Smoky Mountains Archives -

The Sound…

By Simone Lipscomb | September 28, 2020

The sound of water flowing over rocks was the first thing I noticed as I opened the door. Before I put my foot on the wet pavement the wonderful sound ahhhhhhhhhhhhhgreeted me and began to unwind me from the inside out.

It had been nearly two weeks since I walked at this water-place, this sacred place. The things that kept me away from this flow seemed important. I had been working election setup in my county, working in my yard, going to Asheville to walk at Biltmore gardens, attending online yoga teacher training…all great things but I was starting to become tight and felt my body gripping and unhappy to be boxed in.

As I walked I wondered…is the water making the sound as it contacts the friction of the rock or is this the sound of rocks laughing as water tickles them as it rushes down, down, down.

Walking nearly every day at a place it’s easy to allow the sounds to blend into a background hum but when we are absent and return those things that stand out to new visitors greet us again and we are re-aquainted with their wonder.

In this area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the sound of water is never far away. In fact, you have to really work hard to find a place where there isn’t some sound of water….rushing, roaring, dripping, tinkling, booming.

As the trail moved away from the creek…all the crescendos and percussion and the ahhhhhhhhsound of water faded a bit and then there was birdsong. Birds were awaking from slumber and sweetly welcoming the day with singing and insects of the night still vibrated and sang under the dense cloud cover and mist. All these sounds touched some part of my being and created an invitation to relax.

When I lived in coastal Alabama I had a front porch that was my yoga practice space. At night I would go outside and sit in the darkness and listen. Chirps, drones, peeps of tree frogs, pond frogs and toads vibrated the space along with crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers and katydids. The chorus would immediately put me in an altered state of calm and stillness. During my nightly sessions I heard an inner voice remind me that these sounds help balance humans and when we cut ourselves off from the sounds of nature we become out of whack–off center, off balance.

Finally, after the vibrations and sounds helped unwind that inner spring, I noticed I was smiling. It wasn’t a smile simply on my face but my heart was smiling and every cell of my body was smiling. To be in this rich symphony of nature sounds is healing.

The sound of water rushing over rocks….purveyor of bliss.

Medicine for My Soul

By Simone Lipscomb | September 7, 2014

The heavy cloud-bank hugged the top of the mountains. Insubstantial in the physical realm, the ethereal beauty made it appear solid, like a living thing.

I don’t know why the first sight of mountain peaks makes me feel safe, secure and at home. I am mermaid by birth but these southern mountains feel like home for me. And it’s been that way since I was a kid. The Smoky Mountains were always my first choice for family vacations. And once there, I didn’t want to leave. On childhood visits I remember a deep sense of sadness when I had to leave with my family to return to the Alabama coast.

Several years ago my life-long dream of living in the mountains came true and I purchased a mountain home in Asheville. Equipped with a huge wall of windows and cathedral ceilings, I lived in a true Tree Church. But big water called me to Her and I sold my home and moved back to my place of birth.

Inspiration feels like work for me in the flat, coastal land…my soul feels lost. But one glimpse of the magnificent cloud, rolling and caressing the high peaks, and I felt alive again, at home with myself again.

The most productive and creative part of my life was while I lived on the side of a mountain. The sensation was one of expansion, of reaching out to touch something bigger than me….that was also reaching out for me.

Florida is where I’m ‘supposed’ to be this weekend. I had planned to be cave diving through the clear, underground aquifers in north Florida with friends but last week I had a strong inclination to change gears and visit ‘my’ mountains…perhaps as a way to fix the malaise in which I’ve found myself over the past year….or more.

Sure enough, as soon as I saw the mountains enveloped by cloud I felt aligned, at home with myself and at peace. I felt I could breathe again. How can I bottle this and take it back to my cottage on the coast?

It’s odd, seeing that I feel at home diving underwater with rays, fish and coral more than I do walking among humans. So why are the mountains…specifically the Smoky’s, my spiritual home? Do they remind me, like being underwater, of my inner wild woman? Or some past from another time?

Maybe no explanation is necessary. Perhaps my soul needs the vastness of the ocean and mountains, both of which call to my wild spirit. Here, nestled among the oldest mountains on the planet, I feel support and love from the Earth herself. I feel myself breathe and expand and connect with Spirit effortlessly. This is Medicine for my soul.