Episode 6 Adventures with Charity Joy

Blessed Sunrise Training Kalaripayattu

After a lovely time in Vermont, I made my way back to the Hamptons, for more play, clients, and being with the water that I love so dear. After only a week I was headed on my next mini trip to a friends Kirtan festival, Bless Fest, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Back on the ferry to attend a full day reunion with friends I hadn’t seen in a few years.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field I'll meet you there.”

The trip was short and sweet. A ferry ride to Connecticut and met up with a friend, her daughter and a few others, and we all car pooled up. The land up in the mountains was green, lush and full of music, singing, laughter and storytelling. Eating home cooked Ayurvedic meals outside and exchanging stories of martial arts with an older friend. He showed me Wu-dang Tai Chi forms and I gave him an idea of the Kalaripayattu forms I have been studying the last two years. The sunset behind the mountains and the ceremony fire was lit and well tended while the singing and dancing continued. When all feel quiet and we said our goodbyes we headed back to Connecticut. I was out on the first ferry to Long Island and to my clients in Southampton by 10am.

In Long Island, I had a few weeks of full summer it was August, when the roads are jammed packed the towns are bustling and there is beauty all around. I lived in the Hamptons for six years and sometimes when you leave and come back your perspective shifts. I always knew what kept me on the east end, the beauty in nature. Between the ocean waves crashing, the sunsetting on the bay water or finding yourself in a nature preserve, I always made time to find that beauty surrounding me, even if the rest of the world seemed chaotic and imbalanced. Gearing up for another festival at the end August in Vermont this was the perfect moment of respite mixed with work and good friend moments.

Another adventure upon me as I boarded the Orient Point ferry. First stop was to see my dear friend Martha in Newport Rhode Island. Martha and I met in Antigua many years ago when she came to my yoga class. She sought me out for healing, Thai massage and once we even had the most hilarious paddle board adventure in Falmouth Harbor during the start of a regatta. Over the years we became quite close and we finally had an opportunity to spend some quality time together on this healing trip.

The fun did not stop in Newport. I headed up to Newburyport, Massachusetts to visit another wonderful friend Julie. We met a few years before at a Hanumen Kirtan Retreat in Maine. On the retreat she had painted my arms with flowers, dragonflies in many colors of the rainbow. We connected instantly. It was lovely staying and exploring that area of Massachusetts, especially Julie's mini herbal apothecary garden. Whilst writing this I am realizing how many amazing people I know all over the planet. I feel so blessed to be graced with such wonderful beings in my life. I met some of Julie’s amazing friends, put fairy hair in their hair and drank butterfly pea tea. Next stop Fairlee Vermont for Bhaktistock ( a yoga and kirtan festival).

This festival I set up a healing tent where I was offering Thai yoga massage, and hands on healing.. I camped out with my sister and her partner Carolyn in their RV for the weekend. Once I did one Thai massage, word spread fast, around the festival and I was booked non stop throughout the whole weekend. I did give myself a few hours of free time on Saturday to enjoy Sean Johnson’s Bhakti Yoga Class. Sean is one of my dear yoga and Bhakti teachers. We met a few years ago, and he is a true kindred soul. Being in the green mountains was especially a treat. It rained and the sun shone bright. We were blessed with the amazing yoga, devotional music an new friends. One woman I worked on, Sarah, owned a retreat center in Harmony New Jersey where I ended up a month later hosting a goddess gathering. The thing in life is you just never know how it will unfold. You can plan all you like, but at the end of the day the path leads us where we need to be. My wonderful friend Lisa from Maine showed up, and people were so grateful for the hands on healing I was offering. I could feel the body’s under my hands just thanking me for this loving kindness they were receiving. Did I mention how much I love what I do in this life. To be able to invite people to feel good and connected to their bodies is truly a gift from….. perhaps the goddess. Sometimes I feel I could go on and on with my tales, well I guess that is why I started this blog. It is also a great way for me to keep writing as I edit my memoirs. More on that later. We had an addition to the family on this adventure. Olive my sister got the bites puppy of all time, Citrine.

Citrine!

It’s ferry time, back to Long Island, where I had to sort, sift and organize my storage unit in preparation for a yard sale over Labor Day Weekend. It feels so good to get rid of what you are no longer `using. My friends Alex, Noah and I had a successful yard sale and I was booked with clients all weekend in between running the sale. The balance between friend time, nature and clients has become very easy with me. I know when to say yes and no, and my body is super grateful.

The month of September is the best in Hamptons, the traffic eases up, the locals relax and you feel like snuggling up with a book at the beach on the still quite warm days. I spent the month preparing for the next big journey. Packing up the truck, enjoying kundalini yoga classes, running into old friends, dancing at the music festivals, diving into indigenous culture and dance at the local powwow held at the Shinnecock Reservation land, and having space to train Kalaripayattu as often as possible. Oh and of course celebrating the fall equinox by helping my friends harvest harvest and harvest more vegetables. Green beans, purple beans, yellow beans, broad bean. potatoes, beets, carrots, arugula, lettuce, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, indigenous corn, and probably more that I’m just not recalling. What a joy to dig into Mother Earth and be gifted with all this amazing food to nurture myself and friends with.

Annual Pow Wow at Shinnecock Nation Rservation

Harvesting Days

With a few seeds planted in the Hampotns to return next year, to create wellness programs and assist people in finding that joy within. It was time to get on the road with a few gigs booked in New Jersey and Philly, the truck packed to go, my goodbyes for now complete.

The first stop, the Harmony Mountain House, spreading magic to the the local women through a beautiful goddess gathering, exploring the mountainous region and meeting more like minded beauties. How did I get so lucky?

Harvest Goddess Gathering!

What magic are bringing to fruition. I again thank you for reading my adventures. See you all very soon.

Blessed BE