Chris showed up at Mai-Niti with his teenage son, Christopher a week or so after myself. But I quickly learned it wasn't their first time as it was mine. 

My time at Mai-Niti was full of teachings and I was sensitive enough to receive them, thanks to the separation of the usual distractions and stimulants such as social media, movies, responsibilities... etc.

My first meeting with Chris is a teaching and part of my story that will continue to be told as one of the stepping stones to a greater realization. 

It was the heat of the day - the time of day on the edge of the Amazon Jungle that you can't be in the sun, or in your room, the only place to escape the mosquitoes who were hungry no matter what time of day it was. 

So we settle for the thick woven hammocks strung up on the crossbeams of the common room. A handmade platform on stilts covered by a vaulted palm roof. sweating through the hammock wrapped around you like a mummy is the sacrifice we must make to receive a few fewer never ending itching bites.  

As I sway softly back and forth in my fire shield and feeling beads of sweat run up the back of my legs, Big Chris walked into the common room, a tall, thin man with a miscevioush smile and bright blue eyes.  "Hey, I'm Chris, are those yours?"  he asked in his charming English accent. 

He pointed to a brick size bag of mapatcho cigarettes that lay open on the low cluttered table, beginning to spill out of their neatly packed bag as they dwindled. 

In a very out of character way I scoffed. 
"I don't smoke that shit."

"Shit?! Hey now, that's sacred medicine"
I shamefully laughed it off not quite in tune yet with how judgemental I was feeling. 

He grabbed a smoke from the bag and placed it firm between his lips, lit it up with a nearby match, sat down on the floor, took another drag, and began to tell me hints of his story. I was instantly intrigued by what he had to say. 

Stories of Ayahuasca, travels and firm beliefs were being delivered with passionate and honest grit. 

That evening he joined us for ceremony and I took the opportunity while being violently tossed around the back of a Moto-truck under the jungle-dark stars to pick his brain over the sound of the motor - the story I heard was truly remarkable. 

Thanks to the profound yet minimal experiences I'd had thus far with Ayahuasca, I began to believe more and more every day from the stories that I'd heard and the experiences i'd had that these stories need to be shared. 

This story from Chris was the conversation in the back of that backbone-bruising ride to the maloka (a beautiful circular hand-crafted hut where the ceremonies take place) that birthed the idea to hit the record button. 

A couple days later as I sat with the scary idea of asking people at the center to get vulnerable with a stranger. I decided that hearing these stories are beyond myself and my fears and got up the courage to begin asking if they'd like to sit down with me and share their remarkable stories. 

Now, what did he teach me? - "I don't smoke that shit." turned into my own relationship with tobacco as It wasn't even a week later I began smoking them myself. 

Thinking back, I realize how important this step was for me to come to a place of realizing how much I judged others for their actions. It took me falling back into nicotine addiction to remind myself that the only person I'm really judging in the end is myself. 

Thank you Chris for sitting down and having this conversation with me, for telling your story and being apart of mine.

Chris - A Journey With Ayahuasca - 01 | 10 | 2021

Humanhood

Human

Our Blood

Youth

Lady Pain

Silenced

Moriah Woods in studio with Kori Stanton / Talkin' Music on KVNF in Paonia talking about her new album 'Old Boy'

Songs:
Break The Chains
Old Boy
Of Fate
One

Moriah Woods - 'Old Boy' Radio Interview KVNF | 12.2019

Dad and I never got the chance to sing together - this is another tribute to his creative soul. Fly high Daddio.
1963-2017



Victor Woods performing an original song on Baha'i Phone In Live in Missoula, Montana Aug. 11th 1992

He's Got To Reign

Moriah Woods is an American Singer-songwriter living and creating in Poland.

Moriah Woods

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