I’m a wellness and soon to be parenting coach. I am also an artist and a lover of the subculture, impartially the event known as Burning Man. Burning Man is a week-long annual art event and temporary community based on radical self-expression and self-reliance in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Since attending with my husband in 2012 our lives have altered, morphed, and still continue to transform in positive and powerful ways. We sold our home, divorced toxic friends, began a new spiritual journey, attended transformational seminars, joined new programs, quit jobs, the list goes on.

2014 will be a different year for us. We have festival tickets; however we are late in registering for a camp. You want to be with the “right” camp mates. For the first time, we are camping in a space known as Kidsville – which I plan on bringing my children. If you’re interested in the reason why I believe children are a vital part to the festival, I’ll respond with another post.

I’ve been following Black Rock Scouts, an amazing community that support Kidsville at Burning Man. Black Rock Scouts is a “program for burner kids, based on the Ten Principals of Burning Man. Kids are the next generation, so we aim to teach them how to sustain life in BRC (Black Rock City). Camps and services will host playa-cational field trips, events and volunteer opportunities. Scouts will earn patches, tokens or pins for things learned, survival skills achieved, good deeds and volunteering.”  “Kids attend, with their parents, where they can learn principles based on community service, generosity, and educational enhancement.” Cool – right?!

At Burning Man (Courtesy Trey Ratcliff)

Read more about the Burning Man principles here as well as volunteer opportunities.

Anyway, after a year of doing my homework, I found out that I messed up when I registered for Kidsville. I registered, but I never placed our camp. And the camp is FULL. Big mess up on my behalf, and I had a breakdown when I found out. Embarrassing, right? I’ve worked through my emotions and have since recovered. At least for now. My recovery came only after I had a big long talk with myself.

Monday: I went for a run on the beach in hopes of clearing my mind. I kept blaming myself for not following through with making our trip to Burning Man workout.

Tuesday: I finally started to ask myself “why is my body physically feeling overwhelmed and sick when I think I may not go to this festival with my children? Why is it so impactful on me? The answer arrived immediately.

You are taking on parenting in a new way – something you’ve never done before – you are going through a life altering experience in the parent coaching arena – You’re on a transformational journey to change your parenting – and this journey together would continue to expand your relationship with them even further. You would also connect with some of the most intuitive and amazing children on the planet – children who understand connection, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Kids that could really teach you! They ‘get’ everything that you are learning through your training. That is why. You, Christina, are emotionally invested in changing how we teach one another and our children. You care beyond words about the outcome as a whole and how your children will one day impact the world. Christina, you also believe that treating our children with love and respect through a non-violent parenting paradigm is how we raise and create empathetic human beings that contribute to society as a whole. Don’t beat yourself up because your feelings are pretty normal for what you’re going through. The festival is an extension of the work you’re doing. There you have it.

Now, quit those unproductive messy feelings and go do something fun with your kids.

Wow, thank you little voice in my head.

Wednesday: The little voice was following by “read your email, Christina” – and a wonderful article from Chip Conley showed up – The Emotional Survival Guide to Burning Man. Big Thank You, Chip. You can read it here.

Expressing my feelings openly has put me at ease. I’m gliding into the unknown and I know that whatever happens, it’s going to be fine. I can say I have officially surrendered my attachment to the outcome.  Phew, that was crazy exhausting.

 I’m feel really normal…. Sort of. I’m not sure what ALT things I do. 

Hudson and London

At the beach …

Appreciating nature …

The Bodies exhibit …

Building a volcano …

Hammock hanging …

Loving food …

Loving life …

Loving each other …

And if Burning Man doesn’t work out — Dragon Con Atlanta 2014 here we come!

Dragoncon (photo by greyloch: https://www.flickr.com/photos/greyloch/7996093530/)

Christina

Christina is a palm tree-loving, barefoot, beach bum wife and mother of 2 who is devoted to cultivating a family life where gratitude, self confidence, contribution and love rise above. She seeks alternative parenting methods where she can help to cultivate and guide the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of her children. In 2013, she resigned from a corporate job in the financial industry to pursue her greater role as a parent and artist.  Since then, she has begun to pursue a career as a parenting and wellness coach. 

Two years ago my husband and I made a powerful decision to attend the festival known as Burning Man. Back then we had no idea that a week in the desert would change our lives forever. Most people, who had never been, said it was a drug induced party in the desert while others said it was a spiritual journey. All in all, it became transformational on many levels.

Since attending in 2012 our lives have altered, morphed, and still continue to transform. We sold the home in suburbia, divorced toxic friends, began a new spiritual journey, attended transformational seminars, joined coaching programs, quit corporate jobs, the list goes on. We began learning to live a life we love through community and contribution. Trying to explain what happened in the desert that caused this impact is really difficult, so I’m going to share our 2013 Burning Man project instead. However, if you want to know more about my Burning Man transformation, you can always email me at Christina@christinacline.com

What is BURNING MAN, you ask?

“Burning Man is an annual event and a thriving year-round culture. The event takes place the week leading up to and including Labor Day, in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The Burning Man organization (Black Rock City LLC) creates the infrastructure of Black Rock City, wherein attendees (or “participants”) dedicate themselves to the spirit of community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, leaving no trace. As simple as this may seem, trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind.”

You can check out the ten guiding principles of Burning Man here.

Glad we cleared that up! Now, let me share our 2013 journey to the flames.

We built an art car! Hooray!!

What is an ART CAR (sometimes mutant cars)?

Basically, it’s a car that has been turned into art. The car becomes transportation around the playa. In the years before we always biked, however, this makes for fun transportation. All cars have to pass inspection and be licensed with the Black Rock City DMV. Below are some examples of art cars over the years. Note: you don’t have to build an art car to attend.

Art Cars  (from http://www.Burningman.com)

What is the PLAYA?
The playa is the remnants of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan, a dried up lake bed, which 13,000 years ago covered 8,665 square miles of Nevada.

The playa. (Mack Reed / http://www.huffingtonpost.com/)

The playa. (Mack Reed / http://www.huffingtonpost.com/)

Aerial view of the city and campsites 2013 (Mark Harmon / http://www.burningman.com)

After deciding that we wanted to build an art car in 2013… the question became… what kind of car? After much thought, the idea was to build an art car that could contribute to the community.  Hmm… perhaps it serves food… perhaps…Fancy Peanut Butter and Jelly Sammiches. We will call her “THE GREAT SAMMICH RIDE.”

The Great Sammich Ride concept.

The project began with a first generation Prius 8 months prior to the festival. The Engineer behind the vision, Mike Cline, aka brother, and many others, contributed to make this vision possible. Click on here to get a better understanding.

August 30, 2013 5:33pm
After picking up peanut butter and jelly supplies and gluten free bread donated by Canyon Bake House in Fernley, NV we began hurtling down 447 heading north towards Gerlach.  Our 35 foot Green Smoothie, aka motel 6 on wheels, does her best to pull us along with trailer in tow. It’s a two-lane road of smoldering desert asphalt with little to no shoulder, should we go flying off.  We are on the edge with excitement.

Picture taken somewhere in Wyoming on the way to BRC.

The two-lane highway turns off and onto a new road. Soon we begin driving slowly onto the playa, a 400 square mile known as Black Rock Desert.

Black Rock Desert (http://www.nerdophiles.com)

We continue down the road until we approach our camp site. After months of preparation we have arrived and prepare the car for a week of joyous Sammich making!

The art car began as a first generation Prius. The roof was cut off and after months of work she became The Great Sammich Ride. Her job now is to serve Hot PB&J Sammiches and Ice Cold beer. That’s right – we had a kegerator behind the passenger seat.

All those happy smiling faces I met while serving them Sammiches are unforgettable.

Happy smiling Sammich faces.

Christina at the top of an art installation. A total No-Take-Back.

 Christina’s whole-hearted embrace of something so new and totally beyond her comfort zone is what we should all be striving to do in this life. So, let me ask you – have you been to Burning Man? If so, what did you take away from it?