Rise Festival we attended last year was definitely one of them. (blog post from last year here) I am so grateful that we were able to attend the event again this past weekend with our close friends.
For us... this event marked time as "year". Growing, dreaming... and most importantly... healing takes time for all of us. Coming "home" to RISE Festival was very much like marking a gentle impression in our time. It gave us a chance to acknowledge many many things that have changed, shifted and grew in our life.
The experience starting from our hike through the desert... all the way to letting the very last lantern together. We were there. Breathing in the moment.
I so appreciated our little ones were old enough this year to be able to experience the night with us. (last year... they were sleeping on the desert floor after the first unison release) They took their lanterns very seriously. Each of them drawing stories, shapes, and patterns that were important to them. Right after the very first release in unison, Satchi and her friend Maxine were jumping and giggling. So much joy. They helped with many lanterns to be lifted in the sky throughout the evening and made sure that their own lanterns were let go with warm lights in them.
I had a lot of hopes going into the event.
I was hoping to connect with Marty and Norm's spirits there as well as Shep's... Also to send positive energy to friends and families who have been going through "life" and to experience the power of unison... when many many other lanterns were lifted with just as many hopes and prayers embedded in them. I love that each lantern takes time to expand with warm heat. We can't release a lantern all by ourselves... When we couldn't lift our lanterns in the first try, we chased after them and tried and tried until they were safely up in the sky... and gave each other a big high-five. Sometimes we helped total strangers around us to catch their half floating lantern and gave extra lifts. It's such a perfect metaphor for life... that we can't lift our life all by ourselves. It takes a village to live this life.
Now we are back home... I am hoping that we will keep our inner lights with us. To keep lighting the sky with many hopes, dreams, and positive energy. And to remember what matters in life.
cheers to our RISE family... Angie, Mia, Sandy, Mary, Andy, Maxine and Will... and of course. Frido, Satchi and Coco. I am so incredibly thankful to lift our lives together:)
always + forever,
-wakako
A combination of photographs and clips from my footage as well as Mary and Angie.
Rise Festival 2016 from Baum-Kuchen on Vimeo.
