Inspired to Leap

hello everyone!

this is my first time blogging!  VERY exciting!!  my team has been VERY patient with me encouraging gently to extend my energy into the social matrix of the new paradigm.  as an Aquarian, you would have thought that I would have leaped into cyberspace long ago, however I had resistance to it pondering how I would be able to maintain a balance of sacredness.

when I would inquire, "what would I blog about?" my team would respond, "whatever you are up to!  people want to hear about your life!"  REALLY?  I would then smile and say, "I trust a divine moment will appear, and I will then be inspired to blog!"  they would all roll their eyes and give me THAT grin of...YEP!

WELL... THAT divine moment appeared, inspired by... a GRASSHOPPER!

this morning I was dressing... and found myself gravitating to a new combination that I have not worn before. I went to see how it looked in the mirror, and SPOTTED a beautiful grasshopper looking up at me from my belt buckle!!!

"WELL, HELLO grasshopper, where did you come from?" I said as I reached for my iPHONE to document this EXTRA-ordinary moment.

"the garden"  it answered.




I walked outside and as I placed my hand next to it, it immediately hopped into my palm.  "HERE, you can hang with GANESHA" and I moved my hand towards the statue...

instead of taking my lead, it started walking up my arm.  "IS there something you want to tell me grasshopper?" 
it then HOPPED onto my shoulder, and onto my head next to my ear!
"WOW"... I thought.


"WELL, I'm going to go meditate now, do you care to join me?" I offered. 
"yes, please!"

as I made my way into the room, and got comfy on my mSEAT, I reached for the book that I currently have sitting on the alter... SPIRITUAL WARRIOR: The Art of Spiritual Living by John Roger.

 I asked the book" WHAT would grasshopper like to tell me?" and I opened to the first page of chapter 10...

OBSERVING LIFE ON EARTH
Tips For Travelers

The only thing you can do to the planet is the best you can.
The people on the earth do it the best they can, and then they say it wasn't the best they could.
And then they worry about that.
Because they could have done better.
And if they are given another chance they will do it the same way the second time too. 
And a third, and a forth, and a fifth, and sixth.
What you might say to them is, "if you could have done better, you would have done better and you did the best you could."

I said, "AW grasshopper - very wise."  at that moment I was transported back in time when I lived in a convent in my early twenties (my aunt is a nun).  She would always say that same mantra to me.  A wise compassionate woman she is.

after meditation, I had this incredible sense of peace and infiniteness... a beautiful exchange of energy with the grasshopper.

in that openness I had my divine moment and said "GRASSHOPPER thank you for showing up - you have inspired me to blog about our time together!" 

SO I got my laptop and made a cup of green tea ... and off to the garden I went with the grasshopper STILL on my head!

I was thinking about the symbolisms and what the grasshopper totem meant aside from the 'Disney version'... so I Googled it:

The grasshopper chooses those of us who are innovators, forward-thinkers, and those who progress in life by unorthodox methods. This is because grasshopper symbolism recognizes tremendous leaps of faith, impressive jumps in progress and consistent forward momentum. Those with this totem are likely to aim high, and achieve amazing feats – they take great leaps where others fear to tread (or jump, in this case).

I acknowledged the grasshopper saying "thank you, you have helped me take a leap of faith adventuring into my first blog!"

I put my hand out and the grasshopper leaped into my hand and then onto a nearby fern. 

HAPPY LEAPING everyone!

Blogged by yogitoes founder Susan Nichols

Shot Out Of The Bottle - Full Speed Into Summer!

I am just back from Lightning In A Bottle, at it’s new home in Oak Canyon Ranch, CA... and feel like I have been shot out of a cannon (or should I say bottle) into summer! 

What a weekend put on by The Do Lab - a radical art collective that has made a name for themselves over the past few years at events like Burning Man, Coachella and their collaboration with The Lucent Dossier Experience.  This was the ninth and biggest year of this festival that brings together artists, musicians, yogis and conscious-minded individuals in celebration of creativity and consciousness.

Sensory impact was at a high as we enjoyed the sights and sounds... my favs had to be... dancing under the sun to an awesome house music set while the crowd was happily sprayed with water by a seven year old boy, watching the aerial silks duet at The Lucent Dossier Experience, and meeting my number one favorite person Grandma Bluefeather - an eighty-something year-old woman wearing red stockings over her Victoria Secrets and sporting a new tatoo on her right shoulder... her vitality and free spirit was incredibly inspiring!

What was also exciting is that Lightning In a Bottle is inspiring and bringing consciousness-in-action to the masses, in the form of incorporating sustainable resources, implementing sorted recycling and composting, donating proceeds of festival initiatives to charities and non-profit organizations, and leaving a positive impact on and even improving the land used and it's surrounding community.  This was even a vegetarian event with top of the line food vendors (that didn't take advantage of their captive customers by overpricing their food).

Other festival highlights included… on the conscious-tip; speaker Rev. Michael Beckwith of the Agape International Spiritual Center, author Daniel Pinchbeck and yoginis Shiva Rea and Ashley Turner… and on the FUN side; The Lucent Dossier Experience, Beats Antique, March Fourth Marching Band, Booka Shade and so much more!