positive change in chicago

John Sacelli, who hosts the 'dream circle' that i attended in chicago, wrote this article about chicago being the spiritual capitol of the world. http://johnsacelli.org/messages/cross.shtml

is it significant that my first day in chicago i attended sadhana at spirit rising?
"We call the time we spend on our maintenance sadhana. It is an essential part of life. If you do your sadhana, your mind can take the pressure. It will guide you and groom you properly." ~ Yogi Bhajan
that day i asked the man who led the practice if we could organize a song circle in the space. he was the directer of spirit rising foundation and he felt like it could happen. it was arranged for friday of that same week. that wasn't much time to spread the word, but i told quite a few people i thought would be interested. even so, it was only the woman who opened the space and i who were in attendance. i embraced it as an opportunity to share one-on-one with this wonderful woman. we shared conversation and sang together a little, sitting across the circle from each other. i had placed the bundle of fresh-baked sourdough bread in the middle, and when the time came i unwrapped it and we broke bread together. i had forgotten it was shabbat! perfect. it was also the U.N. international day of peace. i was glad this intimate and peaceful celebration had come together as it did.
one woman who i thought for sure was going to be there did not show up. she had been impressed by my presence at sadhana and we connected through e-mail after. we got together once mid-week for tea and shared some potent conversation. she began to really awaken a couple years ago, just about the time i did. she became a yoga instructor and traveled to india before moving to chicago. she had been very influenced spiritually by the people of mexico, who she knew while growing up in Aguascalientes. she feels strongly the shift taking place.

Sunday, my second day in chicago, i chose to attend a contact improv jam. i'd also met some folks who do a Food Not Bombs service on Sunday. since i wanted to go help out with that too i felt very conflicted. but when i arrived at the dance jam i felt so happy, i knew i was in the right place. it was a spiritual practice of moving meditation that requires a great deal of awareness, love, and surrendering of the rational mind to intuition. the hoop was played with in fun ways i have never seen! while sitting out, resting, we sometimes would improvise music for the dancers. this is a wonderful way to express ourselves through touch and experience deep healing of emotional/spiritual wounds. the jam begins and ends in a circle...


some other great things going on in chicago that came to my awareness:

academy for global citizenship

accelerate 77

iron street farm

patchwork farms

stone soup cooperative

dill pickle coop

the plant

co-prosperity sphere