HAHA in the AIR

I just returned from Ecuador - more specifically Vilcabamba, Valley of Longevity, and even more precisely, MonteSuenos, Mountain of Dreams.  

My heart called me to this sacred space from the MOMent I heard its name. WSM Noah asked me "Why Ecuador?"  I knew not why, I just knew I had to go and explore, experiment and express.

SisterGoddess Lourdes' daughter and her partner brought a group of women and a few brave and bold men together for a Sacred Nature Journey of the Sierras of Ecuador.  

I spent one glorious fabulous week in a sacred space of creativity - a space created by one woman and her hubby - her vision of what our world can be - through the eyes of the Divine Feminine.  This space nurtured my soul, my body and my heart.

I met new peeps and reconnected with some I already knew.  I felt like I was living out of a novel - EAT, PAINT, PRAY - hahaha.

Our days were OMazing - woke up to a SisterGoddess police officer who kicked my ass doing cardio at 5:15 a.m. with the dogs and burros and roosters singing their melodies.   Sunrise yoga stretching our bodies as the sun lifted over the mountaintops.   Yummy fruit breakfasts and walk down the mountain for some green juice.  A walk back up the mountain for my morning workout and then sacred painting circles.  Followed by Laughter Circles and lunch.  Woohoo.

I had the pleasure and joy of being with three of my laughter yogini peeps, SisterGoddess Lourdes, SisterGoddess Nilsa and WSM Victor.   WSM Victor and I would laugh all the time - just looking at each other - for no reason at all except it felt great.

Our house, at the top of the mountain, had a fabulous place to laugh.  Right around the firepit, overlooking the valley of Vilcabamba and the mystical magical Mandango Mountain, SisterGoddess Lourdes led a Laughter Circle almost every day.  Just before lunch, we would walk up to the firepit, overlooking the valley of Vilcabamba and shaHAhakti shaHAhake and laugh like lawnmowers and HO HO HAHAHA - playing and hugging and laughing and moving our bodies.   We laughed so hard residents of both houses could hear us.   The kitchen staff would crack up as they were preparing our delicious meals, mixing into our food the wonderful enerchi of love and laughter.

We infused the air with HAHA chi and let it roll down the mountain into the valley and rise back up again with the delicious smelling air up the sides of all the mountains.

We yelled out affirmations in Spanish and gibberished on our mountaintop - spreading our juicy yummy enerchi for all to feel.  It was OMazing - we were OMazing - life is OMazing.

A great big thaHAhank you for SisterGoddess Lourdes and bringing Laughter Yoga to Ecuador, from the beaches to the mountains and next year into the rainforests.

Woohoo

ExhaHAhaustion

As I write this, I have been up for 34 hours with no end in sight. Sitting in the airport in Guayaquil, waiting for this flight to arrive so it can empty and bring me back to Miami.

I am past the point of tired - my body and brain functioning on overdrive, emotions all stirred up. I sit here on the brink of tears and start to giggle. I mean, it's just so silly really. Being in an airport surrounded by people and yet feeling so alone and vulnerable. Trying to keep myself from nodding off and losing control of my body.

I laugh, a shy humming HaHa - feeling the vibration of air on my tongue. I tap my thumbs to my different fingers - ho ho ha ha hee hee ho ho - ho ho ha ha hee hee ho ho - developing a rhythm that feels good - as I feel my fingers pulsating with energy. Heat in my hands from the repetitive motion, I am slowly awakening from within.

A smile creeps onto my face as I look around at the other passengers also waiting for their flights. A woman across from me smiles back. A conversation starts. As I speak, my tongue slips into gibberish. My new friend and I start laughing and laughing and laughing. Laughing so hard that I need to pee.

The wave of exhaHAhaustion passes. Calmer, I surrender to this experience and know that soon I will be boarding my flight and closing my eyes.

FAITH

Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.

I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.

Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?

That little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.

Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.
Tallyho,

The Universe

Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!

WARNING: Staying the course is NOT the same as clinging to a HOW.

www.tut.com

Thank you Mike Dooley for this OMazing message

Woohoo

Process of PEACE

The Dalai Lama once asked me (and a few hundred other peeps) a question:   How can we have peace in the world when we do not have peace within ourselves? within our families?

Peace within myself   -  back then, with my full time work as a paralegal and extra eighty pounds on my body and my plan to be rich and retired - I had no idea what the Dalai Lama was saying.   

I had a vague concept of Peace but no healthy hahabits to get me there. I heard about Laughter Yoga and that resonated with me.  A way to get out of my head and into my body.  An opportunity to grow a muscle that would help shift my attitude.  A space of silence and meditation where joy can grow.  Sign me up!!!

Over the last seven years - as my muscles get toned and strengthened, I can  find the HAHA in everything. I feel the levity in my situations and a smile easily finds my lips.

The eighty pounds have left along with meat, milk, cheese and grain - side effects of finding HAHAhappy and not having to stuff my face with food.

The process of Peace involves looking within and around.  Finding the feelings and laughing and crying about them and through them.  Accessing the Excess and releasing and purging what no longer serves me.   And shaHAhaking it out - releasing what no longer belongs and keeping everything within fluid and flexible.

Slowly, I see progress with the process.   I feel the Peace in my heart expand and express itself in the Universe in a chaHAharming way.

ShaHAhakti shaHAhake and get that Feminine Cosmic Energy dancing and laughing - doing a little AbunDANCE and bringing blessings your way.

Here's a musical message about ShaHAhaking and finding haHAhappy from the ultimate Dancing Goddess, Doris Day.