rhythma - sean michael imler

Music for the heart, mind, and spirit...

Rhythma Blog

Georgia’s Tuesday NightSeptember 17th, 2022


I’m standing out near the curb in front of my mother’s house near the corner where I like to park. It’s nighttime. I’m standing with a group of Georgia’s students from her Monday night classes. Georgia is wondering if someone wants to assist her by taking responsibility for a Tuesday night meditation group over Zoom. It’s going to be a half hour or so long from 7pm-7:30pm PT. I volunteer to facilitate this.  There’s a symbol of a circle with a star in the middle.  Inside the star is a white rose. 

We’re discussing what the format will be and there are six meditations to focus on. Georgia goes over them quickly and I’m trying to grok precisely these meditations so I associate them to who-what-where-why-when-what. Then I’m trying to deepen this association because I know I’m dreaming and I want to be able to recall the meditations when I wake up.

Robin walks up and starts to talk with me. I adore her but the timing isn’t really good but we start talking and the group walks away to the elevated front yard in front of the house and starts singing Amazing Grace. They break up into two groups, one leading and one following a bar behind. It sounds really beautiful and I walk over and join them.

Feeling curious, elated, joyful

Wanting to remember the meditations but can’t quite get there.

Bear RattleJanuary 25th, 2022


I’m in an office warehouse. Most everyone from the office has left. I’m trying to pick up things a bit as I still need to work. A woman is giving me a laptop. It’s very small. I open the lid and the keyboard is really strange. It unfolds in three sections and the characters on the keys don’t look like English.

I’m with William. He wants me to sing songs. He hands me a little black bear, about the size of the palm of my hand. As I take it, it falls open. It turns out that where the spine of the bear is is a hinge and the bear opens. Out falls the things that make it rattle. The only thing that stands out is a little black die with white dots. I start to put the things back in but mixed in is a little dried oak leaf. I’m trying to get it out and William tells me to leave it. That’s already in there for a reason. I get the bear back together and start rattling and start waiting for a song to come through. It’s the Ojibwe creation song. A woman stops me to ask what I’m singing. I’m stuck between being upset that should would stop the song just to ask what I’m singing, and frustrated that the complete song was still dropping in. I’m in that in-between place. Then I realize that I don’t exactly know what the song means.

Baffled, left brained, trying to sink into right brain.

Flowers and LightsongJanuary 19th, 2022


I’m standing with a group of people and watching Lauri get ready for a ceremony. I walk really close to her and everyone follows. A feather that I’ve put on the altar falls off and Mel points it out. Lauri asks people not to crowd her. She sees the feather and picks it up and puts it with some other items she has on a table.

I’m walking with Lauri near a building, kind of like a hotel. It’s Spanich architecture. I see a beautiful grouping of flowers along a wall. There’s one indigo blue pot there that stands out. I want to take a picture.

I’m sitting with Lauri, Jan and Karen in a room. Again there’s something beautiful I want to take a picture of and I’m trying to get the camera on my cell phone at the right angle to focus.

Everything is beautiful.

I feel relaxed.

CardinalJanuary 18th, 2022


There’s a man in a hotel room. He’s me as a black haired younger man, and not me at the same time. He has an exotic cardinal that he’s not supposed to have in his room. He needs to escape. He wraps the cardinal in some clothing and is leaving the hotel but needs to get the authorities off his back.

There’s a man that is accosting a man with a white dog. They think he’s taken the dog and that it’s magical or something. It’s kind of invisible. He’s trying to tell them they’re mistaken and that the dog belongs to him.

The man with the cardinal sneaks out and it heading over a very large open area with roads running through it. There are fours guys on electric bikes, kind of like hoodlums. They’re jumping and racing around. One sees the man and lays his bike down nearby. I become more of the man. Is the biker approaches, we’re wondering if we should try to convince the biker to leave us alone because the cardinal could get hurt or worse.

Worried, intense, espionage, rushing.

The MansionJanuary 16th, 2022


Mel and I are buying a mansion. Andy is with us. We’re in a room that I think Andy is going to move into. It’s attached to a huge room with three kitchens. One of the brothers, the last to live there is cooking a beautiful large piece of prime rib. We’re looking at rearranging how another kitchen in the room is laid out and moving the counter around tho I believe we have to move it back how it was.

We go to another room that’s perfect for performance with a stage. We go to another room that has huge plate glass walls and doors. There’s a kitchen and bathroom. The shower is being used. The room has beautiful stained glass mosaic tiles on the walls and mirrors on the ceiling. It would make a perfect yoga studio.

We go outside with one of the sisters and she’s telling us that each of the 4 kids had their own vineyards and she shows up the equipment. The pastural hills are gorgeous. She jokes that everyone said her grapes were sour.

Exhilerated, fun, happy.

ScorpionJanuary 15th, 2022


Mel and I walk in the front door. On the floor of the living room is one of my parent’s suitcases open with clothes out. On top is a large black scorpion. I rush to get something to catch it with in the kitchen. I find a crystal glass bowl with hand blown designs on the rim. I rush back to the living room and put it over the scorpion. I hear a loud whirring sound and the scorpion spins around and around the inside of the bowl until it shatters and scorpion runs off. I have no idea where it went.

Concerned, worried

PestoAugust 21st, 2021


I’m standing with Preston. He’s taking a large chocolate and irish cream looking cake and rubbing it on his chest. He’s taking large gobs of it and eating it right off his chest. He says that it’s easier to eat that way. I’m thinking of Frank Fools Crow and what we’re going to do at the dance.

Moving HouseJune 28th, 2021


I wake up go to the living room. The house I’m in has a driveway similar to house my current home is arranged but the sofa is white. I’m very groggy. I look out into the driveway and see a dark car pull in. Behind it is a sparkly green mini truck. It pulls in and the driver does something, gets back in the truck and backs out of the driveway. I’m wondering who these people are and what’s going on. I head to the kitchen and find a young African American man in the hallway. I look into the kitchen and find that it’s been gutted and the house is being raised on supports. I ask him what’s going on. He tells me that they’re doing some needed renovation. I’m assuming the owners want this done.

A bunch of workers are suddenly around, taking stuff out of the house and figuring where they’re going to make modifications to piece apart the house so continue raising it. A young woman comes in to speak with me. She offers me Cheetohs. She’s very friendly, in fact, everyone is. I walk outside to see all the things from inside the house on the outside. Many things have disappeared including the stove, all the pots and pans, and just about everything else from the kitchen.

I walk down the street where it seems is the head of operations. I’m speaking to a general contractor and who seems to be the project manager. We’re talking about who ordered this and things feel a little sideways. I ask to see the original contract. This triggers a series of movements. People start cleaning up and moving vehicles. People start disappearing. I suddenly realize that I should be getting pictures and videos of people and license plates but it’s almost too late. Everyone’s leaving. I’m worried this is all a ruse to steal everything I own.

Moving from happy and curious to scared. The house is a different house.

Georgia’s ClassJune 10th, 2021


I’m in Georgia’s class and a man named Alan comes up to me and he’s trying to take something from me. It’s very disconcerting because he’s violating my space. I’m able to send him away but I’m not pleased with the situation.

ReindeerJune 3rd, 2021


I’m in a large tent with a lot of people. Big like a circus tent. It’s at night and the tent in next to a small. There are a lot of people inside the tent. I’ve been chatting with others about things but choosing to stand near and entrance that’s looking down an avenue alongside some buildings. Suddenly an enormous bird flies away from me down the avenue. I step outside as it’s flying to get a glimpse of it but it’s night and there aren’t enough lights illuminating it. Then… a reindeer is running down the avenue after the bird. Now, I know it’s a reindeer because it’s all dark brown and very thick like a bear. I have no idea why I believe this to be a reindeer but the word is bouncing through my head though I know it looks more like a long legged bear. I chase after it and it turns right at a street corner and starts heading up a hill through stands of people. I continue to follow it up the hill to a group of people where a man catches it. When I arrive there, someone says he’s a sundancer and we should listen to him. He’s hold a clutch of these reindeer. He says that one of them did something and was attacked by seven of them. He stepped in to stop them from hurting the one.

Confusing as I don’t know what kind of bird it was, nor why I consider these reindeer when they don’t look like it.

Feeling of wanting to save.


Purchase Sean's original art at
Photography Prints
Get Rhythma paraphenalia at cafepress.com

Check out the list of sites on the internet that I think make a difference.