Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA (1888PressRelease)
October 07, 2009 - Carol Cumes, award-winning author, gardener, flower essence practitioner, and non-profit founder of the Willka T’ika Children’s Fund in Peru, will talk about her book Chakra Gardens: Opening the Senses of the Soul (Mitra Publishing, 2008) Friday, October 9, 2009, from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Tecolote Bookshop, 1470 E. Valley Road, Montecito, CA. The talk will include a slide show with photographs from the book as well as others that capture the magic of Peru’s ancient Sacred Valley sites. Cumes’ book won Independent Publisher’s Best Mind, Body, Spirit Award 2009.
Cumes will also discuss the benefits of creating healing gardens, the meaning of the elements, and how she was inspired by nature as well as the rich Andean lore of the region to build the gardens. “Chakra gardens are gardens of peace. They do not restrict or impose. They simply support people in experiencing their own deep connection to Source,” say Cumes.
Cumes was living in Santa Barbara, California when she first visited the Sacred Valley of the Inca in Peru in 1984. She was so captivated that she continued to return, and in 1994, she left California and moved to the Sacred Valley. There, she built and established the unique Willka T’ika Garden Retreat Center and its seven Chakra Gardens, not far from Machu Picchu.
Proceeds from the book benefit the non-profit Willka T’ika Children’s Fund, founded by Cumes to support the isolated mountain schools and Andean children in their communities.
The Tecolote Bookshop, (tecolote translates to “owl” from Spanish), sits just off the main road of quiet Montecito, a beautiful small town just south of Santa Barbara, CA. The Tecolote offers over 12,000 carefully chosen books to its customers in its 1400 SF space. Co-owner Mary Sheldon will host the “green” event for Cumes with manager Penny McCall. The bookshop telephone number is (805)969-4977.
More about Carol Cumes and her work can be found at ChakraGardens.com, and WillkaTika.com.
###
