Gardens Nurture A
Whole Family
By Shelly Birger of the
Conscious Parenting Alliance

I had kids eating lima beans like they were candy.

I guess I just like watching things grow.  There's something about planting a seed, watching it grow, bloom and produce fruit that gives me a sense of comfort.  I enjoy watching the progression from cotyledon to true sets of leaves, then pollination, and fruit.  I like tending my plants daily, making sure they're well watered.  I even like watching the leaves wither and the seeds fall to the ground.  It's the cycle of life, the ever-turning wheel of almost constant change.

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ONE FAMILIES JOURNEY ::India to the Islands::
by Katalin Koda

Our family's journey from India to the Big Island of Hawaii has certainly been an adventure. First drawn here by friends we met in India, we felt it might be a fitting place for our family after living abroad for so many years. Indeed, Hawaii is tropical like India and even has a local Goddess, Tutu Pele, the guardian of the living volcano Kilauea.   READ MORE>>

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They're Playing Your Song

When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else.

When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song. Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

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