Farm Fresh December 2020: A New Song, Socially Distanced Dances

Farm Fresh News - December 2020

In this issue:

We Can Heal the World
The Story of Ilan Shamir
Socially Distanced Dances
Bikes for Kids

Dear Friends,

We Can Heal Ourselves, We Can Heal the World, is a beautiful offering written by my good friend Bernie Heideman. I learned the song from Bernie during a Dances of Universal Peace Camp February 2020 in Mexico, just before COVID. It struck a chord with me in the days and weeks leading up to the shutdown, and I believe we need its message now more than ever.

Bernie's original version had a chorus of Ya Shafi, Ya Kafi, two of the 99 names for the Divine in Arabic which mean, "O Healer, O Protector." As I played and sang the song with friends, I thought, "If this is a song for the world, then it would be cool to bring in more languages from around the world." Thank you always Bernie for your beautiful heart. Thanks to Helga Schleeh for adding flute and Marc for recording her.

Many thanks to the DUP community for welcoming me into the circle. Click here to watch the video and hear the song.

Peace on Earth,
Douglas

More about moving to the community and visiting

Vickie who manages our Welcome Center is your first point of contact for information about moving to the community and visiting. She emails out a Visitor Packet to you and is assembling a database of people who want to visit or would like to move here once things open back up. Contact her at Vickie@thefarmcommunity.com

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Socially Distanced Dances

I want to share with you all what we’ve been up to regarding the Dances of Universal Peace. We had 3 socially distanced dance gatherings in November. Fortunately, here on The Farm we have lots of room and an ideal setting, using a flat area we often use for outdoor concerts. Myself and a bass player are up on the stage, with amplifiers for our instruments and I use a microphone for my voice so I can project out to the circle.

The dancers are out in front of the stage positioned about 20 feet apart like the numbers on a clock or the signs of the Zodiac. The group is small, 12 people or less.

With partner dances, each person does the moves as if they were standing in front of their partner, facing them from a distance. Instead of trading places, each person turns in place, rotating to face their corner/new partner. A third option is to have a partner across the circle or face the center.

The solo/meditative dances are easier to coordinate.

For the Zikr type dances, we place the arms crossed on the chest, hands on the shoulders, in Sufi prayer mudra. We bow to the left, bow to the right, then bow and sway stepping right. Next we bow to the right, then left, swaying left, so that you essentially stay in place. Our circle is large enough so that you can also take a couple steps in and back without feeling compromised.

Folks arrive masked, but for the most part we are sufficiently distanced and with a breeze outside we are comfortable without masks while in the circle. Some keep their mask in place.

As we enter Decemberrr it has turned cold, so we will wait to dance again when things warm up.

Of course, we miss the sound of our voices together, but for now, folks appreciate that we can come together to hear and sing the songs, and go through the movements, which are powerful unto themselves. When we start again, I plan to set up 2-3 more microphones so other singers and instruments (flute and violin) can project their sound to the dancers.

In the meantime, Deborah and I have purchased an RV and are leaving soon to travel south and explore the national forests of Florida, hiking and kayaking while avoiding the crowds. We’ll be back on The Farm February - April for some midwifery work, and then plan to head west, hopefully to do some socially distanced music and dance with y’all!

Peace be with you! Be safe! Be well! Take care of each other!

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The Story of Illan Shamir - Advice from Nature

One of the true joys of my journey with Dances of Universal Peace, has been making so many new friends and meeting interesting people from all over the world. A person with a particularly interesting story is Ilan Shamir. Back in the 70s when many of us were going hippie, Ilan, or Scott Alyn as he was known then, left college and went straight into the world of corporate advertising. Tapping into the creativity of the counterculture and looking at things in a new way, he was a key contributor to the wildly successful original Uncola campaign for 7UP and later went on to design candy for Willy Wonka Confections.

Scott was able to ride that success for quite a few years, managing advertising campaigns for many of the heavy hitters in the corporate world. But it all crashed in the early 90s with a series of crises both at work and in his personal relationships.

Shaken to his core, Scott flew over to Europe, and eventually to Iceland, going on a 40 day solo walkabout across remote Iceland. It was on this trip that he had an epiphany, an awakening, making a deeper connection with nature. Returning home to the US, he set up shop in an old airplane hanger in Oregon, producing Greeting Seeds...greeting cards with a plantable gift of seeds. He had struck a chord and the business proved to be 20 million cards successful! I personally remember receiving one of these as a gift. It was at this time that Scott changed his name to Ilan Shamir, which means “protector of the trees.”

Life continued. Ilan remembers, "When I managed to get outside, my problems seemed smaller and life seemed much greater. I went up to this old Cottonwood tree and leaned against its bark to ask for advice. It shared with me its beautiful wisdom. "Stand tall and proud... Be content with your natural beauty... go out on a limb!" This advice from a tree and simplicity of nature began to smooth out the complexities and challenges I faced."

Advice from a Tree, Advice from a River, Advice from a Mountain and hundreds more. No doubt you’ve come across these at some point in your life. Check them out at https://advice-forlife.com

He followed this unique perspective in all directions, showing that every part of nature has something to teach us.

Advice for Life now has over 2000 products, and can be found in the gift shops of most National Parks and stores of every kind. Ilan is now retired, and the company is in the capable hands of his daughter Laurel, which has become one of his greatest rewards in life.

Ilan began sharing his stories and insights first to kindergartners, which led to becoming a keynote speaker at corporate events. But perhaps even more rewarding for him, has been to work with people one on one.

A Zoom session with Ilan Shamir

"Blessings are a unique, insightful and practical blend of healing, ceremony and nature connection that aids you in creatively finding the flow around the obstacles you are facing, fans the flames of hope and bring back into balance and well-being. I bring a unique and insightful blend of healing, ceremony, nature connection, adventure, creativity and business. These very different and powerful modalities combine in service to you and humanity. My background and experiences encompass such a broad range and give me both the spiritual and practical tools to assist you."

"He has a way of connecting to the heart of issues in my life where I need direction. I found the virtual experience to be amazingly powerful!"

If you seek guidance, some aid in reflection, or simply desire an opening experience on your life path, consider going to his website and scheduling a blessing with Ilan. He's a good dude.

https://www.ilanshamir.com/ https://www.yourtruenature.com/

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Bikes for Kids - an update on Kids To The Country

Unable to bring kids out of the city to the country on The Farm this summer due to Covid-19, Kids To The Country decided to bring a little country to the city. Thanks to all of our donors, we are also able to buy 50 bikes for these same kids. So 2020 can still have blessings for KTC kids! — Thanks especially to Sara Jean Schweitzer (photo credits) of Be a Helping Hand (North Nashville non profit providing affordable housing to area residents are featured below getting their bikes). Sara was instrumental in coordinating the logistics of the Nashville purchase and delivery. The other recipients of bikes are the kids of the Safe Haven Family Shelter for the Homeless.

https://kidstothecountry.org/ kidstothecountry@gmail.com www.plenty.org/donate
Mary Ellen Bowen, KTC Director

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Peace,

Douglas

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com