to tell us that the modern world’s way of life has taken a toll on the human experience. We can all find examples of it’s effects in our lives if we look around even a little, or maybe, if you’re like me, I only have to look in the mirror some days to see it. We have lost, for the most part, a sense of community and of “belonging” to something greater than ourselves in the rush for survival and independence.

The good news is that depression, anxiety, community deterioration, lack of social participation and all of the conditions of modern culture, are able to be transformed on all levels with attention and intention. In my experience, it is the human connection that heals beyond any pill, drug, or procedure. It is the human connection that we have lost and it is the human connection that must be re-connected to move us forward.

Sinking In: Nature's Truths Remembered

Firelight dancing beneath starry skies
Sweet orange disc rises above the swirling sea
Moonlight dancing now in me

Sinking into this way of being
So familiar
So effortless

So close to nature
The way God meant us to be
Eating the Fruit on the trees and fish from the sea
Serenaded by the rhythms of nature all around and within me

Sinking into this place
Inspiration returning
Re-learning myself
Sweetness in this life

We need so little, really, and have so much that distracts us from this truth.
Good food, a modest shelter, community, music, love, sun, clean air and safe haven to lay our heads..

All the rest it seems to me is some kind of candy..
Eye candy
Ear candy
Techno candy
Like sugar it rots us inside leaving us wanting more, unfulfilled and searching for the next fix..

Nature teaches us perfect grace, balance and harmony.
No false illusions, only truth.

Tonite, after firelight, moonlight and ocean breezes
A nice hot shower was like luxury, unnecessary, but so appreciated and such a magical experience
with tiki torches as my light and sweet silver moon peeking in on me above the bananna leaves and bamboo

Blessed are we who get to experience these ways
To remember that which is true and real
And to forget that that leads us astray

I give thanks

Sinking into sweetness.. again and again.

returning to remember
The simple ways of life feed me fully

Excerpt from the Upcoming Book: #1

Vibrations within
Cells dance beneath this skin
Myriads of orgasmic pulses create me
I am Life, moving in Harmony
I am Unity.
Spirals of perfect light
Cascading within my inner sight
I am Rhythm
I am the Cosmic Pulse in form.

I feel the Dum Dum of my heart beating, sending fluid, red, vibrant and nutrient rich thru the tunnels of veins and arteries that give color and life to the cells as they dance and tumble thru my blood.

I hear the sounds of my own body just being and I am amazed at the quiet symphony that I am on the inside.
I am even more amazed that not only can all of this be going on inside, all the time, thru each breath, but I can also experience and even create a whole other rhythmical reality on the other side of my skin. I can experience layers upon layers upon layers of vibratory awareness from the inside, out.

Going deeper still, I can go into the spaces between those beats of my heart and connect there with a silence so deep and far reaching it returns again to the One source of Creation, the Void, the Nothingness from which all is birthed thru a tremor in the cosmos. There, at the Source, I can receive inspiration for creativity. There, in the stillness before the spark of creativity, the inside world and the outside world merge, and breathe together, sharing the awareness of each other’s gifts and possibilities in divine rapturous union. There, in the stillness, in the quiet sanctuary of my own being lies all the potential of the universe waiting to be birthed thru my own unique expression.

Vibrations within
Cells dance beneath this skin
Myriads of orgasmic pulses create me
I am Life, moving in Harmony.

Muse Reflections

Once again I am humbled by the omnipotence of grace and sweetness in my life... such constant reminders, when I allow myself to SEE and FEEL the TRUTH of what is....

This past Muse: Prayers for Peace... brought tears of grace and gratitude... deeply moved and deeply touched... I remain in the afterglow of grace....

Soft burning fire light
Dancing candles
Deep haunting voices of every human expression
Joy, Grief, Passion, Searching, Yearning, Knowing, Ancient Songs
My own hands on Skin pulsing rhythms I never knew I knew
My own voice met by the voices of others
Passion making the Spine Tingle
Moments of Silence & Hearing the Breath of Each other...
More Voices Emanating from the Ethers
A Man swaying back and forth, hands lifted,
His voice that of an ancient angel lifted into the room
A woman echoing my own song, playing joyfully with the shared spirit...
Acknowledging Reflection For both of us
Two Young Girls Sitting by the Altar... one with a feather, one with sage.. staring intently into the candles..
Carrying the Prayers of Peace for all of us
Learning this Sacred Way to Share with their own Generation....
A Generation who will need them to Carry the Torch

Deep Respect Emanating from every pair of eyes:
We are timeless and beyond words in our hearts...
Two Lovers in the corner, fingers touching, embracing softly for a moment...
They are wrapped in the Arms of Sonic Bliss created by 15 Beings United in Expressive Alchemy
Tears of Gratitude hitting the floor beneath me while my body is Bowed in Deep Honoring at the Altar of Our Intentions
Ancient Crystals & Stones Absorbing Our energy: charged by our hearts..

Profound Presence of the Grace Of NOW always present
Humbled to Offer SOMETHING beyond my SELF
Humbled to Participate and Witness...
Looking around the Circle at the Joyful Openings of Each being present

Somehow we know each other better
We are More than we were Alone...
We are Unified in Intent and in ACCEPTANCE and Willingness to HONOR each other fully thru Musical Expression
Thru Witnessing
Thru Being

The Truth of our Selves

I thank you... mystical musers... I thank you from the depths of my heart and soul for allowing your SELF to shine and for gracing me with the opportunity to serve and hold the space for you to reveal and shine your self.....

Hawaii Rhythms of Truth

Rhythms of truth
Sing thru the sea
Sing thru the wind
Sing thru me


Life itself
Is simple

It asks
For nothing

It gives
All of itself

Here in Heaven
I Am Remembering life

As a way of being
Like the whales
Like the palms
Like the birds

Effortless
Simply being

These are the Rhythms of Truth

Slow
Soft
Sweet
Always present

Essence is Truth
All else is Illusion

Slowing Down

Sweet sounds of night here on the magical island of Kauai: palms blowing in the soft breeze, ocean roaring and crickets and chickens singing sweet lullabies to me all night.

Slowing down is such the beautiful part of life. I've been here only 2 days, but feel like I've been here weeks. A day seems so long when it's not full of running about in the mind and body. This way of life that has been created, chasing the dollar, working to pay rent and bills, driving around incessantly from here to there, it has stolen so much from our lives, created such a neurotic frenzy in our minds of constant business. Slowing down gives the space to reflect, to open to the spirits of the land, and the deeper truths that we can be so blind to in our busy bodied embodiements.

I am so grateful for this time, and so cherishing the opportunity to just be. To garden, to put my hands in the soil, to feel the ancestral spirits of this land making contact with me in moments of stillness, to stare at the sea with no need of "going" anywhere or "doing" anything, to be UNAVAILABLE by cell phone.. WOW.. now that's a nice feeling, I must say! I am very much enjoying that!

Such a joy to experience the slowing down inside where time seems to be stretched, where time is NATURAL time, and not about the next appointment or the next "to do" item on the always increasing list. Such a joy to just feel soft and slow in each moment, no need to push, promote or do.

I am so grateful for this time..

Slowing down is such a remembrance of REAL life, REAL time, where the days are just days and the nights are sweet, deep nurturings serenaded by nature and spirit world.

All I Know is In the Groove

All I really know is when the groove is on
I AM

It’s another shade of being

Edges melt
Clarity increases
Senses enhanced

I AM Love

I see my lovers in everyone
I am touched by grace

In the groove
Live is living itself in me
My essence pulses deep and true
I am found there again
Innocent and pure

All I really know
Is when the groove is on
I AM