Flash Mob Caroling and Divine Love

Lovers of the Unity and Love!
Welcome to our December Update. Below you'll find juicy details on:
• December’s Flash Mob Christmas Caroling
• Vanessa Stone in Tucson (Not to be Missed!)
• Our Community Service Thanks N Giving Events Debrief

Upcoming Event | Flash Mob Christmas Caroling
When: Dec 23, 6pm -Quick rehearsal begins at 5:45 pm.
Where: Downtown Tucson on 4th Avenue. We will meet at Time Market (444 East University Blvd) at 5:45pm (check the site for more specific details). We will run our 4 songs a few times through and promptly walk to 4th Ave at 6pm. Be on time. Get ready for some fun, merriment and cheer...we had a blast last year and so did our unsuspecting public audiences!
Our Repertoire: Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry X-Mas, Deck the Halls and Hallelujah.
All are welcome! If you can talk-you can sing! Wear a red accessory and bring jingle bells!
PLEASE RSVP by contacting me, Gabriela, with a comment to this blog post or by email.

Upcoming Event | Vanessa Stone in Tucson
I am honored and grateful to introduce you to one of my dear teachers and greatest life inspirations, Vanessa Stone. An opportunity to sit with Vanessa is not to be missed. It is a life changing, potent homecoming to your deepest heart. Please see the website for all the details on this priceless opportunity! And a big shout out of gratitude to the Bhakti peeps at Yoga Oasis, for offering the space and welcoming Vanessa to the Tucson Kula.

• Sitting | Jan 7, 7:45 pm | YogaOasis Central 2631 North Campbell Ave, Tucson
  
• Sitting | Jan 8, 7:45 pm | YogaOasis Downtown 245 East Congress St, Ste 101, Tucson
• Afternoon Immersion Retreat | Jan 9, 12-4 pm-6761 N Cascade Springs. Place, Tucson

Past Event | Debrief
Our Thanks-N-Giving Community Service Events were a heart warming, powerful experience. Offering a hand, positive energy and loving presence at Casa Maria Soup Kitchen was a gift to all those who gave and received! My thanks to everyone who came out, volunteered time and made generous donations of clothing and household items. It was an extremely sobering reality to see how many homeless and impoverished people there are in our pueblo. The devoted employees and volunteers at Casa Maria are there 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year feeding and caring for our city’s people. I love that there is no paperwork or red tape required to volunteer time, or to show up, get fed, and receive support. Casa Maria is simply about feeding and loving humanity, one mouth and one heart at a time. If you are local, please consider volunteering once a week, or once a month. And wherever you live, consider who is in need around you. Love globally, serve locally! May all beings everywhere be fed, nourished and loved!

Intuitive Consultations | Tap Your Inner Wealth
Invest in your Inner Wealth and receive life changing support to catapult you deeper into the life of your dreams. Book your Inner Wealth Intuitive Consultation now!
Thank you so much! It is an honor to serve with you.!!

Lokah Samastha Sukino Bhavantu.
May All Beings be happy and Free.

In Beauty, Gabriela

Enough - As You Are - Glorious, In fact

Last weekend I was talking about the effects of media on brain development with MiLo, a friend, father, artist and yogi, I truly admire.

He shared that he used to work in Advertising, editing commercials. He noticed that at the end of the day, his heart felt sunken. He realized that it was due to the bottom line message of ALL the ads: "you are not good enough". You are not enough, so you need X product to fix you - to fill your need. How insidious and heart sinking indeed.

I grew up, like many of us, immersed in the cultural messages that media advertising dishes out. And, for a LONG time, I did not feel good enough. Now, I know better. To the very core of my being, I know I am enough, we all are enough, in fact we are miracles...every one of us.

Yet before I knew this simple truth to be self evident, I "worked it," trying to be enough, achieve enough, give enough, learn enough, look good enough, be smart enough, love enough, etc... I remember one therapist, who asked me straight out "Will you ever be good enough for yourself?" That stopped my world. And I know I am not alone in having walked that path. Perhaps it is a universal growing pang, or maybe a "champagne suffering" ill of the privileged, consumer driven Western Culture. I have discovered that the consumptive, compulsive urge to have, to want, to prove, to do, etc, is a toxic mimic for a deeper hunger that longs to be addressed. We are hungry for what we have forgotten is ever present to nourish us. I love what spiritual teacher, Gurumayi says, "All hunger is hunger for God"( in the most broad, ecumenical sense). It is a natural blessing to be satiated by the innate divine communion that is our birth right. Sometimes we forget to access and rest in what already always is: we are connected, we are enough - at essence level, nothing is lacking.

I wonder, until one hits the real treasure, how much love, food, praise, sex, success, stuff, money, is enough? Is it ever enough if it is not feeding the core need? Or resolving the question, "AM I Enough?" once and for all? We can be driven ambitiously by a compulsion to get and to achieve...or, we can be driven by a path of heart, a calling to serve, an authentic inspiration. More money or bigger success seldom equals having more authentic connection or living our bigger "God Life". I love money and success, yet sometimes their pursuit is enmeshed in misunderstanding and they become golden carrots that direct me externally in attempt to fulfill an inner longing.

And yet of all the questions, this next one gets most of my attention: When we look into our world, what reflects back to us that we are good enough? That in fact we are glorious, unique, and unified all at once?"

How do I answer this question?

• The frequency of nature... mountain, sky, thriving ecosystems, the bounty of flora, fauna, color and life, sends out a strong "you are enough" message. The natural world is such an amazing blueprint for wholeness.
  
• Trusted relationships with other beings...where we know, without a doubt that we are loved and lovable, as we are...enough.
  
• Life as Sadhana, which fulfills all our core needs so generously. Living life as spiritual practice, we become like the laughing Buddha. Knowing we are everything, we embody the good life of true prosperity and happiness. Buddha nature IS our natural state. We are love itself . How could it get any better?
  

At an intimate, cellular, vibrational level, communion with our essential being, mother nature and our beloveds transmits the message "we belong here, we are home, we are whole, we are enough." We are all a part of Something Beautiful (This tune by Alexi Murdoch, transmits this very message in a big way, listen).
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How else do these messages come to us naturally in the world and how can we increase access and exposure so that knowing we are enough becomes the norm?

Please comment! I want to hear from you. After all, you are the beings reweaving the world, on the leading edge of human consciousness. Where do you find messages of your magnificent wholeness in the world? Let's focus there...that is liberation, that is truth...that is beautiful and that IS enough.

Artists Allied in Universal Love

Dear Allies in Love and Unity,
Today I want to shine the light of gratitude back on you and on all the artists, creators and community members that are The One Love Alliance.

This is best illustrated by Ubuntu ,"is a humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other." Loosely translated, it means, I Am because You Are. Introduced to me by teacher, Arnold Mindell, in his fabulous World Work, Ubuntu is at the heart of my vision for The One Love Alliance, and I am grateful to see so many of us living it every day. "A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others... for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole . Archbishop Desmond Tutu further explains "... Ubuntu speaks about our interconnectedness...You are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity."

It is from this generous, fertile ground that I thank you with all of my heart. The One Love Alliance, is a cross pollination of all of us. Whether you are readers, activists, artists, clients, collaborators, event participants, friends, family or a combination of them all, thank you for being the living embodiment of unity and love in the world. Thank you for being part of this evolving, open system, this alliance of lovers of life.

Last weekend, The One Love Alliance spirit of Ubuntu manifested in the orchestration of community members that came together for the successful launch of ZaBoomBa. I am still overflowing with gratitude, grocking the amazing talent, skill, loving hearts, and creativity that co-created this project. After dozens of rehearsals, hours of sweat, millions of behind the scenes logistics and many moons in the making, ZaBoomBa was birthed, delivering two off the hook, standing ovation, premier interactive performances. The uncorked joy and unity consciousness sent a jolt of love into the world. The Tucson community was so generous and willing, and our team was in full synergy. I'd like to acknowledge some of these artists of life! I *LOVE* them all and I am honored to have partnered with them.

I cannot say enough about the irresistible, talented, humble, handsome, Kenya Masala (yes, I am biased). His buoyant charm, high energy and pure love commanded sacred space. He is the visionary, director, producer and facilitator behind this project, as well as a slammin percussionist! Hat's off to you, Kenya! You went BIG bro, and we went with you!

Cliff Berrien, Mike Zechinno and Alfie Villegas, all musicians with super groovin' Afro-Brazilian Group, Batucaxe, local musician, Jeff Simpson and percussionist, Swami Piezer, all rock beyond the beyond! Together they create a mastery of rhythm and an embodiment of love that is pure magic. Their smiles are etched on my heart forever.

Bold and beautiful dancers, Kimi Eisele (of New Articulations, and Movement Salon), Bete Pfister, Kenya Johnson, both dancers with Batucaxe, (Kenya also served as PR Pro that succeeded in getting the Buzz of ZaboomBa everywhere at once), Jade Beale (local African dance instructor and photographer for our super-cool bio website pix), and Yarrow King (Batucaxe dance director and instructor)...I bow to you! These courageous, amazing women showed up week after week with willing bodies, hearts and spirits! Their athleticism, energy, love and passion leapt to new levels of excellence. I was honored to direct and dance amongst them. They brought our vision to life, both as unique, authentic movers, and as a fine tuned ensemble that emanated wholeness and unity.

Nadia and Paul, of Flam Chen - These cutting edge visionaries create breath taking, stunning performances and public actions in their Pyrotechnic Theater/Circus Arts Company. They served on our production team, with stage and costume design as well as righteous development consultation. We fell in love with these two. They are wise, hilarious and infinitely creative souls. Special thanks to Athena, Nadia's daughter, our make up artist.

Michael Longstaff, MiLo- This prolific, ultra gifted artist and Yogi-(instructor and practitioner), helped design our logo, website and branding from inception. He also created and ran the film graphics for our stage show. His devotion to creativity and his out of the box vision, come through all he touches. All the while, his humble, centered, vibe permeates the space with unpretentious love.

Director of Instrument Runners, Danielle Berrien, of Batucaxe (who also plays on the Maracatu percussion piece) and her team of 20 peeps, were alert, engaged, and wonderful. With their priceless support, we were able to bridge the worlds of stage and audience and break through the veil of performer and spectator, to create one village.

Sean Stuchen, served as our open hearted, smiling photographer. His presence was deeply relaxed and non invasive. He captured the love, power and beauty of ZaBoomBa with awe and professional artistry.

And last though not least, thanks to you, the beautiful Tucson community, including family and friends who traveled from afar and locals whose support was palpable. Playful folks of all ages, close to 1000 over the course of two shows, came together in an unforgettable expression of community joy! My cup runneth over!

Together our contributions to humanity create a more beautiful world. May we all continue to birth inspired projects of passion, universal love, and unity consciousness. May we show up for the intimate dance of merging our greatest gifts with the dreams of other visionaries, while channeling the dream of the Universe. This is the One Love Alliance. This is Ubuntu. This is the call to live on your leading edge, in service to all life. All are invited. All are welcome.
How do you experience living on your leading edge in service to life?

"Long life, honey in the heart"
Martin Pretchtel.

20 Quick Ways to Jumpstart Your Love of Life

Dear G,
Sometimes I feel bogged down and deadened by the mundane details of daily life doings. Any nuggets of wisdom to jump start my aliveness, inspiration and remembrance of what makes it all worth while? Fast?
Thanks,
Need a Boost.

Dear Need a Boost,
Thanks for your honesty. I have many a moment where I feel the ordinary, consensus reality world harshening my mellow, and dampening my inner fire. What to do? Good Question. Honoring your request for a speedy shift, I will offer you some of my faves and most effective enliveners, that are most always accessible...even with a breath and perspective alteration. First, STOP, BREATHE AND PAUSE. Always start here.
Then, choose from your sumptuous menu of delicious possibilities:

• Marvel. Be Awe struck.
  
• Grock the Mystery of life and the radical Unknown of it ALL.
• Rejoice, Savor, Celebrate...the ways in which and reasons why are boundless. Get to it.
• Commune with the Natural World-Merge with the frequency of the wilderness. Whether gazing at the sky in a crowded city or solo on a mountain top, the Elemental energies are everywhere. Call on them.
  
• Meditate. Pray. Listen. Be.
  
• Practice seeing the world through the eyes of your heart.
• Lose yourself in beauty-nature, art, music, love. Drink it in.
  
• Touch and be touched. Affection rocks. Be a love bug.
• Hang out with a dog.
  
• Run a fast mile (think wild horses).
• Shake your Booty-Dance IS Medicine.
• Sing. Yell. Vocalize.
• Laugh. Goof. Play. Spend time with a child.
  
• Let go of the inner grip! Yup, good ole vulnerable surrender. Always a winner.
• Be Grateful. Make a list if you must. Generate the attitude of gratitude.
  
• Serve another and get beyond yourself.
• Root yourself in a fertile space where your environment will nurture you to grow.
• Be Present. Go agendaless-even if just for a few moments.
  
• Take an action toward fulfilling a dream.
  
• Be the One Love you want to see in the world.

That's just a few of an endless list of possibilities. May they spark your own inner knowing of what makes your heart sing and your life worth living. Today's picture and video clip feature offspring, Talia, 3 1/2 and Hubs, Kenya. These two, my favorite people in the Universe, are playful ambassadors of love, enlivening every life they touch.
Carpe Diem! LeHiam! Viva!
Now and now and now.
Love Unending, G
Anyone else? How do you enliven your days? Tell me-I want to know!

Reinventing Valentine's Day

Once upon a time, Valentine's day was a traditional Hallmark Holiday to me. You get the picture; flowers and bon bons out of heart shaped boxes and a lace doily card for that someone special.

Now, utilizing the energy and commemoration of this "holy day" means reinventing it to fit who I am today. These days romantic love is just one limb of the mighty tree of universal love I experience. Love can be a guiding force that is ever present and unifies us all. Love is natural. We are wired for it. We are love itself, and Love is for EVERY ONE! Here are some of the ways I am reinventing Valentine's Day for myself and those around me.

• Love Globally, Act Locally. I will share love with everyone on Valentine's Day in the form of a smile, a gesture and simply walking through the world with an unguarded, open heart, allowing loving energy to flow freely.
• Create a Community Event. This year the second annual One Love project will take place at a Tucson, AZ Farmer's Market. Mission FREE LOVE will gather a posse of peeps to walk together through our local Farmer's Market on Sunday morning, Feb 14, giving out homemade Valentine's with messages of Unity and Unconditional Love. Our message is simple: One Love. Namaste. The heart light in me recognizes the heart light in you-and in this place of love, we are ONE. Check out the One Love Alliance site to create a local event like ours in your home town.
  
• Love with an Undefended Heart. Instead of giving my husband chocolate or a romantic date night out (though I LOVE those too), I am committing to love him with more conscious attention. I will do my best to see the Divine in him; to listen deeply, to pause rather than react, to invite and allow communion, to call myself back into connection anytime I go unpresent, get preoccupied, or emotionally distant. A great book to support this practice is Undefended Love.
  
• Give Affection. I commit to offer loving touch to all my loved ones close by as well as call those across the miles and tell them I love them so.
  
• Be a Love Bug. Love Life! Love being in the world. And be grateful for ALL of it!

Most important of all, I will integrate my Valentine's intentions into daily life. Every day is a day to love fully, to see, cherish and celebrate the Divine love we are. May we each be a force of Love in motion! May unconditonal love shine upon you and radiate from you in a reciprocal flow of grace. Valentine's Day...how will you celebrate?

Transcending the Veil Between You and Me-UNITY LOVES YOU

One Love Nuggets:
Your questions answered on all things love, life and relationships.

"Here is a question for you: How do we transcend the veil that floats between our self and relationship, inhibiting intimacy with ourselves and each other? I swear I can see it sometimes."

You can see it! Sounds like you are describing the Hindu idea of "Avidya Maya". "Maya is the symbol of the cosmic illusion, whose veil does not allow mortals to perceive God. Maya has two aspects: Avidya Maya, the ignorance that estranges mortals from God, and Vidya Maya, the liberating knowledge that gradually leads mortals to the ineffable and intoxicating communion with God."

To transcend, to go beyond perceived limits, means piercing this veil will require your willingness to see yourself, others and intimacy in new way. Don't believe the hype of "you and me". Transcend the belief that we are separate, and embrace the possibility, that we are all part of the same Kosmic being, all wired for communion in God. Maybe God meeting God is what relationship is all about. Perhaps that is what TRUE intimacy is, communion in God. Let's not trip over the "G" word. By all names spoken and unspoken, let's ecumenically agree that there is a divine life force in the Universe.

So, how do you transcend the veil?

• Commit to make it a must do.
• Redirect all energy away from separation and place it on unity.
  
• Pierce it with your eyes,
• With your loving touch,
  
• With your golden words,
  
• With your gentle hands.
• And your living truth.

The only "inhibitors" are resistance and withholding. The nature of veils is that they are thin, flimsy, transparent, easily moved, and hardly substantial obstacles. It is easier than you think. Just reach OUT and remember, as you do, that you are reaching IN-to your deepest self and to the vast mystery all at once. It is what you are wired for. Unity loves itself and longs to be intimate with you.

Transcend the veil. Go beyond it and tell me what you find. And if you need an ally along the journey, you know where to find me. Thank you for your question.

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2010 promises to bring bounty and grace beyond our wildest dreams.
Be open and receive.

The One Love Alliance is welcoming videographers, documentarians and photographers. In 2010 we will create a YouTube channel and begin to share our spontaneous acts of love in motion across the globe.

"The One Love Nuggets" Syndicated Column is coming to every newspaper and internet media network world wide." (Please playfully put out this prayer to The Universe with me).

Participate in bringing Dreams into Being!

Please share this blog with your friends, write in questions... come join the fun!

What are some of your prayers/intentions for 2010?
Tell Us, so that we can energize your dreams too!

Out With Victimhood, In with Congnizance

This One Love Nugget comes to us from a sister releasing victimization."
"Victimhood, one big trip we all decided to take, Earth included. Now we have the opportunity to release that which no longer serves our growth and expansion. Could you give some nuggets regarding this release in the body and in the moment we find ourselves choosing to feel like a victim?"

Great question. With honor and respect to all beings who suffer war, genocide, natural disasters and more, I am humble in the face of Karmic and Kosmic forces. On one level Victimhood is an attitude, consciously or unconsciously chosen. Dreadful, unspeakable things have happened to people who still somehow cultivate the ability to keep their hearts open and embrace their experience as their opportunity. Not all blessings feel blissful.

My dear teacher, Vanessa says "Life is not happening TO us, it is happening FOR us." I love how that flips the Victim mentality immediately. If everything is happening for our greatest good, our evolution, then turning to embrace it as gift serves the whole. This includes the Earth's journey, and all of us on it as the living body and consciousness of the Earth itself. This fits into the Jungian and Aboriginal ideas, that we are all dreaming one dream, and that every aspect of the dream is an aspect of ourselves. So, for starters let's stop victimizing ourselves on all levels. Let's command our sacred space-be peace, be love, be free. Perhaps easier said than done...maybe not. Another beloved mentor, River, always reminds me "you are at cause". At every moment, we have the opportunity to choose, Source our experience and command our sacred space-even if that starts with our Inner Space, no matter what the external circumstances.

As for shifting out of victimization tendencies, be on the look out for red flags that give it away. Mine include a pursing of the lips, furrowing of my brow, tightening my jaw, and a familiar emotional energy and mental configuration that go along with it. I utilize these cues and say to myself, "You are doing that thing!" Then, aware, I can make a choice to shift my inner reality, which often changes my experience of the outer one. This goes along with a willingness to rewire and reeducate myself and others, including making new agreements about how I roll.

Here's an interesting word play. We all know that a synonym for victim is martyr, but so is sufferer, babe in the woods and dupe. And did you know that the antonym to dupe is Cognizant? I love that. Cognizant is defined as aware, knowing, awake. What a perfect antidote to victimization, Cognizance. WAKE UP the moment you become aware of running a victim story about yourself or another and flip it into a choosing point, an empowerment (Sourcing your power). And last but not least, with it all, may we ride the currents of grace and gratitude.
Thanks so much for your poignant question!
One Love,
G

All Souls OM-Community Ritual at its Best!

The OM mantra is the eternal vibration of unity. It is considered the original sound of the Universe, the Supreme...and on November 8, hundreds of us at the All Souls Procession (the largest of its kind in the country)chanted OM together for an eternal moment that unified our energy and kicked off the evening festivities.

It was twilight on 4th Avenue in downtown Tucson, where thousands of people were gathered to march, dressed in outrageous costumes, carrying elaborate floats or humble photos of their beloveds, aligned for the intention of honoring All Souls. What better place to stage a One Love Alliance Flash Mob mission! Event producer and creator, Nadia, of Flam Chen, had sent an "OM" announcement out to all the "spirit dancers" marching in the procession, and had given us her blessing to attempt this orchestration of many voices making one sound. There was a cacophony of sound at the procession line up. Divergent conversations and energy mingled with jitters of anticipation. Then, at 5:55pm, Kenya's arm spiraled a start signal to our Batucaxe peeps and we began to sound the "OM"...the tones grew in depth and volume with every breath. Suddenly, the wave was flowing, and we were all bathed in the ocean of supreme unity. It was purely magical. Breathtaking and life giving all at once. And then a moment of silence, a pregnant void that lingered just long enough-and carried us right into a most smokin Brazilian percussive break calling the Batucaxe ensemble into a lively, infectious Samba Reggae groove and the start of the procession.

The next two hours, I danced in communion. I danced with my fellow band mates. I danced with the 20 thousand participants and spectators. I danced with the living, the dead, the seen and unseen beings. I danced in honor in what was a massive community ritual. I was honored to have the "All Souls OM" be among the many sacred, memorable moments of the evening. Special Thanks to Nadia, Cliff, Batucaxe, the One Love Alliance Members and Kenya, my partner in everything forever.

Were you at All Souls? Did you OM? Write and let us know! Stay tuned for our next Flash Mob "Mission Socks and Sandwiches" (for the Tucson Homeless).
Shanti OM! May Unity Ring!