Settled in Ashland

We found our home in Ashland, Oregon. It didn’t take long since we moved here 10/19 to settle in to the great vibe here – one of creativity, manifesting, inspiration, and oneness.

I have a home with the Goddess Temple of Ashland. In the last two weeks of their season I led a sound healing circle and co-led a Day of the Little Angels ceremony, during Day of the Dead ceremonies, to honor all children who have died. Last week for 11-11-11 I started the Priestess Training with Graell at the Goddess Festival in beautiful Mendocino, CA. I’ve bonded with my sisters, found a spiritual mother in Grandmother White Deer, and joined a sacred music band with the harp goddess Indeara. It’s been truly magical. The Goddess brought me here, and is giving me many gifts.

Grandmother White Deer adopted me at the start of the Goddess festival, before she led the opening ceremony, focused on all of us being of One Tribe. We immediately resonated and discovered her connection with Jason is also very strong. She lives on Medicine Creek in Laytonville, CA, and we will be visiting each other. She loved the viola and asked me to play during the Water Blessings ceremony at the closing of the festival. It was long and very special, and I was honored to serve. My viola is happy to be playing again, making others happy! This week my viola is getting a special treat, getting spruced up and bow rehaired, and getting miked for electronic amplification!

I’m blessed with such beautiful nature here – the mountains surrounding the valley, the rivers, beautiful downtown Lithia Park, the hot springs. Hiking on the mountain paths is magical. The snow up the mountains looks so beautiful and close, but doesn’t accumulate where we live and drive, what a blessing. The fall colors have been so beautiful, I didn’t have to miss New England! Visiting the mystical ocean in Mendocino was such a gift; I know the ocean is not too far when I want to visit. I had a special connection with the cliffs, the crashing turquoise waves, the Dr. Seussian kelp, sounds of seals, grazing mother and baby deer, and the sunrise mist on the beach where I collected pieces for my altar for the new era.

I feel a shift since 11-11-11, since the end of the Mayan calendar. There is almost no resistance left on my path, following my truth as a Spiritual Guide, helping others connect with their Spirit Guides. I am working side by side with Jason, who is doing major clearings and activations on everyone who makes an appointment.

Our small studio apartment has amazing energy; the woman we are renting from (from the Ecstatic Dance community) went away 2 months to lead a spiritual journey to Peru for 11-11. I am also renting a healing space in a farmhouse (also from someone in the Dance community!) that is special, and gives me the private quiet space I need to do my work on the phone and in person. We will rent the house starting in March after our Jan-Feb trip to Costa Rica; finding our home has been effortless!

The Ecstatic Dance Community also hooked me into coming to Ashland over the summer. I am reminded of how special the dance community was for us in Massachusetts. Sunday morning Dance is my church. I go to commune with Spirit, with Love, with One-ness, inspiration, passion, and bliss. We warm up, we circle up and connect with community, we hug, we massage, we dance, we drum, we do sound healing with our voices and crystal bowls, we share announcements and celebrations. There is a dance event almost every night, including Thursday night with Graell, my priestess teacher.

There is an abundance of spiritual groups and events in Ashland. The Zen center is two doors down from us (we had our meditation training, it’s a beautiful space), and Dances of Universal Peace is a couple of miles up the road (nothing is far in Ashland!). Kule discovered the Deeksha blessing and a special Satsang teacher (Bob Nickle). We haven’t even gone to the bigger guys, James Twyman and Neale Donald Walsh, yet. There’s so much here.

I immersed myself in sound healing as soon as we arrived, attending a special event by a didj wizard (Scott Miller), sharing sound healing with the Goddess Temple and the Dance community, jamming with a percussion sound healer in his studio with his friends, and finding amazing sacred musicians everywhere here. The Tuvan throat singers from Russia (Mongolia) were an amazing performance, and perfect for 10/28, last day of the Mayan calendar. Indeara and I will be performing and recording improvised sacred music. Skya Indigo, a beautiful Japanese drummer from LA that played with me at the Goddess Festival and was one of the men who held a great space for the festival, invited me to record sacred music with him. There will be many opportunities for me here.

There is an abundance of creative people and events in Ashland, especially with the Shakespeare Festival that runs March-November. We attended some world-class performances, and enjoy the financial wealth (a result of the Shakespeare festival) of the small town, with its wonderful restaurants and stores. I discovered a great hemp clothes store, and I also have benefited from great finds at the Goodwill store down our street.

Ashland bike path

Ashland is sustainability and health-conscious. The bike path through town along the railroad tracks is amazing, and there are buses every 20 minutes! We have the best, cheapest whole foods store Shop ‘n Kart a walk from our house. We buy our shampoo, olive oil, teas, and almost anything in bulk. It’s totally awesome! There is yoga, zumba, massage, healing, etc galore. We just finished a massage-for-couples class and are enjoying each others’ massages even more now!

Kule is making some good connections with green builders and university folks interested in solar energy, and he is inspired to launch his growth facilitation work here. We are both inspired to do the work we love, making the money we need, following a simple healthy lifestyle here in Ashland. It’s more expensive to live here than up north, but there are more opportunities here, and the weather is much more sunny and beautiful here!

We done good moving here. I am so grateful. Come visit us! Best time is after March when the weather gets good, the snow melts, and the Shakespeare festival comes alive with free outdoor concerts.

Mountains!

One of the things we love most about the west coast are the mountains and open vistas, in addition to expansive stretches of wilderness in the valleys.

Mt. Rainier, Washington

We finally got to see Mt. Rainier (above) on a sunny day! Kule has been waiting for this for years, after several trips to see his brother Joel’s family in Seattle. The mountain has a beautiful majestic yet peaceful energy. If my knees could handle it, I would love to climb to the top, a doable climb for many. We spent some special time in an old-growth grove of giant trees.

Mt. St. Helens. Washington

We couldn’t go back to Eugene without stopping out of our way to see Mt. St. Helens. The visitor centers’ movies are so worth seeing, to get an appreciation for the incredible geological shift this mountain and its valley underwent in the minutes after the 1980-something eruption. Trees were ripped out with the atom-bomb-like explosion, lakes were displaced, and the molten bolders and ash raced down the river, flooding the valley and creating vastly underestimated destruction. There’s a stark eeriness about the mountain; my son Jason would have gone wild photographing this!

Three Sisters, Oregon

I had the opportunity to hike with our Eugene friend Cedar to a stunning and diverse trail up to South and Middle Sisters near Bend, Oregon. From the peaceful colorful meadows to the lifeless lava beds to the glistening obsidian decorating the cliffs, ledges, and scree,  the Obsidian trail is on of my all-time favorite trails. The ten miles and 1400 ft change in elevation were gentle on my knees, affording me the kind of hiking experience I have been missing when I can’t do steeper hikes with my knees. I love the west!

Tahoe National Forest, California

It’s always a treat to visit my brother Alex’s family in Truckee, CA to be in the Tahoe mountains. We camped out in a remote campsite that his massive sportsmobile could reach on its huge 4WD tires, climbing over boulders on something that looked like a dirt path in the pines.

 

Our peninsula site hosted beautiful scenery with snow in nearby peaks, mountain-clear swimmable water (I wasn’t numb), a cozy hammock, and great campfires and cookouts.

My morning ritual was a kayak around the lake exploring waterfalls and receiving visits from the river otters that are making a comeback in the area.

I got to sleep in my sister-in-law Nancy’s bivouac, with some space for my head, arms, and a few belongings, and the rest of my body in a snug cocoon.

Nancy and I took a hike up the mountain to step on some snow in July!

Being vs Doing - Costa Rica 3/28/11

Being in Costa Rica has been a rich healing experience for me. And I mean Being. That’s what it’s about, that’s my life learning. I’ve been a Doer my whole life, my identity has been focused on what I achieve and what I plan to achieve – I’m a 3 on the enneagram! It’s awesome being a manifester, but I’m learning more and more about what it means to manifest. When I am guided (“prompted”) to do something, then I take action. When I really feel into what feels good to manifest, then I am on the right track. It’s not about making something happen, but to cultivate what I am guided to do.

All said, what I’ve really needed is to Do nothing.

I don’t remember another time in my life when I really did this for more than a few days. when I was on vacation, I kept busy. When I was grieving, I was grieving. When I was doing a meditation retreat or pancha karma I was focused on the cleansing and meditation. There was always something to Do.

I’m listening more to what I need, what my soul needs, what my body needs, what my mind needs. I’m fasting for 2 days, and it might go to 3 or 4. I’ve never fasted for more than a day (for colonoscopy prep), and certainly without complaining!

I’ve reconnected to Source. After Jason died I stayed very connected, but since we’ve been on our travel journey with so much change, something shifted. I wasn’t as connected, and I was feeling unsettled and low. I was part of an earth-based healing ritual a few days ago that revived my Connection. I have been feeling embraced by the Mother, and I hold her inside me to embrace others. I’m reconnected to myself.

I’m doing nothing, Being (what/who) “I am”, and feeling so at peace with that for the first time in my life.

Simplicity and Sustainability - Yurt living, Lost Valley, Oregon

We have found a home.

In other words, we have found a place to stay for more than a week, in this sweet yurt in Lost Valley, Oregon, http://www.lostvalley.org/ . This is a permaculture education center, and an intentional community that we had heard a lot about, and were glad to finally visit in early October. We fell in love with the land and made some good friends in nearby Eugene, so we magnetically were drawn back to rent here for a while, at least until Christmas, and perhaps beyond….

I’m enjoying living simply.

We are living with what fit in our car, with a few loaned kitchen and household items from friends to get us started.

Why did I think I needed so much STUFF in my old mainstream life? It was so freeing to get rid of stuff before we moved, and now I’m realizing we are happy using a small fraction of what we had before. It feels good to finally have everything out of our car, after 3 months of travel; seeing it all laid out on our kitchen floor before we put things away, we were amazed it had all fit in our car!

Our goal is to buy little, so we can move again easily. We are modern-day nomads!

We are enjoying our yurt – 30 ft diameter with small partitioned bedroom and bath and a large loft and skylight, less than 900 square feet total, luxury by our yurt standards (and we have wifi and cell phone coverage to boot). Others in this community have a one-room cabin or dorm room with community kitchen use, so we are fortunate to have the full kitchen. We could imagine buying a yurt (for less than 15K), and renting land to put it on until we decided where to dwell permanently.

Here are some other things we are enjoying in our simplified lifestyle:

v     Lower cost – With this type of lifestyle we can retire earlier.

v     Being closer to nature – This is like living in a huge tent with modern conveniences. We are embraced by the forest and sky.

v     Greater eco-awareness – Being closer to nature reminds me to conserve resources and reuse more as well as recycling, and to buy local stuff with low carbon footprint. We are reusing items stored in the junk shed such as lamps and Christmas lights.

v     Creativity – Instead of buying a coffee filter holder, I made one out of an aluminum pie plate, and it was fun to do! We are enjoying decorating our yurt with simple cloths and prayer flags we had with us all along. Jason’s photos are up, as well as our small altar.

v     Less cleaning – A smaller space is easier to maintain.

v     Composting – The land wants our food and human waste, and we are happy to oblige.

v     Sharing community land and resources, and having community meals every other day or so. The vegetarian food here is so nourishing, and we can supplement with meat and other meals in our own kitchen. It is fun getting to know others in the community.

v     Cozy fire – Our woodstove produces warmth in many ways, including splitting and stacking. We need it here in Oregon where there isn’t a lot of solar this time of year, and especially the night we arrived when we had unusual lows in the 20s. We would prefer supplementing with more solar… we will see where we end up…

P.S. Stay tuned for updates, as we watch Michelle starting to miss some of the old conveniences (?), and as we watch Kule building creative things to make our home even more interesting.....

Nevada City and Grass Valley, CA 11/15-19/10



Yuba River, near Nevada City, CA

This trip to Nevada City we focused on getting to know the community and the less-expensive nearby town of Grass Valley. We discovered a gem in the Sierras - a town not only beautiful and dedicated to preserving its gold-rush history and wild-west appeal, but also a leader in sustainability and spiritual and creative arts, and a friendly town. It reminds me a bit of New England, blended with the wild Sierras. Where else can you get a mix of fall foliage color with bamboo and palm trees? The weather offers a nice dose of sun with rare snow and mild summers (except in valley parts where it gets quite hot). 

We enjoyed our time in Nevada City, attending yoga and dance workshops, a sustainability seminar at APPLE (an awesome town-sponsored non-profit with a model green building and educational books and products), and the Tuesday night special lobster and steak dinner at the historic National hotel, with live piano and audience musician jamming. We even enjoyed our budget hotel the Nevada City Inn, with its quiet neighborhood and beautiful trees, across the street from a local funky cafe with great rice bowls, soup, and juice bar. We spent some time at Ananda Village, a 800-acre ashram (Paramahansa Yogananda lineage) with beautiful gardens at the Crystal Hermitage, which has a stunning view of Yuba valley; we manifested a private tour of the guru's hermitage by some residents.

We knew as soon as we arrived, when we checked out the local member-owned organic co-op and saw the bulletin board full of spiritual workshops and sacred music and cool dance and open mic gigs, that we found our kind of place. The town is also not far from engineering opportunities (for Kule) in Roseville and Sacramento. Nevada City has a vision to be part of the "solar belt" from San Francisco to Reno, including Truckee, where a lot of green building and solar engineering is leading the nation.

By the time we left we made semi-plans to come back in March to stay here for a while. Having arrived back in Eugene in Lost Valley (more to come on this blog), we are seeing opportunities here for us as well, so we shall see what happens....... It's great to have so many great options!

Santa Cruz, CA - 10/15-22/10

2000+ yr Granfather tree - 250 ft tall!

Santa Cruz is a cool place. We immediately loved the redwoods, the ocean, the old hippie-ness, the relaxed style, the diversity, and the center of consciousness exploration. We could see ourselves hanging here for a while, and we might be back in November after some more explorations north along the coast of CA and Oregon.

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I feel at home being near the ocean. The Pacific is wild and cold, and a great place for kitesurfers (see video – they fly!) A visit to Natural Bridges gave us not only a pretty coastline vista but also a not-to-be missed visit with thousands of monarch butterflies who winter over in the aromatic eucalyptus trees and feast on the local milkweed.

Nature is beautiful here. The walk among and inside the giant ancient redwoods was magical, and we got to hang with our buddy Rob who moved here from Gloucester 5 yrs ago; he loves it here.

Rob introduced us to Ahuti and Svargo, who rented us their backyard cabin in the redwoods. It was a retreat space for us, greatly appreciated after being on the road for 2 months. This one-week stay was the longest in any place since we left Ipswich, and it was a great temporary home. Ahuti is an acupuncturist and Svargo teaches zen art (http://www.svargozen.com/); they are long-time meditators and Osho disciples. We enjoyed getting to know them and following tips from them and Rob to get to know the area.

We went to an art show of a friend of Ahuti and Svargo, a woman named Coeleen Kiebert who lost her son several years ago. We talked about our grieving and her spiritual insights, and she showed us the sculptures she did to assist her in that process. Her latest series is the Bardo Navigators, whimsical characters outfitted in navigational equipment to move through the Bardo after death and before the next life.

Santa Cruz is a new age center, and that also makes us feel right at home and also inspired. We hung out for an afternoon with 80-year old silent Baba Hari Das at the Madonna Center on a Himalayan-style mountain and joined a ritual at the Hanuman temple.

Peggy Black's Water from 300+ sacred world places

We met an ex-surfer spiritual teacher named Moki, and reunited with Kule’s friends and NVC (Non-Violent Communication) leader Kelly Bryson (and his partner Torrie), as well as famous sound-healer and spiritual channeler Peggy Black (http://www.morningmessages.com/) who I knew through NESHRI (now Sound Healing Network).

I could see myself doing more sound healing and music here as well as networking for my book and getting Jason’s photography and music out there. Kule is also looking forward to launching is personal growth facilitator practice. This town has a graduate degree in consciousness!

Our next stop was Sebastopol to reunite and perform with Christine and Kem of our old healing music ensemble Bluegate, and to reunite with Kule’s friend Dakini from Sufi Abode days. We will post more about Marin county area in the next post….Now on the way to NY to do a training on Zegg Forum, a great tool to build community, something we love to do!

Oregon - Portland, Eugene, Lost Valley IC - 9/27-10/6/10

Oregon is awesome. We have been enjoying the tail end of the sunnier months here, before the overcast rainy season starts and goes until June.  I can understand why locals deal with less sun, when the tradeoff is lush magical rain forest, fertile valleys, and abundant waterways.

We started out our journey in Oregon in the cities of Portland and Eugene.  We were immediately impressed with the great public transportation, bicycle use/paths and bike-friendliness, and other awareness of sustainable practices.  We stayed with friends we met through our culture network that we met in Seattle the first weekend of our  arrival in the northwest.

It was great to hang out with Ross and Joanna in Portland and to check out some of the funkier artsier neighborhoods as well as the beautiful oriental gardens. Coming from Orcas Island, the high city energy was a bit much for us, and we gravitated toward hanging out in the beautiful Japanese garden on our arrival.

The gardens were extensive, peaceful, and very zen. Again, we were impressed with the city’s attention to green space and good energy. We got a great view of Mt. Hood!

Dining in Portland is fantastic, and we got entertained along the way with some creative art, including a decorated vehicle on Mississippi Avenue.

Our second day, after orienting ourselves to the city and doing some needed errands, we gravitated toward the Chinese garden. It was like walking through paintings, the place was exquisitely and authentically designed to be a piece of art. We also enjoyed a traditional and timeless (i.e. long and relaxed) tea ceremony, sampling different teas from China.

 

 

 

We visited the Baghadad cinema, where they filmed “What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole” (above).

In Portland we visited the intentional community of Tryon, a permaculture education center with a sweet children’s school and some agile goats and friendly bees.

Oregon is home to creative building of small structures, such as the icosa hut (icosahedrons – 10-sided domes) that can be raised easily and inexpensively for singles and families.

Maitreya intentonal community, Eugene

We moved on to Eugene, where we stayed with our friends Bodhi and Cordy in their home that invites healing workshops. It reminded us of our home in Ipswich, only bigger and older (classic Eugene). Bodhi gave us some great tours of the university and the surrounding areas. We visited the intentional communities of Maitreya, Hearticulture, and Maya’s small community with icosa huts.  We shared pancake breakfast and music jams with Reba and other friends at Hearticulture and made friends with the pigs.

Our Eugene friend Bodhi

Our Eugene friend Tara at her husband David's restaurant - great food and great nusicians!

We attended an art walk where we got to see some great galleries and Kule’s friend from 30+ yrs ago Sufi Abode community, Tara, and her husband David play in their Accordions Anonymous band (video below). They also have a folk band called Red Pajamas where they perform their own compositions. We enjoyed our music and dining connections with them!

We also enjoyed the great street food and awesome young street musicians; my son Jason would have enjoyed meeting these creative young people.  The Saturday market is the biggest and best organic produce and creative crafts market I’ve ever experienced; it was a joy to taste the food and hear the highly talented street musicians (including a young man playing the marimba like Jason used to do).

We got a chance, finally, in nearby quaint and hip town of Corvallis to meet Lawrence Cole (associated with new culture and the Port Townsend Ecovillage) who does a wonderful song concert, where participants weave in and out, connecting with each other on the floor singing different parts.  We thought of our friend Michael O'leary in Gloucester, MA leading wonderful songs.

We could see living in Eugene with the comfortable-size city, creativity, sustainability awareness, and cool friendly people. It’s a town of young and old hippies and “cultural creatives”, and we felt right at home.

Lost Valley Permaculture Educational Center

Lost Valley Madrone Trail

It was hard to leave our friends in Eugene, and it made it easier to move into Lost Valley, where we stayed with our friend Melanie, who we met through Bodhi. Melanie is working on bringing more spiritual community to Lost Valley, and she invited us to offer a Non-Violent Communication (NVC) mini-workshop (by Kule), a Zegg Forum demonstration, and a sound healing circle. The facilities at Lost Valley are wonderful, and the land is magical. I wrote about a spiritual connection I had there on my other blog www.jasonmichellefoster.blogspot.com

We got tours of the gardens, the trails, the creek and swimming hole, and the educational and lodging facilities at Lost Valley. We also sat in on one of their regular community meetings, a sacred circle with a forum for open communication. We plan to return to Lost Valley in Nov-Dec to spend more time on this precious land, practice being in community and sharing our gifts with them, and learning more about permaculture.