We are the Change

March 2008

All my life, I have been an educator; however, last fall I was faced with a difficult choice—to continue as a classroom teacher or to pursue advanced training in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy to help heal my mind, body and spirit.  For the first time in my life, I allowed the choice to come from deep within the essence of my being instead of being ruled by fear.  I left my stable job (yes, with retirement and summers off) to do what I knew in my heart I needed to do.  

My journey has involved listening to my heart and finding out who I am.  It has taken time for the chatter to quiet down.  And in the silence of “not doing” I have begun to know what I feel.  As a result, similar to Eckart Tolle, I have allowed time for the birthing of my life’s purpose.  I don’t have all the answers, yet, but today I know that I am an educator who is “doing whatever it takes to lead, inspire and support all students to be successful lifelong learners” and I am journeying to the heart of education.  

I know that I have a role to play in helping provide adults who work with youth the professional development they need to truly heal their hearts so that they can create the safe space for learning to be birthed in the classrooms of our youth.  I believe that it is time for our nation’s schools to begin focusing on the “root” instead of continuing to count the “fruit.”  I have been blessed with birthing a program that will “be the change” we want to see in our educational system and I would be honored to share what I have with you.    

Prior to March 22, 2008, I had not followed the 2008 Presidential Campaign.  However, I had heard that Oprah was supporting Barack and that he was for “change.”  As a registered Independent, I often don’t tune into the political rhetoric until the November election.  Instead of feeling pressure to vote along a party line, I have always wanted the freedom to vote with my “heart.”  However, upon returning home Friday afternoon and getting the morning paper out of my mailbox expecting I might see a movie, I was moved from within after reading the headline that Obama was in Salem for a ticketed event and would be speaking that night in Eugene. 

I questioned if Eugene was where I needed that afternoon on my morning walk.  By the time I arrived home, I knew that I was needed in Eugene.  I also knew that I would be in the front row and shake Barack’s hand.  How did I know?  I could feel, sense and see a visceral picture of information land in the clear brilliance of my diamond heart.  I now call that space my internal compass.  A one of a kind GPS created just for me and my journey to the heart of matter that allows me to navigate the unknown with ease and grace.

When I arrived to Eugene, I found the longest line I had ever seen.  After weaving through thousands of kind souls and receiving some caring coaching, I found the end of the two lines that had formed.  Although many had come with friends, I came solo with the intention of giving and receiving all that was in for the highest good.  I had grown comfortable with silence for I was truly breathing in the entire experience.  I could feel the warmth of love surround me.  I had never seen a presidential candidate before and my “inner knowing” kept telling me that this was a pivotal experience.  I had grown beyond the need to know how I knew, I just knew.  I could feel deep within my heart the eternal importance of the vision Obama was sharing on the campaign trail and I knew in my heart that my Presence in that field that day was an investment in eternity.

The line began to move slowly and those nearby began to talk.  I continued observing in silence—just feeling the energy—mine as it continued to grow and grow and others as it merged with my Divine  energy field.  On a couple of occasions, I offered a brief phrase or two to add to the conversations nearby, but my main engagement was feeling the experience.  After moving around a portion of the soccer field, I noticed a fortune cookie paper lay number side up on the sidewalk.  I reached down to pick it up feeling the message was for me to find.  “Today will be lucky and memorable for you.”  I laughed out loud with a sense of gratitude that left a quiet smile on my face.

As I continued following my place in line, the near seven foot tall handsome young man with the sandy brown hair from Corvallis asked what I did in Salem.  I explained I was a student in Yoga Therapy and he shared that he worked with solar energy.  We continued in line another hour and a half with brief conversation as I was truly feeling the energy that surrounded me.  As people around began to question if we would get into the stadium, I knew we would see Obama from the front row.

When the entry doorway was visible, having followed the line like a snake around the entire perimeter of the soccer field, we got the message that the stadium was full and that Barack would be making a brief appearance on the soccer field.  With this message those remaining in the line split off in many directions.  I headed to the soccer field—the place our line had begun.  As I weaved through the line to find a clear path, I noticed the same tall man nearby.  When I arrived at the soccer field to find a spot in the front, there he stood next to me just behind the rope barricade.

We waited for nearly 30 minutes for Obama to appear, all the while I was truly feeling the energy within and around the crowd becoming ONE.  I chose to speak sparingly as I was in such a feeling space.  As time passed, standing room became tight.  With polite impatience, there was no personal space available.  It was as if all had melded into one united field of energy.  The field of energy was getting even more intense as it merged even more with our physical bodies crammed together.  The crisp, cold night under the artificial lights had grown warmer in the mass ball of united energy.  In fact, the tall man in just a t-shirt commented that he was no longer cold.  The day had slumbered almost arriving to dusk. 

Similar to the energy I felt at the Museum of Tolerance at the Freedom Writers teacher training, I could feel the resonance of the energy of the tall man align with my field.  It was if our souls resided in the same vibrational location and were in comfort being physically near one another.  As we waited, the tall man made another comment, “I should have done my yoga this morning ‘cause I’m feeling it now.”  The energy I felt continued to grow.  It was as if he and I had merged our energies and were illuminating the entire soccer field as channels for the Divine love that encircled us.  I stood breathing in the powerful energy and breathing out love to all those attending.  As I closed my eyes, I witnessed an experience powerful beyond measure without words to fully describe.

When Obama arrived, he spoke for several minutes—words that my soul longed to hear from a leader.  Before entering the large black SUV and departing to the front doors of the stadium, the presidential candidate cruised the barricade to shake hands.  When he arrived with a clutch of security officers in front of the yellow rope near my waste, I held out my right hand.  

Barack reached for my right hand and shook it as he reached with his left hand to shake the tall young man’s hand.  In that moment, time stopped as Obama's hands were tied across his chest in a double handshake.  In a split second, I made direct eye contact with Obama while channeling the loving energy that had filled the night air and clearly stated, “WE are the Change” emphasizing each work with a shake of the hand.  Barack’s eyes glared back to me with a look of shock.  I could feel a current of  energy flow like electricity through the three of us.  It was as if Obama was the conduit of a very powerful charge that emphasized the "WE" in change.  

Yes.  That spring day in March 2008, I was just where I needed to be.  Days later, there was an unshakable inner knowing that Barack Obama would be elected as the next president of the United States of America.  And, my heart knows that WE ARE THE CHANGE!  beyond any one leader or elected official.

Genius Silenced

On Monday, September 22, 2014, I returned from Ashland, Oregon having attended and co-facilitated a session entitled, "What Would Love Do Now?" at the Holistic Teaching and Learning Conference. The night before our session, the still small voice within prompted me to sign up to share a song with those who had gathered for open mic night. This was my first time for such a vulnerable experience. Since 2007, I have been walking a passionate journey to re-member the genius gifts I have come to share. As a result, I have written, revised, revised, re-worked, printed, bound and shared many versions of a Vision of Peace and Prosperity that includes components similar to those found in a traditional Business Plan.

After seven years of advanced studies in transcendent technologies in a school without walls,  or known curriculum, content standards, or course statements, I declared that I was ready to share my unique soul signature. I am here to IGNITE FIRES OF REMEMBRANCE in ways that inspire others to embrace the priceless genius they have come to share--no matter how far out there they may seem.

Below is the story I shared that night. . .well, the part that can be translated into the written word.

"I love my first-grade teacher. She saw me. She made school such fun that I wanted to go to school everyday. I think one of the things I enjoyed most was when we sat with her on the orange carpet for circle time. She would pull out her guitar and we would sing along to songs like, "You are My Sunshine."

On Saturday mornings when I would watch one of my favorite shows, I missed my teacher. I can't remember the name of the show, I just remember that at the beginning of each show, a funny dressed woman would look through her very large magnifying glass and she would see you. Well, not me. Every Saturday, I watched and waited for her to see me. She would see Johnny and Bill. Sue and Nancy and many others. But she never saw me.

I love my first-grade teacher. She saw me. One day in circle time, before we had a chance to sing along, my teacher pulled out a big black vinyl record and placed it on the player. When she gently placed the diamond needle on the vinyl, the song played through. My soul knew the song. Even though the words didn't make sense because they weren't English, I knew the song. Years later I learned that the sound she was playing on the record was opera.

Well, that day in circle time, I tried to impress my teacher and do my best because I loved her so much. I loved our time singing together in circle. So, when she put away the record player and got out her guitar, we started singing, "You are my sunshine." As she strummed the melody, I sang along in the only way my soul knew. With each line of the song, I carried the tone like I had just heard from the record.

In the middle of the second verse, my teacher stopped the song.  She stopped the guitar. And, she looked straight at me, and exclaimed, "Will whoever is doing that, please stop!" And that's what I did. I stopped singing, for nearly forty years. I even mouthed the words to "Happy Birthday."  I stopped singing for nearly forty years. I shared with the audience that it wasn't until just a few years before that I learned that the unique genius I have to offer the world is through the vibrational frequency that emanates from the sound of my voice.

It has been quite journey. In fact, it wasn't until the Spring of 2006, when I was teaching a high school business and management class, that I was called to sing. During class, every Friday we would have an opportunity to practice our impromptu speaking. The class was a group of leaders who ran the high school branch of the credit union and competed at Future Business Leaders of America. I helped them to hone their speaking skills. Each week, one student would choose a thought-provoking question. That week in 2006, the thought-provoking question was, "What is your biggest fear?"

Each student stood up and shared. As always when the circle came around to me, I, too, shared. That day, I acknowledged in front of an entire class of students that my biggest fear was singing. After the bell ended class, one of the seniors that had been in my classes all four years, called me on the carpet.  She graciously exclaimed, "Wait a minute. Why is it that you are making us face our fear each week, and you're not facing yours?" In that moment, I didn’t' have an answer. What she asked was true. Nearly two thirds of class shared that their biggest fear was speaking in front of people and I was asking them to do just that each week.

That student asked me another thought-provoking question that I pondered over the next several weeks. And when the day came to celebrate our graduating seniors in what we called our Senior Send Off, I finally chose to face my biggest fear, with the help of my students.  During that class, I sang. . .Row. Row. Row your boat. . .in rounds. One time all the way through, alone with three groups singing joining together in rounds. It may sound simple for some.  However, it was quite the feat for me as my singing voice had been shut down for nearly forty years.  For four decades, I even mouthed the words to "Happy Birthday."  Singing in class that day was terrifying.

Today, I know that my voice is the genius gift I have come to share with the world. Even though I'm still living into what it truly means, tonight, I offer you my unique Gift of Love, and allow my unique heart song to play through the Language of Light* that flows through me from God into the Heart of Matter.

This drawing was produced by an anonymous artist and posted on the sharing wall at the Holistic Teaching and Learning Conference the morning after Deborah shared her story and Light Language transmission on stage during the open mic.

www.HeartListen.com

*The Language of Light transcends all other languages formed on the earth plane and is without translation. It speaks directly to the soul--the Heart of Matter. There are some whose gift it is to illustrate Light Language through symbols of color, line and form. Deborah O. Baker is fluent in speaking, signing, and singing Light Language.

Marian's Garden - From Blue Bud to Pink Blossom

The Sanctuary became the Chalice for the blossoming of Marian's Garden.  Marian's Garden is not just an ordinary garden for it has been evolving for eons.  Situated within the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona between the mystical vortices of energy of Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and the Twin Buttes, The Garden and the Chapel of Divine Magic is nestled by sacred grounds and has been fully charged with Divine Light with the help of many.

The continued evolution of Marian's Garden beyond what has been shared in Parts 1 and 2 is not to be read.  Rather, it must be experienced.  When we meet face to face, heart to heart and soul to soul, the soil becomes fertile for this sacred sharing.

Until then, InJOY the Journey. . .