Context

Sometime in the first couple of years of my living in the Ananda Palo Alto community, a photographer friend convinced me to do a spontaneous photo shoot. Predictably, self-critic that I am, I didn’t like the photos very much…except this one.

Twenty years later and it’s still one of my favorites. And I find myself asking, why?

Maybe it’s because, by placing me in the midst of such a luxuriantly lush and flourishing Ananda community garden, my friend (probably unconsciously) made a statement about the correct placement of myself–and my musicianship–in the context of Ananda overall.

I remember looking at it back then and loving the imagery of being surrounded and seemingly almost swallowed up by Ananda. The photo reflected my sense of having come home; Ananda was my new context, within which everything in my life was rapidly realigning.

Fast forward another year or so, my life and musical career had been wholly absorbed by my spiritual path and I was on my way to live and tour as part of the singing group in Italy. Our goal? To “help get the music out”, a project that became my life dharma.