Slovenia
Kamnik, Slovenia: report by Lorraine Watts
I awoke to a beautiful, uplifting energy and felt connected with the wave of love radiating around our world with the SOPP ceremonies. It was a feeling I would like to have every morning. I was spending a quiet day at home with my husband, and we dedicated ourselves to a day of peaceful thoughts and actions.
A week before the SOPP, issue 135 of Byakko magazine arrived at my house. I read the article “You Are Radiating Light” which was an interview with Eva Szauter (SOPP organizer in Perth, Australia). As I read about her efforts and courage in successfully bringing people together to create mandalas and pray for peace, an inner self-belief was awakened within me that the same thing was possible and achievable here in Slovenia. I felt a strong desire within me to make the necessary efforts—the time felt right.
In the same magazine, I read the inspiring words of Masami Saionji from the section entitled “What kinds of efforts do we need?” in her article “The Immense Power of the Divine Breathing Method.” So, with just a week to go before the SOPP, I made a pledge to myself, which I shared with my friends in other countries, to make some sincere efforts towards creating a local group.
On 15th May, I conducted focused prayers for peace in our beautiful world and performed a peace prayer flag ceremony with my husband. I also decided to use the special 2016 Soul of WoMen mandala poster to affirm infinite success in 2016 for a group of like-minded souls to join me in Slovenia.
Within two weeks, I happened to meet one of the ladies who had attended the yoga workshop I held here in 2013, and she told me how much she missed the class and how good it made her feel. This meeting sparked me into action, and I asked at our local library about hiring a room. Within an hour of doing this I met a local man of a similar age to me who could speak some English (most of the older generation speak little English). He asked where we were from, and for some reason told me that he was a Medicine Man. I invited him to have some tea and a chat, as he might be interested in joining our group.
All this was sparked by the SOPP event and my growing desire over the past three years to bring a group together here in my town. I feel so happy and have learnt so much from this experience.