IT WAS one of those rainy afternoons, sitting by the window waiting for my muse.
It wasn’t a writer’s block. There was really nothing worthwhile to write about, so much so that you’d rather have a chilled glass of Chablis and listen to Michelle Phillip’s album “Victim of Romance and Rarities”.
And then as if on cue something came up on my laptop’s notification which was quite interesting. It brought back some memories and got me humming:
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
and the mind’s true liberation…
It brought back pleasant memories of the “Summer of Love”. For us ageing hippies it was the era of “flower power” and “make love not war” and to think in a couple of weeks it will be the 51st anniversary of Woodstock Music and Arts Festival – three days of music and love that defined a generation, my generation.
What’s a hippie, you may ask. A hippie is a member of the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world.
They championed sexual liberation, were often vegetarian and eco-friendly, promoted the use of psychedelic drugs which they believed expanded one’s consciousness, and created intentional communities or communes. They used alternative arts, street theatre, folk music, and psychedelic rock as a part of their lifestyle and as a way of expressing their feelings, their protests and their vision of the world and life. Hippies opposed political and social orthodoxy, choosing a gentle and non doctrinaire ideology that favoured peace, love and personal freedom.
So what brought this reminiscence of youth and the counterculture? As I said something came up on my timeline on Facebook; it was an invitation from an artist friend Madhu Liebscher:
For all beach bums,
I’ve come up with a beach therapy session for people who needs to stretch their legs and minds and see life with a newfound eyes.
Bring your yoga mat, wear beach clothing, bring your own comfort food, and come as you are with an open mind and heart.
I will guide you to simple yogic breathing exercises that will strengthen your lung and heart muscles, its detoxifying and will give you vitality all throughout the day and a good sleep at night.
A silent grounding walk at the beach will balance your body’s electromagnetic energy and that simple beach bum walk will take away the anxiety and fear of this “uncertain” (as they say) time.
Take time to be with nature and listen to what the waves will tell you… and get back to where you’re supposed to be.
And that is: “The waves of the sea help me get back to me” a day and overnight grounding sessions that includes water meditations and pranayama happening in Igcondao a marine sanctuary and private beach resort in San Joaquin from Aug. 8, 9, and 10, 2020.
For the uninitiated, it’s three days of yoga, meditations and music of course vegan food while you commune with nature to find yourself.
Definitely there will be no junk food and trashy pop music instead there will be soulful music over bonfire with Momo Dalisay, an environmentalist artist, musician and spiritual practitioner, and Djotay Soluta, an acoustic ecologist, psycho acoustic, soundscape artist and a performance musician.
And then there’s Madhu Liebscher, the creative spirit, driving force and compelling reason why we’re all going to Igcondao one weekend this August.
There walks a lady we all know
who shines white light and wants to show
how everything still turns to gold
and if you listen very hard
the tune will come to you at last
when all are one and one is all …
She is an Ilongga by birth who wanted to be an architect. At an early age she came upon a book, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, and started her search for the path of spirituality followed the Ananda Marga Yoga practices and by 2006 was certified to teach Rajadhiraja Yoga. Her quest of finding herself brought her to the mountains of Sagada where she lived and worked for almost two decades as a Meditative Fabric Artist. Her art brought her to Europe doing solo shows and attending yoga conventions.
Now she’s back in her birthplace in these uncertain times with her art and yoga practices which shielded her from fear and anxiety.
She wants to share it to people who are interested to learn and make it their way of life./PN
