My Beautiful Life

I woke up this morning to a clear, windy, bitterly cold, snow-covered world. It is beautiful and fortunately I don't need to go any further than my house today. I have a warm fire and a couple of apples filled with rice, pecans and currants baking in the oven as I write this! It doesn't get a whole lot better- unless, like me, you have some fabulous sound healing technology in your living room! I decided to have my coffee in the Somatron recliner this morning (which is located about 6 feet from the woodstove).

It was an interesting excursion. I decided to put on a CD I had never heard before. Apparently it was a sample White Swan Music sent me a few years ago that I'd never listened to. The CD was by Philippo Franchini, called Magic and Grace. Initially, I didn't love it. It sounded too pretty and melodic and New Agey for my tastes and a little too weak for a deep therapeutic experience on the Somatron. I decided to give it a few minutes though and at some point some nice low rumbling tones came in and I began to feel more of the vibrotactile effect, the resonance of the frequencies coming through and massaging my cells. The second track had more of this and some nice deep percussion. I was still thinking about getting up out of the chair and putting something else on but the vibrotactile effect was beginning to have a hold on me.

Before I knew it I was sitting there filled with a profound sense of gratitude, tears streaming down my face- grateful for my beautiful life, grateful for the work I am blessed to do and blown away by the power of sound and music- and specifically this amazing technology which enters through the body and touches the soul.

Cruising at the Speed of Sound

Yesterday was a day of sound and musical wonders! It started by me giving a woman a session on the Soundweaver (a therapeutic vibroacoustic environment) whose body has been wracked with pain by Lyme Disease. All of her joints were very painful but her knees were by far the most acute. I did an energy balancing using toning, chanting and overtone singing and also did some vocal sounding directly into the areas of the most acute pain. Then I put music on and did some energy work and craniosacral therapy. I used tuning forks (specifically a 128hz Otto tuner) on her knees and various other areas of the body. The session lasted about an hour and a half, maybe a little longer. She had a lot of emotional releases but beyond that, when she got up she said she had no pain in her knees. That was huge.

After the session light was pouring into the room and vibe was so beautiful and peaceful, but strong- very strong. Here is a picture of the room after we were done. 

Later in the day, after she and her boyfriend (my good friend Walter) left, I put Mike Oldfield's "The Songs of Distant Earth" on in the Somatron vibroacoustic recliner and went for a long journey myself. It's such a brilliant album and totally exquisite as a vibrotactile experience- one of my very favorites. Sounds, rhythms, melodies penetrated my mind, body and spirit from all directions. I traveled far- it was wonderful.

And then there was Mary Gauthier. I honestly cannot begin to say how amazing- how powerful and moving- her concert was last night. I was just knocked out by it. (Check yesterday's post to hear a great song by her.)

A day spent cruising at the speed of sound... So good, so inspiring.

Joy and Radiance

Still singing the kirtan I learned yesterday every second I am alone today. In between those times I had a really lovely visit from two Baha'is, Philip and Anne Cantor, whom I met a few months ago. We had a great connection and are forming a wonderful friendship. They live about an hour and a half away and have become very interested in my work so they took the time to come visit today. I gave them each a sound healing demo- Philip in the Somatron recliner and Anne on the Soundweaver. Anne got some hands on work and came back a bit more grounded than Phil, who seemed to have gone somewhere far far away and clearly experienced a profound shift. I wish I'd had the video camera going when he was talking about his experience- he was in such a beautiful place. Amazing what can happen in less than 20 minutes.

They also shared with me some stories about Abdu'l Baha which I always love and never grow tired of and we watched a short video which talked about His embodiment of certain essential qualities as a spiritual being in a human body- the first one being happiness.

God Is Not Throwing Dice

It was a toss-up between this and "My Body is a Cage." I have had a full day of music and a certain amount of catharsis due to the songs my friend Paul was choosing for me this morning. Three in a row by Peter Gabriel- this one, then "I Grieve" and finally "My Body is a Cage". I finally told him I needed a break and couldn't spend the whole day catharting!

So, after that we did some ordinary mundane stuff, I cooked dinner and tonight I set up instruments for tomorrow's workshop on Expressive Arts Therapy and Sound Healing. I took a picture but sadly can't seem to upload it onto here. I have a friend I met the last time I was here who is also a sound healer and has a nice collection of instruments- some beautiful Himalayan singing bowls, rattles and flutes plus I brought a few bowls and a bunch of tuning forks and a couple of other small things. Paul and Jane have a Freenote they brought from me years ago and some other exotic instruemnts as well.
At the end of the day I had a very nice assortment of instruments that all sound really well together.

(My apologies that I can only post old pictures from this blog right now.)

 After getting all that organized Paul put me on their Somatron sound table, which he and Jane bought from me 15 years ago when they hosted me in Canada, and played "My Body is a Cage". Totally amazing and so nice to have someone give me a mini-treatment on the table. It has been a long time.

Oh, and one more crazy piece of synchronicity- someone called Paul today to make reservation for tomorrow to stay here via Airbnb. It turned out upon talking to him that he is a sound therapist and has a sound healing center in Rumania! He is coming here with his wife and child tomorrow and bringing a bunch of instruments with him! What are the odds that there would be two of us here at the same time? He was as blown away as we were when Paul told him that I was here and said that when these things happen it is clear, as Albert Einstein said, that God is not throwing dice.

That on top of the question Paul and I have been discussing about why I am really here, since no one was signed up for any of the workshops before I got here. Paul has said several times that obviously I am here for a reason- we just don't know what it is yet. Now people are slowly starting to come out of the woodwork!

Integrating Inspiration

I have had a long and fruitful day today which started off with a 3 1/2 hour meeting today with Lisel Woods, enterpreneur and small business consultant, discussing marketing strategies for my business. Nice that she is a devotee of Seth Godin! It has been so enjoyable meeting with her and getting some fresh perspectives and inspiration in thinking about ways to move forward. One of the ideas that came to me today was to offer 3-day sound immersion workshops for practitioners. They would be very small groups, a true intensive, for no more than 6 people at one time.

I am feeling very inspired but also very tired so tomorrow I will unravel some more of the inspiration that came to me today. I think I need to sleep on it-I feel like I will be able to integrate more of it with eyes closed!

Me resting on the Athena Table- a sound table with speakers built into it made by the Somatron Corporation- I am actually lying here listening to some great music (Tulku by Jim Wilson), feeling the vibrations through my whole body!

Inspirations

Beautiful Shyamji, my nada yoga teacher

This morning I updated my profile on my blog and spent so much time looking at pictures as I was considering updating that I came across all kinds of wonderful inspirations in the process! I decided I would share some of the things that have inspired me today- people, places, instruments- rather than getting too wordy.

The first is a suikinkutsu, also known as a Japanese water harp- an instrument I discovered while researching outdoor instruments for my healing sound gardens. The next one is a music piece by one of my teachers, music therapist, preserver of indigenous and sacred music Silvia Nakkach who has a voice of gold and a heart to match- Sarasvati incarnate!

Deity of Sound- sculpture by my dear friend Ceramic artist and musician, Brian Ransom

The side of a music school in Minneapolis

Singing, Ringing Tree- Crown Point, Lancashire, England

John Beaulieu's sound studio in Stone Ridge, NY

Sarasvati, She Who Flows

My beautiful teacher, shaman/maestro Don Tito La Rosa

Jim Pepper's saxophone! Smithsonian Institute

"The Gift" by Patricia Bowers

Playing music for visionary artist Alex Grey

Dear friend, colleague, amazing sound healer, Baba Frejon/Fred Johnson- vocalist extraordinaire and dancer Katurah Robinson who dances from her heart

Athena VibroAcoustic Table built by Somatron Corporation

My dear teacher, bhakti yogi, amazing musician and "kirtanmeister "Jai Uttal

Beautiful friend, brilliant artist, hostess of my healing sound journeys Suzanne Benton- blissed out after a Sound Journey

Another brilliant teacher teacher and revealer of the magic of tuning forks as well as craniosacral therapist/polarity therapist/naturopath/psychologist John Beaulieu

My Sanskrit teacher, the late Swami Sarasvati Sivananda I miss you, Swami Bob!