Mahalo and greetings beautiful Island women. It is a pleasure and an honor to be among you, not only as a contributing author but as a woman and a resident of this vibrant Island.
Although I am fairly new to the area, my passion for exploration has created a giant gateway for deep discovery on all levels of life. I have tasted deeply and juicily of the Island’s many delights and feel the thrill of those not yet savored. Closing the door behind a life that had completed itself and courageously leaping into new passageways made possible the incredible journey that took me all the way around the world and into new homes both here in Victoria, BC and in Kauai, Hawaii. I didn’t know it at the time, but I circled the entire globe to come home.
I will share a little about what precipitated the journey, although that version of myself no longer exists. On October 10th, 2010, I left a 22 year marriage and literally moved down the street. Leaving the marriage took every ounce of courage that was available to me at that time. I was financially set for life, my partner was and still is a sweet guy, but I was dying inside what felt like a cage to a hummingbird longing to explore the world. Leaving was simultaneously an experience of absolute liberation and terror. Along with my then 16 year old daughter, we set up a beautiful home in which we nourished our hearts and souls, tender from the pangs of physical separation from a family we once knew. Over the next two years, we would move twice more within our small town of Kincardine, Ontario, just for the joy of the movement.
On, August 24th, 2012 my daughter, by then a high school graduate, announced her new plan to take a gap year in eastern Canada rather than attend college in nearby Toronto. Within a month of her departure, my mother, friend and neighbor literally dropped dead at 75 years old. The night she passed on and just before the police officer came to my door to deliver the news, I had been laying in bed wondering what life wanted to show me if only I had the courage to listen. Two months after my mother’s memorial service, I closed the door to my apartment, headed to the Toronto Airport and started my own journey. Everything in my former life was either gone (mother, house, marriage), liquified (pension) or newly fledged (daughter and son) . Even my 13 year old lab, Sasha made her transition. The universe had given me the green light to open my hummingbird wings and fly.
As I travelled and opened to receive myself, the whole world become my birthing chamber. Letting go of everything, I set myself in motion. As my cells began to move, all the old content of a tired and untrue version of myself began to lift off and I became lighter and more joyous, albeit still hearing the voices of caution. With clarity, love and constant doses of courage, I realized that my stuff no longer owned me so I sold my furniture back in Ontario (while still travelling) and gave everything else away. This was a liberation of astronomical proportions. With the stuff went the ball and chain that had kept me anchored to the emotions and perceptions of a world that had no basis in truth. Arriving in Victoria, BC on August 23rd, 2013 with the same two suitcases and guitar that had travelled with me all around the globe, I was greeted by large, brilliant double rainbows illuminating the sky and creating a blazing multi-coloured archway. Thus I was treated to an official welcoming into my new life. I still didn’t know where I would lay my head, but I had arrived.
As weeks turned into months, the plethora of venues from Sidney to Victoria provided a life stage on which to sing, dance and play with the newly unlocked expressions of a me that I could never have fathomed possible. But the story does not end here. By January 2014, another opening was presenting itself as a gentle intuitive invitation to a sister home on Kauai, Hawaii. I packed my two suitcases and new ukulele (I left the guitar and other things that I had accumulated with new friends) and headed to Hawaii. With only three nights accommodations and a rental car, the island was uncharted territory for an eager explorer. I will admit that I was one part terrified as well, but the courage always trumped the fear. From January to May, I danced, hiked, snorkeled and played my way into the hearts of many new friends and was completely transformed by the loving presence innate to the island itself.
I am currently living in Victoria, BC as a summer/fall resident of Oak Bay (Victoria) where I will reside, create, dance and play until I feel the call of mother Kauai once again. As this cycle unfolds in and around me, I am daily becoming lighter and more joyfully effervescent. As I open to receive the truth of all life, a fountain of new information is my daily bread. I have so much to share about these discoveries that I have created a new business called Quantum Play Journeys. In partnership with my long time Salt Spring Island resident and friend, Anatara, we are creating “tools to unlock this lightness” so that you too can experience the field of endless possibilities that we call home!
There is always a channel within us that is connected to our own unique master plan!
Kiala Ryder
Master Quantum Energy Transformation Coach
Professional Life Coach CTI CPCC
Sound Healing Practitioner
Bsc. Chemical Engineering
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