Gratitude: Pura Vida Bliss

There are days, and today is most definitely one of them, when I wake up and look around me and almost can’t believe I’m not dreaming. I have to rub my eyes and pinch myself when I gaze out over the vista that greets me. The artistry of the creator, who and whatever it is, amazes me to inexplicable degrees. Nature is so enticingly delightful to my senses in every way possible. I feel tickled, sweetened, gooey and so ripe with love and grace in her embrace.

The perfect blue of the sky melts before me into the azure liquid bliss of the ocean held by the shore in the most epic curvaceous land formation known here as the Whale’s Tail. The sand bar merging with the black rocks creates the big tail fin a whale would slap on the surface. Those rocks make for fluffy white breakers that contrast the stillness of the tranquil blue water that eternally extends to the sky. I especially love low tide in the early morning when there is still a little bit of a misty haze floating over the ocean and the eye can’t detect where the ocean ends and the sky begins.

My heart stops for a moment and I take a deep breath, say an inner “WOW” and give thanks for all that has brought me to be here now. This year here has been the best by far. I have enjoyed it the most, felt the most connected, taken lots of time alone in solitude with nature and felt the most at home here. I feel so blessed to get to experience this place and to really sink into it’s rhythm, it’s grace, it’s ability to soften and wisen the heart just by being in it and allowing is a huge gift that continues to unfold every time I return.

I walk in gratitude today once again and welcome the continuing softening of my lotus heart as it unfolds to meet the grace of nature’s magical mystical musing.


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Great thanks to Josh Wendel for holding and manifesting the vision of Selva Armonia and for the opportunity to be involved and share this magic! The retreat center is well under way and we are inviting groups who are looking for space to host programs as soon as December of this year! If you know of people who are looking to host programs in Costa Rica, this is one magical piece of paradise with facilities for 15 people, and epic views that will have you WOWing every morning too! Magic, Mindfulness, Health, Harmony, Creativity, Music & Celebration of Life: It's what we're all about at Selva Armonia!

Oneness Gathering: Costa Rica

The Oneness Gathering/Bioregional Council was held on Sat Mar 19, 1-4pm, Hotel Angelus, Perez Zeledon. I was invited to attend to host a Full Moon Muse Drum Celebration with the community and also was there to represent and share about what we are up to at Selva Armonia, in Uvita. Beyond all of that, though, I was curious and excited to meet the larger community here in Costa Rica of activated like minded people who are living in a different way for so many valid and good reasons! It has been such a blessing to come down here and see what's going on, but I've been so busy working most years here, that I haven't had a chance to get into the larger community to meet others and explore other projects. I was excited to have this opportunity to connect and get a bigger picture of the who's, what's, how's and why's going on in SW Costa Rica Pura Vidaville!

And being an event organizer also, I was impressed that they were expecting 50 people for the event as I know how hard it can be to get people to show up to even the most amazing of events!

So, my first piece is Gratitude: "Thank you and Great work" I say to the organizers of the Oneness Gathering! The bringing together of brilliant minds, elders and youth, open hearts and a willingness to unify with a strong foundation and clear intention can only hold goodness and unlimited possibilities for more goodness! The last count I did just before sunset had the group at about 45 people, and I think a few more showed up during the drumming and Full Moon Muse I hosted after the presentations were over!

It was inspiring and affirming to see the strength that has gathered and anchored in this area of Costa Rica to work on sustainable living practices, personal growth and living in harmony with a higher calling. Solid, mature, connected hearts and committed minds from all over the world shared their projects in the circle, resourcing and sharing their gifts together in a circle. There were a few Tico's present, and my hope is that there are more coming to share with us their experience and knowledge as I feel strongly that the integration of those who have lived and grown here for centuries with the new comers is a vital piece that absolutely must happen in order for total harmony and sustainability to thrive.

The Full Moon drum celebration was super high energy and really a sweet way to cap of the day of presentations and discussions. The following morning, those who stuck around for the night shared in a beautiful heart opening cacao ceremony together, sharing in the truth of our radiant and tender hearts! The photo here is that group post cacao, and the bliss and love were sent out to the whole world through the jewels of our expanded heart lotus blossoms!

I feel blessed to have been invited to participate and to have been there representing Selva Armonia and I look forward to the next event and the unfolding of the love and magic and sustainable efforts that is definitely in full swing here in SW Costa Rica. Thanks to all who attended and participated and shared! It was such a joy and a blessing to see so much amazing reflection and empowered essence of humanity in one place!


Here is the description the organizers posted on the event:

The circle process will welcome and bless the joined intention of individuals, fincas, communities and groups as we move into “new earth consciousness.” We will share a “seed/seedling exchange,” as a way of introducing ourselves and clarifying our purpose as stewards of our amazing bioregional habitat. As we step together into an ever-accelerating time of transformation, we put our commitment to Oneness ahead of any personal or political differences.

The circle will be facilitated by a leadership team that includes Chema, designer and developer of Casa Tordesillas, Desiree Wells, facilitator of permaculture and earth building at Finca Fruicion, Louis Bourgeois, Founder of the OASIS Center for Conscious Living, and Don McDougal, ambassador for the ManKind Project in Central America.

Practical questions that will be addressed include: who are we? What are we looking to accomplish as communities, fincas, and groups? How can we support each other as spiritual family? (ie seed exchange, tool sharing, etc.) How can we as a bioregion function as a cohesive network? (collaboration vs. competition)

For more info, contact Louis Bourgeouis on Facebook!

Dolphin Love

Had the most amazing opportunity while in Costa Rica, thanks to my good friend, Cameron Powers who made a connection happen, to play drums for dolphins! WOW.. so fun, so sweet and so beautiful to feel their hearts connecting to us. Thanks to Marta & Craig for making it possible for us to experience such joy and bliss on the sweet Pacific seas.

As a young girl growing up in Florida, I have had many dolphin experiences. My dad and I were always in the boat and there were always dolphins close by it seemed, a few times they even came down into the canal in our back yard which was super cool. I have memories of their love filling my heart that go back to those days, and the heart space they inspire has never changed or diminished. Last year I got to see them near Kauai and the Big Island, this year Costa Rica. It's fun to know they love to groove too!

Enjoy the video and pass it on!

Costa Rica Update

Such sweet times here in the warmth of the tropics. It's been an amazing time to dream the dream, live the dream and work with sweat dripping down my body constantly.

Costa Rica feels funny too, like a place that has pants it hasn't really been able to totally squeeze into!

Music is the place my heart always thinks it needs more of, even here with all the amazing sounds of nature and the wild things, my heart is craving the sweet soft places, the lover in the Muse! I've had a few good doses, luckily enough to keep me soft and yummy but always wanting more it seems of those really precious sacred moments in the Muse.

Forest Dance was here, old friends from many years past in the fire tribe community. Twas a treat indeed to hold space and play all night beneath a big phat tropical moon with monkeys howling and funky Whattar players busting early morning grooves by the fire that was a bit too large for the size of the circle! The beautiful Ceiba tree hovering ominously over our heads was a blessing to behold and the biggest relief on the land was the swimming hole just on top of Nauyaca Falls (the picture is Nauyaca).

I've been here, in Costa Rica, Dominical, for 6 weeks working with a very dear friend of mine on creating a Community Retreat project in Uvita, CR just outside Dominical. It's been an amazing time of writing the dream into being and feeling this super surreal knowingness that I am living in the dream I've been carrying for so many years. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to get to collaborate with a friend on something that we both have been dreaming for years! It's tremendously exciting, and I feel like kissing the ground almost every minute... wow..

The synchronicities have been wild and whacky of course too! Lots of re-connecting with old friends from all over my life, Florida, North Carolina, Fire Tribe all over this country and others have been showing up left and right. It seems there is some merging here of all the differeng amazing pieces of my life! That's telling me something, as a big part of my dream/vision has been that all my favorite people from my whole life would come to be together in one magical, natural place like heaven!

The book, "Muse Power: How community Music Heals us from the Symptoms of Modern Culture" is in it's final final stages, no really, I mean it! I'm having Sirian Philips redo the cover and once that's done, it's off to print, so it will be available from my website as well as Amazon.com and other sources before spring I think!

Always good for me to leave the country and reflect on how amazing a place we live in in the US. Even with it's crap and it's problems which are many.. we are so blessed to have the reality we do.. bless the mess and let's dance the dream alive every day!