My Week In Idaho

Last week I flew to Idaho to teach a retreat and see some lovely people I know there. The retreat was in Lava Hot Springs area--but really it was in the middle of nowhere in a little inn that used to be a school house. After a nagging feeling like I needed to go to Idaho, I literally planned it in two days with the help of some great students/friends who had some generous hookups on air fare, helped me find a location, and helped me find a chef.

The quirky little inn was decorated kind of like grandma's house--which was kind of retro-chic. But the school gym, where we did kundalini yoga and meditation, was a pretty ugly space when I got there. But by some miracle, Mandy Williams had moved just a few miles from there 3 weeks before. Mandy is not only an awesome photographer, but she also packed up her car with all kinds of pillows and fabric and frames and pictures and mirrors, cinder blocks, plywood, and other odds and ends. With help from some early arrivals we transformed the space in an hour. 

That stage is made of cinder blocks, plywood and sheets. The backdrop is an overturned ping pong table with fabric draped over it. There is a basketball hoop over my head with fabric cascading out of it. I'm not usually the kind of blogger who swoons over fabric (at least not in this forum) but I do appreciate beauty of spaces, and in this case I had very little control. I could only pack my clothes... But God provided a way. 

He also provided a sound system and a microphone. Woot! Woot! And it may count as a miracle that I found a really amazing vegan/raw food chef who cooked us lacto-vegetarian meals that kind of blew everyone's hair back. Hello pumpkin miso soup in a pumpkin. Raw keylime pie? Yes please. 

I'm waiting for more pictures, but here are few Mandy sent me that kinda rock my world. I know a lot of photographers, but she has a way with light. And light is what it's all about right?

This field was right across the street from the inn. 

In one of the rooms at the Inn.

After the retreat most of us drove over to Grace, Idaho to watch the RS Broadcast. I wish I had pictures of this. Everyone was so radiant. After all that elevation we were ready for more. Someone asked me at the retreat if I ever listen to hymns at home. I have to admit I rarely do. I mostly listen to Kundalini mantras. In fact, my daughter thinks Long Time Sun is a primary song and tried to ask the chorister to play it a few weeks ago. She was very confused why it wasn't in the book. But one thing that I have noticed since meditation has become a huge part of me is that I like signing in church much more--not all the hymns, but some of them. And at the RS broadcast I realized that the two songs we sang were the songs that have been unconsciously going around in my head for months: I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go, Dear Lord, and More Holiness Give Me. I could barely get through them. The combined global sound current was so amazing my heart was bursting. I now understand that line in that one song...about how God hears the songs we cannot sing.  

I stayed in Idaho for a few more days and went to a Gift of Giving Life book party in Rigby hosted by Mrs. Rigby and some other lovely ladies. It was awesome. It was the first party we have done that was a lunch and where kids were running around all over. It was a wild. It reminded me of my mommy and me yoga classes. The moms would be meditating and the kids would be cycloning around them, the eyes of the storm. The stories shared at this party were amazing. I forget sometimes what an amazing book I was part of writing. When I started writing it I just hoped that one or two women might read it and have a better birth experience. I'm so happy that thousands of women have read it now. And I hope they continue to share. 

But I have to say one of my favorite parts of our trip was staying with Robyn. Though we wrote a book together and knew each other in heaven, I haven't spent that much real one on one time with her in real life. It was fun cuddling with her bab(ies) jumping on her trampoline, eating with the family, and our Idaho corn maze adventure, though it left me bruised, was a great memory. I was happy that I got to bring Phoebe with me. 

I already miss everyone.