Tag: Living Namaste

How our new book has been waiting for this moment in time!

As a young girl, I always was enamored with the ways of the world. I was fascinated by people who did not look like me, who celebrated different festivals and who lived lives in far off places.

Then transformative events happened within the magic of Christmas day, the day we celebrate light and new life. When I was 13, my Aunt and Uncle gave me a subscription to National Geographic. I was the only one in the family who ever received a magazine subscription as a gift. How did they ever know their choice would have such a profound impact on my life?

Three years later on Christmas morning, my Mother gave me my first “real” camera. With 5 children, money for gifts was tight but somehow she found a way. She knew how much I hoped for it and how much it meant to me. This woman, my mother was truly my Auntie Mame, Pied Piper and Peter Pan all rolled into one. She (and my strong, quiet father) gave me the security of deep roots while encouraging me to spread my wings, try new things and go to new places. For years on Wednesday nights, my parents would invite anywhere from 10 – 25 people into our home for dinner. My mother told me that the work would always be there but the people wouldn’t and the more the merrier! One of the greatest gifts my parents gave to me was the name of Frances. It was my dad’s idea to name me after my mother. Within my name also lies my calling. I only had my parents for 26 years and now I find myself trying to honor my mother’s legacy of welcoming and connecting, generously giving while living life with openness, appreciation and exuberance. I try to live up to my name but she set the bar high! My mother gave me my first camera so it has become very important to me to do as much good as possible with my photography. All of this has woven its way into the desire for this book to make its appearance to the world today on June 15th – what would have been my mother’s birthday and also on the weekend we celebrate Father’s Day. I hope my work makes them proud!

We are surrounded by images of violence and words that belittle and divide. Alysa and I wanted to counter that with images and poetry that hopefully would uplift and honor humanity. I have been so fortunate because no matter where I travel to my experience has always been that of kindness and acceptance from the people I have met around the world. A heart felt inspiration called me to reflect upon the first words spoken. Greetings from around the world are both powerful and beautiful and if we allow those words to enter deeply into our consciousness, we honor the space between. There is harmony and the experience becomes poetry. I started living in the spirit of Namaste and it has totally changed my life. A practice so simple and yet so profound. We both put pen to paper and birthed, “Living Namaste – Spoken Word Poetry and Photography sharing life lessons and wisdom. It would be our hope that the words and images cross borders and boundaries to bridge and heal. Therefore, partial proceeds from the book will be given to Doctors Without Borders and The Untours Foundation. We have also made the decision not to post our book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com because that would add $7 more to the cost of each book. We would rather have money going to the charities and keep “Living Namaste” affordable. We are hoping that people will enjoy the book enough to spread it’s existence by word of mouth so that we do not need the Amazon platform.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read the journey of this creation from the heart. If you would be interested in purchasing, here is the link:

https://www.blurb.com/b/9525659-living-namaste-photography-and-spoken-word-poetry?fbclid=IwAR3v66xx3-AUWYLuubz-zMyZcEiPoQJMPUk5d1d5kxWRsu0b0coEyTCAl88

By A Beer, F Schwabenland