Loving Life!

I have had a very full 24 hours and am feeling somewhat exhilarated! Yesterday I spent a few precious hours with my very dear friend Sharon with whom I have shared so many wonderful musical moments and memories, as well as all the heartfelt talks, tears and laughter that make a friendship meaningful and true.

This morning I had a really great meeting with my therapist. We had a long talk about fear as I have been very much aware of the physical dynamics of it running through my body in the last week- noticing the places where it comes up and my relationship to it.

Then, earlier this evening, I had the great fortune of giving a Healing Sound Journey to a group of wonderful ladies who all do yoga together in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was in a martial arts studio which is always an interesting vibe, but it was great and the space was transformed with all of the instruments, many mirrors and a zillion little flameless candles that the yoga teacher had brought! They loved it. It was all very new to pretty much all of them and many of them had profound experiences.

There are always interesting discoveries for me in the process of a sound journey. Tonight it was the discovery of the relationship between two bowls right at the end of the sound journey- a crystal bowl and a Tibetan bowl. When I played them together there was a binaural beat that occurred- that was not unusual in itself- but the sound of it was unlike any I had ever heard before. At first I didn't recognize that it was coming from the bowl because it was so deep and so subtle- this very quiet deep pulse that actually sounded like some sort of an engine or something! After a few times though I could distinctly hear that it occurred every time I hit the Tibetan bowl after playing one particular crystal bowl. I ended the sound journey with those two tones. I recorded the whole sound journey so it will be really interesting to play it back and see if the recorder (my iPhone!) picked it up the beat frequency between the two instruments.

So, tonight I am feeling happy and grateful and am wearing a big smile on my face!

Files, Piles and Binaural Beats

Having moved in October after being in temporary and transitional living spaces since spring of 2012, I got relatively settled in my new house pretty quickly. It had been a long time coming and I was "ready". People who come to visit are always surprised to see that it is pretty well set up and feels, as they say, as though I have lived here forever- in the best sense of that phrase! That being said, I still have some boxes and plastic tubs stashed away in closets and little storage spaces that they don't ever see. Once every couple of weeks or so, when I'm feeling adventurous, I haul out another box or two and put away some more books or art supplies, or the odd grouping of nonessential instruments. This week I discovered all my Sanskrit books, workbooks, notebooks and practice pads which is very exciting for me.

Last night I decided it's time to organize paperwork as I have an appointment with a tax person coming up fairly soon. (They called me this a.m. and told me they have to postpone my appointment for tomorrow until two weeks from now- looking at all my papers I breathed a sigh of relief!) So, at this moment, instead of my living room feeling like the sacred space- or at least relaxing space- that I like it to be, the floor is covered with paperwork! Some of it is from the last two years but the bulk of it is 7 years worth of files from my sound healing center- time to reorganize it and figure out where it's going to go. I use the word "file" loosely- most is in files but some is in piles- piles that need to be filed!

This morning I was feeling some anxiety and there was a lot of internal chatter going on with regard to old family stuff and between that and looking at my living room floor I thought, "This is a job for brain tuners!" The brain tuners are a very effective sound healing tool that use binaural beats to shift one's state of consciousness. Here is a description by John Beaulieu, inventor of the Biosonic Brain Tuners and developer of Biosonic Repatterning:
"Brain Tuners are based on brain wave studies using electroencephalography (EEG) technology to map different states of consciousness known as Delta, Theta, Alpha, and Beta. Delta is associated with deep sleep. Theta is associated with meditation and dream states. Alpha is associated with relaxed awareness, creativity, and heightened learning. Beta is associated with high alertness and focus.

When the Brain Tuners are simultaneously sounded – one in the left ear and the other in the right ear – the two hemispheres of the brain function together to integrate the two sounds, creating a third, different tone called a binaural beat. When the Fundamental Brain Tuner tuning fork is sounded with a Delta, Theta, Alpha, or Beta tuning fork the difference between the two tuning forks creates a binaural beat which is heard as a pulsation. The binaural beat gently signals the brain to shift into a different state of consciousness."

 I have been using the brain tuners for quite a few years now and sometimes carry them around with me like a sonic toolkit.  Today I was sitting at my kitchen table feeling a little jagged and thought I would first use the alpha tuner to relax my mind and then the beta tuner to help me get organized. I tapped the alpha tuners, held them up next to my ears, closed my eyes and sank into the frequency. When I opened my eyes I saw my kitchen. What I mean by that is that I saw my kitchen- I mean, I have a really great space! I know this, but I hadn't actually seen it for weeks. It was as if I suddenly woke up. All the unproductive internal dialogue was suddenly quiet and I realized how myopic my vision had been for weeks. My vision suddenly became as expansive and open as the space around me.
I was completely calm, completely at peace and the ability to be productive and creative took over. I never did use the beta tuners because relaxing my mind was actually all that I needed to shift my energy and start getting things done. Very cool!