a tender place

I was drawn to a short video on social media that featured Les Filles de Illighadad. They are a female musical group of Tuareg musicians restoring a traditional style of music called Tende. I immediately sought out more of their music. In listening, in short order, I was transported into a liminal space. Liminal meaning to the threshold or edge of my being. A sense of being on the edge physically, emotionally or spiritually or all of the above. While this is not the first time music has moved me in this way, it is the first time I could see so clearly the universal nature of liminal space. Universal in the sense that I was able, within the liminality, to see the endless creative paths that welcome us to the edge of our being.

Later, I did a web search. A music review came up from 2019 from the New Yorker - The Heavy, Meditative, and Tender Music of Les Filles de Illighadad. In the article, the reviewer Amanda Petrusich described the music as “mesmeric, almost prayer-like, which can leave an audience agog.” Agog means, for curious readers like myself, full of intense interest or excitement. This was my experience. I felt an intensity but also a sense of spaciousness, a sense of peace. Another quote from the review shares that “If you listen long enough, and make yourself open enough, it is possible to reach a kind of holy place while experiencing Les Filles. The edges of your consciousness will blur a little. The road will stop seeming so straight.” It's like a textbook description, if such things existed in textbooks, of a liminal experience. It was affirming to know how this music, live or recorded, could bring human beings to a place, communally or alone, where an expanded notion of reality can be experienced. And to be able to do so with a clarity of mind.

For those of you who are reading my newsletters or blogs there is an experience I shared in April - Spirit in the Forest - I am called to recount again. In the essay I describe an experience of being in oneness in the forest at the treehouse and having hundreds of lights appear before me. A mystical experience within the liminality of place and intent. An inner space built upon a deep and intentional connection within the forest at Simplicity Farm.

In my work practicing and teaching Daoyin, the liminal plays a significant role. The difference being that I am teaching my students how to engage and practice within themselves in ways that Les Filles is bringing to life through their music. To blur the edges of consciousness as we navigate the road before us in order to see through a softer lens. To know ourselves and the road beyond the limitations of the intellect. While any form of meditation can bring us to our edges, in Daoyin the liminal or sacred element is an integral part of the practice. To step beyond a path fraught with dogma or doctrines. To know ourselves as the sacred element. And rather than sharing it musically, it is a practice shared interactively through the breath, a depth of verbal/energetic/emotional interaction and soul writing. Through a lens where Healing & Growth is the centerpiece. It is how we practice life. And in doing so, the what, where and when arrives through how we practice life.

A practice where being well-rested, steeped in presence and willing to let go into the inner quiet of wisdom. A sacred space, dare I say element within us, that exists within each moment whether we are aware or not. When we are not aware, we still experience the echo of our Soul’s voice. A reminder of what’s possible when we allow for the impossible or the irrational to exist in our lives.

To learn more about being your own sacred element, check out my book, podcast, and as well, a music video by Les Filles: