Tribute to Aline

Tribute To Aline

This past Saturday, March 19, 2010, my friend Aline Crawford left her physical form. She was a student of the Kototama sound practice and contributor to the Institute of American Acupuncture and Life Medicine. She was generous in all things. I feel honored to have shared a small portion of her life. She inspired me.

Aline found the medicine shortly after I began my studies. She became interested in the Kototama sound studies. I was privileged to be her ferry to and from sound meditation/study and Jizo Bosatsu celebrations. After those sessions, she would riddle me with questions that stretched me and took me in directions I would have otherwise probably not gone. And she provided me incredible insights in the sounds, in the aspects of the celebrations that I had missed, in life in general. She gobbled up life. And she never stopped learning. It kept her young and vibrant, in spite of physical maladies that challenged her.

I have had uncles, aunts, grandparents, my mother, my step mother, a brother, and friends, some who are my contemporaries, move out of the physical realm. Each of their lives have left an indelible mark on mine. In the quiet that follows comes the true appreciation for that which they have bestowed upon me. I intend to recognize those attributes while they are with me in the moment. Aline has helped teach me that awareness. I intend to continue to learn, truly experiencing life until my final breath in this form. I intend to honor family and friends as the precious gift that they are.

Since my mother's death I have recognized that the ripples of energy that people in our lives cause, like the ripples on water from a pebble drop, continue in me. Now I carry with me all who have touched my life. And those lives continue to touch more lives through me. I am grateful. And the work of Masuro Emoto provides us with factual evidence, that human vibrational energy, thoughts, words, ideas and music, affect the molecular structure of water. The words, thoughts, idea of gratitude creates beautiful crystal structures in frozen water. Aline was fascinated by Emoto's work, as am I. Since people are largely made up of water, spreading gratitude has its merit.

Thank you Aline! You laughed, loved, mourned, cried, giggled, and meditated with the sound of "su". I will think of you often, and it will make me smile.