My Lightcode Experience

I experienced LSDream’s Lightcode sound healing set at the Wakaan Music Festival for the first time this past weekend. It was on Mulberry Mountain in Arkansas on September 30, 2021. It was a mind-blowing event for me, so I feel called to document my journey while the memory is still fresh.

Before we dive in, though, I need to share some backstory just to put it all into context. 

Just in case you didn’t know, LSDream is a DJ on the Wakaan music label. I was introduced to his music just before leaving for the first Wakaan Fest in 2019. I was hired to teach yoga at the festival. We arrived on Mulberry Mountain that Wednesday night, and we set up our camp during LSDream’s set.

His vibe was sick. It kept trying to pull me in. My spirit wanted to get down with everyone at the stage. That’s when my fan-girl-dom started with him.

After Wakaan Fest 2019, I geeked out on his music, and he slowly became one of my favorites.

Then Covid19 hit. Events and gatherings were cancelled. And LSDream took it upon himself to help the rave, EDM, and festival community on a new level. People were stuck at home and forced to face (for possibly the first time) their inner demons. 

When at a rave, if those inner demons rise to the surface, your festi-fam is there to help you remember your strength and truth of your being. It’s easier to face your darkness when you don’t have to do it alone.

I personally feel called to teach yoga and provide other healing modalities within the festival container to help community members see other, more sustainable, ways to process their shit. So, when LSDream started providing guided meditations and sound healings via his YouTube channel while we were all under lock-down, I started seeing deeper into the soul of this human.

Sure, I already recognized him as a fellow lightworker. Few DJs in the rave scene add Sanskrit mantras and spiritual messages into their beats. That’s what attracted me to LSDream in the first place. I could feel the purity of his intention and his desire to help be a catalyst of positive change within our community.

This year, 2022, LSDream took his Lightcode sound healing on the road. I had friends at ReKinection who told me it was amazing, so I was disappointed that I had to miss my chance to go deep with him at Electric Forest. His set was immediately following my yoga class, and there wasn’t enough time for us to make it across the forest to find the stage.

Therefore, when I found out LSDream was bringing Lightcode to Wakaan, I knew I couldn’t miss it. Although it was scheduled to start immediately after my yoga class again, Jacob and I know Mulberry Mountain well. We knew we could make it on time.

I had just got done teaching my last class of the festival and was off work for the weekend. As soon as we made it to the main stage, I unrolled my mat and assumed Crocodile Pose, belly to the earth. Ah, I thought. Finally. Now it’s my turn.

Within minutes, Devi Prayer was reverberating across the mountain. This song is a mantra which evokes the 108 names of the Divine Mother, and I use it regularly during savasana (final relaxation) for my yoga classes. 

The comfort and familiarity of the mantra mixed with the reality of my current situation broke me open and I started to sob. Memories that led me to that moment started flashing forth in my mind’s eye.

Jacob and I were on Mulberry Mountain for the first time during Wakarusa Music Festival in 2012. Our children were both under the age of 5, and our marriage was in trouble. That weekend and within that container, our marriage was healed. We committed right then and there that we would start investing in at least one music festival/year as a form of marriage therapy. Thus, we didn’t hesitate to go back the following year.

At our first Wakarusa, I was jealous of all the girls flowing with their hula hoops. I want to do that, too. So, the next year I prioritized making it to the scheduled hoop class. After learning a few tricks with my new hoop and as I walked back to camp to find Jacob, I had a vision. I saw myself teaching yoga there.

“But that would be taking something we love and turning it into work,” Jacob responded after sharing my vision with him.

My 1^st festival teaching gig fell into my lap; and although Jacob was hesitant to allow this shift in our festival experience, who didn’t want to go to Middlelands? Insomiac Events (who throw Electric Daisy Carnival and Electric Forest) were bringing an event to Texas for the first time, and we got an opportunity to attend for free. Let’s go!

Middlelands was a “coming of age” festival for us. We never realized how fulfilling it would be to not only get down with this community but to be of service as well. Both of us realized how much we have to offer and how hungry the youth of this community is for role models such as us.

We have spent the past 5 years traveling to different festivals across the nation. I typically teach 2-6 classes per event and then we have the rest of the time to play. It’s been a great balance.

The Wakarusa creators joined forces with some corporate sponsors they thought shared the same vision for the event. Unfortunately, those new partners lied. The heart and soul of the Waka family decided they would rather let the festival die than turn into something counter to its original foundation. Thus, Wakarusa died after their 2015 event. Thankfully, Jacob and I were there.

With our deep adoration towards Mulberry Mountain, I was overjoyed to learn that Backwoods (a festival that typically took place in Oklahoma) was moving its festival there. I started researching the event and reaching out to the producers with a strong feeling that I was supposed to be involved.

I taught one class per day at the first Backwoods on Mulberry Mountain in 2018. My classes went so well that I pitched to one of my producers the idea of me coordinating an entire workshop schedule the following year. My passion and tenacity got me the job. I have been a part of the Backwoods production team ever since.

Fast forward to one month ago…

I was leaving to teach at Dancefestopia in Kansas City the following week. I got a text from Will Royall, one of the executive producers for Backwoods, asking for a meeting. I assumed he was about to throw a beta test at me for PromoTix, a ticketing app he created that I use for all my events.

Nope.

Instead, I got an unsolicited job offer.

After returning home from Dancefestopia, I accepted the position of Director of Events for Zeus Nightlife, the parent company of Backwoods Music Festival.

Ironically enough, Jacob and I were already booked to be at Wakaan a few weeks later. I put in my two weeks’ notice at my previous job and let Will and Javier (the other Backwoods Executive Producer) know that I would be ready to start my new position planning Backwoods after Wakaan.

Those two weeks were a whirlwind. Not only was I trying to get ready to leave town, but I was attempting to close a chapter simultaneously. Thus, by the time I arrived on my mat at the Lightcode set, I was ready to crash. I had been moving so fast and doing so much that I yearned to be held and soothed.

So….

As I sobbed to the Devi Prayer, I watched layers of tension melt off my body as an offering to this sacred space. They weren’t sad tears. They were tears of relief and gratitude. Although I had dreamt of making this shift after our boys leave the nest, I never imagined being in this position this quickly.

I moved my hand off my mat and into the grass. I wanted to feel Her. Thank you for holding me, I spoke in my mind to the mountain. And She responded…

I’ve got you. I always have. You’re safe. You can let go now.

I felt my shoulders and hips melt as my sobs got more pronounced. All the emotion I had been processing and holding onto needed to move through my body. As I felt my tension dissipate into the earth and my physical-self soften, I started to sense myself sinking.

And no, I had no psychedelics in my system. I’m just mystical AF. (Wink.)

My consciousness sunk into the grass, and I was in the earth. I kept going down, down, down, until I reached a cave.

Just in case you didn’t know, the ground in Arkansas is filled with crystals. You can actually go mining for crystals there. That’s one of the reasons why Mulberry Mountain is such a magical venue. It literally sits on top of quartz. Quartz crystals amplify the energy of anything it’s next to. Thus, if you bring good vibes to the mountain, you’ll get good vibes. But if you bring negativity, the crystals in the earth will show you what you’ve been carrying and spreading. 

And in that moment within my mind’s eye, I saw them. This cave under the mountain was filled with huge clear, pink, purple, and blue crystals. There were sparkles at the corner points of each crystal. However, as I looked closer, I realized what looked like sparkles were actually teeny tiny fairies. I intuitively knew that this was their home, and they were the guardians of the crystals.

Welcome home, they greeted me. We’ve been doing our best to pull you back here over the years.

And then I started having flashbacks of my life. I saw pivotal moments in time where I was acquiring skills or changing directions. Moments that I thought were leading me somewhere else. But no. The fairies let me know that this is where they were guiding me all along. They shared that my energetic family lives deep within this earth. They are the guardians of the crystals and stewards of this land, and they have brought me back so I can help them manifest their magic above the ground. And it begins now.

Suddenly, the vision was gone. I was back in my body, and I felt an overwhelming need to do my practice. I have a specific breath and mantra practice that I do daily, and I hadn’t sat with it since arriving on the mountain. However, I didn’t make it all the way through my practice before the energy wanted to move in a different direction.

Asanas (yogic postures) began spontaneously manifesting in my body, and I felt myself move into deeper expressions of the poses than I do normally without effort. Then I heard a voice from within say, Headstand. Go upside down now. Without hesitation I moved to prepare for headstand. As I opened my eyes to find my drishti (focal point to help balance), I saw four other people next to me doing the exact same thing.

Holy shit, it’s happening!

You see, the yoga postures we practice in yoga classes were not made up by humans. They were discovered by ancient yogis meditating in a cave, seeking God. Spirit moves in this dimension and can be embodied by an open conduit and willing host. And that’s exactly what happened to these ancient yogis. As they yearned to commune with the Divine, Spirit moved them into different physical postures that invoke different states of being. Eventually those postures were written down and shared with others. Although many people in the west practice yoga as exercise and as a form of selfcare, its original purpose was to help reveal different states of consciousness and to aid in the practitioner’s ability to hear whispers from the Universe. 

And that is exactly what was happening during the Lightcode set.

No, we weren’t ancient yogis in a cave. We were members of the modern-day counterculture on a mountain allowing ourselves to be moved by Spirit. We were open conduits ready to receive the wisdom and magic that isn’t always seen or felt within the human dimension.

As the session ended and we were guided to wake up, LSDream said, “I don’t have anything profound to say.” And yet he did. “I feel like the day of the external guru is over,” he continued. “That teacher you’re looking for is yourself. Trust your own intuition. It’s your path. Keep going. I love you.”

I started to weep, and so did Jacob.

You see, I have a guru. My path led me to a realized being who has been guiding me for several years. He is an 80-year-old Hindu monk and a tantra kundalini master of the Shaktipat sect. My relationship with him hasn’t been the easiest for Jacob to understand. Hell, it’s been hard enough for me, too.

That being said, I recognize that a part of my dharma (life’s purpose) is to be a bridge. A bridge of all kinds. I bring people together. For over a decade I’ve recognized my capacity to bridge the gap between the secular and the spiritual. However, now I see that I too am a bridge between the ancient and the future.

Yes, I love and adore my teacher and guru. He has helped me understand and grasp concepts that were once out of my reach. But I’m starting to sense that this generation needs something different. Tides, rhythms, and realities are changing. And so is our DNA. We are being upgraded into better versions of ourselves.

I can sense that the Wakaan family is a part of this shift. Musical wizards, teachers, and preachers are manifesting on our planet who’s pulpits are the stage and who’s messages are being sent through vibration alone. Words aren’t needed. But sharing space with others is necessary.

Every time we gather, I believe, we share telepathic wisdom with each other. We can’t begin to conceive how energy flows or how ideas are transmitted. There’s more to our reality than we realize. Magic is everywhere and so are your guides. Listen to the wisdom of your friends and strangers. You never know what form the Divine will take when it decides you need to receive a message. The question is: Are you open?

Today….

As I shift into my new reality and as I await my first meetings as the Backwoods Music Festival Event Director, I can’t help but feel giddy with excitement. Never have I felt so supported or in alignment with my path and destiny.

To Liquid Stranger, the head wizard of the Wakaan family: Thank you for bringing us together, and thank you for your obvious desire and intention to inspire change in our community and world.

To LSDream: I see you brother. Thank you for the good you’re doing in this world. Thank you for being open to Shakti (divine intelligent energy), her inspiration, and guidance. You make inner peace a funky, fun vibe that can be received by a generation who’s been constantly told they needed to check all the boxes to be saved. There’s a million ways that you can spread love – and I’m so glad you chose the one you did. Your peace, love, and wubs rock my yogi, fairy, witchy world. Should this blog ever pass across your screen, please know it would be an honor to someday work with you. I can only imagine the result of combining my fairy dust with your music wizardry. (A girl can dream…)

And to everyone who’s taken the time to read this message, I invite you to join me at Backwoods on Mulberry Mountain 4/20 weekend 2023. I trust that the fairies and I will have the mountain’s magic elevated to a new level. Come feel it for yourself!

Until next time….