The Flow of Love

2014 welcomed me with the gift of love.

It was a wild ride from Mt. Shasta down to Sedona. Epic adventures and a few bumps in the road as we traveled with a copper pyramid burning cow dung, ghee and chanting mantra through the United States. My journey with brother Michael provided me with a beautiful mirror into my soul. I learned to see the light and the shadow of my soul and embrace him with open arms. Only when we embrace the darkness, can the light truly shine. The vortex of the void is illumined with only one small spark of Love.

Landing in Mexico was an eye opener and shocked me into reality. It did not take me long to recognize that I was no longer in an English speaking country and I needed to be on my toes. The next few days took my on a wild ride to Teotihuacan – where I skipped up the pyramids of the sun, moon, and feathered serpent & was massaged with hot obsidian stones harvested from the lands of the pyramids. I journeyed to the basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe for Christmas, enjoying the celebration with families, travelers, and homeless folks. Beautiful grandmothers lined the streets selling sweet breads and grinning wildly at me. I embraced the love I was feeling in Mexico.

Arriving in Tepoztlan with the Spirit Voyage crew was a blessing. I was able to root into the vibration of the cobblestone village as we set up for the New Year yoga/music festival. Many ideas bounced from person to person, all sorts of delicious quesadillas enjoyed (favorites: mushrooms, flowers, crickets!), sacred alters built, colorful decorations hung, and a celebration of what was beginning to take shape.

The festival greeted me with an arrival of family and friends. Many great teachers whom I looked forward to taking class from, “Loveland” family from California dropped down for yoga and ukulele jams, talented musicians to chant with, wonderful staff to create with, and an epic retreat center (Jardin de la Abundancia) to celebrate at – Wahe Guru!

Like all Sat Nam Festivals, we danced, sang, played, ate, meditated, and enjoyed existence. Mexico for the New Year is amazing. Warm, delicious and welcoming. On the Eve of the New Year, we sang sweet mantra, built a fire to send our prayers off in, lit floating candles in a lotus flower filled pool, and lit sparklers as the children from the orphanage up the street set off candle-lit lanterns. DJ Krishan spun amazing music for everyone to get their shake on. I was overwhelmed with energy coming from every angle. I was feeling focused on traveling to Taiwan and staying true to my path of studying martial arts. I did not want to be distracted with all the beautiful, spinning women on the dance floor. As with anything, the moment I let the idea of a partner go, I was hit full force.

I rose before the sun the next morning to join the morning sadhana of yoga and mantra. Usually I am ravenous after morning yoga and beeline it for the food. On this New Year morning, I decided to read Jaap Sahib (my favorite prayer written by Guru Gobind Singh) by the alter. Although I was part of the creation of this alter, this was the first time I sat at it. From the deepest part of my being, I read this prayer to all the beings on the earth.

As I finished praying, I noticed everyone from sadhana had gone to breakfast. I was about to leap up and go when a radiant Goddess caught my eye. She was sitting peacefully under the corner of the bamboo-covered pagoda sipping tea and waiting for the sun to rise over the mountains. I had never seen this woman in the week that I had been setting up and enjoying this festival. Hunger could wait. I felt that I would be satisfied with tea and a beautiful sunrise as well.

I filled my chai and grabbed a plate full of berries and tropical fruits, and made my way back to the shelter. I asked the mysterious woman if I could join her, and received a calm response. I kneeled down and offered her a raspberry. Our eyes met, and she, “Raspberries are my favorite! Do you think anyone will mind if I blow my conch shell?” With a massive smile on my face, I enthusiastically encouraged her to greet the day with this sound. She ran to her bag, picked up the conch, and right as the first rays of the New Year graced us, she sounded her horn.

We stood next to each other in a sea of hummingbirds, butterflies, morning glories, and swirling clouds. “These are the moments that are worth living.” From the instant the sun greeted us on the morning of 2014, music and magic has swirled around Anais and me.

Anais grew up in Tepoztlan and made it to the festival only on coincidence. She spent New Year’s eve with her family, and then went to the children’s orphanage to help with the creation of the night lanterns. After her friends fell asleep, she made her way down to the Jardin to join in the “mantra” festival she had heard of. Not having slept, but full of matte and life force, she was excited to see the sunrise. Blessed am I to have met this wonderful, angelic being at such a spectacular, energetically charged moment in my life.

Roberto, the owner of the Jardin de la Abundancia, is an absolute Gem. One day, he rescued a scorpion from someone’s room and fearlessly let it crawl from hand to hand and up and down his arm. He explained to me that all God’s creations are our friends. “They feel you vibrations,” he told me. He took a plate full of honey and hundreds of bees and insisted that I put my face in the bees. He seemed like a magician, so I trusted him. With my face in a plate full of bees, I felt a new sense of freedom and peace with these wonderful creations that I had never felt before. They covered parts of my body, wiggled their little thoraxes, and danced with delight. Roberto invited me to stay at the Jardin, and I graciously accepted.

I spent the next month with my base set up at the Jardin. Every morning I would wake before the sun rose above the sacred Quetzelcoatl mountains, and look forward to the adventures of the day. Most days I would run down to the market, enjoy delicious fruits, buy/pick flowers, and wait for sweet Anais to take me to her favorite places Tepoztlan. The sacred scents of Copal, White Sage, and Palo Santo came with us wherever we went. Usually under Amate trees, singing mantra, enjoying spaces of silence. The music we create together fills my soul with extreme ecstasy. Deep feelings of remembrance and friendship fill my being when I am with Anais.

The amount of synchronicities we experienced together and the portals we opened truly trip me out. Together we found a beautiful flow and fell into. It is like a candle, burning steadily and filling space with light and warmth. My plans changed, flight changed, and I stayed in Mexico as long as I could before my obligations to Taiwan came.

This is a love story that will continue when we meet in Europe come summer time…