A New Year Soular Flare

It has been over a week and I am barely sitting down to write about The New Year Soular Flare.  I’ve been processing, digesting, and integrating the experience (I’m still not finished).  It’s hard to fit the colossal magnitude of the energy of a Soular Flare into words, or pictures, or any other recording device.  So here is the disclaimer: I do not attempt, in this log, to describe how a Soular Flare might feel to you.  I can only tell you what it felt like to me…and a few other objective details.

People arrived and got settled, bringing food, instruments, paints & brushes, or anything else that tickles their creative fancy.  There were dozens of drums and shakers available to anybody who had a mind or hand to try them, and a house DJ to boot—so the music started simply.  It felt mellow, relaxing, and cozy—an open invitation.  There were waves of people, waves of instrumentation.  It was like sitting at a beach. As more people came the tide of energy began to rise, it got warmer, and happy excitement floated in the air.  The collaborative concert was underway.

At midnight we made a large circle, filling the room perfectly.  Tea lights went to each person and soon the room flickered with little flames and shining eyes.  Each person said three words (give or take) of intention for the new year.  It was a beautiful, palpable experience of individual and collective power.  After that I felt everything shift—and the rest of the night was like a bright burst.  We moved away from the circle and reunited fluidly into the most incredible jam and dance session I have witnessed.  We were one multi-dimensional organism, breathing and pulsing.…and it lasted without pause until 7 am.

Here’s what it looked like at any given moment: some of San Diego’s most compelling contact dance improvisers waltz in; suddenly people are flying into the air.  Memphis Taylor on the mike, lyrics flying out of his mouth.  Radsab, Hiruy, and Dragon on the drums with hands and sticks of fury (where did Radsab get those light-up drum sticks?).  Marissa Oliver on violin shredding bows to the bone.  Kyle Bowen painting mandalas.  There are people painting each other’s faces and large canvas on the walls.  People toasting, cheersing, eating, laughing, hugging, talking…this is a space where you can pull up a blankie or dance your face off.  Either one is totally appropriate.

The youngest person in attendance was still in utero, while the oldest was hard to identify; there were many age-less beings whisking about the dance floor or dangling from the aerial swing that could have been anywhere from 60 to 100 in biological time.

No two Soular Flares are alike.  They are born, organically, of the people who plug in.  It is an entity that exists only once.  And for once, saying Happy New Year did not feel automatic.  It was authentic.  I was restored and renewed by all of the Soular connection, savoring the feast of people truly feeling good—genuinely, with every cell, PLEASED to BE PRESENT.