Ecstatic Dance with Chris Berry

On Wednesday we hosted ecstatic dance; Thursday night we banged the floor to Chris Berry’s live drums (and when the deluge recommenced we danced in the rain and hollered to the heavens); on Friday night a stream of gentle visitors cuddled up for exquisite West African harp with Youssoupha Sidibe talking story, who is just pure love; on Saturday we hosted a live looping concert… and this morning is our sacred Sunday song ceremony…. It will keep going this week, with a wheel of consent workshop and edance and medicine songs…the beautiful swirl of being alive.

Yesterday, many of the 20 or so people who live and/or work at Sundari spent a good part of the day talking about the container we’re making, the systems and beauty to live together well, with food independence and clean power resources, while supporting the hundreds of people who come through each week to enjoy practice and dance and music and courses and the spa. We are a yoga studio, an events center, a farm, a community, a botanic garden, a healing space, an edge encourager….it’s a lot. We serve a lot of expressions and needs, and are in a period of refinement.

One thing I’ve noticed over the many years creating this place is that there is a shadow side to passion, which is righteousness. There is no one way. Some people grow in gentleness, some thrive in fierceness, most need a combination of driven expression and sanctuary. Some people are intellectuals, process people, strategists… others thrive in the body in just doing things, being simple. Some like the soil others like the music others like the dance some dig it all. We need all the gifts. And during our community day, that was on full display: respectful, humble, curious, gifted, willing. Whether it’s a month on the land, a year or 5 years, the people make the place. The dance of the elements, the creative energy of humans and capital weaves through each person who comes here.

Right now we have representatives from 6 countries, from a 7 year old to a 67 year old, dogs and cats and chickens and ducks.

There are challenges. Boundaries and agreements. Infrastructure. Taking care of ourselves and our own needs. Meeting the days unexpected crises/opportunities. Remembering to soften.

I feel protective of this place, and also unattached. I don’t know what it wants to be, it’s an emergent creature. A collective body changed continually by its constituent parts.

And it’s pretty great right now.