Harpers Ferry ~ Brooklyn
After a sweet lunch with Helene, my beloved, I got underway at around 1:30pm, and 
what a beautiful day for a drive! The sun was bright, not too hot, what an anomaly for an August day on the East Coast! What a good idea to get underway a day before my first event, allowing for some time to enjoy my dear friends, Neimah & Audrey ~ beautiful people I never get to spend enough time with!
This tour is coming at the end of some much needed time on personal retreat, a time where I practiced silence during the days, fasting from all work and communication until after 7:00 pm. After 11 days in rich silence, personal contemplation, and deep time with Pachamama all around the beautiful area I call home, I feel so blessed to step into the world with the intention of bringing peace, harmony, balance, and beauty to both beloved ones, as well as beloved ones I’m just meeting along the way.
At around the halfway point on my drive, I was listening for the first time to an album by a sister I met back in March in Boulder ~ and just as I was driving across the Delaware River, I was touched by the words of the song I was enjoying, words that were reminding the listener that we all have a choice in how we choose to show up in the world, whether we want to embrace selfish choices and think only of our momentary desires, or whether we want to consider the world we are leaving behind for the grandchildren of our grandchildren. In that moment, clarity came to me about the ultimate purpose of this time on the road, sharing my work with Sound Medicine Journeys! This is to be a time of giving blessings to those I meet, to staying connected in the heart, humble and sincere, and simply praying to leave all those whose paths I cross better than they were a moment before. As I drove across the Delaware, I held up my left hand, sending prayers to the river, to the land, to the sky, and feeling the gift of knowing why I am here in the first place ~ always a good reminder!
After a delicious smoothie made by my beloved brother Neimah (oh the joys of watermelon – see recipe below!), I headed out for a while, waiting for Audrey to join me. We ended up in a delicious little cafe, Meme’s, and had both an awesome, healthy meal and an awesome conversation about the power of healing sound, music, and binaural 
beats with Carlos ~ a bright soul working at the cafe ~ inspiring me as I begin this tour, as it seems that more and more people are longing for this kind of energy, which is a catalyst for silence, inner peace, and self-connection. What a gift it is to know that bingeing on TV, social media, and consumer pleasures is waning in its grip on people’s lives: it is amazing to choose consciously what we consume, considering how it affects us and others, and what we truly want in our lives ~ as we come to know ourselves better and better, the shallow hunger of living fades into the background, allowing space for the true calling of the soul to speak to us.
In the spirit of being a carrier of blessings during this tour, I picked up a new pouch of tobacco, and with the amazing help of Audrey (a sewmaster extraordinaire), I was able 
to put together a collection of prayer ties to carry with me during the tour. Singing prayers into the tobacco, and filling them with my best wishes for every single being in this world, and beyond it. If I can choose this in my life: to walk as a living prayer, as one who carries the deep longing for peace in my heart, and the desire to contribute my life to helping others and being of service using the gifts and abilities I carry, I know that my life will be a part of the healing of this world. In Peru, the practice of Ayni is the law of the land among the traditional people. This is the practice of reciprocity, of giving and receiving in balance. In contemporary culture, there is an increasing movement in the direction of consumption, fickle desires met almost instantly by technology and the generation of material goods. But in the practice of Ayni, the focus shifts: how can I give from myself in order to be a sustainer of life? How can I help? How can I use my mind, my heart, and my hands to bring more love into this world? What a far cry from the usual voice of capitalism: competition, more-faster-better, and demand.
I will never be a biological mother in this life. I will never seriously consider the future of my children, grandchildren, and their grandchildren in a personal way. But I am a mother to those who I love and care for – friends, soul family, plants, animals, ideas, traditions, and lifeways. I am grateful for having a heart to care, and the resilience to see so much suffering and pain and destruction and *still* maintain a deep longing to be a part of the healing of these things. It can be overwhelming to face so much uncertainty and pain, for sure ~ and the world seems to be filled with it more every day, but to continue to open and inquire in what ways we can be a force of love, healing, balance, peace, and compassion… that is the path.
Today as we returned from a delicious lunch (yay, Brooklyn delicious food) at Sun in Bloom, we discovered that there had been a fire just down the street last night, and upon inquiring, we learned that an 81 year old woman had died in the fire. A tragic and scary way to leave this world, for sure, not being able to escape the building. With this, I offer up my prayers to Gertrude as she makes her journey onward ~ grandmother Gertrude, may your transition be blessed, and may you feel the love that you were surrounded with during your long life!
Watermelon Smoothie Recipe:
Watermelon
Fresh Basil Leaves
Ice
Water
Blend and enjoy! Thank you Neimah for your genius!!
