Whole Being Weekend

After the somewhat extreme experience of Burning Man, I was happy to adventure further up into the high California forest for the venerable Whole Being Weekend in idyllic Idyllwyld, California. This was one of the original "hippie" festivals that started in 1970 and has been going strong ever since. The festival takes over the Buckhorn Camp about two miles out of town, with full facilities, RV hookups and great hiking trails all around with a breathtaking view of the neighboring forest valley.

I had to admit to myself that I was more into this weekend for the music and the relaxation--not really opting in for some of the intense workshops that were being offered. I did do two of them--one because it sounded like a lot of fun, and the other to renew an old practice.

A short, firecracker of a girl calling herself Missy Galore got up for the Saturday morning workshop rundown, and spent her 45 seconds espousing the joys of "Galactivation Fluffing." She danced around with her "fluffing wands," and it just cute-ted me out so much and was so whimsical, I just HAD to plan for that one. And she certainly did not disappoint. Within about 30 seconds of starting the workshop, she had everyone laughing, and by the end of the workshop we were all high on fluffing, had made our own fluffing wands, and proceeded to spread the joys of fluffing to the entire camp. To "fluff" in this context is to open up the atoms and cells of your body to accept the universal cosmic love that holds all creation together. Hey, what could be more useful?

On Sunday I opted to do the Medicine Wheel workshop with a very knowledgeable man of Native American heritage. My past shamanic training has been mainly Peruvian, but I had lost touch with some of the elements of the practice. In particular, I was looking to restart and recreate my "mesa." In Peruvian shaman practice, the mesa is a bag or pouch of items--rocks, sticks, feathers, anything really--that has special meaning to the shaman. Once these items are collected, it is possible for the shaman to "read" the layout of these items much like the practice of reading tea leaves. Each item in the mesa is a metaphor for a particular experience or archetype and "speaks" to the shaman when he asks for guidance or insight. During this workshop, I received my first item that now resides lovingly in my mesa. Mission accomplished!

The Whole Being Weekend was highlighted by a concert by Larisa Stow & The Shakti Tribe, as well as a great night of kirtan by Karl Anthony, who has been doing the Weekend for 27 years. I danced myself into a sweat, and had a liberating and transformative time--met some wonderful people and got myself wonderfully grounded for the life ahead.