My Solstice & Holiday Fundraiser. Please DONATE any amount to PRASAD and accept the SingPeace! free gift of my song, "You Look Up!"
The PRASAD Project: https://www.prasad.org/
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The PRASAD Project: We help people to achieve lives of self-reliance and dignity by offering programs of health, education and sustainable community development in India, dental care in the United States and eye care in Mexico. The goal of each PRASAD initiative is to help people to help themselves, their community and the environment. Every year, thousands of people benefit directly from PRASAD’s humanitarian work. The result is a unified system of sustainable, community-wide economic, educational, environmental, health and agricultural programs that respond to the needs, conditions, customs, and culture of each community we serve. In this way, we can address a community’s most pressing needs as we help its population to implement long-term solutions to challenges that may have plagued them for generations.
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JoyfuelheARTist becky j suzik
In this episode Becky talks with Pushkara Sally Ashford about music, songwriting, unity and peace, and her journey as a musician and singer who lost her voice and found her soul. Now 80 years old, Pushkara is living a meaningful life filled with beauty, truth and activism that continues to bless her home state of Washington and Whidbey Island where she lives, with music, joy and purpose.
This episode features music and the #YLUChallenge inviting YOU to record your own version of the song, "You Look Up!" We talk about her latest collaboration, SingPeace! song "You Look Up!"
#YLUChallenge #mediaforjoyfuel #joyfuelkindcast
Premiere of "You Look Up!" song and music video. https://youtu.be/eH5FTSoyFRc
- We hope viewers enjoy the SingPeace! cross-border collaboration. Our mother/son, mother daughter, and Mexico familia, working online and on the ground at long distance, in 3 time zones, across language barriers and international borders can have its challenging moments. Pandemics give rise to fun, creative ways of relating!
- SingPeace! invites you to post your video version in your own language and/or cultural style.
- Photography, art work, puppetry, poems, exuberant play - all are welcome!
- Post your version at #YLUchallenge Working online at long distance, in 3 time zones across language barriers and international borders has its challenging moments. Pandemics give rise to fun, creative ways of relating!
A note from Pushkara: Many years ago, I heard a friend tell the story about her grandmother, a child of slaves in the deep South, who used to say, "God knock yo' on yo' back so you look up!" Not that I wanted to write a song about God knocking you on your back, but those words stuck with me. So, at point where it seemed I'd pretty much exhausted all of my options, I wrote this song. Come to find out, the song and new life were waiting to fill that void. In the place of desperation was joy. I was re-creating myself in every moment. My hope in sharing this song, especially, at a time when our lives and our very world are upside down and topsy turvy, that you give this gift to yourself. Connecting the love in your sweet heart with the beauty in nature can soften and ease the rough patches in your life. SingPeace
Singer/songwriters, Sharon Abreu and Mike Hurwicz will be in residence for the BePeace Course Retreat, August 1-4. Register for course: www.regonline.com/wi_bepeace.
Sharon & Mike's website: http://www.irthlingz.org/irthlingz/
Songweavers, Laurence Cole, Aimee Kelley Spencer and Aimee Ringle will join us for singing 'n mingling around the SingPeace! wagon, Wednesday evening, August 3. http://www.laurencecole.com/songweavers.html
She looked around to see where in the world an army didn’t exist.
It was Costa Rica. So that’s where American peacemaker Rita Marie Johnson settled down 15 years ago to begin her quest to change the world.
Johnson is the director of the Rasur Foundation International and the founder of the Academy for Peace for which she developed the “BePeace Foundations Course.” She brings her teachings to Whidbey Island for a retreat at the Whidbey Institute at Chinook from July 31 through Aug. 4.
One of the program hosts, SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony founder and island resident Pushkara Sally Ashford said the program seeks sponsorships in order to send local teachers and community members to the BePeace Foundations Course at the institute’s Clinton campus.
The program has been taught widely in schools in Costa Rica since 2004 and is now moving into the United States. Rasur Foundation International aims to train educators in the BePeace method who, in turn, can train other teachers, students and parents in their local communities. The BePeace Course strives to equip people to use skills to resolve conflicts in a non-violent manner, while also providing life skills for making positive choices in general.
In Costa Rica, Johnson was able to influence lawmakers to establish the Ministry for Justice and Peace.
Also, since returning to the United States in 2009, she has taught at the National Academy for Peace in Shelburne, Vt. and in other locations around the country, including a model school program in Denton, Texas. The course in August will be the first in the Northwest region.
Ashford is excited by the prospect of creating a “BePeace” community on Whidbey Island.
“SingPeace! co-coordinator Julie Vosoba and I took the course with Rita Marie Johnson in Santa Cruz in April,” Ashford said.
The two singers have been spreading the word about the Whidbey Institute course ever since and stressed the celebratory component of SingPeace! that includes their fellow singer-songweavers who will share the experience at the institute. To that end, they have planned a pre-retreat meeting at Unity Church in Langley so folks can acquaint themselves with the practices of the BePeace program.
The meeting is from 7:30 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, June 28 at the church at 5671 Crawford Road. The goal is to eventually hold an ongoing series of classes designed for adults, families and children.
“Long-term, we plan to form a BePeace hub here on Whidbey that will ripple the methods for feeling, speaking, teaching and singing peace out into the community,” Ashford said.
It is not an unlikely vision as Johnson’s methods are meant to resonate with people from all walks of life and all ages.
The practice combines a scientifically proven method for “feeling peace” with a clear path for “speaking peace” that creates a compassionate connection to other people. The idea is a sort of “pay-it-forward” model, creating a continuum of non-violent behavior from one person to the next. Johnson says there are two skills that are essential for achieving a nonviolent way of life. One is an emotional skill, “feeling peace,” defined as the ability to remain peaceful under stress.
The other is a social skill, “speaking peace,” which is the ability to communicate empathically and honestly to others.
“Peace infrastructure is a new concept,” Johnson said.
“We have infrastructure for war — why wouldn’t we have infrastructure for peace? It’s so important to the well-being of our children.”
Her program has been extremely successful in Costa Rica. The Academy of Peace, where the program was first implemented, won the Changemakers Innovation Award: Building a More Ethical Society, and the Costa Rican Ministry of Education decided to implement BePeace in the national school system.
As an international peacemaker, Johnson has presented BePeace workshops in eight states and in Canada, Europe and Central America and at the United Nations University for Peace. In 2006, she completed a speaking tour in Japan on Costa Rica as a model of peace and in 2007, she served on the plenary panel “Women of Power” at the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas. That same year she was the keynote speaker for the World Day of Prayer at Unity Village, Mo.
Johnson was also instrumental in creating the National Peace Academy of the USA at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ashford, who built a SingPeace! caravan in which she lives when traveling to spread her musical message of peace, is excited by the prospect of leading the community on such a journey.
“It’s the nature of pilgrimage that you never know exactly where it will lead,” Ashford said.
“This one is a collaborative effort that has brought many elements; many ‘pieces of the peace’ together. BePeace is the latest addition to the journey and one that presents a clear path and steps toward peace,” she said.
The course is hosted by SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony, the Whidbey Institute and Aldermarsh/Marsh House Retreat Center.
The Whidbey Institute BePeace Foundations Course is from 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 31 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4. An early registration discount of $100 is available before July 1. To register visit www.regonline.com/wi_bepeace or call 341-1884. The Whidbey Institute at Chinook is located at 6449 Old Pietila Road in Clinton.
Gary’s Caravan Dream
Here is your opportunity to participate in Gary Young's dream of a World Peace Caravan.
When I was in Arabia filming four years ago, I had a dream, which was connected to the Arabian research I had been doing that had resulted in my novel, The One Gift.
In this dream I saw the captains of three small caravans merge them into one. That caravan was headed to a city I thought was Bethlehem. When I had this dream, I thought, “Well, my goodness; how fun it would be to create a reenactment of the Three Magi taking gifts to the Christ child for Christmas in 2012.”
I shared my dream with my wife, and she said, “Yeah, Gary, get real; like you’ve got time for that.” So I put it on the back burner and never gave it much thought.
Then when we went back and were filming 3½ years ago, I had the dream again; and the dream took on a little more size, shape, and form. So I shared it with Mary again, and she said, “Oh come on, Gary; when are you going to do that?”
And I said, “Yeah, you’re right, honey.” So I put it on the back burner again.
Last June 1, I had just gotten off the phone talking to my friends Dr. Mahmoud Suhail in Oman and Dr. HK Lin in Oklahoma about our frankincense project and how they were both coming to our convention. I said, “After convention I’ll take you salmon fishing.” They were very excited.
I went to bed and dreamed about salmon fishing, even to the point where I’d hooked this big Chinook in the Salmon River, and it was taking line down the rapids. I was standing in the boat fighting this big salmon. The sun came out from behind a cloud and blinded me, and everything went absolutely white. I put up my hand trying to shade the sun out of my eyes, hang on to this salmon, and fight the line at the same time. All of a sudden the sun went behind a cloud, the light came out of my eyes, and I was able to see again. However, when I looked back to see where my line was, the river was gone, the line was gone, and there was a trail where the line used to be—and coming up the trail was a caravan.
The Caravan Dream Expands
Gary's dream continues and expands. He is now making it a reality. Come join the World Peace Caravan!
Well, that dream lasted for 2½ hours, and it wasn’t about a reenactment of the three magi. I saw six caravans merge, and later through the dream realized they were six of the religions of the world: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Islam. They all merged into one caravan to forge a better future for the world’s children.
As I was watching this, all of a sudden I was on my horse and was leading the caravan. You know how dreams are; they always change. We camped at night, and the children played and ran through the tents and around the fires, yelling and playing and having a grand time. They all spoke the same language of friendship. People from every walk of life were sitting around the fires talking, and we had entertainment and special speakers from different religious groups, sharing, educating, and teaching.
The caravan entered Jerusalem at daylight as the sun was coming up, and the last person in the caravan entered Jerusalem as the sun went down. My dream had somehow switched from coming into Bethlehem to coming into Jerusalem. The caravan was over 5 miles long, with over 5,000 people in it. The next day, there was a three-day peace conference held in Jerusalem at the International Convention Center.
That dream is now going to become a reality; the event is going to take place in April of next year. We have an office, an 800 number, an advisory committee, and a director of the project, Jay Anderton.
I’ll tell you a little bit about how that happened. Before I went to Jerusalem, Mary asked, “What are you going to do in Jerusalem?”
I said, “I’ve got to find somebody to help me with the caravan.”
She then asked, “How are you going to do that?”
I replied, “Well, when I get there, I’ll figure it out.”
Finding Help in Jordan
While driving from Israel into Petra, I was thinking that I had to find somebody to help me in Jordan, so I decided to go to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Having stayed there many times, I know a lot of people and thought maybe they would be able to direct me to someone who could help. However, when I arrived at the Crowne Plaza, it was closed for renovation.
So I drove back downtown. I hadn’t eaten so I pulled into another hotel and thought that it would probably have a restaurant, maybe a buffet, and sure enough there was a buffet. A gentleman greeted me and showed me to a seat. As he handed me the menu, he said, “How may I help you?”
I looked up at him and said, “As a matter of fact, you can help me. I need a man who knows the King of Jordan, a man who knows the Minister of Tourism, a man who speaks English, a man who knows camels, and a man who knows the history of frankincense—and I need a man who can help me with the Jordanian national television station.”
He blinked his eyes and stepped back and said, “Well, could I have a minute to make a couple of phone calls?”
I said, “Sure.”
I filled my plate at the buffet, sat down, and started eating. A man walked up to my table and said, “I understand you want to talk to somebody who knows about camels. I work in the Aqaba office, and my boss’s name is Omar. Omar has been a tour operator for 27 years, he speaks 5 languages, and he was an ambassador to the United States. He’s related to the king, and his sister works for the Jordanian national television station.”
Omar is now on our advisory committee.
Pushkara Sally Ashford, a resident of Whidbey Island in Washington, commissioned this handcrafted gypsy vardo which was built by Steve Habersetzer in collaboration with other artisans. Habersetzer built his first tiny home over 25 years ago and describes them as “a boat that goes down the highway.”
Pushkara designed the house during a workshop at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking called, “How to Build a Gypsy Wagon,” taught by Jim Tolpin and Habersetzer. The home measures 8-feet wide by 14-feet long. It has lots of storage, a comfy bed, a hidden away composting toilet, a basin with on-demand hotwater, a two burner cooktop, photovoltaic electric power and LED lighting, and a French propane stove for heat, an outdoor shower and ice box.
SingPeace! Pilgrimage for Peace and Global Harmony was inaugurated at the Port Townsend Woodworkers' Show in November 2009. Its journey has continued with events on Whidbey Island and around the Puget Sound Region: Rainy Camp in Carnation, a 2-day retreat at Yoga Lodge, Earth Day, and DjangoFestNW in Langley and Whidbey-Camano Land Trust's 4.2 million dollar fundraiser for the purchase of the 664 contiguous acres of undeveloped land, the Trillium Community Woods. SingPeace! was featured at the Northwest Regional Folklife Festival in Seattle, May 2010. Sponsor of Rasur Foundation International's BePeace Foundation Course, SingPeace! hosted international peacemaker, Rita Marie Johnson at Whidbey Institute in 2011. Recently, the troupe made its way to Occupy Seattle where it was joined by members of the Seattle Peace Chorus, Seattle Labor Chorus and the Raging Grannies.
The SingPeace! mission has been to bring people together in community to "craft a culture of peace through music." The gyspy vardo has an added layer of intention to help inspire “people who are looking at smaller footprint options for housing and energy use,” says Ashford.
I want to thank Dan at Mangrove Seed for tipping me off to this story. Thanks again Dan!
Blogs, photos and videos available on the Tiny House Design and SingPeace! websites.
Marah, white lioness, Timbavati, South Africa
ORDER OF THE WHITE LION
The White Lioness, symbol of Sacred Activism, appeared in my meditation, blessing the SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony. On the night of the Lunar Eclipse, I discovered the video conversation between Andrew Harvey & Linda Tucker, shaman and author of "Mystery of the White Lions: Children of the Sun God," learning from them, the role of the White Lion in our collective evolutionary metamorphosis.
The white lion is a rare breed, known in legend to reappear when humanity and Mother Earth are undergoing an "evolutionary metamorphosis." I was completely unaware of these lions, their message and their plight until joining a Stephen Dinan and Barbara Marx Hubbard on my first ever Shift Network call in October 2010. As a prelude to this course, Barbara talked about her book, "Emergence."
Though I'd heard her name as a "futurist" through the years, I wasn't drawn to look into her message. But some kind of activation was taking place within me as I stood, headphones on in my kitchen - it was dinnertime - nodding my head, "Yes. Yes. That's right, yes," I kept saying aloud. And, of course, I signed up for her upcoming course.
That was on a Thursday evening. On Friday, I would attend the Bioneers Conference via satellite. Bioneers' mission is "to inspire a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations." My mission, the gypsy wagon journey of SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony, is an expression of a common desire to support this shift.
I awoke early Friday morning to meditate. Nodding out and in a meditative/dream state, I witnessed the following:
I am walking along a dirt road with a small group of people. One person, a tall man, is walking alongside me, his arm snugly around my shoulders. I don't look up to see who he is; instead, I ask telepathically. He tells me his name, "Larry," someone I know, and who I recognize in that moment as an "evolutionary partner," a suggestion from Barbara on the call.
Up ahead and standing at right angles across the path, is a white lioness, her head and eyes turned in our direction. A few paces in front of me and my friend is a stocky young man with a buzz cut and wearing a t-shirt. His pace has slowed. "He has a luger," my friend says quietly. Everyone takes an audible breath in and stops in their tracks as this young man takes aim at the lioness. Suddenly, I break free of my friend's arm. I can feel the fear for my safety from the crowd as I walk forward to engage the man with the gun in conversation. I have no recollection of our exchange, but it clearly diffuses a very tense situation. The young man is "disarmed," and does not shoot the lioness.
I arrived late to the second day of the Bioneers Conference, in time to hear these words: “The tale of the hunt glorifies the hunter, until the lioness tells her own story." The speaker, Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey, was sharing her experience as an activist for climate refugees. She is an award-winning filmmaker and anthropologist who is also the first Polynesian explorer for National Geographic.
Then, I watched an online talk with Andrew Harvey author of, "Sacred Activism," in which he stated that the white lion is the symbol of "sacred activism." I recognized myself and my life purpose in that phrase, as it more nearly and neatly describes who and what I'm about than any other.
Barbara Marx Hubbard and the white lion, two rare breeds putting in an appearance at the same moment in time, the planets aligning, messengers forthcoming, all conspiring to ring the bell of my "calling"
Friends might laugh, not out of derision, but because they knew it all the time. I come from a long line of "activists," after all. I've been slow, aware of the tricks ego is bound to play and the folly of those who court power positions. Not a pretty sight anywhere in today's world.
While on that call with Barbara, I'd heard, once again, the deepest of all heart-longings: my wish to be "ordained," commissioned by the divine, for whatever I was meant to be and do in the world. I'd embraced the concept and path of "Sacred Activism," but I was not satisfied until I heard the lioness tell her story.
This, as it turns out, is not a metaphor. The white lion found me; and it keeps reappearing. I can't explain how I discovered the online video dialogue between Andrew Harvey, author of "The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism" and Linda Tucker, African Lion Shaman and author of "Mystery of the White Lions: Children of the Sun God." The two are setting up an Institute for Sacred Activism in South Africa.
In this dialogue, Linda Tucker points out that the white lions are here to assist in the evolutionary leap in consciousness. As "children of the Sun God," Kings of the Kings of the Beasts, they can and do ordain all actions which support Mother Earth and humanity's evolution.
What humanity needs now is a-lion-ment. Symbol of "Sacred Activism," the White Lion embodies the qualities of higher consciousness. The Seven Principles are Celebration, Oneness – One Mind, Love, Respect, Freedom, Peace, Courage.
Watch video:
Andrew Harvey : Author Scholar Mystic : Praise
Below is an introduction to a lion-hearted woman. She spoke during the 2010 Bioneer's Conference and helped to confirm my sense of having been "ordained" in my encounter with the White Lion.
Dr. Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey is the first Polynesian Explorer and female Fellow in the history of the National Geographic Society. An anthropologist specializing in ethno-navigation, she is collaborating with Google and other strategic partners on a geospatial Map of the Human Story. Based on the indigenous science of way-finding, the project is being constructed using a variety of methodologies. The map will provide dynamic data of the human condition to help forecast emerging patterns worldwide. Produced in a visually robust and universally accessible way, the map reflects Elizabeth’s commitment to serve all people. Her work serves as the cornerstone of what will become a ‘cultural trust,’ a digital repository for present and future generations.
In 2011, Elizabeth embarked on a 186-day expedition to every continent to explore and document teachings critical to navigating the complexity of our times. Her journey will result in a multi-media platform of digital, television, publishing and live events.
The former Miss Hawai’i also works with United Nations Ambassadors on behalf of environmental refugees who are faced with the punishing realities of the climate crisis. A U.N. study predicts there will be as many as 50 million environmental refugees by 2012. There has been no other time in history where the fabric of the human story has been more vulnerable.
Elizabeth’s keen insight and first-hand accounts from the world’s most fragile regions make her international speaking engagements an inspiring call-to-action. She offers global audiences the rare invitation to experience unsung societies. Her expertise of native science and ancestral wisdom are helping reshape western perspectives.
On Elizabeth’s most recent expedition, she journeyed to Satawal, Micronesia where she recorded the traditions of the palu, Micronesian non-instrument navigators. Lindsey, who was raised by native Hawaiian elders, earned her doctorate in cultural anthropology specializing in ethnonavigation. She spent almost ten years documenting master navigator Pius “Mau” Piailug who is considered the greatest wayfinder in the world. Her documentary film, “Then There Were None”, which chronicles the near extinction of native Hawaiians, is considered a Hawaiian history classic and has received numerous awards including the prestigious CINE Eagle. She has created scholarships for children in India and the Pacific and plans to expand her efforts this year. In 2004 she was named Woman of the Year in Hawai’i.
Elizabeth serves on the international boards of the Tibet Fund, Islands First, Blue Planet Foundation and is an advisor to the National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Initiative and the Paris-based NGO ProNatura.
