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Spring Newsletter 2003 Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. - Albert Einstein
Writing notes only when necessary to communicate was instructive. When I shared this with my neighbor, she asked me, “How old is Halley?” Seems she was shocked that someone so young, would be so inventive. Being sixteen is stereotyped as a time when such deep self-discovery largely comes through competition (E.g. sports vis-à-vis accidents) and dating (the crushes and other blows to the ego). But for a youngster to purposefully deprive themselves in order to deepen an appreciation for wholeness is a new idea. For many teenagers, there is too much distraction from the inner experience. If attending school, there is the push toward achievement and the social realities that can be more of a focus than academics. Careers must be prepared for and many teens also already work to contribute to their families livelihood. The teen years are for learning how to serve and make moves toward interdependence, rather than dependence on their parents. Yet without ample time to be still, and look within, is it no wonder that so many young adults feel lost – adrift far from the shores of their own soul? The anchor for teens may come in many forms. For Halley, it’s yoga. When invited to partake during a party of unhealthy substances, she declined easily. Her friends tried to persuade her, even declaring that peer pressure works. However Halley said that she does yoga, and the Tree pose is one she does well. She went on to explain that when doing the Tree pose, others around you may sway or even fall over. However with focus on one point, Halley discovered that she could stay balanced amidst her falling peers. In early May, Jeannine and Halley teach yoga at the Yoga Sadhana Academy (See Event/Tour Schedule) in Indianapolis, IN. Later at the end of June, they fly to British Columbia, Canada, to teach yoga again. In the middle of these two events, they may teach yoga at the beginning of Laura Shanley’s Sensual Dance Class during the California Association of Midwives Conference in Santa Rosa May 31st. (See EVENT/TOUR Schedule)
The night before the CAM Conference begins there is a BENEFIT that we hope you will attend in Rohnert Park, CA. The Nature of Birth How Birth Shapes Our Earth Thursday, May 29, 7-10:30pm The Cooperage @ Sonoma State An evening of passionate exploration into the connections between our birth experiences and our social, environmental, and economic policies. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Booths and food by local artisans and organizations. Featuring renowned authors Suzanne Arms, Rahima Baldwin and Jeannine Parvati Baker Musical performance by Copper Wimmin Special guest Marilyn Milos from NOCIRC
Proceeds to benefit the Sutter Family Practice Doula Program and The Childbirth Awareness Project Students and seniors with ID $10 in advance, $12 at the door General admission $15 in advance, $18 at the door Tickets available at Copperfield's Books or by calling (707) 519-0797
Julia Steils Full Circle Massage and Doula Services julia@fullcirclehealing.org Here is what Quinn just wrote, printed in the wonderful zine, The Commie Mommie, edited by Hygieia student Kim Upton of KY.
Quinn A. Baker lives in Joseph and Moab, Utah. He is a homeschooled teen in a family of six and needless to say, his parents, Jeannine Parvati and Rick Baker are quite proud of their son.
What is Freedom? © Quinn A. Baker Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ -- what these and many other inspiring people in history knew, is that war for any reason not only kills millions but also does not bring an end to terror. We can't hide behind "justice". We can't just say, "Hey you give up your weapons" and not give up our own. We may think that after a war everything will be business as usual, but the truth is that the rest of the world will forever remember the way the US government turned the September 11th attack into a reason to kill more people. No one deserves to die -- not Americans and not Iraqis. As for the brave men and women going to fight for us -- yes, they are doing what they think is right -- but think about it. What is freedom? Is it stealing? Is it murder? Is it lying? I think freedom is the pursuit of happiness, liberty, and most of all the right to live. In closing, I wish all who read this to look at what you feel is in life's best interest.
Here is another column that Quinn wrote to be printed in the wonderful magazine The Commie Mommie | 476 Whitledge Lane | Sheperdsville KY 40165
What is Freedom 2 The Roots of War © Quinn A. Baker
What is it about war that is so appealing? I can’t tell you what you think -- all I can do is give my unique perspective. What I trace it back to inside my own being is, fear – fear. When I am afraid it’s like nothing else matters because it’s only in that state can I ever justify sacrificing others or myself. I have learned in these last eighteen years just by having a whole, healthy birth, and childhood, with two very supportive parents, so I could never in any other state than fear do anything aggressive against anyone even myself. How you may wonder a male, eighteen years old, would chose to do no harm and let life be all the time? I’ll tell you -- my parents respected the fact that I am a conscious being. They knew life is not to be owned, censored, or hurt. So you’re disturbed by something unthinkable, then your first response is to vocalize your feelings. Now three things could happen. Your mommy or daddy might make you stop crying and you don’t get to feel your feelings fully. But let’s say you’re left alone to cry and after you’re done you don’t say anything. Usually kids will not say anything until someone asks. If you let it go into your unconscious, it will affect you without you being aware you felt this way. The last is when anyone says the three greatest words to a dialog: What’s the matter? You talk about what you’re feeling and if they are willing to sit and listen to you for a few minutes, you’re left with a feeling of being understood and safe. Fear is very powerful. It can fuel hate, misconceptions, jealousy, and lead to rage, aggression, and vengeance. So I think the only thing to do is as my Mother says, “Heal the earth by healing birth”. In other words look after the young, give them your attention, patience, and above all, your love and acceptance.
From a correspondent in the 'bible belt':
I had just quoted this same "thought" to my teens (as they had seen the film 8 Mile recently). Didn't know that it was originally from a "Bible Belt" writer, though. If s/he lives in the Bible Belt, then I must live in the Bible Under Garment District -- for here is the shadow side of Christianism being displayed with "Kill the enemy" (contrary to Jesus' advice) and the big rallies for deployment, support and now the return of soldiers: All the flag waving here is like airing Fear’s dirty linen in public. Nevertheless I keep washing our laundry and hanging out prayer flags for peace in the sun.
I have been rattling the local community with my pro-peace, loving letters to the editor. Around here, John Wayne videos rent more often than any other. Opened up a can of worms in this little Republican, patriotic community and in the words of one WW2 veteran who wrote to the Richfield Reaper in response to my letters, "I'm one of those worms comin' right at you!" Anyway, seems that I started quite young using the rattle for medicine whenever I got put in a box: See the photo below. 
One of the several boxes I am rattling is the one menopausal women are put in by our postmodern culture. Haggard, cranky, or outspoken at best, menopausal women have as many stereotypes as teenagers. Here is an example -- A common symptom of menopause is disturbed sleep or insomnia. Hygieia says, “The wound reveals the cure” and here that counsel is well applied. When I awake during the night, I say, “OK Universe, bring it on!” I invite anything that is on my mind, like my own mind, to now come into awareness, especially those unresolved issues. Coming out of dreamtime through the hypnogogic level of consciousness, I am more open and less judgmental, just as I am when dreaming. When I ask for those hungry ghosts of my soul to come to the table, there is more of my whole self to feast upon, than when in dayworld consciousness, when my ego is censoring the data. Every night becomes an opportunity to be a bit more honest with myself and work through aspects of my accumulated life on a deep level. Society, by and large, advises us to take a sleeping pill when having trouble staying asleep. This is like when young women are having “menstrual problems” and advised to take a pill, or The Pill. Yet if I do, I would miss the opportunity for soul-making. Yes, this is an opportunity – not a problem -- as it is only a heartbeat away from profound healing once the angle of my mind sees beyond the box. When I was co-sleeping with my babies, I imagined that future time when I could sleep through the night. How delicious it would be to have eight hours of unbroken sleep! I savored the fantasy many a newborn night. However, I nursed (25 years) all six of my children and so by the time the family bed was emptied, I was peri-menopausal and awaking naturally during the night. That was when I began rattling the box thathad been placed on this common experience -- sleeping lightly, rather than a problem, is nature’s wayof bringing more self-awareness to the mid-point of life’s journey. I have lived over 50 years and accumulated at least that much karma. During the long middle-aged nights, I not only review my past experiences, but also imagine the future. A way to see the possibilities more clearly is by releasing myself from old patterns of experiencing my life, what is yet to be even dreamed. These nighttime banquets with my inner hungry ghosts are potluck and when I awake, I am delightedly surprised at what I had chewed on -- what had come up for healing. It was during one of these night excursions (with the help of the Universe into my soul), that it came to me how precious each of us is at this time. For the record, I have yet to meet an evil person, or judge those as evil who enact our group consciousness in the world in a violent way. One night I awoke with the words, “The war is inside of me”. I had understood that if I am against war, that I sustain it, at once. What we resist, persists. Now I instead focus on being peace. But the dream message stayed with me in the dark and I realized that war begins even before the warrior is born. Women and men have related to fertility as some enemy to be controlled at best, or annihilated at worst. This is one of the primal roots of war. The apparent ground for this battle is the mother. I can no longer blame the fathers for the genetic habit of aggression when it’s manipulated into violence. Nor can I blame the mothers, the oldest trick in the (alleged) Good Book. Instead I can see how I, as a mother, have the opportunity to raise gentle men (and women as I have four daughters who may be the mothers of sons someday). This begins before conception, is sustained through a healthy and welcoming pregnancy, celebrated during natural birth and continues when I protect my children from the normative pediatric assaults of western medicine, such as circumcision. Reclaiming the original Garden of our Creativity, we can Arise rather than continually Fall into an old expulsive tale of Good and Evil and the serial drama of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar. (And Sadam, Bin Ladin and Waldo -- As in, Where is Waldo?) Perhaps if more babies are consciously conceived, freeborn, intact, and fed from the hearts of their own mothers, there would be less violent re-enacting of the old righteous stories? Most of the non-Muslim and Jewish world does not circumcise, except the USA (South Korea, Canada, and Australia to much lesser degrees). The imprint of cutting a boy’s organ of creation, the generator of genealogy, is linked to battling for ones homeland security -- the holy ground of origin, from this grandmother’s point of view. Knowing that it is the mainstream grandmothers and mothers, sisters and lovers of warriors who support our troops, (for they know not what they do), my heart fills with compassion. My commitment to Hygieia College and speaking wherever I can, in the hopes that all my sisters will know how precious life is, is strengthened all the more. This includes all life – inclusive of the preborn, the babies of Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria or wherever we displace our fear and greed. Allen Cohen said that if all men could see their babies being born, there would be no war. I would add that if mothers gave birth in freedom, un-drugged and with her lover between her legs, there would be no more warriors.
Cinco de Mayo 2003
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After a whirlwind of a visit with my eldest daughter Loi, and our only
grandchild Wynn (plus their two cats Scrappy and Sofia), the Muse commands
me to share our news with you. Loi is on her way to Law School in Berkeley
and re-locating to Santa Rosa, California. Wynn and her mother visited
with us in Utah for almost 2 weeks this April. Wynn can be credited with
such hilarious quotes as this -- when I asked Loi during an astrology
reading what house she wanted me to focus on, Wynn volunteered, “Focus
on the house with the hot tub and swimming pool”. 
Lap of Grace as one community. Now we are so much more effective working
together to bring peace here right now and wherever we go. THANK YOU GREAT
SPIRIT for ALL THAT IS. 
