Blessing the Lake Together

By Amelía Aeon Karris with Dave Room

Dave and I met during “Sexy Salad” at Impact Hub Oakland this past September, where we both work-trade. Our first conversation started with the typical “what do you do?” When he heard about my mystery school for modern day living - Know The Self, the conversation got really interesting. He asked what I knew about the intergalactic war between light and dark!

I was surprised to find out that Dave was one of the creators of the children’s music album, Pacha’s Pajamas. Pacha is a nine year old Peruvian American girl with big dreams. When Pacha goes to sleep, the characters on her PJ’s join her on dream journeys in which Pacha learns more about herself. The main themes are: we are all connected, we have everything we need within ourselves, and we can create the world we want to live.

Pacha’s Pajamas is totally aligned with my work, which is also about self-literacy. The premise of Know The Self is to ignite the authentic self so we can understand our innate abilities, master them and bring our unique contribution to the world in these exciting times we live in.

Coincidentally (or not), I had been listening to Pacha’s Pajamas with my four year old nephew, who keeps it on repeat. The funny thing is, I enjoyed the album so much, I would sing along with him regularly. I loved how conscious and hip the music was.

Needless to say, Dave and I had an instant appreciation for each other’s work. It was clear to me that I needed to make sure his business thrives so that kids all over can experience Pacha and be inspired.

In December 2014, Dave jumped in at a critical time to support my event, Rebirth and Renewal 2015. It was an all day workshop to help clear out 2014 and manifest big dreams in 2015. Dave was instrumental in securing funding and helping me with all the practical aspects of producing a large event in a very short period of time. We were working under tremendous pressure, over the holidays with a lot of unknowns.

It was the first time I worked with a man who fully allowed me to shine. It was during that event that I realized how special our connection was.

Having spent the last eight years living in India, it was only last October that I decided it was time to pack up my life and business in India and return home to the Bay Area. Oakland has such an exciting energy happening. It was Oakland’s vibrant spirit that pulled me back home. Since I left in 2005, something new had emerged and I felt called to be a part of it.

In my meditations, I had a recurring vision of myself leading public meditations in the heart of Oakland. This led me to host a MeetUp group for full moon meditations at Lake Merritt. When I met Armando Davila at the Hub, he told me of his vision of surrounding the lake with 3500 meditators on World Water Day. There was an instant recognition. When he asked me to take over this event - so he could go meditate for a month long Vipassana retreat, I hesitated but said yes once I knew Dave would join me in this large endeavor.

Bless The Lake has the potential to bring all of Oakland onto a unified platform. Despite all the diversity, challenges, tension and strife Oakland carries, Dave and I think everyone in Oakland can agree on one thing: we love Lake Merritt. If we are all able to come together for a moment in harmony to take in the beauty and bless the water that sustains us all, we have the power to heal the dissonance and the strife. Dave and I have designed a day of children’s edutainment and water education to support the water blessing and the global synchronized meditation. We have invited some local musicians and African drummers to join us in celebrating the spirit of Oakland, to heal the waters and heal ourselves.

The co-creation with The Shift Network, Uplift and Unify has made a tremendous difference. It is a joy to work with organizations and people who have clear values, understand energetics and can hold harmonic balance in the face of chaos and stress.

The people who have felt called to be part of Bless The Lake also have been a joy to work with. Armando is back and is co-producing the event with me and Dave. Mutima Imani has joined as our Spiritual Director, Nasambu Barasa will be performing and acting as our Music Director, AshEl Eldridge has been a big support weaving ideas and connections. Mary Spicer, David Nicol, Alexander Kugler and Felicia Parazaider have been key council members whom I refer to as my “grounding crew.” We also are grateful for all of our sponsors including Know Yourself, EBMUD, Uplift, The Shift Network, Numi Tea and the Lake Merritt Institute, as well as for the collaboration of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Open Oakland.

Please help us make Bless the Lake happen as we have imagined it by contributing to our IndieGoGo campaign at http://igg.me/at/blessthelake/x/20023

Amelía Aeon Karris - In her Mystery School for Modern Day Living, KnowTheSelf.com, Amelía guides emerging leaders to unlock their innate wisdom and create sustainable balance inside and out. Amelía has helped thousands of people de-program their mind, establish new lifestyles, navigate expanding realities and transform all their relationships.

Dave Room - Dave’s most important identifier is Melia’s Papa. His tween-age daughter Melia is his motivation and inspiration. With the intention to uplift tens of millions of children worldwide, Room co-founded BALANCE and co-created Pacha’s Pajamas. Check out his life learnings at MeliasPapa.com and his musings at The Green Pill Inquiry, The Monkey Trap, Sleepin’ Wit Da Enemy, and Bogus Fresh Poets Collective. Twitter: @meliaspapa.