Blue Deer Center in the Media

Lei'ohu Ryder

Program Details:

‘Fire of Aloha’
Thursday, August 12, 2009, 6-8pm, $20
Lei’ohu Ryder and Maydeen ‘Iao offer this opportunity to be together in community with song, dance and healing.

‘Olohe Malu – Ancestral Teachings of Aloha with Lei’ohu Ryder
August 13-15, 2009.
$495 includes gourmet meals and shared lodging. Through the traditions of the Pacific and the teachings of Kukuipuka Heiau, a sacred temple of healing - chant, protocols, prayers, music and dance are woven in a lei of aloha that celebrates our oneness as diversity, and wholeness as humanity and divinity. Talk story, music, movement, meditation, play and hands-on experiences will bring us in to the breath of the ancestors and the wisdom that is offered to each one.

Click here for complete program information and on-line registration, or call the Blue Deer Center at 845.586.3225.

‘Olohe Malu - Ancestral Teachings of Aloha

Aloha is an energy that embraces all life. Aloha provides a knowing that authentically living each moment as Spirit creates joy, love and peace within and without. Aloha is seeing the Creator, the Breath of Spirit, the love and compassion in each one of us. It assists us by allowing us to be the heart, to live the heart, and to know that the heart is the compass that leads us.

The breath of the ancestors is alive in every one of us as we let go of the mind and move into the space of the heart.

We humans have struggled with the self-imposed illusion that we are less than or we lack something. It has been the stone that strangles our dreams. When we allow the heart to lead in a natural and gentle way, without expectations or judgments; it opens like a flower and allows us to be all that we are in the dance of freedom.

We heal by recognizing and living the experience that the land and the sea are sacred. We listen to their voices of aloha and authentic wisdom. They connect us to the source of all that is. We learn to honor all life.

The spirit of the land and the sea teaches us one universal truth; that we are the caretakers of the Earth. We belong to the Earth. It is our true Mother. When we offer our gratitude, respect and aloha through conscious choices and actions that honor Her and the life that she sustains, we heal ourselves.

We speak of the 'voice' of the wind, rain, sea and sky. These are our collective voices, echoing the song of all the songs from the very beginning. Water is life. The sacred river is all around us. We are the living waters of all that is. What is the river but a reflection of us? No mysteries, only wonderful surprises - great gifts that offer windows of understanding that deepen our ability to know our authentic self.

The waters that are gathered from around the world bring us into our cell’s living memories and experiences of the oneness within diversity. The breath of life weaves each one of us together in a lei of divine expression as the waters within mirror the waters without.

Music is an inseparable part of Hawaiian tradition. It is an invitation to remember our sacred stories, connections and wisdom, woven in harmony with all that is. Native music is an expression of who we are. We are vibrating the universal connections to all that is.

Music and words evoke an energetic vibration of harmony. They help us to open gateways or portals to the intelligence, wisdom and truth that are crystallized within our being. Each one who connects to the vibration of this native music is offered a primal path to the discovery of their own healing and wisdom.

The ancestral teachings of aloha, the Breath of Spirit, recognizing Creator in each one – these are a primal passageway that allows each one of us to experience unity and the divine presence of all that is life. This tradition stems from the knowing that what exists in the cosmos exists within us. And in this way, we of the Pacific are keepers of the aloha. We are keepers of the memory that we ourselves are the aloha; we are the compassionate love and acceptance of all that exists.

Hawaiian traditions teach us to honor all life and all traditions as sacred truths that embrace and unify us. It is important for us to respect our own traditions. They help us to understand that each one is a wise one, filled with the sacred streams of knowledge awakening within. Hawaiian traditions teach us to understand that what is you is me. And in this way we offer each one a beautiful rainbow of aloha.

This August, Lei’ohu will return to offer Ancestral Teachings of Aloha at the Blue Deer Center in Margaretville, New York. This will be her third visit to this sacred land to share her tradition. Here is what she had to say about bringing ‘Olohe Malu across the Pacific and across the country to the Catskill Mountains:

"I have chosen to return because the Blue Deer Center is a place where many may gather around the fire to express their authentic life, their authentic self. They share their wisdom and aloha through rituals that connect all the voices of our ancestors across time and space. In hearing the ancestors, we become the living expression of all things. The sacred river at the Blue Deer Center is a gift that invites us into the portals of rituals long ago. The rituals speak through us and we begin to remember the things we thought we lost. When I am there, everything is open, embracing and warm. All the previous prayers, teachings, wisdom and fellowship that happened around the fires in the past welcomed me into the Blue Deer family, the ‘ohana."

Lei'ohu Ryder
Lei'ohu Ryder is a Native of Hawaii, a keeper of the ancient wisdom and protocols, a gifted teacher, singer, songwriter and a powerful advocate for the indigenous peoples of the planet, as well as a powerful role model to our next generation. She weaves the wisdom of the Pacific in channeling the voices of the wind, rain, sea and sky. As kahu [priestess] of Kukuipuka Heiau, an ancient temple of healing on the island of Maui, the wisdom of the breath of aloha and the spirit of ‘ohana [family] are shared through prayer, protocols, chants, music and activities that connect the heart with the universe.