John Schmitt

Teacher / Songwriter

I am a teacher, musician, and pilgrim who lives in Los Angeles, CA. I owe much of the light and joy in my life to the experiences, lessons, and people I have encountered on my 4 pilgrimages on the Camino. My first Camino, in 2013, was to help lift me out of a life and self-image that was unsatisfying - I hated myself, I was ashamed of myself, and felt called to listen to the lessons of the Camino. I had a broken family life, I was lonely, and I was losing friends constantly, unwilling to admit that I was the common denominator in the broken connections. The Camino pushed me to be vulnerable, to take the "Crash course in what it means to be human," and the result was a transformation. I took the Prayer of La Faba to heart and made a list of things I wanted to do when I returned from all the "free beauty," one of which was to become a teacher and work towards making the world a place better for peace. Each Camino since then has taken on different meanings, whether it be embracing adulthood, recognizing my own self-worth, or other important lessons. I have experienced miracles on the Camino, the healing of prayer on both myself and with those I was praying for. My next Camino, in June of this year, will be 10 years after my first, and will usher in my 40s. I will carry the ashes of my father John Daniel, whose relationship with me was always fraught with tension, and someone with whom there feels like left so much potential and life to give, but never took care of himself. I plan to leave some of his ashes at the Cruz de Faro, and along with it, unload the burden I feel with him in my dreams, always inaccessible and distant. I want to be able to embrace him again when we meet, and the Camino I know will help me heal. It's funny because the Camino was something my father urged me to do, it was his urging that made me decide to go back in 2013.