Surprise, Surprise!

So, today's nudge on #yourturnchallenge- "tell us about a time when you surprised yourself." Today, right now, sitting down to write this blog and get it posted by midnight!!! I have barely a half hour to get it in under the wire. Internet was down for two days and I had to do yesterday's post on my iPhone. As I discussed yesterday, consistency is not my best friend. I am trying really hard to befriend it though!

Day #6 of Your Turn Challenge. It slipped my mind completely until 15 minutes ago- this is so good for me!

There are a few things, a very few things that I have done from start to finish. My two biggest accomplishments- going to 12-Step meetings every day for two years about 25 years ago which changed my life. A year after I got into recovery I began reading A Course in Miracles- a text of over 600 pages, a workbook with 365 lessons- each to be done daily for a year, and a third volume- a manual for teachers. I never thought when I picked up that book that I could possibly reach the end. I did. NA/AA changed my life. A Course in Miracles changed my mind. And as the Course says, "... by changing his mind, he has changed the most powerful device that was ever given him for change."

So I have actually surprised myself by my ability to follow through and accomplish some pretty big things in my life. I could actually go on from there but the clock is ticking! I do find it sort of funny though as I look at these fairly big challenges I faced in my life- like getting clean and sober- that I was apprehensive about whether I really had it in me to blog consistently 7 days in a row. Well, here it is Day 6 and I have surprised myself! Thank you for the challenge to show up for myself.

Moving Forward! (Shift Happens)

By Rosie Warburton

Okay, this is a really interesting challenge today- my internet is down and I am writing on my iPhone! Editing will be sparse. That being said, stuck in the quagmire of a nonfunctional internet server, how to get unstuck and move forward? Work with what you've got, right?

The truth is that there was no way I was going to allow this little glitch to cause me to fail today. To some people blogging every day may be a no-brainer. I am not one of those people to whom discipline and consistency come naturally. So, maybe the easiest way to become unstuck is not to allow yourself to get stuck in the first place. Does that statement sound like a cop-out? Not sure. It could be but that's kind of where I'm at right now. If I don't get stuck I don't need to dig myself out.

Then there is the consideration, if one is really and truly feeling stuck, of changing one's perception. Am I really stuck or am I just beating myself up and not looking at the positive actions- the small things- that I am in fact doing that are benefitting myself, others, my work, my health, whatever.

And then there is the third possibility. I'm stuck. No matter what I do it seems there are just too many obstacles, challenges, barriers, dead air, dead weight. What now? Stop. Ask yourself, why am I doing this? What is it for? Is there a message here? Is it really me who is stuck or is there something going on energetically that maybe has nothing to do with me? If it is me- I am in a rut- well, how can I change what I am doing? Is there ONE thing I could change, one simple thing I could do differently.

Sometimes just exploring the questions is enough to create a shift. There always the question as to whether the obstacles are internal or external and these are very important questions. Is it something I have any control over? Does being stuck mean I wait it out til the energy shifts, or is the waiting a symptom of being stuck?

Making lists can be hugely helpful. For example, what are ten things I could be doing to help promote my business? What are ten things I could be doing to make myself feel better? What are ten things I could be doing to help someone else? What are ten ways this project could be beneficial to others? What are the obstacles to getting this project off the ground? What are all the positive things I am already doing?

When you're stuck you need to ask the right questions. I have often found that when I begin asking the right questions and then writing down the answers, whether it's journaling, writing lists, whatever, that it short circuits the tape loops and frees up a lot of energy. It allows me to either see the positive steps I am taking or that I need to take to make a shift and then... Shift happens!

Doing What I Love

I am doing what I do best today. Loving music. Appreciating... because if I didn't it would be hard to get through this day. Feeling like I am underwater and a pain in my side... the dregs of a flu... tired of it. And so- I am listening to Tom Ze and I strongly encourage you to do it too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZLzWlU0mB0

One of the things I love doing most as a sound therapist is helping people to explore music, sound and frequency and discover what those sounds are that really turn you on. And to listen deeply, to notice where you feel those sounds and how they make you feel... Not just "good". Grounded? Expansive? Excited? Nostalgic?

Music has been a savior for me many different times in my life. Today is one of those times.

Start to Finish

Yesterday and the day before I woke up with #yourturnchallenge at the forefront of my mind. Today? Somewhere else! Didn’t even remember for probably a good half hour that I had made a commitment to blog every day for 7 days. I felt stumped. What can I write about? I made a little video of gonging and posted it on Facebook- that is another commitment I made to myself- to post frequent sound healing videos. Okay, truth is I said I would make and post one every day- but I missed the second day!

So in my quandary I went to the daily questions: “Tell us about something that you think should be improved.” Looking out there in the world there is just too much stuff- and for the most part it’s really my perception of the world that could be vastly improved so I decided not to go there. The obvious answer for me today, in looking around at all the projects I have started and am partway through, is my ability to see things through from start to finish. 

At this moment I have a flyer that needs to be updated. I have a brochure that needs to be completed. I have a bookshelf half emptied that needs to be moved when I finish emptying it- I started about 3 weeks ago. I have relocated and need to set up a class and some sound healing events at a venue that is close by- the rent is so cheap that it’s basically a no-brainer. I am supposed to be practicing music every day- I don’t. Oh, and three days ago I said I would blog on a daily basis and already I almost forgot all about it!

This is a little more like true confessions than I can bear. The point is I get really excited about life, about new projects and possibilities, about practice, about learning, about teaching and healing but I am constantly distracted and moving from one thing to the next without completing the one I started.
I’m not sure what the key is here. What does it take to create discipline and consistency in one’s life, one’s work, one’s practice? Or beyond that, to achieve mastery? Dedication? That’s not enough- there is no question in my mind that I am dedicated to my work and to my spiritual path as well, and for that matter that I am good at what I do. But yes, there is so much room for improvement. There is a quote in A Course in Miracles that simply says, “Your good intentions are not enough.” Sad but apparently true.

So, what will happen if I choose one thing- blogging, for example (!)- and I do it every day? Taking one step. And seeing if one step leads to another… and another…

A Taste of My Own Medicine

I just spent about an hour on the Athena Table, a vibroacoustic table with speakers built into it made by the Somatron Corporation. Vibroacoustic basically means that you hear the music and you feel the vibrations of it throughout your body as well. I listened to some fairly quiet ambient music by a sound healer named Michael Brant DeMaria called "In the Flow". I had never heard it before. It must have been a demo that a distributor had sent to me. I hadn't been on the sound table for at least a couple of weeks... Why not? It is at my disposal!

Amazing the tools we have available to us that we totally forget to use. Forget? Are too lazy, too distracted? Too busy checking texts and emails? What? I don't know. I love music. I love to feel good. Hello? This is the therapy I offer to other people and have been offering since 1995- and I don't use it? Okay, that's not entirely true but I certainly don't avail myself of it to the extent that I could and probably should. So, I was surprised and pleased by how relaxed and clearheaded I felt when I got up. I shouldn't have been surprised- I know this works and I understand how it works.

I have some quiet thoughts ruminating about this whole process since I got up. The dominant one has to do with the Your Turn Challenge and how this might impact other areas of our lives- the idea that taking one necessary step in one area of our lives- in this case writing a little bit every day and putting it out there- might just lead to forward motion in other areas of our lives. I don't have a whole lot to say about that right now. I'm just kind of curious... I may have more as the week progresses.

Meanwhile here's a little bit more about this amazing technology. The Athena Table was donated to the Sound Body Wholistic Health Center in Florida when I opened it in 2005. It was the original prototype for the Somatron Body Mat. My friend Byron Eakin, owner and inventor of Somatron, told me that he would donate it to the center on the condition that I would never sell it. I readily agreed to his terms! This is what it looks like on the outside. If you lift up the panel in the middle there are two large flat speakers under there and also two small speakers on either side of the little pillow where your head goes. These pictures were taken at the center.

It is now in my living room- initially that was a little bit of a fiasco! When I originally moved in October my plan was to put it in one of the downstairs bedrooms and use it as a separate treatment room. Unfortunately the hallway was too narrow and the movers couldn't get it in there, so suddenly I had this huge thing in the middle of my living space and I did not see how it was going to work. The living/dining/kitchen area has an open floor plan so it sat in my dining area for about two weeks til a friend helped me figure it out and we saw a spot in the living room where it could go along with a vibroacoustic recliner. Now if two people feel like being antisocial one can now go on the chair and one on the table and just tune out the rest of the world for a while. It has turned out to be a pretty cool arrangement. Here it is in my living room under a bit of a disguise!

So, it's in fact supercozy. I put a 3" futon on top of it to sleep there in November when I had a house full of family and it's so comfortable that I never took it off- AND the vibration of the music still comes through even with the futon which is awesome! The black recliner is also a Somatron- it is basically a zero gravity recliner with speakers built into- one in the low back and one in the leg rest and one on either side of the head. The sound technology in the chair is so good- it is really a wonderful experience. Wasn't there a (cheesy) song once- "Make the World Go Away"? This will do just that- all the while revealing your inner world! Very cool.

Okay, the truth is it's way more than cool and I do not wish to minimize it. It is powerful. Profound. What happens when you lie on one of these sound tables or recliners? You drop into a deep state of relaxation very quickly. The vibrations of the music are pulsing, vibrating, resonating through every cell in your body! All the stress, tension, pain and trauma throughout the mind-body spectrum begins to release and let go. You become one with the music and experience the flow of a stream of consciousness is. Healing happens. This can actually be a life changing experience. I have seen people have healings on every level- physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. It's no small thing.

Starting Off On The Right Note

When I had my sound healing center in St. Pete, FL I led a healing sound meditation every Monday evening so people could start their week off "on the right note". Having been in major transition for the last two years and finally settled in to my oh-so-very-cool log house where I can rev up my practice again it feels just right that this challenge begins on a Monday. Challenge, yes...Thank you Seth Godin and Winnie Kao, too for the challenge to blog for 7 days in a row! Just the kick in the pants that I needed. http://yourturnchallenge.tumblr.com/

Getting started has been the biggest challenge lately. Seems like transitions could just go on endlessly... Moved in October, including getting all my stuff (sound healing equipment, sound tables, instruments) out of storage where it had been for several years- so about 6 weeks of the initial house set-up, then November- kids visiting from MN for birthdays, the crazy holiday stretch where I was still finding beds, kitchen table, stuff that you are supposed to have in your house if you ever want other people to be able to be there (and since I am going to be hosting individual sound healing retreats that is pretty important stuff!), then the Christmas craziness where life gets put on hold again (okay, really? That's crazy! The best of life is those holiday times when everything ELSE gets put on hold and we get to hang out, celebrate, eat with our families, kids, friends) and finally my 60th birthday last week which I celebrated with my two sisters in Arizona and will probably continue to celebrate all year. Then of course I got sick- so here I am typing with a plugged up ear which is driving me slightly insane! So... were I not given this challenge I could have easily put off "getting started" with my new ideas, visions, and the practicality of sitting, writing, sharing, for at least another week!

In this moment I am thinking that the real challenge for me is starting this next phase of my life off "on the right note". Blogging consistently for seven days feels like a nice way of breaking down that challenge, that invitation. Just do it.

Put It To The Test

Tom Ze- Emere

Time to put the brain tuners to the test. I have been sick and my left ear has been blocked for almost a week now. Today I have had no focus whatsoever. I just walk around singing this wonderful tune by Tom Ze! I don't actually feel bad physically- just a relatively mild cough, no fever, aches etc. It's just my ear and the feeling that the whole left side of my head is in a weird kind of a bubble. I have tried everything- using tuning forks on the acupressure points, homeopathic drops, garlic infused sesame oil drops, essential oils and massage around the ear, flushing with saline solution and finally yesterday I broke down and got some Sudafed and so far that hasn't done anything either!

So now I am trying out the brain tuners- the fundamental (C256 hz) and the beta tuner for focus and clarity. If I can't actually clear my ear out at least maybe I can clear my head a little and stop walking around in circles forgetting what I'm doing and where I am putting things. The funny thing is, now, about a minute after I used them I actually feel like there is some movement happening within my ear canal- and I actually do feel a bit more focused. Let's see if I can actually get something done around here!

Sorry that there is no visual on the Tom Ze "video"- but it's well worth a listen- such a sweet tune, sort of sacred and funky at the same time.

Update on brain tuner results to follow... ;-)

Mr. Lopez Meets Mr. Ayers

Every night for the past two weeks I have been reading Steve Lopez's book The Soloist about Nathaniel Anthony Ayers. I have been getting to bed late due to all the pre-Christmas doings that needed to be done so I was only managing a few pages at a time. Yesterday, as part of my post-Christmas recovery program, I stayed in bed for an extra two hours reading and then took a two-hour bath and finished the book. It is the true story of a homeless man in LA suffering from schizophrenia who once had a promising career as a musician but was now living on the streets as he had been for the past 30 years. When Mr. Lopez met him, Mr. Ayers was sleeping in a tunnel by night, warding off rats with a stick and playing music by day on his violin or cello for his own personal pleasure- always in sight of a statue of Beethoven, his inspiration.

What an amazing story about the power of music to placate and inspire a mind so often plagued by demons. It is not a "cure"- Mr. Ayers is a paranoid schizophrenic who refuses medication due to bad experiences in the past but when he is playing music- or listening to it- the often tangled web of his mind becomes an open space full of inspiration, clarity and joy. I had seen the movie when it came out in 2009 but reading the book gave me a much greater insight and inspired me to follow up on the story. I searched on YouTube and this is the first video I came across. It is too good not to share. I was happy to see that there are videos of the real Mr. Ayers and not just clips from the movie and I am looking forward to watching more of them.

Brain Tuner Experiment

Commitment and practice renewed. Yesterday I sat down at my harmonium for the first time in about 6 weeks, maybe more. I moved October 1st so I spent the two weeks leading up to that point packing and the last four weeks UNpacking! So good to sit and play music, so good to sit and write, so good to sit and sing. So nice to build a fire! So wonderful to have SPACE! So fantastic to have all my sound healing equipment, art and instruments in one space. Beyond fabulous to have a place where I can have company, space for my kids and their families visit and to work. It is all good- in this case that is not a cliche!

 This is pretty cool! A couple of days ago I decided to use my brain tuners before I did my Lumosity workout (games to exercise the brain) to see if they would make a difference. I used the Beta tuners for clarity and focus. On two out of three of the exercises I scored significantly higher. The other one was pretty much the same as usual. I don't remember what the third game was for- maybe it was short term memory! Interesting experiment anyway- I will definitely play some more with the combination of tuning forks and Lumosity and see if the results hold up.





To learn more about Brain Tuners visit John Beaulieu's website: http://www.biosonics.com/Brain-Tuners-in-Velvet-Bag.html. You may also want to read through some of these blogposts for more information on use of tuning forks. The third one has a very interesting video testimonial (short!)
/wholisticsound/2012/07/tuning-mom.html
/wholisticsound/2012/11/a-slight-adjustment.html
/wholisticsound/2011/08/at-last-i-am-done-with-three-months-of.html

Wholistic Sound Has Landed! (Part One)

It has been a crazy summer. I spent the better part of June, July and August actively looking for a new place- a house- where I could stay for a while, that would feel like more than just a temporary place to land. It was very frustrating. I thought maybe something was wrong with me that I was having so much trouble finding anything that I felt would work. I hadn't felt this stuck in many years. I wanted to be in love with it- not just have it be workable, doable, functional. I had a fabulous apartment in Newport that I really did love. The down side of it was that it was on the 3rd floor of a Victorian house and I was so high up that I discovered within a couple of months that I was literally feeling like I was "up in the air" all the time. I made a list of all the things that were important to me hoping that would give a little more strength to my intention.
Here is what I wrote:
A house where I can live and do my sound healing work
A large yard
Surroundings that help me to feel connected to the outdoors
3 bedrooms so I have a guest room and a treatment room
Fireplace or wood stove
Living room area large enough to host groups for classes, workshops and meditation
Fabulous kitchen
No more than $2000 a month (which would only be doable if I could work there as well.)

And I was finding NOTHING! I couldn't believe the shoddy places they were showing me for between $1700- $2000 a month... Dirty, one which clearly had termites, not enough space, in need of paint, flooring needing to be refinished, etc., etc. I looked at everything- houses, condos, apartments. I went as far as the Berkshires. Nothing, nothing, nothing... I was ready to land, to get my sound healing equipment up from Florida and immerse myself in my work. Nothing.

I was in a funk- something I don't even really know about it. Typically I might get in a bad mood for an hour if my blood sugar gets low but that's about the extent of it. The end of July came around and it was time to think about going to Jai Uttal's kirtan camp in California. I had paid for it in January and now I didn't want to go.  I emailed Jai's wife Nubia and told her I was feeling too ungrounded and up in the air and I needed to find a place to live. My sister Miranda called me that week asking when I was coming to CA as I was going to visit her also and I told her I had cancelled. I said it was too much money- I still needed to pay airfare, lodging, and a car rental- and I needed to find a place to live.  She said, "Are you crazy?! You have to go- I have never seen you so happy and excited about anything as when you went to kirtan camp the last time. Plus it's a tax write-off for you so don't worry about the money. You just have to go."

Well, when my older sister tells me something I take it seriously and she was adamant so I said I would think about it. After I got off the phone I thought, "Well, nothing is actually happening here except that I'm spending hours on the computer and driving around looking at places and I'm not finding a thing. And I'm going crazy and I'm miserable... Maybe this will help free up some energy and I'll find something when I get back."

So off I went to Harbin Hot Springs, CA for a wonderful week of joyful kirtan. That is its own story for a different post. Suffice to say I came back in a much better frame of mind. I felt hopeful and excited. The next 3 weeks went by and I was still spending hours on the computer looking at the same old stuff from here to North Carolina, driving out to Middletown, Portsmouth and Wickford, another trip up to the Berkshires and still no luck but I was in a better mood.

Blissed-out Bhaktas- 2014 Summer Kirtan Camp with Jai Uttal, Nubia Texeira and Daniel Paul

I have to throw in there at this point that there was one house in Tiverton, a log house, that kept showing up on the internet which I kept ignoring. It was a little more than I wanted to spend, although it was in the range I was considering. It had 4 bedrooms- a little bigger than what I felt I needed. It was log and I have always wanted to live in a log house. It had a big deck and a koi pond and actually looked pretty great but I kept thinking, "No... Tiverton- don't know anyone out there. Log, but it's probably not as nice as it looks. The bedrooms look small. It's probably just a winter rental" etc., etc. I had a whole lot of reasons not to bother looking at it.

Noelle, "Ming Ming" and Patience

So September rolled around and I went off to Minneapolis for my granddaughter's 5th birthday. I had a wonderful 5 days and then came back home and sat back down at the computer to look at more places.  Still in a good mood, thank God, and feeling like if I had to stay in my apartment for the winter I could live with that. But I really wanted to get my sound healing equipment up here from Florida. It had been too long. I was missing my sound table and missing my work. So I sat back down at the computer and picked up my seemingly fruitless search where I had left off.

I had one more trip planned- Salt Lake City in mid-October for my son Ben's 35th birthday. He is in his 5th year working on his PhD at the University of Utah and I had never been out there. But 3 days after I got back from MN my sister Miranda, an advanced craniosacral therapist, called me from the Bahamas and said there was a dolphin-assisted intensive therapy program beginning in just two days and some of their clients had to cancel so they were offering it on the cheap just to fill it. She said I should really seize the opportunity and fly down to the Bahamas the next day and take the program. I had the same thought as I'd had a few weeks earlier re: California. No way, I need to stay here and find a place to live. Plus it would be crazy expensive to fly to the Bahamas with less than 24 hour notice!

Nonetheless I gave it some thought- 5 hours a day of craniosacral therapy with one therapy session each day for 4 days with dolphins assisting and two more sessions with two advanced therapists during the day. As Miranda said, I could get the equivalent of a years worth of therapy over the course of the 4-day intensive. I thought about it and thought, Well, maybe I have more stuff to clear around finding a place to land and this could help me. Clearly there were more obstacles on some level that escaped me. Apparently it was meant to be because I found an unreasonably reasonable flight! That cinched the deal for me and I decided to go.

The next day I flew to the Bahamas. The program started the day after I arrived. I set as an intention to clear whatever blocks, release whatever I needed to release, to help me find a place to live. The program was amazing, a lot of openings and awarenesses- nothing earth-shattering- quite a bit of physical release and some emotional stuff, nothing that I could pinpoint in terms of any specific blocks but it was all good. At the end I had an extra day with Miranda which, as Spirit would have it, turned out to be the one year anniversary of our mother's passing. We had both been there with Mum when she died and shared something very profound at that time, so it was quite wonderful and synchronistic that we unexpectedly were together that day.

I came home the next day and there I went- back to the computer! And there was that log house in Tiverton again. This time, instead of blowing it off, I thought "Well, I've looked at everything else- I might as well check it out- and then I can eliminate it!" So I called the realtor, saw the house the next day and felt that I could easily fall in love with it. And not only that, that it would be a perfect place for me to live and work! The day after that I drove out to Tiverton one more time to look at it with my friend Lark and made the decision that yes, this was the house for me.

So here I am, in this fabulous house in Tiverton, RI- and all I can say is that I am seriously deliriously happy! Actually there is quite a bit more to say than that but I will save it for another, hopefully shorter, blogpost now that I have gotten enough stuff put away in the house to feel like I can sit down at the computer and resume writing again. Suffice to say in closing that I got everything on my list and more- some things I wouldn't have even thought of on my own- like a nice deep whirlpool jetted tub in my bathroom. Happy landings!

A Life of Miracles

A few years ago, when the movie "The Secret" came out, a group of us got together at my sound healing center in Florida and watched it together and then stayed for a few hours to make vision boards. I created a vision board that I have always felt represented the essence of who I am on all levels- from the physical to the spiritual. In fact I discovered after I had completed it that it was almost like a road map- at the left hand bottom corner was "Walking the Earth Path". Moving diagonally up and toward the right, in the center of the collage was "Journeys to the Self" and continuing toward the upper right was the section entitled "Journey to the Heart of God". I also found a poem in one section as I looked at the clippings of words that I had included. This was not planned. It goes like this:

     I am the dreamer,
     Arise and shine
     Fully human, fully divine
     O thou invisible spirit!
     Awaken my world
     A life of miracles
     Beyond bliss...

That is my life. That is who I am.

Recently I found a frame for it and today I have finally hung it on the wall. Someone said to me not long ago that I could revisit who I was at the time I made it, but I truly feel that I went into my core when I made it- into my heart and my soul and that it represents the Truth of Who I AM. The reason I decided to hang it where I can see it every day is because I am now engaged in looking for the perfect place to live- a place that I can call my home and not feel like it is a temporary fix until I find THE place. 

It is time for me to have a place where I can live and do the work that I love unencumbered by lack of space and/or any other constraints that could limit my self-expression. If I have that then the only self-limiting constraint I have is me and my own mind!

Grounded in a Sound Reality

I have been practicing sound healing for about 20 years now and studying the effects of sound for considerably longer than that. Today I have been looking over past posts, writings and events I have done over the past ten years. I am as obsessed with sound as I ever was. One thing I notice is that the more I do this work, the longer I stay with it, the more grounded I get. The general perception is that it is "New Age", "woo woo" or just plain "out there" when in fact it is well-grounded in science and physics and deeply affects our physiology and bio-energy. I have people come to me sometimes who are relatively new to the field and very excited and say things like, "When we start playing they won't know what hit them!"

 Okay... I WANT YOU TO KNOW WHAT HIT YOU! That is why I practice, I write and I teach. I want you to know that this is real and much of it is replicable. It is accessible. You do not have to be a wizard, a magician or even a musician. You simply have to be sensitive to how specific tones and frequencies affect you. You learn this by listening- deeply- and observing your own response to what you are hearing; not only learning what sounds in particular make you feel "good" but also those sounds that perhaps make you squirm a little bit or bring up some level of emotional discomfort. You can learn just as much from these as the ones that make you smile, bring warmth to your heart, stimulate your left brain, bring tears to your eyes or make you feel solid and grounded.

We are frequency. All thought is frequency. Our emotions are frequencies and we can use sound to change our frequencies- to give us more energy or to slow down our nervous system. One of the most straightforward ways to do this is by using beat frequencies which affect our brainwaves. Tibetan bowls and certain combinations of tuning forks set up beat frequencies (heard as a pulse) which correlate to specific brainwaves- beta, alpha, theta and delta. Generally the Tibetan bowls will correspond to alpha (8-12 cycles per second), theta (4-8 cps) and delta (0.5-4 cps) which are optimal for learning, deep relaxation, meditation and healing. Brain Tuners, a set of 5 tuning forks, also correspond to brain waves and include a "Beta Tuner" which in combination with the fundamental tone corresponds to the Beta brainwave (13-30 cps) for heightened awareness, maximum brain power, focus and concentration.

Here is a link to an informative article on Brainwave Frequencies and some other ways to access the different brain states: http://synthesislearning.com/article/brwav.htm

Tomorrow night I will be joining my friend Peter Blum for a sound healing event at Santosha Yoga in Cranston, RI which I am really looking forward to. He has a large collection of bowls, gongs and other instruments, pictured below. I will be bringing some crystal bowls, metal bowls and flutes of my own and it should be quite wonderful. We have never worked/played together before but we definitely speak the same language and I think we will be quite in synch with each other.

Yes, we are in synch- he just called me, right after I wrote that paragraph, and said essentially the same thing on the phone as I just said here!

Link to event: http://yogaatsantosha.com/santosha_events/ceremonial-sounds-for-healing/

Five Minutes of Mindfulness (Step to the right...)

I am almost finished reading Jill Bolte Taylor's amazing book My Stroke of Insight. (Click on the title to watch her Ted Talk video.) I first saw it about 5 years ago, made a copy of it and have watched it several times. It is the story of her personal experience and simultaneous observation of herself, a Harvard-trained brain scientist, having a severe stroke as a result of a massive hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain. She observed the left brain function of her brain shutting down over a period of four hours while she drifted in and out of a state of deep peace, euphoria and oneness- which she now believes resides in the right brain and is accessible to all of us if we choose to make a conscious effort to access it.  Over an 8-year period of recovery she consciously chose what parts of her left brain activity she wanted to resurrect and those aspects of its abilities and tendencies that she wished to leave behind (nit-picking, replaying negative tape loops, holding on to anger, etc.). It is a powerful and illuminating story.

In 2006 I had a head injury, a severe blow to my right temple. I am grateful to be reminded of what I learned during that time. The primary lesson for me was that I had a choice about how I thought and what I thought about. I did not have the mental energy to step out of the present for several weeks if not longer, and it was an incredible gift. My head hurt so badly in the beginning and it literally was too exhausting for my brain to think so my mind became very quiet- the deepest quiet and strongest experience of presence that I can remember having in this lifetime.  The defining moment that stayed with me was a little over two weeks after the initial injury. I was receiving an Ayurvedic treatment called shirodhara. I lay on a massage table with warm herbal-infused oil streaming onto my forehead and I had a thought. Up to that point my mind had been silent for some time- not unaware, in fact very present, but very quiet. So in this moment, as I observed myself having a thought, I saw in my mind's eye a water strider on the surface of a pool of water. The water strider represented my thought and I knew in that moment that I could follow it as it skittered across the surface of the water (the pool of my mind) or I could dive beneath the surface to where it was completely quiet and peaceful.


That awareness stayed with me for a long time and in fact became a practice as my left brain began to reengage more and more. I could either follow a thought and engage in it to whatever level was comfortable or, if it was uncomfortable on any level, I had the option to simply dive beneath the surface and let it go. As time has gone by, although I always remember this, I would say that I have become to some extent lazy in engaging the ability to make a conscious choice on how I expend my mental energy and I am so grateful to be reminded of the possibility- adn as Jill Bolte Taylor puts it, the I can "step to the right and bring my thoughts back to the present moment." It is a conscious choice.

It makes me think of how many times I have heard myself and others say, "I can't stop thinking about..." blah, blah, blah- whatever it is. Yes, in fact I can. It is a conscious choice and it requires a certain amount of exercise. 

Which takes me to the next point. Yesterday I heard a great interview on NPR with Dan Harris, author of 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head... Basically he is a proponent of a simple meditation technique: 5 minutes... sitting... bringing the attention to the breath... and every time you notice the mind wandering, bringing it back to the breath... again and again and again. And, as he puts it, every time you do this "it's a bicep curl for the brain"- which I love! Between listening to his talk and reading My Stroke of Insight I have decided to turn to a practice of 5 minutes of mindfulness at least twice a day and preferably more. We'll see how that goes. I already know from past experience (years when I did a lot of meditation) that meditation on the breath is one of the most powerful meditation techniques there is because the breath is always available to us and every time we notice the breath in that moment we are present.

In Jill Bolte Tayor's book she talks about how she changes her mind if her left brain activity is not being cooperative (that voice that is like a petulant child who sometimes just refuses to be quiet!)...
1) remembering something that she finds fascinating that she would like to ponder more deeply
2) thinking about something that brings her great joy
3) thinking about something she would like to do

I would add to this list "listening to music." Music immediately engages the right brain and pulls us back (or forward!) into the present. It can drop us into a state of peace, joy, motivation with no effort on our part- all we need is to remember that we have a choice

The bottom line is- we have the power to change our minds, to choose what we engage in. We simply need the willingness and the discipline.

True learning is constant, and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his power in one instant and change the world in the next. That is because, by changing his mind, he has changed the most powerful device that was ever given him for change.
                                 ~A Course in Miracles, Text: Chapter 7, Section 5 (Paragraph 7)~

Norah Jones - Rosie's Lullaby

Yes, this is definitely my lullaby.



My good friend Will told me a few weeks ago that I had to listen to this song. I found this video of it that same day and soon began sobbing- heartfelt, gut-wrenching tears. The video itself is exquisite.

For me, the song touches such a deep place that I have no words for it.  I listened to it over and over that first day, singing with it and weeping. I don't know if it brought up some grief over my mother's death that I was unaware was sitting quietly in a space in my heart waiting to be released- or if it was something much older, deeper, the longing for Home. I only know that this song is one of a very few that I feel has really tapped into the deepest part of my Self.

I immediately ordered the CD and the studio version is so rich, full and poignant. I typically listen to it at least once a day and most of the time it still makes me weep. I figure they are tears of a grief and a longing that need to be released so I have been letting them go. The funny thing is, I don't feel sad- more just a pulling on my heart.



I am posting this one- a live version- rather than the studio version because the imagery is so beautiful. Whoever put together the visuals did a beautiful job.

Awakening to Music

In my aerie this morning, woke up and lay in bed... and for some reason I did something I never do these days. I plugged in my cool little iSound speaker and lay in bed listening to music. Random selections from my iPod... From Jai Uttal to Billy Bragg to Van Morrison to Ray LaMontagne to Robbie Robertson to Shyam Bhatnagar to Andrew Bird to Silvia Nakkach to Tinariwen to John McDowell to Fleet Foxes, on and on and on. That was about 7 hours ago. I got up after about a half hour of listening to one track flow into another. I thought I might have to skip tracks occasionally because I knew it would constantly be changing genres- from meditative to rock n' roll to shamanic to folk- and I thought it might be too jarring or weird at times, but every change has been a totally pleasant surprise. The biggest thing that hit me very quickly was that this music was waking up parts of my Self that have been sleeping- on all levels.

Coming from a sound healer that may sound funny- but I spend so much of my time immersed in sound and music that I really don't listen to it recreationally much at all anymore. I give people individual sessions with my voice and tuning forks, I am surrounded by singing bowls, I perform healing sound journeys and lead kirtan, I teach sound healing workshops, I practice singing and chanting on my harmonium and guitar, I spend hours researching and listening to all kinds of healing sound and music from all sorts of arenas.

I enjoy the silence in between all these various sound immersions. They are all deep and meditative for me in their own different ways. But today music woke me up and reminded me of another whole side of the experience which I can't necessarily put into words. My response to it? I have gotten a tremendous amount done, moving easily from one task to another- organizing my apartment, going through old photos and letters of my mothers, sat and cried understanding what a life of love she lived and what a lover of life she was, got still as a stone listening to Shyam Bhatnagar chanting, sang, danced- and some beautiful freesia that I thought I was going to have to heave suddenly started blooming again and filling the air with a heavenly fragrance which I attribute totally to the music!

The only thing I forgot to do was get dressed- I'm still in my pajamas! Too busy, having too much fun- and flannel is just so warm and cozy.

(Amazing... I just realized that I started with songs that began with the letter "T" at about 7:30 am. It is now almost 3:00 pm and I am just on the "W"s. I guess I have a fair amount of music on there!)

Here are some of the people I have listened to today, just in case you're interested in a more thorough overview!
Jai Uttal
John McDowell
Emily Lou Harris
Shri Shyam Bhatnagar
Andrew Bird
AA Bondy
Robbie Roberston
Rosie Warburton (!)
David Chandler
Van Morrison
Tinariwen
Bon Hiver
Fleet Foxes
Ray LaMontagne
Marjorie de Muenck
Venerable Choesang
Tito La Rosa
Silvia Nakkach
Greg Brown
Devendra Banhart
Devil Makes Three
Trampled By Turtles
Billy Bragg & Wilco
Jeb Loy Nichols

Back At It!

Happily, I have begun working on a book that I put on a shelf back in 2005 when I opened my sound healing center in Florida. Literally- I put it on the shelf of the desk where I worked every day when I was not actually doing sessions and hosting events. I thought I would have time to write so I kept it close by where I could see it every day; but in fact running a center was much more than a full-time job- especially a center for a modality that was so far out of the mainstream. I advertised it as a sound healing center because otherwise it was just one more wellness center and that was not my mission. Lots of people could run a holistic/alternative healing center. My passion was, and is, sound and music. Bringing that to the public was work, work, work- and love, love, love- no time for anything else as it turned out.

Now that I have closed the center (for the time being) and have relocated and am in a beautiful third floor apartment- my nest, my aerie- I have the time and space to write. I had no shortage of material when I began, but now, after running a sound healing center for 7 years, I have even more to write about- not to mention the growing science behind an age-old technology. Science is slowly beginning to catch up to the wisdom of the ancients- at least in some fields- which is very exciting!

In light of recent research, here is a really interesting article by Dr. John Beaulieu discussing the use of tuning forks to stimulate nitric oxide production on a cellular level.

And here is a picture of the tuning fork man himself. From the mirror image pose it would seem that he is merging with his subject matter!

Dr. John Bealieu, Bahamas- 2014 (Photo taken by Rosie Warburton)

The Revelation of a Quiet Waterfall

As much as I wish to write every day about sound there are so many things that come along that seem to grab at my attention- which is feeble to begin with! And then there are so many topics in the arena that I want to write about that I flounder and often derail myself. I have resolved however that each day I do something to spread the word, how powerful the Word is- the sound, the primordial vibration, shabda- how powerful it is. Nada brahma- the world is borne of sound and is sound.

Today I write. Maybe a paragraph, maybe a chapter. We'll see where the current takes me.

When I was in the Bahamas at the Yoga of Sound & Voice workshop with Silvia Nakkach and John Beaulieu, Silvia asked us each to write about our journey and how we came to be there. A memory surfaced in the asking. I have thought about this, talked about it and written about it innumerable times; certainly the question comes up in almost every group or class I facilitate- but in that moment a very early memory came to me and it carried with it the gentle impact of a sound that soothed me as an infant.

My story, how I got involved in sound healing, stretches further back as the years go by and I begin to understand the subtleties of powerful moments that I once took for granted. For a long time the story began when I attended my first nada yoga workshop with Shyam Bhatnagar about 25 years ago.  Then, as I began to study and explore sacred sound, I was taken back to my father talking about the power of sound as a means to control the masses both in ancient and modern civilizations and as a tool for healing and enlightenment. Examples could be given but I will save those for another day! I think I was about 11 years old.

With a growing understanding of music and sound therapy I went further back to receiving my first transistor radio. I was 7 years old. That was the ultimate music therapy for me at the time. I loved music and wanted to listen to it day in and day out and this way I could. I was 5th in the line of 6 children- in classic codependent family dynamics I was the "lost child", the "quiet one." I was introverted, shy, fearful and hypersensitive. What better way than to lose myself in music? If I was unhappy or scolded I would retire to my room and listen to my radio. At night I hid it under my pillow and played it so softly that no could hear it but me. For years I went to sleep with music on in the background.

There are some gaps but that was in essence my story- those were the big events; but when Silvia asked the question two weeks ago, unbidden, another memory came forward. I was an infant, lying on my stomach in my crib, rubbing my hand back and forth on the sheet. In the past the memory of this was all about the sensation- the tingling in my hand that spread through my tiny body, but now what I remembered was the transfer of sound that I could both hear and feel, the sound of a gentle whooshing like a quiet waterfall that both soothed and fascinated my infant mind. This was the sound, the feeling and the action that lulled me to sleep as a very tiny child and, to my conscious awareness, my first experience of sound medicine.

Wow- and in writing this and reading back on it a revelation comes to me. This was the sound inside my mother's womb! When there was no arguing or fighting going on, this was the sound that I heard- the ancient rhythm of blood and water, a gentle whooshing; and I was safe there, soothed by the rhythms and the tones of the quiet waterfall within my mother's womb.


For a fascinating video on the development of hearing and the effect of sound in utero click on this link!

Music to Disappear Into...

Just a quick update.

I am sitting in my "tent hut" at Sivananda Ashram on Paradise Island, Bahamas. The reality of being here has been very different than my expectations- which involved "retreat". The schedule is extremely busy and full and there are MANY people here who are for the most part overworked, overtired and moving fast. Up until this morning not much of a sense of serenity but today I blew off the ashram schedule and slept until 8:30 which was perhaps the closest experience to the divine I've had since I've been here!

Okay, that's a little cheeky I know, and not entirely true because I had a total out of body experience yesterday during one of our practice sessions with Silvia Nakkach.  We were chanting seed sounds and I went completely into a different reality. I truly had no sense of body or being "here". Occasionally my awareness would touch in enough to know that I had not heard what she was singing although somatically my body must have picked it up because I would find myself repeating the sounds. And that is not entirely true either because I got to the point where I was in total silence and no longer singing. I entered a still point. After we were done I had no memory at all of what we had been doing.

From the seed sounds we flowed into a mantra practice that was more along the lines of a bhakti practice and I "came back" with that. We did a call and response practice singing "Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha" with different people leading it and when we were done the room was bright and shimmering. I felt clear, energized and grounded.

Oh, the reason I am here by the way is that I am attending a week long workshop with John Beaulieu and Silvia Nakkach followed up by a two-day practicum with Silvia- very exciting! And my daughter Angela decided to take the workshop too which makes it doubly wonderful!

A.A. Bondy "How Will You Meet Your End?" (+playlist)

Speed of Sound

Yes, I know. I haven't written in months even though I think of it every day. Still moving through many transitions- from Florida to Rhode Island, caring for Mum as she moved through the end stages of her life, shifting out of a long-term relationship, moving into a new apartment after Mum died- and I have been in a bit of a funk moving too fast for so long and losing the sense of moving from my center. Feel more like I am being thrust out on the edge of some kind of centrifugal force.

Time to stop.

So today I am wandering around my apartment trying to figure out what to do first and finally remember... MUSIC.

Yes, MUSIC...

So I put on AA Bondy because it is the first thing that comes up on my iTunes- and rapture, sweet rapture! As quickly as the speed of sound hits my consciousness I am dancing in my kitchen. And I feel like myself again instead of some odd piece of driftwood floating on an unfamiliar ocean.

That's the beauty of MUSIC.  Thank you. Sometimes the answer is so close, so familiar, so simple, that we forget altogether. Sort of like looking for your glasses when they're on the top of your head- or better yet, you already have them on!