Rhythm of the Earth — Coming Home to the Mountain

Dear friends,

It's been a little while. January 7th was the last time I sat down to write here, and a lot has happened since then — I'll catch you up properly soon. But today is Earth Day, and something is coming that I've been looking forward to for months, so I'm starting here.

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In a few weeks, I'll be heading back to Deer Park Monastery in Escondido for the Third Biennial Rhythm of the Earth Mindful Music Festival.

If you've never been to Deer Park, imagine 400 acres of Hidden Mountain valley — trails, oak trees, brown-robed monastics moving quietly through their days. It's a place that has a way of slowing you down before you even unpack. I spent about a year living there as a lay resident and music producer, and in the three years since I first started visiting Deer Park, it has become a wonderful second home for me.

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The festival on May 9th runs from 1:00 PM to 9:30 PM, beginning with a walking meditation through the valley and ending in sitting meditation as the sun goes down. In between: live music, a land blessing, a delicious vegan bánh mì sandwich, and the kind of afternoon that tends to stay with you.

All proceeds this year support the Thich Nhat Hanh School of Interbeing — a new K–8 school being built around mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and academic excellence. As a teacher who has spent a lot of time in schools as well as mindfulness communities, this cause is a pretty exciting one to support. Ever since leaving Deer Park and moving to Los Angeles, when I walk into an LAUSD school to sub, I always bring a bell with me. First thing in the morning, I teach the kids about my friends at the monastery and about how we listen to the bell — if your class is being too loud and you hear the bell, it doesn't mean you're in trouble — it means we have an opportunity to come back to the present moment, to sit quietly for a second. We calm our bodies down. Calm our minds. The idea that a school could be built where that's not just a thing between activities — where it's woven into everything — that's a beautiful thing for those families and for the community.

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The lineup this year:

The Monastic Band opens the day — I have the great honor of playing some keys alongside monastics on guitar, bass, drums, tongue drum, and vocals, with special guest Nhu-Mai Nguyen, the songwriter behind "All in My Heart" from the Plum Village songbook. Right after the walking meditation and opening ceremony, we move into instrumental Buddhist sutra chants and practice songs in a bunch of different styles. Practice songs is the term used for much of the Plum Village repertoire — they're not written to be performed, exactly. They're calls to action. An invitation to come back to yourself. We, the musicians on stage, are only there as a vessel for the song to reach people's ears, to ease a little anxiety, to spark some awareness. Joy will happen. It always does. But the idea isn't to entertain or be impressive; it's to invite people into the practice of mindfulness.

Playing with the monastics is one of the purest musical experiences I know. These are people who practice listening just as much as they have practiced their instruments. There's no one in the room trying to shine. You sit down, you start playing, and you follow where it goes. I often find myself more creative in that space — writing more, reaching out, saying yes to things. It's what happens when a community builds agreements around wholesome collaboration.

(I've also been lucky enough to stumble into a circle of brown-robed brothers playing the most random assortment of instruments: synth, double bass, sitar, darbuka, harmonica, baritone horn, wooden flutes, PVC resonators, maybe a serpent. Creativity thrives in a place like this.)

Joe Reilly and the Community Gardeners are back, and I'm so happy to play keys with them again. It will be the first time playing together with them since the Learn To Love Again album came out, so I'm super excited to do those songs live again. Honestly though, I'm maybe even more stoked for what happens around the campfire the night before: Joe's incredible stories, jamming with happy wholesome friends, probably a random pennywhistle solo from John Driscoll — my old Eastman classmate who I had absolutely no idea was connected to Joe until the last festival. That whole band has great energy and the best hearts. I love those guys.

Plus Born-I is back! His latest album Komorebi has been on repeat for me ever since it came out in July — "Being Enough" is absolute genius.

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If you can make it May 9th, I would genuinely love to see you there!

Tickets and more info are at the Deer Park Monastery festival page. There's also a livestream running 5:30–9:30 PM PDT.

And one more thing — summer is closer than it feels. If you have a young musician at home who'd love to keep the momentum going with Summer Songwriting Sessions, I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Earth Day.

See you on the mountain. 🌍

All the best,

Glen Michael