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Counting smiles, not miles as the SingPeace! gypsy wagon journey begins

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 30, 2010 at 12:30pm

Namaste, SingPeace! friends,
With the SingPeace! gypsy wagon on the road, we are counting in smiles, not miles. As the journey begins, each of our recent short trips with the wagon has had a celebratory air, full of surprise encounters, challenges and fun.



Steve Habersetzer, the master craftsman who built the wagon, kindly towed the wagon across the water with his '57 Chev pickup. We've posted photos of Steve and Susan Leinbach, the seamstress who stitched the lovely interior furnishings - cushions, pillows, duvet cover, curtains and flouncy valance - for the wagon. We were met at the Port Townsend ferry dock with smiles, curiosity and comments of well-wishers: niece, Gabriella Ashford, and her three children, Ella, Nathaniel and Everest rode their bikes down to see us off. Deborah Shomer, one of our singing angels, was on hand to bless our launch. Richard Rhydes and Richard Epstein, members of the Whidbey Island cheering section for the SingPeace! project since the outset, happened along at just the right moment, on their way to a sushi lunch and a movie at the Rose, a charming Port Townsend theater.

Once on the ferry, Steve went over key points of the wagon's working systems, which I'd piled into a kind of manual. Propane, the tiny hearth and cook stove, water, outdoor shower, composting toilet, hitching mechanism: these were clearly going to take more than a cursory once-over, but there was no time like the present to begin learning what I'd need to know when we're the road.

I was reminded of bringing my first-born home from the hospital. 'My God,' I thought, 'what an awesome responsibility this is. And it's my call!' Birthing the wagon from conception and design, and nurturing every phase of it's construction to get to this point, was nothing compared to actually being charged with its daily feeding and care.

On the Keystone side, I jumped in my car to lead Steve and the wagon to Yoga Lodge. We were slow going on the highway, 40 mph in a 55 mph zone; I pulled to the shoulder a couple of times to let traffic go by. But the red sports car in my rear view mirror didn't pass with the other cars. What was that about? I finally got a view of the "Exuberant Animal" sign posted on the car's passenger door. Mick Dodge, the Barefoot Sensei, was bringing up the rear. He'd come to welcome the wagon home! Our little caravan made its way with ease and grace the short distance to Yoga Lodge, with one hitch: Steve's truck could not haul the wagon up the steep rise in the soft surface of the road. We tried 3 times and spun out 3 times. We all agreed, it would take a 4-wheel drive truck to get up the hill. We had to unhitch in the lot below and leave the wagon for the time being.

That same afternoon, I met with Wendy Dion and her husband, Dan, attending to other matters - namely, connecting up the projector and speakers for the film: "Sound of the Soul," which we planned to show as part of our homecoming program. Technology got the better of us; we would have to to work out the kinks with expertise none of us had. That, too, would have to wait for another day. Wendy agreed to take that bit on.

Fortunately, we had the cushion of another day or so to work out the wrinkles in our plans. Richard Epstein, who is a local contractor, wasn't expecting my SOS call for a tow, but he and Greg, one of his crew members, met me at lunchtime. We (they) managed to hitch the gypsy wagon to Richard's 4-Wheel drive truck. That was all we needed to get my 3500-lb. baby up the hill and in place for the weekend. Richard and Greg had some great practical suggestions to me about hitching and unhitching for the long-term as we get out on the road.

By the next day, Wendy had worked out the film projection dilemma. We'd also found a solution to transportation questions. We'd rent a shuttle to make the 2-mile trip from the Park & Ride to cut down on traffic and parking volume on the private road to the Yoga Lodge. This latter turned out to be a non-problem, but the article, "Giving Peace a Chance," in the newspaper announcing our coming had stirred some alarm among Wendy and Dan's neighbors; we were in "peace-making mode" on all counts.

Our homecoming at Yoga Lodge was to be a two-day encampment, with our out-of-town guest singer-songweavers, Laurence Cole, Rob Tobias and Sara Tone and friends staying overnight at the Lodge. We would be serving a few meals for program contributors on the weekend. Having worked out details of the menu beforehand with Wendy Dion - I would take the dinner meal. Wendy, with her Bed and Breakfast expertise, would handle the morning. What a bargain! Much relieved by the easing of various hitches and glitches, I went home to cook.

My daughter, Wendy Ashford, who has kindly photographed and helped to video the SingPeace! events, came up from Seattle on Friday night. Deborah Shomer arrived to help around noon on Saturday. Laurence Cole and his partner, Deanna Pumplin, already on the island, stopped in to say hello. Dizzied by details, but with the help of a thorough list and two able helpers - Deborah, Wendy - I (we) managed to pack up the car and get on the road in good time.

Next stop, the car rental place where we rented the van that Deborah offered to drive up island. It would serve as shuttle. Deborah and another friend, Lee Compton, agreed to make alternating runs. We had folks on the road, as well, directing drivers away from the private road to the Park and Ride. Making peace is not a pastime; we were quite literally going the extra mile to keep it.

By dinnertime, the cast of thousands was assembled. Wendy Dion had enlisted some competent volunteers to help out in the kitchen, and in other ways. We gathered around the table, about 14 of us, for a welcome and blessing - going around the circle, singing our names and hearing them echoed back several times by a musical, if goofy, choir of voices.

Having ample time to settle in, laugh, sing, to warm to each other, and to share food together are luxuries that I want to nurture as part and parcel of the SingPeace! journey. Nothing hurried; at ease and in harmony, on the ground and in good company wherever we go: these are pieces of the peace inside of the huge commitment and effort that comes with making such a pilgrimage. Not exclusive to those who came together around the table that evening, we seek to embrace in harmony and joy those we meet.

More than that, we have talked long about how folks should be able to take something home with them that they can share with their families and communities. While our "Songs for a Culture of Peace" -- those shared this weekend by Laurence, Rob and Sara -- hint at what it could mean to live in unity with nature - our own and our Earth Mother's, I have to ask: "Why am I not singing my song?" I want to hear everyone's voice; I want to hear everyone's song and story.

The great spur for me in making the SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage is a yearning and call that never went away - to sing out and to tell my story. This blogpost is yet another attempt. Among those who know my story of having searched for my voice for decades, I find more and more are seeking and finding their own voices. "You may not know the impact you're having," one person told me, "but because of what you're doing, I found my voice today."

I'm not interested in spectatorship. We've lived too long listening to other people's songs and forsaken our own. SingPeace! is a collaborative effort to reawaken and rejoice in each other's song.

You can see from the Yoga Lodge photo albums that we hosted a small but enthusiastic crowd both days. I saw sheer delight in their eyes as we sang together on Saturday night. At the end of the evening, we showed clips from the Sacred Music Festival from Fes, Morocco. Sunday got a lazy start, but Mick Dodge enlivened the afternoon miming a computer "powerpoint" presentation. Half of the group stayed inside to sing while the other barefoot bunch followed Mick outside for Earth Gym practices with sticks, stones and tree weaving. I got a chance to do a little of both, hanging upside down from a tree for the first time! Thanks to Marianne Aylmer, who was along to help, I made a safe, if somewhat ungracious, descent. A less happy fate fell to 4-year-old Everest, who in the photo is seen flipping and rubbing his noggin.

I haven't said much about the gypsy wagon. There was a moment on Saturday afternoon, as we were setting up, that I pulled out my guitar and sang a blessing I'd learned in India. Laurence happened along with his drum. A few others were about. I watched Mick do a little celtic whirl as he danced down the path. Over the course of the weekend, the wagon was explored and crawled about by all in attendance, with much appreciation for the craftsmanship, beauty and sheer fun of it.

I haven't yet mentioned Kevin Rio Kipur who offered to haul the wagon with his 4-wheel truck. Rio is the perfect driver, experienced and fun. He throws his arm out the window, his fingers forming the victory sign, shouting, "Peace!" More about Rio in a later post, but you'll see him in the photos with the kids and his dog.

At the end of the second day, it took a while for our band to gather together, but we caravanned in the late afternoon into the center of town in Freeland, sang a few songs, met some old friends, and gave some tours of the gypsy wagon. Then, we drove into Langley, the sweetest little seaport town on Puget Sound. By now, it was getting late and cold. There was no legal way to park, so we pulled up in an intersection. While Rio kept his eyes out for the sheriff (he's been arrested in Langley for skateboarding on the street), the songs of Sara, Rob, Laurence and Deborah attracted a small group of tourists from India who ran over to us and began dancing around the gypsy wagon. They had a quick tour as we shared some memories of Mumbai and the Indian state of Maharashtra. Then, we were off!

The last feat of the evening was Rio's skillful hauling and unhitching of the gypsy wagon - in the dark - at my home. In all of the months of building, I'd never once imagined this moment. I live at the foot of a very steep hill. I had no plans to bring the wagon to my house. I had no plan for it anywhere on Whidbey Island! In my mind's eye, it and I would always be on the road.

Not so fast. The dream is one thing; the physical reality of having this wagon, what to do with it and how to do it is a different matter entirely. Every day reminds me of that. This is another wake up call - one that I hear and am responding to. I'm finding the courage and stamina to take the next step and the next as the vision moves from dream to actuality.

More to come in further posts, but let me not forget to thank you, all of you, who are participating in this SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace and Global Harmony. I am much humbled and very grateful for your presence. The journey is ours; we make it together. Bless you.

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Bag of Tricks

Posted by Frank Forencich on March 26, 2010 at 11:00am
From the forthcoming book, Change Your Body, Change the World" by Frank Forencich


Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees us from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies lest they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth.
Byrd Gibbens


I not only want to describe the imagination figured in the trickster myth, I want to argue a paradox that the myth asserts: that the origins, liveliness, and durability of cultures require that there be space for figures whose function is to uncover and disrupt the very things that cultures are based on.
Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture
Lewis Hyde


Without the laugh, there is no Tao.
Lao-tzu


In 2006, former Vice President Al Gore gave us some compelling language with his landmark presentation, An Inconvenient Truth. As we all know, this was the centerpiece in his campaign to educate citizens about global climate change. The documentary was a critical and box-office success, winning an Academy Award for best documentary feature. It has had a powerful impact all around the world.
The central message in Inconvenient Truth was troubling enough in its own right, but becomes even more so when we realize that climate change is only one planetary-scale inconvenience looming over our heads. The expanded list is both grim and familiar: population growth, habitat destruction, species extinctions, water shortages, topsoil erosion, destruction of fisheries and rainforests, social injustice and expanding militarization. All are threatening and all are growing with each passing day. And so, given the long list of afflictions that we now face, the documentary of our times really needs to be called Inconvenient Truths.

activists and revolutionaries

Gore laid down the challenge, but it is up to us to take it to the next level. His title suggests a strategy and an attitude: in a world of inconvenient truths, what we need more than anything else are inconvenient people. Inconvenient people are those who are willing to step up and challenge the dominant cultural paradigm that supports ill health, environmental destruction and social injustice. Inconvenient people ask hard questions and tell hard truths. Inconvenient people are not content to receive their culture passively and without dissent. Inconvenient people speak, create and act.
There are several varieties of inconvenient people in our midst. The first are known as activists. These people set up non-profits, sign a board of directors, raise money and start a campaign. Much of their work consists of signing up volunteers to do research, lobby and persuade, and to raise more money. Activists may be inconvenient thorns in the side of established powers, but they are generally polite. They work hard, but their progress tends to be incremental. Over time, many activists become “grinders,” working immense number of hours, dedicated to the cause, fighting over detail, policy and procedure. Victories, when they come, are important, but rarely spectacular.
The activist’s work is honorable and must be done, but it’s also a sad fact that the activist’s labor is often ineffective. The power structure is stacked against change and non-profits are in a weak position to make things happen. Unfortunately, “dot org” is often synonymous with “weak, powerless and irrelevant.”
When activists and non-profits run out of steam, some of us become frustrated and call for a more active form of activism. We come to the conclusion that what we really need not activists but revolutionaries.
Revolutionaries are people who are willing to stand directly in the path of social injustice and environmental madness. They take on high levels of personal risk and challenge established hierarchies with direct language and in-your-face action. Revolutionaries are not patient people. In fact, they are extremely inconvenient.
Given the state of our predicament, this form of action is both appropriate and vital. Revolutionaries are essential; their work is often inspiring and meaningful. Nevertheless, there is danger here: by the time passions get to this level, revolutionaries sometimes cross the tipping point into extremist ideology, felony offenses and in a paradoxical turn, ineffectiveness. Being a strident, passionate and in-your-face revolutionary is great–when it works. But entrenched powers police their territories with great vigilance and are well-equipped to stamp out revolutionary ideas and revolutionaries themselves.
Revolution, especially in a paranoid, post-911 world, is an extremely high-risk proposition and the consequences of miscalculation are immense. Revolutionaries run the risk of hard time and in turn, the abrupt termination of their activism. You won’t be much good to anyone if you’re doing 10 to 20 in an orange jump suit. Suddenly, you’re no longer inconvenient; you’re just a statistic.
There is another option here, of course and that’s to make a distinction between overt and covert rebellion. The overt revolutionary challenges power directly: he chains himself to the bulldozer or sets up camp in trees that are slated for logging. He sinks whaling ships and pulls up survey stakes. He talks loudly and carries a big monkeywrench.
The covert rebel meanwhile, turns his efforts inward and makes a personal statement to the world at large. In this style, health itself becomes an act of rebellion. In a culture that drives people relentlessly towards mindless destruction of nearly everything, physical vitality included, personal health stands out as a glaring act of defiance. “I am an animal and I will not submit to a media-driven culture of passive consumerism. I am an animal and I will not waste my health in the service of environmental and social destruction. I am an animal and I will not lie down while we destroy the last living shreds of the biosphere.”
This approach adds an entirely new dimension to our study of healthy living. What is normally cast as a mainstream, harmless and thoroughly bland lifestyle practice now becomes a potently disruptive force. In this light, health has nothing to do with longevity, smooth skin and tight abs. Instead, it’s about living in protest and derailing the pathologies of a earth-hostile culture. In this context, health is no longer neutral or safe. Rather, it is a statement of rebellion.

tricksters

Of course, activists and revolutionaries are not the only players in our game of personal and planetary transformation. There are other ways that we might craft effective, inconvenient and meaningful lives. One of the most promising, I believe, lies in the path of the trickster.
The trickster has played a role in almost every culture; the archetype is almost certainly a human universal. He or she appears in thousands of stories with various roles: he scandalizes, disgusts, amuses, disrupts, chastises, and humiliates yet he is also a creative force transforming the world, sometimes in bizarre and outrageous ways, with his instinctive energies and cunning. In Native American culture, coyote plays the trickster and is known for his inventiveness, mischievousness, and evasiveness. He is a practical joker, always playing with meaning, assumptions, prejudices, roles, hierarchies and power relationships.
In our modern world, many of us would describe the trickster as a “cultural creative.” This is a person who refutes the standard narrative, pounded into our heads by our so-called “educational system,” that culture is a static thing, carved into stone by the ancients. She rejects the assumption that culture is a thing to be received and replicated, but not questioned and certainly not transformed.
Many people are content to simply accept and receive the culture that is handed to them. And so, they spend their lives in dutiful replication of cultural memes, photocopying the rituals of former generations onto their offspring. The trickster on the other hand, sees culture as a canvas, a lump of clay, a process to play with. Think of the raw material! So many memes to work with! Ideas, stories, song, books, movies, theatre, language: all ripe for recombination, revision and regeneration.
Fundamentally, the trickster is a questioner. She questions authority, expertise, power structures, culture and of course, herself. She question categories and assumptions about what is possible. She questions the status quo and business as usual. She won’t sit still when told that something is impossible or that transformation “just isn’t realistic.” Instead, she is always ready with the question “Why?” and “Why not?”
Above all, the trickster is an athletic multi-disciplinarian who refuses to get bogged down into any one camp, box or pigeon hole. Her identity is fluid and her interests dynamic. Never one to get trapped in a single point of view or a single field of inquiry, the trickster always has one foot…somewhere else. Both a bridge-builder and a destroyer of bridges, her philosophy is dynamic and holistic. She pulls us out of our entrenched, boring, specializations and gives us a glimpse of a world of connection and relationship.
Tricksters do their work on several scales, from the audacious to the microscopic. You might see them hanging banners on large buildings or painting a “crack” on the face of the Glen Canyon Dam. You might hear about them dressing up as trees and animals at corporate shareholder meetings. You might read about them bidding up the action at government timber-sale auctions, buying up land to protect it. And you might see their subvertising in print and on billboards: corporate memes visually altered to reveal alternative meanings.
This is all honorable work; it is highly visible trickery in action. But small-scale trickery is vital as well. A good trickster is an opportunist who looks for any chance to transform a dead meme or attitude into something more life-promoting. A conversational trickster can transform a simple phrase and bring new meaning to mundane moments of life; these “tricks” may be invisible to almost everyone, but their power can be immense.
In philosophy and action, the trickster strikes a delicate balance of gravity and levity. She has no illusions about the severity of today’s challenges, but refuses to be crushed under their weight. She is not naïve; she understands the state of the biosphere and the challenge to the future. But she also knows the danger of self-absorption and chronic seriousness. Yes, the situation is dire. Yes, the dangers are immense. And yes, the amount of suffering in this world staggers the imagination.
But none of this stands as reason for abandoning our exuberance or our vitality. On the contrary, it stands as reason for redoubling our enthusiasms, our humor and our levity. Our exuberance is the source of our creativity and in turn, our effectiveness. When faced with immense and compelling challenge, we need more of this joyful living, not less. And so the trickster keeps a balance: the greater the gravity, the more she dances, laughs and plays. The more she feeds her body and spirit with joy, the more she can bring to the predicament at hand.
And so we begin to see the immense and surprising power in trickery. Even if it “fails” in the grand scope of activism and planetary-scale transformation, it still succeeds in giving life to the trickster herself and those around her. Even if completely ineffective on one level, it can still succeed on another. If all trickery does is to maintain the outrageous health and exuberance of the trickster, then that may be enough. And, one never knows how far the ripples of trickery might extend. One good trick tends to inspire more of the same.
look at this!
Ultimately, tricksters are visionaries and senseis. They have journeyed the land of the ordinary and quested to the distant horizon. They have traveled far and thus they see ahead. And because they see ahead, they are in a position to direct and shape our attention. They bear witness to the dangers and challenges of our time. They draw attention away from the familiar, the conventional and the habitual. They show us alternatives. They point to human vitality. They point to the human bond with habitat, the land, the animals and the earth. They point to joy and love.
If you can see the way, become a trickster.
If you can’t, seek out a wise trickster and look where she’s pointing. Follow the trick and you’ll find the path.

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Peace is the Way: Ten Steps to Peace Consciousness--Deepak Chopra

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 26, 2010 at 4:30am
Peace is the Way

Ten Steps to Peace Consciousness
(taken from Peace is the Way, by Deepak Chopra)

1. Change doesn't start on the surface. It's generated from consciousness. This has been true throughout history. If both Buddhism and Christianity could begin with one person, let us not think in terms of numbers and odds. It may sound grandiose to compare ourselves to great spiritual guides, but we act collectively, as an alliance. Our strength comes from critical mass.

2. We aren't here to make the world evolve. We are here to evolve as individuals and then to spread that influence. In the wisdom tradition of Vedanta, the stream of evolution is known in Sanskrit as Dharma, from a root verb that means 'to uphold.' This gives us a clue how to live: the easiest way for us to grow is to align ourselves with Dharma. We don't have to struggle to grow--that would be unproductive, in fact. The Dharma has always favored non-violence. If we can bring ourselves to a
state of non-violence, and connect with others who are doing the same thing, we have done a huge thing to reinforce Dharma.

3. Societies get into the grip of their own self-created story. It's helpful to realize that we can choose not to participate in that story. Realize that national and tribal stories are limited, self-serving, based on the past, reinforced by orthodoxy, and therefore opposed to real change. Stories are incredibly persuasive. Wars are fueled by victimization that runs deep, for example. So let us not try to change anyone's story. Let us only notice and observe ourselves when we buy into it and then let us back away from participating in it.

4. Let us not demand of ourselves that we alone must be the agent of change. In a fire brigade everyone passes along a bucket, but only the last person puts out the fire. None of us know where we stand in line. We may be here simply to pass a bucket; we may be called on to play a major role. In either case, all we can do is think, act, and say. Let us direct our thoughts, words, and actions to peace. That is all we can do. Let the results be what they will be.

5. Let us realize that engagement and detachment aren't opposite—the more engaged we become, the more detached we will have to be. Otherwise, we will lose ourselves in conflict, obsessiveness, anxiety over the future, and feelings of guilt and inadequacy. Keep in mind that we are pioneers into the unknown, and uncertainty is our ally. When our minds want closure, certainty, and finality, let us remind ourselves that these are fictions. Our joyous moments will come from riding the wave, not asking to get off at the next station.

6. Since most misery is born of failed expectations let us learn to minimize expectations so that we will feel far less guilt and disappointment.

7. We aren't here to be good or perfect. We are here as the antennas for signals from the future. We are here to be midwives to something that wants to be born. Good people have preceded us. They solved some problems and created others. As one wise teacher said, "You aren't here to be as good as possible. You are here to be as real as possible."

8. I know this sounds difficult, but let us try to be tolerant of intolerance. This is a hard one at times, but if you try the opposite—showing a hard heart against those with hard hearts of their own—all we've done is expand the problem. It's helpful (but often difficult) to remember that everyone is doing the best they can form their own level of consciousness. Trying to talk a terrorist out of his beliefs is like trying to persuade a lion to be a vegetarian. All we can realistically do is seek openings for higher awareness.

9. Let us resist the lure of dualities. These include us versus them, civilized versus barbarians, good versus evil. The good, civilized people of Europe managed to kill millions of themselves, along with millions of "them." In reality we are all in the same boat of human conflict and confusion. Sometimes it helps to admit that the doctor is not far from being a patient.

10. Let's create an atmosphere of peace around ourselves. Imagine that we are like a mother whose children come home crying about fights at school. Would it be her job to soothe their wounds or to arm them for fighting back tomorrow? Simplistic as it may sound, the male principle of aggression can only be healed by the feminine principle of nurturing and love.


Love,
Deepak
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We're on our way! Momo butoh dances to SingPeace! at the gypsy wagon

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 21, 2010 at 5:30am

3/19/10

Sing Peace!






I believe that each and every one of us has a special calling and a unique role to play in this great emerging world. We will know it by our great desire and joy with embodying it. Some are brave and strong enough to answer this call with great passion and dedication. Dear Pushkara Sally Ashford is one of those people; a singing grandmother who wants nothing more than to make Peace on Earth a reality for her progeny and many generations to come. She is called to spread peace is through a pilgrimage of song, dance, communal gatherings and celebration in and around a beautiful hand made gypsy wagon that she designed to become a center-peace for SingPEACE gatherings and events in the Northwest and beyond.

This afternoon Pushkara; her son Dave visiting from Woodstock, NY; Mick Dodge the Barefoot Sense Say; Charlie the dog and I gathered to make song, dance and film at her new gypsy wagon. It is an exquisite work of art and so inspiring in the late afternoon sunlight at her home overlooking Puget Sound and Mt. Tahoma to the south. The wagon is parked next to a great grandmother Big Leaf Maple with a Buddha face peering out of its side. Below the tree is the grave of Pushkara's beloved dog, Miwa. It is truly a place of peace and
grace that I felt honored to dance upon. We began with the song "I'm On My Way" from the back of the wagon. This seemed so appropriate because
we all are pilgrims on our respective paths moving on our way toward Peace and Global Harmony. When asked what she would like to happen with
this pilgrimage she said she would like to encourage those she meets to find their own sources and stories of peace. Mick had brought out a number of his hand crafted staffs and training items and I danced with them while Pushkara sang, Uncle Dave drummed and Mick filmed and interviewed us. Such a joyous & peaceful way to celebrate this last day of winter together!

I will add another daily dance film we made with the grandmother maple tree to this post soon. For now I just want to get this first one out into the world asap because Pushkara & Co. are heading to a big peace rally in Seattle and an event with Congressman Jim Mcdermott at Town Hall in honor of her mother's lifetime of activism on Sunday 3/21...This is the maiden voyage for the SingPeace wagon to the big city. I wish them all the best and hope I can join them the next time round. For me, Sunday will be an Equinox celebration of pole dancing--to hopefully finish stripping thelast 11 poles for the new tipi.

What is your calling? What are inspiring sources and stories of Peace and Harmony in your life? Are dance, song, craft, beauty, travel and creative collaboration sources for peace in your life?

Thanks for watching. Enjoy!
video


Posted by momo

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Momo Butoh, Maureen Freehill, meets Barefoot Bard, Mick Dodge

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 20, 2010 at 7:46am

3/16/10

Barefoot Barding








Yesterday I wrote about the joy of doing your true calling and what you most love as a profession. The Barefoot Bard, Mick Dodge, graced my yard and home with his presence today and began to share some Earth Gym training tips. He is a truly
inspiring example of someone living his dream and walking his talk. One need only spend a short time with him to feel the practical brilliance he carries and shares so freely. He brought over one of his favorite old growth forest sticks and swinging stones in the elk skin bags and invited me to try dancing with them. It was SUPER FUN and really anamazing full body training in resonance with the land. He also really is inspired by butoh, my daily practice and dance.

We are scheming some very exciting new and great collaborations--so stay tuned for many announcements and new training films soon to come.

He sent me the message below after our session and when I read it I felt it said everything I wanted to share about today's dance and more, so he is the first MomoButoh guest writer/bard to appear in this blog. Hope there will be more great guest contributions like this to come.

Yoish!
Thank you for sharing food and foot. It was a good day and good sharing for me.

I have been on foot for a long time stealing shoes and reminding soles to foot the dance of the land and remember their primal (prime animal) inheritance by stepping out of the "defeeted" stride of domestication and follow their naked soles into wildings of the land.

Engaging a "Animist" like you shifts me into a relaxing form, a rhythm of thanks, shifts me into sitting with the fire and breathe "as" wind. Understand that you inspire the desire to move, your practice and presentation, your present to the land, your
gesturing of the wilding sings the calling of the land and flames the desire to move. I saw the wind rise.

So why sit? Because it is rare and so wonderful to share with the fire what i witnessed.

Dance "with" the fire, until you dance "as" the fire, is a mantra i was taught while in my cave in the Misty Mountains on the Island of River (the olympics).
I had built a fire in my cave and began to train in the movement forms that i had been trained in, fighting. Shadow boxing, throwing punches, kicks, fighting with my shadow on the cave wall. But the fire would distort my moves, weave them into other fluid forms, and so i began to move as those shadows. It was at this time, after years and years of
training as a fighter, and training others that i realized that i
never liked fighting. What i liked, what i was craving, what i desired was the dance. So i expanded my movement, turned into the fire and filled my wind with the words, "Teach Me!. I accepted the fire as my teacher and began to follow my feet in tracking it's source.

I carried this practice out into the gravel bars, would build a circle of stone, and wait for the sun to rise and begin dancing in the circle, moving as a coal, build into a flame, learning to balance my fire, my desire. I would stay in this cirlce of stone as the flame, as the desire, from sunrise to the sun setting beyond the edge of the land. I realized that the solar fire, was released through the wood of a fire, the wood, trees releasing it's flow. The fire and trees taught me how to craft and cultivate my internal desire. How to place a goal on the desire, as i placed coals on the fire, and use my wind to release the wilding.

So i sat last night at the fire, did not dance. I sat and honored and gave thanks for engaging you on this path, reflected upon your path and dance, and gave thanks for your footing of the land.

Dance As Fire,
Run As Wind,
Embrance the Stone,
Flow as the Water within,
Train in these four ways while in your naked feet,
And with your Touch wide open,
With your heart wide open,
With your soul wide open,
the earth will teach!

Barefoot Bard's Earth Gym Poem spoken with Mick Dodge, danced by Momo to music by Muzikas.
See video: http://maureenfreehill.blogspot.com/
"Stick and Stones" Duet with Mick Dodge & Momo to music by Calexico
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Earth Dance: Maureen Freehill with Fuji Stick & Stones

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 20, 2010 at 7:28am

3/18/10

Fuji Stick & Stones











Yesterday I received a transmission from Mick Dodge the "Barefoot Sense Say" about training and connecting with sticks and stones. He then graciously gave me an object that brought tears of gratitude and joy to my eyes as he encouraged me to begin to practice with it. The object is a walking stick that was carried by foot up Mount
Fuji. It was branded at each station on the way up to remember the journey (see video of entire stick below). Today's daily dance lasted at least 20
minutes, so this 5 min edited version is longer than the usual film but I wanted to give a sense of the energy that builds through this kind of
training. It feels so inspiring and effortless to keep lifting, moving and building strength. Because I am working outdoors with natural
materials I also gather energetic support of surrounding elements and living things as well as the Earth itself; especially when I am barefooted. I am really so excited to be moving toward a new and unexpected level of strength, flexibility and balance by including these new practices in my daily butoh training. Thanks again Mick!

Recently I heard of research stating that being barefoot and "earthing," in footwear that is not rubberized like skin moccasins or felt bottomed shoes, tends to neutralize the harmful effects of all the EMFs from electronic equipment we are
inundated with these days (cell phones, computers, electric appliances, etc.). This, added to the building craze (even in Harvard research now) that recognizes the benefits of barefoot running and exercise for the body, are making being barefoot (or in footwear that is nearly bare) more and more appealing. Since I lived many years in Japan and Hawaii, I already take my shoes offindoors. Now, being around Mick and the springtime is reminding me of this regularly, so I am being shoe free outdoors more and more often these days....Hooray!

As you probably know if you follow the blog, I tend to be a very free form mover and definitely believe in letting the soul move first and the body follow. Actually, this is some of the most soulful and freeing body strength training I have
experienced; even considering the very rigorous body training I have done with Jingju Bejing Opera, Body Weather and other butoh teachers.
Mick's transmission with metal, stone and wood objects was to create a pattern and repeat it then release it--literally let the object fly out
of your control. That is powerful really, the body knows and grows from this type of patterned movement repetition as we well know because we
learn to crawl, walk, run, etc. Of course this is also old news to the folks who lift weights in gymnasiums but it is totally different practicing reps with Mick. He invites you to freely choose the movement pattern then repeat it a few times till it is well established in your body and finally release the object (rock, stone, stick, etc.) you are moving with and open to even more freedom than before. Suddenly because of the contrast, you feel lighter and freer than before you did the lifting. If you love something set it free! He calls the training items "mass" rather than "weights" because he feels each different material has a totally different lesson to teach and way of moving. I totally
agreed and felt huge difference immediately with how I was moved by metal balls, the carved stones, the wooden sticks and the stones that
were not carved. Many people who train with weight believe; the higher number of pounds that you can lift up means the stronger you are. I now
experience and agree that the measurable weight alone can not determine how strong you will get. The various materials, how close or far and
with what (hands, feet, mouth, etc) you hold them in relation to your body; the directions you move; and so much more each contribute to overall fitness.

And as for that stick gifted from Mick and Fuji San...WoW. I am very humbled, grateful and inspired by it. I read this article and saw these pics from a climb by blogger Andy Gray
and it has me even more grateful. I hope my practice with this stick can
do the gift justice. Thank you all.

Thanks for watching. Enjoy!
videomusic: Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
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Old Woman's Reply

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 19, 2010 at 4:44am
Old Woman's Reply

"Back to the shoe?" You'll never catch me,
Domination? Dominion? That's his-story.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" i grimace. Your shoes squeeze and sting!
Life doesn't make sense, if i cannot sing!

Trying to fit in, something always felt wrong,
In the molds others made, i would never belong.

Mom always said: "If the shoe fits, wear it."
But what of the wild foot? Why not grin and "bare" it?

For naked they come and naked they go,
Stepping first with front paw, and littlest toe.

Touching down onto earth, my feet spring and prance,
Awakened, once more, in exuberant dance.

Now, with stick and with stone, and tree-weaving ropes,
i yield to the land, amid rising hopes.

Together, in harmony, we'll sing in the land,
For a culture of peace, please give me your hand...

And your hand, and your hand, please hear the call,
Each piece of the peace, we are gathering all,

To tell the new story, to sing the new song,
Our voices as ONE, now, we foot our way hOMe.

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From Mick Dodge: "OLD WOMAN GO BACK TO THE SHOE"

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 19, 2010 at 4:30am
I went on a good footing this morning training in the cedar trees, and thinking about press release things and the pilgrimage, and this was mused out, so i send it on.

"OLD WOMAN GO BACK TO THE SHOE"

Off the Grid and On The Ground,
Grinnin in the Soul Of Sound.

That is what i must do!
Or i will forget how to MOVE!

But How? How? do i Motivate?
It feels so much easier to Procrastinate.

I like sitting here in my chair.
Learning to ignore that i really care!

So, Why? Why? should i read your news.
And even more take off my shoes!

To Walk the Peace and have no War!
I would rather stay behind my locked door.

Who cares about an Old Woman out of a Shoe!
Greed flows easy when you don't know what to do.

So just feed me some broth and withold the bread,
Whip me soundly, i would rather sit dead!

I like staying here in my comfort zone.
It might not be healthy but it is my home.

For all the world is brought to here.
And you want me to step out and face my fear!

Listen Old Woman that is spreading the news!
I have worked hard to stay in my shoes.

I know how to denie your talk.
To be moved by machines and never walk.

And live in the consumers life of ease.
Why should i care if others appease!

Let others go and kill for greed.
Why should it matter i have my needs!

But i admit there might be some thing to lose.
If i do not get up and begin to move.

What? What? could that be?
Are you trying to say that i am not Free!

That all i have to do is sing a song.
And this will lead me to face the wrong.

Is this the first step that you are trying to bring.
To step into the ground and begin to sing!

To step outside and be part of the land!
To join with others in peace we stand!

YES, YES i understand now!
I will give up this life as a cow.

I will make the "EFFORT" on this day!
I will step out the door and try your way!

I am not sure or do i know why.
But i am sick and tired of living this lie.
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Peace Planet Project Proclamation

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 16, 2010 at 7:00am
http://peaceplanetproject.com/blog/
The purpose of Peace Planet Project is to make a conscious shift in our direction as a planet toward PEACE NOW. Join the countless number of Earth's people who know that peace is not only possible, it is happening.



Today, more individuals and organizations than ever before are committed to the practice of peace and the healing of our planet. The need to be consciously united in our purpose is profound and urgent.

Peace Planet Project is a nonprofit organization through the Charitable Partnership Fund. We are committed to supporting those who work toward a new era of peace and the wellbeing of our planet.

~ Excerpt from the Peace Planet Proclamation ~
© 2006 Laura Merrell

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Peace in the 'Hood'

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 9, 2010 at 8:46am
Not surprising to me that neighborly (and family) relations come up early on when we step forward for Peace and Global Harmony. As soon as I signed on to this pilgrimage, a "war" broke out in my neighborhood. Guess what? It was over the use and maintenance of a road that we all share in common. I took it as a test of my commitment to cleanse and free myself of habits that would inhibit or block the peace that is who I am and what I feel I am about in this life. It was an opportunity to stand more firmly in my own Truth.

Some folks get very nervous at the mere thought of "peace ON earth," the very soil between their toes. It's the "ownership" thing: mine as opposed to yours - roads, nations, religions, racial/cultural traditions. Removing the artificial boundaries, that is, baring our soles and our souls, we soon realize that we own nothing. We're the visitors, here; it's both humbling and rewarding to take our place in the natural order of things, joyfully acknowledging and welcoming the diversity that is LIFE. Lightening up, the downturn of the grimace becomes an upturning grin, disarmingly irresistible and engaging.

Hey, try it in the mirror! Now, bring it into the land and the 'hood.'
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A "Thank You" note from Wendy Dion, Yoga Lodge

Posted by Pushkara Sally Ashford on March 8, 2010 at 6:30pm

Dear Friends,

Namaste. Thank you so much for taking time during your busy weekend to support The Yoga Lodge through your actual or energetic presence. Hosting Pushkara’s home-coming, having her exquisite gypsy wagon and talented singers from SingPeace! on site was a true privilege. The songs for peace and global harmony, as well as the activities with the barefoot sensei not only inspired joy, and respect but strengthened our connection to the earth and to community. Most importantly we were able to follow through on promises made to our neighbors and invite them to participate in a more peaceful dialogue. I hope this is the beginning of a shift in our neighborhood toward greater harmony which reverberates well beyond the ‘middle island’ of Whidbey. Ten thousand thank yous to each of you………………….


With Love,

Wendy

Wendy Dion

The Yoga Lodge on Whidbey Island

360-678-2120

info@yogalodge.com

www.yogalodge.com

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Stepping out of the box

Posted by Marianne Aylmer on March 1, 2010 at 5:45pm
Hello Pushkara and all ! !"Blessed are those who translate every good thing they know into action- even higher truths will be revealed to them"- Peace Pilgrim . I love the article and radiant picture of you. I love this movement of focusing on the resonances of harmony and helping people feel their inner harmony. I honor the people who can genuinely model the truth and ideals we all strive for. thank-you for your wisdom and grace and everyone involved with this pilgrimage.I would love to help on the eastern side of the cascades, getting energy hooked up for the "singing villages" between Leavenworth and the Okanogan.The 10th annual Fairy and Human Relations Congress is happening June 25th-27th ,.www.fairycongress.com, ; I see Lawrence is on the schedule, and would love to see you there too! I think the timing would be synchronistic either before or after this event. I know you will have a heartfelt, joyous, event at the yoga lodge . It is outstanding that Mick /EARTH GYM movement practice is aligned with this Global Harmony message. so folks can sing , dance and FEEL the vibration of peace and our earth mother..I hope l to see you before eathday. Is there a mailing address you can post for donations, for fuel and food? love marianne in Chelan
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