Some afternoon around every full moon, you will find me singing down at the Yakima River. I go - often with other travellers - to renew my connection and commitment to this planet I share with all my brothers and sisters.
We begin with simple song, a reminder to set aside the details of everyday life and move into communion with all around us. Without fail comes a moment when I can hear and feel everything around me listening. I listen back. As listening to each other deepens, everything slows to a quiet symphony of breath, buzzing, and breezes. Within this sweet moment of shared connection, vitality surges and flows along each strand of the web of which we are all a part.
Within this experience of deep connection, an awareness of each part heightens; individual trees, grasses, flowers, bees, limbs, cells, droplets of water - all chorus their presence and acceptance of their part.
We take several moments within this symphony and then move our awareness to one drop of water. We welcome our drop of water, back from its journey. Perhaps since it was last here at this river, it travelled to Siberia or South Africa or Turkey. Maybe it was once part of my body or my neighbor's or someone across the globe's. Maybe Charlie Chaplin, Constantine, Marie Curie or Cleopatra drank it. Did it come from Chernobal, the Serengeti, Tazmania, Harlem, Easter Island? Did it fall on my tongue 45 years ago in Ohio on a hot summer day as I danced and sang in the falling rain? Will it become the juice of a cherry to be eaten by a mouse, who becomes a hawk's dinner or perhaps a part of a peach that becomes a jar of baby food eaten by my granddaughter?
The possibilities are endless and I know that at some point, I or some other of my Relations will meet this particular drop again - just as many did before me. It links us across time and space. This sacred drop of water brings and sustains life.
We sit with it in love, respect and gratitude. Then expand our awareness again to the many other drops that create this river that flows into the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean and to the world. I acknowledge that I am made up of mostly water. The river that flows within me is a reflection of and is reflected by the river flowing in front of me. We are one.
What I do to myself, I do to the waters of Earth. What I do to the waters of Earth, I do to myself. I offer blessings and commit myself to continued healing for myself, my community and Earth, Mother Gaia. I am Gilgaia - servant of the earth and served by Earth.
We sing again. We listen to the song of the river and sing it back. This is RiverSong or Singing the River. It calls the river to its most authentic and whole self. It heals and strengthens. We become stronger and healthier - and the ripples continue.
I go to Sing the Rivers often as part of my work. During a meditation while I was on sabbatical in Ohio, the Maumee River taught me this and asked me to sing the rivers to heal them. Having studied Dr. Emoto's work, I understood this intellectually as well as intuitively.
I invite you to Sing the Rivers in your own way. Love, respect and gratitude are powerful. Send it out and open to receiving it back.
We begin with simple song, a reminder to set aside the details of everyday life and move into communion with all around us. Without fail comes a moment when I can hear and feel everything around me listening. I listen back. As listening to each other deepens, everything slows to a quiet symphony of breath, buzzing, and breezes. Within this sweet moment of shared connection, vitality surges and flows along each strand of the web of which we are all a part.
Within this experience of deep connection, an awareness of each part heightens; individual trees, grasses, flowers, bees, limbs, cells, droplets of water - all chorus their presence and acceptance of their part.
We take several moments within this symphony and then move our awareness to one drop of water. We welcome our drop of water, back from its journey. Perhaps since it was last here at this river, it travelled to Siberia or South Africa or Turkey. Maybe it was once part of my body or my neighbor's or someone across the globe's. Maybe Charlie Chaplin, Constantine, Marie Curie or Cleopatra drank it. Did it come from Chernobal, the Serengeti, Tazmania, Harlem, Easter Island? Did it fall on my tongue 45 years ago in Ohio on a hot summer day as I danced and sang in the falling rain? Will it become the juice of a cherry to be eaten by a mouse, who becomes a hawk's dinner or perhaps a part of a peach that becomes a jar of baby food eaten by my granddaughter?
The possibilities are endless and I know that at some point, I or some other of my Relations will meet this particular drop again - just as many did before me. It links us across time and space. This sacred drop of water brings and sustains life.
We sit with it in love, respect and gratitude. Then expand our awareness again to the many other drops that create this river that flows into the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean and to the world. I acknowledge that I am made up of mostly water. The river that flows within me is a reflection of and is reflected by the river flowing in front of me. We are one.
What I do to myself, I do to the waters of Earth. What I do to the waters of Earth, I do to myself. I offer blessings and commit myself to continued healing for myself, my community and Earth, Mother Gaia. I am Gilgaia - servant of the earth and served by Earth.
We sing again. We listen to the song of the river and sing it back. This is RiverSong or Singing the River. It calls the river to its most authentic and whole self. It heals and strengthens. We become stronger and healthier - and the ripples continue.
I go to Sing the Rivers often as part of my work. During a meditation while I was on sabbatical in Ohio, the Maumee River taught me this and asked me to sing the rivers to heal them. Having studied Dr. Emoto's work, I understood this intellectually as well as intuitively.
I invite you to Sing the Rivers in your own way. Love, respect and gratitude are powerful. Send it out and open to receiving it back.
