Happy, Grateful and Loving My Life

Feeling grateful for my life and work. Loving working with oncology patients, caregivers and survivors through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital. Feeling oh-so-blessed. Appreciating the beautiful space I am living in where I am able to give private sessions and offer workshops for small groups. Excited about the workshops I have coming up in May and June and the possibility of being able to have participants stay here. Excited about the possibilities that have opened up through the article that was published by the Providence Journal in January. (If you haven't read the article, see below.*) Love the fabulous connection I have made with the hospital to offer programs to their corporate donors as well as with The Cedars, a really lovely nursing home in Cranston, where the administrators are open to and excited about complementary holistic therapies to assist their residents and caregivers. I had a fantastic meeting with their Assistant Administrator, Spiritual Director and a young woman who works with their dementia patients as well as doing private sessions using  reiki, reflexology and CranioSacral Therapy. I will be giving a sound journey there on April 22- Earth Day- which I am super excited about. The same week I am doing a Sound Journey at the World Citizen's Cafe in Framingham, MA, also celebrating Earth Day.

Lots of very exciting stuff!




And again, for those who may not have seen it, here is the link to the video posted on Providence Journal's website.
http://videos.providencejournal.com/providencejournal/vljjcu?v=default&e=default&opn=below_article_ticker

*The Sound of Healing Women & Infants group among those adopting the 2,500-year-old practice of sound therapy


   Meghan Kavanaugh Special to The Journal


PUBLICATION: Providence Journal (RI)

SECTION: RI Special Sections
DATE: January 24, 2016

Artist and start-up consultant Shin Ae has always been interested in the intersection of science and art. It’s what led her to her first job, working in a cancer research laboratory, and it is ultimately what led her to explore the healing power of sound when she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer more than a year ago.
“Music has always been a really big part of my life, so it made a lot of sense,” says the 42-year-old Hopkinton resident who goes by her first name professionally. Sound healing, in which therapists create certain tones and rhythms to try to match and restore balance to the body’s internal energy, can be traced back more than 2,500 years to the days of Pythagoras. The practice continues today, with Women & Infants hospital, in Providence, expanding its Integrative Care Center offerings last month to include the service, making sound therapy available to cancer patients and survivors, their caregivers and the public at locations in Providence, Middletown, South Kingstown and Fall River, Massachusetts. Shin Ae has thus far chosen the holistic treatment over more traditional ones. “I haven’t yet opted for standard chemo and radiation, even though I was diagnosed at stage 4, because my test results and quality of life are proving that the integrative wellness modalities are helping me return to health, little by little,” Shin Ae says. “Everyone wants to know if sound therapy works or whether I’m being foolish, but it’s up to every person to choose what tools they take with them, and trust them to work.” Shin Ae has been working with Rosie Warburton, a licensed massage therapist and sound therapist with 25 years of experience, who leads Women & Infants’ private sessions and small group classes. Rather than using music to supplement treatments by playing it in the background during Reiki or massage sessions, Warburton makes it the focus of the healing process, using objects like tuning forks, Himalayan singing bowls and didgeridoos. “I feel like the sound is more effective than the touch alone,” Warburton says, explaining that particular tones have been shown to reduce anxiety and slow heart rates and respiration. A tuning fork carrying a certain frequency can even activate the body’s naturally occurring nitric oxide, she said, which stimulates the immune system and brings more oxygen to red blood cells. “There are effects that are universal. … No matter who I use that on, they’re going to experience a spike in the nitric oxide,” Warburton says. “It’s so, so powerful for people.” Warburton stays grounded within the science and reasoning of the treatment, says Shin Ae, who explains that sound therapy helps her locate the physical places within her body where she needs healing. “The chills I experience listening to Bach’s cello suites and Rosie’s acoustical therapies are restorative moments,” Shin Ae says. And while she stops short of recommending any treatment as a solution for all cancer patients, Shin Ae acknowledges music’s ability to transcend language, experiences or diagnoses. “It’s one of the great things about using music for people in pain or people with depression or cancer: It affects you whether or not you want it to, and it affects you in a really good way.” Women & Infants’ group sound-healing sessions are held monthly. For details, contact Jessica Barletta at (401) 274-1122, ext. 47285.





Copyright © 2016 Providence Journal, All Rights Reserved.

Sound Therapy for Oncology Patients

Very excited that my son just found this video online. Providence Journal was supposed to publish an article today on sound therapy at Women & Infants Hospital but it wasn't in the paper. Turns out, however, that this video was posted on their website on December 24! I had no idea.
Healing Sound Journey at Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, RI.

Sound Therapy at Women & Infants Hospital

A while back I was contacted by the Marketing Director of Women & Infants Hospital saying she would like to do an article on the sound therapy being offered at the hospital. I suggested that the best way for her to understand it would be for her to experience it for herself, so we set up a Sound Journey for a group of patients and staff at the hospital. This is the article that was inspired by that event.

Not long after that, the Providence Journal contacted me through the Integrative Care Program at the hospital. They were also interested in doing an article so I performed another Sound Journey there about two weeks ago, which was not only photographed but videotaped as well! I am told it will run on Sunday, January 17, 2016 in the "Thrive" section of the paper- there should also be some footage online. 

So this is all very exciting! 


Sound Therapy at Women & Infants Hospital 
by Susan McDonald

Women & Infants offers sound therapy for cancer patients and survivors
In a dimly lit room, lying on yoga mats with pillows and blankets for comfort, a handful of women were listening. So were their bodies.

Eyes closed, the sounds flowed over them – the deep tone of the Aboriginal didgeridoo wind instrument; the sonic reverberations of the Tibetan singing bowls; the whistling of air passing over the two reeds in the drone flute; the aquatic sounds of fingers rubbed along the top of the dolphin bowl.

This day in the Integrative Care Center at the Program in Women’s Oncology, the sounds were the therapy, offering a unique feeling of wellness to the women, all of whom have battled, or continue to battle, cancer.

“I thought I was relaxed at one point, then another part of my body would go down,” says Dori Gerhardt of North Kingstown after the session.

That was music to Rosie Warburton’s ears.

soundtherapy1 (2)“When you feel the sound resonate in your body, it’s definitely having an effect. When the frequency of the bowl is the same as the body part, it vibrates and vibrates and vibrates until the body lets it go,” explains Warburton (pictured here), a licensed massage therapist and sound therapist who has started conducting sessions at the Integrative Care Center.

Holistic sound, she continues, is a non-invasive blend of healing modalities using sound, music and frequency to restore balance and harmony to the physical, mental and emotional bodies.

For the sound therapy group session, Warburton sat for a bit surrounded by the tools of her trade – bowls of metal and crystal, flutes, and a Freenote xylophone that operates on the pentatonic scale so there’s no wrong note. During the session, she walks quietly and slowly among the women, often standing before each to create various sounds ranging from high-pitched to lower and more primal. Periodically, she offers soft words encouraging the journey.

The goal is to release tension and even pain, balance the body’s energy and calm the spirit.

“Sound just does it. You can go so deep in a short amount of time,” she says simply. “Take the didgeridoo. It stills the thoughts and when your thoughts come back, it’s connecting you to your feelings. You feel more grounded. And, as it’s grounding you, it’s taking you out of your body at the same time.”

Different sounds speak to different parts of the body because of their frequency. If she knocks a tuning fork against the palm of her hand, for example, she can place it on joints, muscles and various acupuncture points to render relief from aches. It worked for Roxanne Lucas of Providence, who has neuropathy in both of her feet. Placing the vibrating tuning fork on the joints in each foot brought her instant relief. Minutes later, Gerhardt was experiencing the same relief when the tuning fork was placed on her wrist, which requires a brace for the effects of her Lyme Disease.

“I can feel it tingling down in all of my fingers. That’s great!” she exclaims.

Warburton smiles as she works on helping people understand the healing powers of sound.

“All matter has a resonant frequency it will vibrate at, including the bones, organs and other parts of the body. When you can find that frequency, you can release trauma from the body,” Warburton explains. “One tuning fork has the same resonant frequency as nitric oxide, and therefore stimulates the relaxation response, increasing oxygen flow, activating the parasympathetic system, and decreasing pain, stress and anxiety.”

In addition to the group sessions, Warburton also offers private sessions at the Integrative Care Center, using a combination of tuning forks, massage and craniosacral therapy. The results are “incredibly relaxing” and can help to increase range of motion while decreasing inflammation in the client. She also visits with women hospitalized with cancer at Women & Infants to help ease their discomfort.

Anyone interested in group or individual sound therapy sessions through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants, integrative therapies are offered in Providence, Middletown, and South County, RI, and Fall River, MA. For appointments in Providence, call (401) 274-1122, ext. 7143; in South County or Middletown, call (401) 846-0042; or in Fall River, call (508) 235-3500.

Beyond the Solstice


How the time flies! Great sound healing event at Women & Infants Hospital last Monday on the heels of a Solstice Celebration in Cumberland at the Bija Institute. Beautiful space, good turnout, great people. The acoustics were amazing in the very center of the yurt!

The Sound Journey at Women & Infants was photographed and filmed by the Providence Journal as part of a piece they are doing on Sound Therapy at Women & Infants Hospital. We expect it to be in the paper and on their website on January 17. Very exciting!

Meanwhile Christmas has come and gone, a new year is upon us and the days are growing longer... Blessed be.


Sacred space awaiting...

Erica Nunnally leading a yoga flow in the yurt


Grabbing The Muse By the Balls

I just read this statement by Seth Godin.


SUSDAT


Abbey Ryan has painted a new painting every day for 8 years.
Isaac Asimov published 400 books, by typing every day.
This is post #6000 on this blog.
Writer's block is a myth, a recent invention, a cultural malady.
More important than the output, though, is the act itself. The act of doing it every day. When you commit to a practice, you will certainly have days when you don't feel like it, when you believe it's not your best work, when the muse deserts you. But, when you keep your commitment, the muse returns. When you keep your commitment, the work happens.
It doesn't matter if anyone reads it, buys it, sponsors it or shares it. It matters that you show up.
Show up, sit down and type. (Or paint). 

I loved it when I did Your Turn Challenge and was blogging every day. The muse hasn't left but it certainly feels like time has been slipping away. So I am grabbing it back in this moment.

I have in fact updated my website in the last few days which you can see if you go to the Upcoming Events and Workshops. Also the "Sound Therapy Program" at Women & Infants Hospital (which, quite simply, is me) is going to be featured next week in the Providence Journal. They are coming to the hospital on Monday to take pictures of me doing a Healing Sound Journey and interview me and one or two of the patients. I am quite excited about this!

I'm also going to be doing a wonderful solstice event on Monday evening with a pretty amazing woman I met recently- Erica Nunnally. I am really looking forward to it. I loved her relaxed groundedness and openness when I met her- someone who seems to be very comfortable in her own skin as well as being a person with intention, integrity and focus- a great combination!
Check it out here: Lumina: A Celebration of Winter Solstice

I have been staying up too late every night for the past few weeks but somehow not getting done many of the things I would like. In this moment I am taking the time to show up and do something that is important to me- getting back on top of my blog.
My mother at her writing desk, probably in the early fifties. I wonder what she was writing.














Nothing Real Can Be Threatened

Finally I have my computer up and running again!

The follow-up to the "Mum Dream" has been powerful- tears of joy as I have felt the palpable sense of the presence of her personality fade and an overwhelming love take its place. I keep thinking of the last few lines of the introduction to A Course in Miracles. "The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: 'Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.'"
Ever since I took the money workshop in Holland a lot has been happening. Last week I wrote about being at the Rhode Island Cancer Summit. It felt like there was a big opening there. As a follow-up to that, today I got an email saying that the writer for Women & Infants Hospital wants to talk to me because they want to do an article on sound therapy. Meanwhile tomorrow I am teaching a class on sound healing to a group of high school students who are taking an intensive on Sustainable Healing Modalities. I am really looking forward to that. I have loaded the car up with all kinds of fun and interesting instruments from around the world. I suddenly have many more people calling for sessions and someone who wants to apprentice with me coming in a couple of weeks.

 A few weeks ago I was looking at some old material from the sound healing center I had in Florida- notepads, appointment books, calendars, etc. I was so busy every day, meeting with people, giving sessions, doing concerts, sound journeys, hosting events, teaching workshops, etc. and I thought "This is how it's supposed to be." I have been wondering how to make that happen here, knowing it would have to take a different form and curious about what it might look like. Suddenly it all seems to be taking shape and evolving in a very organic way. It feels good.