Notes From the Road

This is Neem Karoli Baba. He taught Ma, and also other well known devotees such as Krishna Das, and Ram Das.

A beautiful shrine to Budha.

A breath taking shrine to Jesus Christ.

A shrine dedicated to the Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan.

A shrine honoring the Jewish faith with the ten commandments.

Shiva sits in the lake, lovingly called the Ganga.

A beautiful meditation space with Baba Siri Chand, the son of Guru Nanak, and a powerful yogi who served the Sikh Gurus of his time and who still serves all who call upon him.

A statue of Mother Mary stands by the Ganga, caressing the waters with love peace and forgiveness.

Ma built this Guru Hargobind Gurdwara, dedicated to the Sikh faith. As a Sikh I was so deeply touched, it brought me to tears. A beautiful little Gurdwara! Who would have guessed anyone who is not a Sikh would conceive of this. It is a very beautiful gift to Sikhs everywhere.

Here is the inside of the Gurdwara... very sweet and lovely.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos. My husband and I are now attending Winter Solstice. I look forward to sharing photos with you next week from Winter Solstice.

May Peace Prevail On Earth.

Over and Out.

Here is Guru Tara Kaur and I. Her name means beautiful star of the Guru. She truly is that. We had a great time together in Virginia Beach where we stayed at her house.

Sat Nam everyone!

Since my last blog entry we had a concert in Winston Salem, a concert and a workshop in Asheville North Carolina, and two concerts in Atlanta Georgia. I found out a couple of things about Winston Salem… that this is where the headquarters is for the cigarette company named after the town, and it is where Oprah Winfrey has one of her homes. We stayed at a Best Western right there in down town and it was beautiful to see the city lights, and much quieter than most cities I’ve ever been too. Unfortunately I made the mistake of telling the hostess at the front desk of the hotel that we would be doing our vocal exercises in the morning and would appreciate relatively isolated rooms as to not disturb any of the other guests. She sent us to an isolated building… where the heat didn’t work. Hence my beautiful cold took birth. That night I slept with my coat on… brrrrrrhhhhh. I had been doing so good. Oh well… sometimes things just happen like that. I have to say that we had an absolutely lovely concert in Winston Salem. It was in an antique gallery which was a renovated warehouse of some type. There was beautiful artwork all over the place and a great Christmas tree. I was envisioning Oprah Winfrey walking into the hall… that would have been cool. Hey if it ever happens I’ll let you know. The best part of the whole evening was that our hosts are from the Hare Krishna tradition, so they served prashaadam, or sacred food to everyone who came to the concert! That has never happened before. It was some of the best food I’ve ever had… real comfort food. I would like to give a big thank you to Arci and Dulal Chandra for hosting us so beautifully. Many people came to our concert who had never seen us before and it was an amazing evening.

Anyway, we made our way to Asheville. Folks… that town is up in the mountains. Holy moly, it’s snowed….wind… ice… the works. Growing up in the West Coast I was not prepared. The next time I visit Asheville in December, you can bet I’ll have long johns on even before we arrive. That’s when my cold got real comfortable and took up residence in my throat. We found ourselves in another Best Western… this time the heat worked. So I bundled up and drank tea and did every thing I could to get better. We had an absolutely beautiful concert. People really chant up there in Asheville. I’m very grateful to Namaste Yoga for hosting us.

By the time we made it to Atlanta I did one concert at the Kashi Ashram… and that was it. I sounded like a frog. We considered all sorts of options like having GuruGanesha sing for me while I lip synced. Just kidding… We thought about canceling the concert… but that didn’t sit too well with anyone. Finally we decided that GuruGanesha should take the lead and take the jatha (band) with him. GuruGanesha went to a local Gurdwara and did an arousing version of Dhan Dhan Ram Das Guru and the Mul Mantra. I heard people really enjoyed it. For the concert that evening everyone who came to the concert was told that I wasn’t going to make it… that they could have their money back if they wanted it…. Or they could stay for the whole thing and get 50% off at the end if they wanted it. Well… everyone stayed and they had a great concert. I knew that GuruGanesha and the band would have no problem delivering a beautiful evening. I couldn’t really go to sleep because all I was thinking about was the concert. It was really odd being home. So, I stayed up until they came back. When GuruGanesha walked through the front door I knew by the look on his face that it had been a great evening.

Anyway…how about a moral to this story? God is everywhere, in charge of everything… and the music goes on…especially when it is dedicated to peace.

Peace Ya’all. (That’s what they say down here in the south).

PS. I'll be at Winter Solstice soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing my sweet husband. He's coming for our concert in Altamonte Springs and we are doing Winter Solstice together. Winter Solstice is a gathering sponsored by 3HO that takes place outside of Orlando Florida with three days of White Tantric Yoga, two days of amazing yoga and meditation classes, morning meditation, evening music at the Yogi Tea Cafe... lots of fun. If you are interested in learning more visit: www.3HO.org. Safe travels to everyone going to Winter Solstice and to the many other places of travel during this holiday season.

Here's a beatiful little girl named Ava from the Singh family. She came up on stage to help us out with our children's section of the concert. We are very grateful to the Singh family for helping us to get the word out about our weekend in the Virginia Beach area, and for hosting a beautiful Gurdwara program at their home.
Here's a picture of us at the concert at the A.R.E. center. I know that you've seen enough of me.... just putting it in here so that my husband can see how I look. Sometimes the tour is so transformational, I joke around with my husband that when I get home and he's picking me up at the airport I'll be six feet tall.
Here's Guru Bandha Singh, and his mom Atma Kaur, with his sister Guru Tara Kaur. We are staying with them and totally enjoying all of the good food, good yogi tea, and pure coziness and positivity.


We started off our tour in the Virginia Beach area which is in the southeast corner of Virginia… in the United States, and on the planet earth… in case you were wondering where we are. If you really want details, I’m sitting in a Panera’s restaurant writing this blog, catching up on emails, and having “Oh my God… you won’t believe this email” conversations with the rest of the guys in the band. Everyone’s got their little spot. I think GuruGanesha and Krishan have both already ordered two meals here. I’ve had a cup of tea and an apple. Our host, Atma Kaur is making a wonderful meal tonight. I’ve got a small appetite… and really want to eat her good food. I know that the guys will have no problem. They can eat!

Anyway…

I’d like to share a little bit about this weekend. We had our concert and two workshops at a center called A.R.E… which stands for the Association for Research and Enlightenment. The founder of this association is Edgar Casey. Edgar Casey was able to do “readings”… essentially he would go into a trance like state and give readings to people in this state, addressing everything from health questions to the meaning of life questions. In the readings he would give people treatments and gave them many of the wholistic health care concepts that were unheard of at that time, but are more widely practiced now by medical doctors. He saved many lives. He also talked about reincarnation and a person’s Akashic record. The Akashic record is well known in Indian yogic traditions, but he just tapped into it from his own awareness. I really find this fascinating and cool. For those of you who have never heard of the Akashic record, I will do my best to give a brief explanation. The Akashic record is recorded for each human being. It records every thought and action, and it also tells every future action and a person’s destiny. You can access the Akashic records by going into a deep meditative state. Very few people on this planet have that capacity to see the Akashic record, but it is well known in many yogic traditions of India. Edgar Casey was able to access the Akashic record and in this way he was able to treat people of physical, mental, or even spiritual disease. Many of his readings have been saved. The readings that really speak to a universal experience are available in books for the public. Also Edgar Casey really taught about the importance of love and respect for all faiths. So at the A.R.E. there is the world’s second largest metaphysical library, offering books from many different faiths.

Edgar Casey was so dedicated to the mission of service that he often wouldn’t charge anything for these readings. At times he and his wife lived in poverty. There is a flourishing organization that continues his work.

Anyway, pretty cool stuff. If you are interested in learning more you can check out the following web address.

http://www.edgarcayce.org/

I would like to give a very special thank you to Tracy, Atma Singh and Atma Kaur who organized a very magical weekend for us.