Prepare to be enchanted, uplifted and healed by my friend Drukmo Gyal Dakini's beautiful voice. Her new CD "The Tibetan Voice of Purification" has just been released and it is incredible.  I can't wait for more people to discover her amazing voice.  And, I'm thrilled to mention that Dakini sings on my CD as well. We're so blessed to have her on the "Beyond the Beyond" team. 

Please "like" her artist page on Facebook and share news of her CD launch to help spread the world about this up-and-coming vocalist and healer. May all beings benefit!

Here is Dakini's website:
http://tibetdakini.wix.com/dragonmusic

Here is her Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/%E0%BD%A0%E0%BD%96%E0%BE%B2%E0%BD%B4%E0%BD%82%E0%BD%98%E0%BD%BC%E0%BD%A2%E0%BE%92%E0%BE%B1%E0%BD%A3-Drukmo-Gya/530315830329008

I spent much of my Valentine's Day yesterday at the animal shelter doing energy work with the dogs. Mostly I just sat with them in a state of compassion. Sometimes it can be tender and almost painful to be in such a chaotic setting with an open heart. So when one of the dogs I was sitting with (a very large ridgeback/cur mix) started to cry, I started to cry as well. It can be so easy as a human in a crazy world to go into a state of feeling helpless and believing that we are unable to change anything. But the good thing about being a yogi and having a spiritual practice is that those practices help us remember that we can always tap into the power of prayer. So I kept singing mantras to the crying dog and praying for her happiness and telling her that I was with her. That she was not alone. Soon, she quieted and then all the dogs in the kennel room quieted. Something shifted. I'm not saying that "I" did anything or made something happen, but it's amazing to witness the energy of prayer in action. A few hours later that sweet, giant dog was adopted on the spot. I watched her hop into a family's car with her tail wagging and I heard someone say "good girl."

 
So...I think of one of my Buddhist teachers saying: "in a crazy world, the only thing that makes sense is compassion." I am so grateful for that teaching.

I've been re-reading Joseph Campbell​, who includes Chief Seattle's  beautiful letter to the American government is his book "The Power of Myth."  Chief Seattle's words are really worth reading again. And again. 

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? 

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family. 

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father. 

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother. 

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. 

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. 

One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. 

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. 

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us. 

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. 

One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."