Let your love flow

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Ribbons and hula hoops twirled while feather paddles spread the cleansing smoke of burning sage along outstretched arms and sun-kissed foreheads.

A voice could be heard coming from speakers, expressing gratitude for the hundreds of people who flocked to Sanders Beach to share a special Friday evening as the sun set behind the horizon and the full moon began to rise.

"If you don’t know why we’re here, we’re here to love,” Alesha Blackwolf said to the masses as waves gently lapped the shoreline. “Thank you for sharing your love, and let it flow.”

Babies, teens, parents, grandparents and a bit of everyone in between felt the sand beneath their feet and the sky above their heads during SoulShine Full Moon Gathering, a casual event for community members to come together during the full moon each July.

SoulShine serves as a celebration of summer, a welcoming of good energy and a time when people can connect with themselves and each other on a social and spiritual level. The gathering is free and open to all.

"It’s community,” said Andrea Bell of Post Falls, who enjoyed her fourth SoulShine with friends. “Just coming together in unity, connection and embracing our North Idaho life."

Sanders was packed as the huge group participated in the Moon Salutations yoga sequence in unison, bending first toward the moonrise, then to Lake Coeur d’Alene, to the sunset and back to the moon.

An opening ceremony of American Indian blessing songs was performed by Elder Bob Daugherty, who softly beat a drum as his voice lifted above the crowd and bounced off the lake. Fire dancers spun their magic after darkness set, providing another element for the gathering’s enchantment.

Amber Lomas of Coeur d’Alene helped lead the yoga sequence for a portion of the crowd. She said she admires Blackwolf, who began SoulShine eight years ago with her best friend, Cami Cote.

“She’s the yoga vigilante of Coeur d’Alene,” said Lomas, who first attended SoulShine when her now 5-year-old daughter was a month old.

“I still remember walking up to the beach over there with the baby and I hadn’t got the carrier with the baby quite figured out yet, and the yoga mat, and the backpack,” she said, smiling. “It was a sight.”

Lomas’ mom, Shelly Hanson of the Silver Valley, also attended this year’s gathering and has been to several in the past.

“One of the main things is, this location, it looks like you’re just watching the moon in animation,” she said. “It’s huge, and last year I think was a super moon, so it was as close to the Earth as it gets all month. I filmed it.”

She said SoulShine is an enlightening experience.

“There’s all kinds of different people coming now,” she said.

“It’s people from all different backgrounds coming together, putting all of their differences to the side, coexisting and just being with one another and enjoying it,” Bell said.

Some wore paint on their faces and bodies, others sported swimsuits, colorful yoga clothes, big sunglasses and tie-dye shirts.

Cat Mullans of Coeur d’Alene and friend Laura Dowell, who grew up in Coeur d’Alene, tied the evening together with crowns of flowers Mullans made out of small white hydrangeas that grow in her yard.

It was their first time attending SoulShine, which they seemed to be enjoying as they peacefully people-watched from their beach towels.

“It’s a lot of like-minded people, positive energy. The drum circle, the drums are amazing,” Mullans said. “And then the sound of the water, I mean, this is where I spent the summer after I graduated from high school.”

“This is just a wonderful place to be,” Dowell said. “It’s always been a very comfortable, very happy place, and I just want that to rub off on everybody else.”