I watched The Sound of Music this week
as I continue to follow my needs without judgement
I watched ‘The Sound of Music’ for the first time in probably something like 22 years. I would say that I’m the type of person who can appreciate a musical, but doesn’t really…seek them out. But when I wrote my needs list yesterday, the first thing that arrived was to “watch ‘The Sound of Music’”. I was humored by this because this is a) a movie I never think much about and b) not a movie I ever reminisce about. Yet, halfway through the day yesterday I felt very restless and the ping came in again. I surrendered and migrated to the couch. As the movie began, I held the intention to stay open and curious about why this directive came up so clearly on my needs list.
After the opening scene where Julie Andrews sings the famous song “The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music” and frolics in the most gorgeous mountaintop meadows, she heads back to the abbey and says this to Mother Abbess:
Yes, you see, the sky was so blue today. . .
. . .and everything was so green and fragrant, I had to be a part of it.
The Untersberg led me higher like it wanted me to go through the clouds. These words leapt off the screen and into my heart. It felt as though Maria was speaking directly to me. It was a call to celebrate the wild world around us, to deeply hold joy for all of the little things that make up a day, and to relish in the simple beauty of nature and life, and how absolutely tantalizing it can all be. Very up my alley.
I had also posted that I was watching this movie on IG stories and a quarter way into my viewing one of my friends replied with this:
And the thing is, I think I really needed motherly energy this week. To feel like I was wrapped up in a warm blanket with tea and a gentle stroking of my head. And I had forgotten just how much Julie Andrews’ voice returns me to my maternal lineage. How my mother and grandmother, who both have the most incredible voices, used to sing along with Julie Andrews. How my mother would sing the song ‘Edelweiss’ to me at bedtime, lulling me to sleep. How my grandmother, even to this day, cannot help herself from singing when one of these songs from The Sound of Music is played. (Sometimes even harmonizing along with her soprano tones.)
As a kid, we consume movies in a different way. A lot goes over our head, and simultaneously, a lot sinks in deep—seeping into our subconscious and creating memories like a time capsule, only to be unearthed years later. Watching this movie was a delightful mixture of opening up time capsules, releasing child-like feelings of joy, and allowing myself to believe in the simplicity and innocence of pure love. I frolicked through this candy-colored and creamy-soft world, with rich, over-the-top acting, and I felt at home. It transported me to a time in life when things felt simpler.
And I loved collecting the subtleties that were lost on little me. Like the song, “I Have Confidence”, that Maria sings on her way to meet the Von Trapp family.
She sings, “all I trust becomes my own” and of course, that aligns so well with the work I’ve been doing on myself the past few years. In fact, I just finished a book this week called ‘Manifest’ by Roxie Nafousi. The book outlines steps to manifesting our desires, and in it, there is a lot around trust. We have to trust that what is a part of our journey will make itself clear to us, and then we have to trust taking that path that we are headed in the right direction. We have to trust that anything that doesn’t work out in our favor was not meant for us, and probably most vitally, we have to trust that there is enough out there for all of us to thrive.
“Maria, these walls were not meant to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live.” Mother Abbess says to Maria, further emphasizing this finding above.
Basically, I ate up this whole movie. All two hours and fifty-five minutes of it. And I enjoyed very much the messages that arrived through it’s music and story. I felt held by mother energy and I allowed for the softness to consume me.
This morning when sitting down to write this newsletter, I decided to look up ‘Edelweiss’ because the song lingered around my heart even after the movie had ended. I discovered that edelweiss is not only a song from the movie, but is also a flower that grows in the Alps. The song represented Captain Georg Von Trapp’s resistance to the growing Nazi party, and his undying affection for his homeland of Austria. The edelweiss flower generally grows in harsh mountain conditions and is quite shocking and rare to come by, due to these conditions. Therefore the flower is somewhat mythical in nature, with a lot of folklore, remedies, and attributes attached to it. Things like strength, devotion, purity, nobility, and true love. Of course, this led me down a rabbit hole, searching for how edelweiss shows up in the world, and I discovered that the flower was used as an insignia on soldier’s uniforms to note nobility and bravery, and that it often appears as a jewelry charm to represent true love. It’s on the back of some alpine currency, and it is used in herbal remedies for its healing properties. I even came across these edelweiss flower seeds, sold at an “all things Von Trapp” inn located in Vermont of all places, and even though I’m the furthest from a super fan of this movie and/or the Von Trapp family, I am so curious to visit this place.
I refreshed my edelweiss deep dive and finally landed on its use in flower essences. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with flower essences, these tinctures work with the electromagnetic layer of our bodies to communicate with our emotional body through the same electromagnetic layer that exists in flowers. In perhaps better/more relatable terms, “they gently restore the balance between mind and body by casting out negative emotions such as fear, worry, hatred, and indecision which interfere with the equilibrium of the being as a whole.” taken from the Bach Remedies website, who is said to be the discoverer of the method. My body responds really well to this subtle type of healing work and I have been using flower remedies for several years to move through emotional layers. Of course, I discovered that the edelweiss flower fully aligns with the things I’m working on right now. I found a woman in England who is making an essence and I am tempted to order it.
So, in conclusion, I hope that in following along with my whims through The Sound of Music that it may inspire you to do the seemingly bizarre thing that may pop up on your needs list. Follow the ping. You never know what gifts you will discover within it.
Shabbat Shalom
A few somewhat related (and some not at all) notes:
With Julie Andrews clearly on the mind this week, I recalled my love of Mary Poppins. And although I love the movie rendition, I am actually talking about the original book written by P.L. Travers. I came across this book in the library years ago when I was a young teen, and re-read the book several times delighting in its dark and twisted fantasy storytelling. I won’t ruin it for you, but if you haven’t read it, I highly suggest you get yourself a copy and dive in. It’s very good.
I finally found a sauna nearby, and oooof, did it bring me a lot of joy. I did three 15-minute intervals broken up with bouts of cold exposure. I even rolled around in the snow which was a first for me and shocking to say the least (!).
I mentioned earlier that I just finished reading Manifest by Roxie Nafousi. This book was recommended to me by a good friend (hey Sejal!). I’m no stranger to manifestation practices and I read a lot of this genre of book, but what made this one stand out to me is how clear and precise Roxie lays out the process of manifestation. After the sauna, I curled up on a couch in front of the fireplace and wrote out my six month vision. It came in loud and clear. I will continue to reference her book to keep myself on a directed path towards the vision I’ve set!
Love this Maya!!