What does it mean to live with dignity, devotion, and deep reverence for life?

In this episode of One Song One Story, I’m joined by Blagomira Kostova, speaking to us from the Sacred Valley in Peru, where nature, ritual, and presence are woven into everyday life.

Blagomira is a plant medicine facilitator, preparation and integration coach, and mindfulness guide. In our conversation, we explore what it really means to walk the inward path with humility and bravery, and why healing is less about becoming someone new and more about remembering who you already are.

Her song choice is a prayer more than a track.

🎶 Solo Dios Sabe Si Vuelvo by Coral Rojo

A song about the red road of the heart, the elements, the sacredness of water, and the radical truth that death dances beside us, not as fear, but as a reminder to live fully.

We talk about:

• Indigenous wisdom and the relationship to nature

• Plant medicine, dignity, and personal power

• Creativity as devotion, not performance

• Vision quest, silence, and the discipline of presence

• Water as a bringer of life

• How a song becomes prayer when you stop thinking and start feeling

This episode is grounding, poetic, and deeply human.

If you’ve ever felt the pull to slow down, reconnect, and remember what matters, this one will land.

00:00 Intro: dignity, devotion, remembering our place in nature
00:58 Welcome Blagomira in the Sacred Valley, Peru
01:31 If today was a song: Just a Perfect Day
02:14 Speaking to the mountains and relating to nature as alive
03:48 Indigenous relationship with nature and offerings
05:00 Shubeeh’s connector song: Dignity by Deacon Blue
06:11 “Bring some dignity to your posture” memory
06:51 Blagomira’s work: plant medicine, mindfulness, empowerment
09:09 Bond between facilitators and retreat guests
10:16 Creativity through hands: ukulele, embroidery, writing
11:20 Creativity as presence in everyday life
12:20 Ukulele journey and learning to sing with it
13:13 Dignity in action and washing the dishes as art
14:09 Human spirit, healing circles, shared stories
15:36 Shipibo lineage and uninterrupted healing traditions
17:20 Songs gifted by plants and indigenous healing music
18:15 Indigenous threads: relationship to nature
19:07 Plant diets in the jungle and walking the inward path
20:59 Only you can access your internal landscape
22:10 The red road, bravery, and the sacred hoop
23:12 Early music memories: Italian estrada to punk
25:13 Hardcore music and raw nature forces
26:15 Rhythm of life and humbleness in discomfort
29:11 Introducing the song
29:57 Song reveal: Solo Dios Sabe Si Vuelvo by Coral Rojo
30:51 Synchronicity and “the great mystery”
32:26 First hearing the song before a vision quest
33:56 Camino Rojo and “only God knows if I return”
35:34 “Full of joy, death dances by my side”
38:21 Vision quest: four days and four nights, no food or water
41:36 Mental purge, then silence and presence
42:56 Sweat lodge, hydration, and receiving water again
44:07 “We no longer sing to you water” line and tears
46:40 The red road as hero’s journey and inner bravery
50:14 Singing as prayer and finding your voice
53:52 How the song now lives in the body
56:26 What the song choice says about Blagomira
59:35 “Change your project of death with the project for life”
1:01:18 Closing reflections and harmony with self
1:03:30 Where to find Blagomira and Soltara
1:06:17 Final goodbye