The Richness of Life

I am just so happy today. No reason. Just life. Life is good. I am happy. Singing Pharrell's song, interspersed with my own gratitude chant. Loving life, loving music, loving my beautiful boys who just knock me out with their brilliance, their insights and their humour (and are all grown men- they are only boys in my mind;)

What a life, what a world, what a gift our emotional body is! We get to experience gratitude! How amazing is that? We could be born into a bland world- no colours, no smells... Instead every moment is rich with experience and sensations- this tiny little window in the infinite life of the universe and look what we get! Our life force is contained within our breath, and yet there are these moments when life is so full that it takes my breath away.

Eating My Humble Pie

I love being able to use musical analogies whenever possible- so here's one for you.

Today I had to face the music and accept responsibility for offending some very lovely ladies.  My bad, for sure... I said something in a previous post in reference to Woonsocket, RI that came across as disparaging so I really must apologize for that. It was all said in jest but who would know that unless they knew me? The truth is I know absolutely nothing about Woonsocket other than having had a very wonderful experience there last Friday night! I went there once about 30 years ago and sat in the car while my best friend ran into her dad's office on some kind of errand and we left. Seriously, that was the extent of my experience there. We left and probably got something to eat in Providence because there was nowhere to eat.

Probably the worst part of it is that I had an awareness that my reference to Woonsocket in aforementioned post (I'm not going to quote because now I am really quite embarrassed- one blunder was enough) might have sounded a little snarky but in some pitiful way I thought I was being cute and funny. Not.

Dear ladies from the dojo- please forgive me. Seriously. I had such a wonderful time doing the sound journey and meeting you all. It was my pleasure as much as yours and then to have caused displeasure afterwards because some of you were nice enough and interested enough to check out my blog? Ugh. I am truly sorry.

That was the longest time I have spent in Woonsocket- I arrived at about 3:30, spent 2 hours setting up my instruments, an hour doing the sound journey, a good while afterward chatting with some of you and hearing of some of your experiences and another hour packing up... And every minute of it was a pleasure!!! That is the truth. I loved the space. I loved you all. Lisa Votta is awesome! Christina Rondeau is clearly awesome because she has this incredibly cool space in which she allows fabulous things to happen and I do hope you will invite me back. Because seriously? I would come back any day of the week! And if this kind of cool stuff is happening in Woonsocket- well, it must be a pretty cool place.

Okay, so that's done. But there is more for the rest of you who are reading this by way of some other avenue- maybe you are one of my Your Turn Challenge friends, a personal friend or someone who came across this because you are interested in sound healing. Well, I'm going to do a little rave here.

As soon as Lisa Votta, owner of Ananta Jyoti Yoga, contacted me I knew this was going to be a great connection and a really fun event. I love what I do but Lisa's energy, her interest, her openness, her curiosity and her enthusiasm got me even more excited than I already am when I have an event coming up. That feeling continued and expanded when we actually met on the day of the Sound Journey. I know that she worked hard to pull a good group together and make it worth my time and effort and that means a lot. I could see how devoted she is to her group of ladies there and I have no doubt that she is also a really great teacher because all of those qualities that I mentioned are what it takes to connect with a group of students and keep them coming back.

She also did a lot to make the space so beautiful!!! I couldn't get over it. All four walls are mirrored in the martial arts studio which was really cool, but then Lisa brought in a ton of flameless candles and the space just seemed infinite- it really was magical. Yes, there was still some equipment in the room but it did not matter at all or detract from the overall feeling in any way.

So- it was a beautiful night. Maybe tonight while I'm going to sleep I'll listen to the recording and see how it sounded on the receiving end.

Musical Notes

The truth is that I am sitting here at the computer at the end of the day and have no idea what I will write about. I also know that I made a commitment to blog every day and if I miss one day I know where I go- down the slippery slope. If I miss a day, one day at a time my blogging will slowly become a thing of the past. This is just how I am. So, without further ado...

Some of the musical notes I have been reviewing in my mind today:

• The fact that sound/music strengthens the body. I have been putting this into practice the last week or so since I read that and posted on this subject. When I feel a little edgy or when I am too much in my head I either put on some music, pick up the guitar or play one of the singing bowls to restore my equanimity.
• An invitation to do a sound journey and possibly play music at the Unity Church in (or near?) Carlisle, PA by someone who experienced my work over ten years ago in St. Petersburg, FL. I did a Healing Sound Journey and played during the devotional service at the College of Metaphysical Studies in Clearwater.
• That has led me to looking at the possibility of setting up a series of Sound Journeys and workshops in the northeast since I may be doing a road trip with my instruments anyway.
• Reviewing last Friday's Healing Sound Journey in Woonsocket with a group of ladies who I think were mostly new to yoga and definitely new to sound healing. Many of them had pretty extraordinary experiences. I played for about an hour and many of them said it seemed like no time at all. They were shocked when I told them how long it had been. I think this is because when you drop into the present and everything else falls away, there is no time.
• One woman said that she had a very sexual experience. She shared with me that she as she had gotten older she was feeling less attractive and very "unsexy". She said that during the sound journey she reconnected with her femininity and it totally shifted her relationship to herself.
• Loving playing my new guitar and exploring new sounds on it, making up chords and playing with different rhythms.
• Chanting, chanting, chanting. Next week I am leading a kirtan at my friend Kerstin's yoga and art studio. So looking forward to it. Today on my way to yoga class I was chanting intensely and drove right by the house where I do yoga. Realized it a couple of blocks past my destination.
• Playing with brain tuners- using them for concentration, relaxation and deep meditation. I have been sleeping really well lately so I haven't needed them for that!
• Thinking a lot about the upcoming workshop in Holland. A little nervous and also very excited. Still contemplating the process and what it will all look like- how much I want to plan and how much I want let unfold organically. Sometimes when I get to hung up on the structure it doesn't go as well. So I am searching for the balance in that process.
• I have Tibetan bowls all over my living room floor! Tomorrow that will change and they will go back in the sound healing room. I was contemplating what ones I want to bring to Holland so I got them all out.
• Still thinking about the amazing concert last night with Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn. That will be something to hold on to for a while!
   

Exhilarating Banjo!

Tonight I went to see Bela Fleck and his wife, Abigail Washburn in concert at the beautiful Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford. It was a last minute little piece of synchronicity- I didn't even know about it til last night. It was an absolutely wonderful concert.

One of the things that fascinated me was when Bela Fleck played solo, which he did a couple of times, I went into trance. It was surprising to me because the banjo is such energetic music, so I became somewhat analytical after it happened two separate times. Both times he played very long improvisational solo pieces. I wasn't tired and I did not fall asleep. I just "went away" for a while. Two things I believe came into play. One was that my left brain totally shut down and two, there is a powerful entraining rhythm with the banjo, and I think the combination just put me out.

Abigail Washburn was amazing! Her voice is haunting in contrast to her very down to earth presence. They both have different styles of banjo playing which complement each other beautifully. She does more of the "clawhammer" style while he does more of the finger picking. Her playing was phenomenal but the real mind blower was when she sang a song in Chinese. (Apparently at one time she was in China studying Szechuan.) I think the video below is fairly old but if you don't feel like watching the whole thing just fast forward up to 12:22 and she sings the song she sang tonight  Her voice is so powerful in this piece. The whole thing just knocked me out.

They were great, funny and fun. They had a wonderful rapport, bantering back and forth in a very humorous gentle way but the music was phenomenal. Totally exhilarating.

Top 10 Blind Audition Performances - The Voice USA 2015 Part 2

Wow- I am starving! I could not pull myself away from this! Watch it through to the end- they are all great (okay, so I wasn't crazy about the country western guy in the beginning but that's cause I just don't like that music... unless it's kd laing or the Cowboy Junkies) but the last guy is phenomenal. I was moved to tears by a couple of them. The last one didn't make me cry. I was just totally exhilarated. Now I can eat.

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!

Randomness and Synchronicity

Long busy day full of good stuff! Met with my friend Kerstin Zettmar, yogini and amazingly wonderful visionary artist and set up a kirtan in her studio for April 23. Then went up to Framingham, MA to see my dear friend Sharon McCord who called me the day she arrived to let me know that she was in Massachusetts for a week. We had made a dinner date for tonight. As it turned out after dinner she wanted to go see a couple of other close friends of hers that she hadn't had a chance to really connect with. I have a wildly busy day tomorrow so I was hoping we could beg off on that little adventure but in the end it felt right so after a delicious sushi fest, off we went. And as that turned out, I now also have a gig doing a Healing Sound Journey for Mother Earth on April 22 in the World Citizens' Cafe in Framingham, MA which I am very excited about!

Healing Sound Journeys- How They Came To Be

Sound Journey in an old church in Cape Cod, MA

This Friday (day after tomorrow) I am doing a Healing Sound Journey at a martial arts studio in Woonsocket. (For more information click here.)  I have connected with a woman who teaches yoga there- Lisa Votta- and shares all kinds of holistic, inspiring and educational things that I am interested in on her Twitter page! AND she found ME via Google, which makes me happy, and there is a group of yoga students there who are excited about my coming up there to teach a sound journey. I am definitely looking forward to this event!

As I am thinking about the sound journey, I thought it might be fun to share a little bit about the Healing Sound Journeys and post some pictures from sound journeys past. 

Genie's Hookah Lounge, Newport, RI

In 1995 I began teaching sound healing workshops and found it to be most helpful for people to experience the effect of various instruments first, before discussing their effect. One could talk forever about how Himalayan singing bowls balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain and entrain the brain waves to a theta range, inducing a natural and effortless state of meditation (sahaj dhyan) but that will never give you the experience. I began opening my workshops with a short meditation on the various instruments that I had begun collecting- flutes, a small gong, a Tibetan bowl, a drum, rainstick, didgeridoo, an instrumental tamboura, a shaker- a very humble collection of instruments! I also used my voice, doing toning, overtone chanting and mantras.

High Rise, Rochester, VT

The meditation usually lasted about 15 minutes. The responses from participants were typically that they lost all sense of time and place, and that it was too short- an interesting dichotomy! As time went on, I began collecting more instruments and also realized that the effects of this short meditation were often profound so I began to extend the time. I offered a 6-week meditation called Sound Journeys, realizing that the participants were literally traveling on the sound frequencies and that each instrument had its own powerful effect and that they were all dramatically different.  So one week I would use a singing bowl, another week the didgeridoo, another week my voice, and so on. This was an amazing period of exploration and learning for me as well as those who attended.

Private home, Ridgefield, CT

As time went by the sound journeys began to develop a life of their own. People were having spontaneous healings- they took people much deeper than a meditation, with no effort at all on their part. All they had to do was lie down and the sound did the rest! Participants would come back with all kinds of stories of places they had been, colors they saw, loved ones who visited with them, physical healing, and sometimes an ability afterward to meditate on their own when before they'd had great difficulty.They spontaneously began to integrate the background sounds in their environment as a tool for meditation- in other words, the sound journey actually transformed the way they listened, heard and related to sound.

The sound journeys became Healing Sound Journeys. When I met my partner of 14 years, Henry Steffes, a musician who immediately saw the benefits of sound as a healing tool, we began doing Healing Sound Journeys together. We traveled around the United States and Canada, performing them in yoga studios, meditation centers and private homes. In 2005 I opened a sound healing center in St. Petersburg, FL and for the next 7 years I did a sound journey there every Monday night as well as in many other studios in the area and in other parts of the country as well.

(Tibetan bowl healing demo) Los Gatos, CA

In 2012, I moved back up to Rhode Island and have been offering Healing Sound Journeys in yoga studios and private homes up here as well as in Europe, with the occasional trip to Florida and California thrown in there as well.

For the past 3 years I have been recording all my sound journeys but unfortunately do not yet know how to upload them onto my blog- so sorry! I know that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case a sound byte would be worth a thousand pictures but we'll have to wait on that and go with the pictures for now. Or you can come to one of my Healing Sound Journeys!

Saltana Salt Cave, Ridgefield, CT

Zettmar Studio, Newport, RI

Zettmar Studio, Newport, RI

Sound Journey Concert w/ Laraaji Naradananda, Temple of the Living God, St. Pete, FL

Sound Body Wholistic Health Center, St. Petersburg, FL

Women's Well, Portsmouth, RI

Sound Journey with orbs! Villari's Martial Arts Studio, Middletown, RI

Yoga Center of Newburyport, MA

Yoga Center of Newburyport, MA

Private home, Ridgefield, CT

First Unity Church With Alex Grey, St. Petersburg, FL

First Unity Church, St. Petersburg, FL

The Longhouse, Gulfport, FL- w/ Henry Steffes, Jr

Private home, Clearwater, FL

Recording Studio, St. Pete, FL w/ Henry Steffes, Jr

Healing Touch Wellness Center, Land O' Lakes, FL

Yoga Center of Newburyport, MA

Bright light after a Healing Sound Journey in Ridgefield, CT!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Trying to be inspired tonight- wondering what song would apply to my concern... Don't Worry, Be Happy"?

Someone has hijacked my computer network. Thought I got it all fixed this afternoon to the tune of $350 but tonight there are about 50 more emails that have been sent from my email address that I did not send.

And now, back to Bobby McFerrin...

The Redemptive Power of Music

That's it. I am not writing- I am sharing this incredible, beautiful, powerful version of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" that blew everyone away on The Voice Holland two years ago and just now made me weep. (Not to mention that the guy practically channels Bob Marley...)

In the end, what is really so striking about this- not just his singing which is pretty amazing, not just the song which always touches the deepest recesses of the heart- but the response of the listeners... the look on their faces, so moved by his singing.

The other day I quoted from The Life Energy in Music by John Diamond how kinesiology (muscle-testing) has shown that music makes the body strong. This will definitely do that!

Living the Dream

A few years ago I made a vision board. It came from my depths and is one of my most favorite pieces of art I have ever created. Whenever I look at it, it speaks to me as a powerful expression of the truth of my being.  Amazing how we can take an outer form (in this case, collage) and use it to reflect our inner world, sometimes in the most unplanned and unexpected ways.

There is a diagonal pathway running through it- the journey of my life- which I was unaware of until after I had finished. It starts in the lower left-hand corner and represents the physical life and says "Walking the Earth Path." In the center of the picture is the representation of my essence, my true self. The words are "Journey to the Self." From there it travels to the upper right-hand section which represents God and Spirit. The words are "Journey to the Heart of God".

The most amazing piece is the hidden poem- just words, pasted on the board- a series of phrases that didn't reveal themselves to me as a whole until after I had completed the collage.

I am the dreamer

Arise and shine

Fully human, fully divine

O thou invisible spirit!

Awaken my world

A life of miracles

Beyond bliss

The Life Energy in Music

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Today I read the introduction to John Diamond's book, The Life Energy in Music: Notes on Music and Sound. It was one of the most exciting things I have read in a long time. I was practically jumping up and down. It was written by John Buttrick about whom I have so far been able to find out very little. He was (is?) a music professor at MIT, a movement therapist and a practitioner of Behavioral Kinesiology.  What he discovered through kinesiology is that music strengthens people. If they are muscle-tested and found to be weak due to physical stress and anxiety, then when music is played they are retested and found to be strong.

"I know now that my playing has the capacity to physically strengthen people. And there are moments when I am aware that the audience and I are breathing together, that I am simply the prism through which all of this flows. The biological imperative of rhythmic pulse and expansion of musical motifs has replaced studied effects...."
In regard to his work with John Diamond, which was a revelation in his life and work, he says:
"...the old ice-bound rivulets of scattered musical life have come together and channeled into a broad, expansive river. The water is fresher, the light iridescent, the current steady even through some rapids. As I go on and with this flow, music is no longer just a profession, it is an instrument of my aspiration."

I can't wait to read the rest of the book. Last sentence on the first page by John Diamond, "Of all the physical modalities, music most activates the life energy and uplifts the soul. Only pure love can do more."

Vibroacoustically Yours

 

I just spent an hour on a sound table listening to the album Pagan Saints by Flesh & Bone, a beautiful collaboration between Peter Kater & David Darling. I say listening- which I was, but you must understand that "listening", on a sound table, means not only hearing the music with your ears but experiencing it as a vibrotactile sensation as the music resonates through the whole body. In this moment I am enjoying the resulting quietness of my being. My mind has slowed down. I feel calm and present to my Self.

The experience of vibroacoustic therapy is, in and of itself, both profound and incredibly enjoyable. The vibrations of the music pulsing through the body drop you into a deep state of relaxation very quickly. Different music obviously has very different effects- some music will take you far away and you lose all bodily awareness and sense of time and place very quickly. Other music will be a more kinesthetic experience and you may be very present to the physical sensation of the musical rhythms and vibrations.

Vibroacoustic sound therapy affects the bioenergetic system on all levels. Intention can be a huge factor as well. The sound is delivered to the body not just through the ears but also (and primarily) through skin and bone conduction (tissue conduction). Given that the body is composed of 60-70% water, which is one of the best conductors of sound, there is a powerful somatic response.  I have facilitated and observed hundreds of vibroacoustic sound healing sessions and the first response typically happens within 45- 90 seconds. The body of the person on the table seems to suddenly sink in as they let go and relax effortlessly. Remember, the music is literally massaging every cell in the body so this goes much deeper than physical touch.

Physical touch is a powerful complement to this therapy however. When the first wave of sound hits it can potentially be disconcerting or disorienting especially for someone who has never experienced it before. When the therapist and client together are joined in an intention, the work is that much more powerful and a light touch may be all that is needed to reassure the person on the table that they are in a safe space. There is also a synergistic blend of sound and energy that occurs with hands-on work that enhances and deepens the whole experience.

I have been feeling distracted by technology lately- too much time on the computer and the phone. I find it compelling and somewhat addictive but not always pleasant. Meanwhile I have so many tools at my fingertips that I can use to create more peace in my life and have been asking myself lately why I do not use them more. Today I decided when I got home, before I did anything else, to just lie down on the sound table for a while. What a shift! My mind feels more clear, more focused and on some level less frantic, although I don't think of myself as frantic.

I feel like now I can sit and just enjoy being, instead of doing, doing, doing and chasing after the instant gratification of the technology I have at my fingertips.

Diverging Directions (All Roads Lead Home)

My mind is going a few different directions with what to write about tonight and I am also very focused on changing my blogging and sleeping pattern so my plan is to keep it short tonight.

One: Still enjoying the energy of the gathering of sweet friends here last week.


Two: My brother came by my house last night and gave me a beautiful new guitar that plays so sweetly. I feel like we have been friends forever and she is inspiring me to play better and try new things that I have never done before.

Three: Yesterday I wrote up the outline for my weekend workshop in Holland that I will be teaching on May 8-9. The course is Sound Healing for Balance and Joy. The realization for me was the same tools that will first serve by restoring balance are also the tools that will bring you joy- not the tools themselves but the effect of their use.

Sound Healing for Balance and Joy

A Two-Day Workshop utilizing Vocal Expression, Singing Bowls, and Tuning Forks

Sound Healing for Balance

Chakra Tones

Chanting

Body Tuners (C & G Tuning forks)
Brain Tuners

Singing bowls

Sound Healing for Joy

Chakra Tones

Overtone singing

Chanting

Body Tuners/Brain Tuners

Singing Bowls

The same tools that are used to bring balance and harmony to the nervous system and the mind-body-spirit can also elevate us to states of great joy. The first task is to clear away the clutter and excess chatter. Sound has the capacity to sidestep our left-brain linear thought processes and allow us to drop fully into the present without fear, projection or anxiety. Once we have arrived, we are in a place to access the fullness of our being.

This is a fully experiential workshop. We will immerse ourselves in sound, produced from within and without. What you will take from this are simple, accessible, powerful tools that can assist you in managing physical, mental and emotional pain so that you can tap into the true potential of your being.

“The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.”

 

Holland- 2012

Solar Cells and Singing Bowls

This makes such perfect sense.

Buddhist singing bowls could inspire highly efficient solar cells

By Nick Lavars
September 14, 2014

9 Comments

Dr Niraj Lal says that the way Buddhist singing bowls interact with light mimics the way they capture sound

While the unique shape of Buddhist singing bowls is vital to the creation of their signature sound, a researcher from Australia National University (ANU) has used their design as the inspiration for a new breed of solar cells. In completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge, Dr Niraj Lal found that just as the bowls cause sound to resonate, miniaturized versions can be made to interact with light in much the same way, inspiring solar cells better able to capture sunlight.
Previous research has established that light behaves differently when working at the nanoscale. Downsizing his bowl-inspired cells to this level, Lal, now working at ANU, was able to demonstrate a device with the ability to capture significantly more light and convert it to electricity.
"Current standard solar panels lose a large amount of light-energy as it hits the surface, making the panels’ generation of electricity inefficient," says Niraj. "But if the cells are singing bowl-shaped, then the light bounces around inside the cell for longer."
Niraj calls this process "plasmonic resonance"" and says his nanobowls perform at four times the efficiency of flat solar cells in the lab, which when made from single materials such as silicon have an efficiency of 25 percent.
Improvements have been made on flat, single structure solar cells by way of tandem devices that stack a number of cells on top of each other. With the cells made from different materials, each with their own light absorption properties, the device is able to catch a wider range of the solar spectrum, enhancing its overall efficiency.
We saw the value of this approach earlier this year, when researchers produced a multi-material, four-junction, four-terminal stacked solar cell that achieved efficiencies of 43.9 percent.
Niraj and his team are now exploring ways that the nanobowl design can be incorporated into these tandem structures. "If we can make a solar cell that ‘sees’ more colors and keeps the right light in the right layers, then we could increase efficiency even further," he says.
The team's research was published in the IEEE Journal of Photonics.
Source: Australia National University via Science in Public

This Morning's Musical Moment

Ice violin

First thing when I woke up this morning I grabbed my phone, did my usual check-in to see what the weather was going to look like and then went to my Twitter account to see who my new followers were. This knock-your-socks-off mind-blowing fiddler/violinist was the first to show up. I read the little blurb on her Twitter page: "Genre-defying fiddler (or was that violinist?); exuberant fireplug of a session-player-to-the-stars (Led Zeppelin, The Chieftains, Blue Rodeo, James Taylor)" and thought, "Holy shit- who is this person?" Exuberant fire-plug?! How could you not be intrigued by that, even if you didn't love the fiddle as I do? I followed her from Twitter to her webpage and boom! Here was this video. Wow! What a way to start the day! I was seriously blissed out- grinning from ear to ear.

Music... what a gift! With music there are no boundaries. It cuts through all the chatter, all the bullshit and just allows you to get down and get real! Sometimes it's nice to get all philosophical- or scientific- about this stuff and talk about what it does, how it heals, why it heals, what's going on in the brain, etc., etc., but other times you just have to cut to the chase. That is what this music did for me.  It brought to myself, to what is real- here and now- and, I might add, in no time at all! This clip is only 2:02 minutes long.

Thank you Anne Lindsay for following me on Twitter- you seriously rock! My world got a little bigger today.

Mongolian Shaman...

Old Friends, New Friends and Musical Chairs

Whoops- have been up late working on taxes- just saw the time! Had the blessing of giving my new friend and entrepreneurial wizard Lisel Woods a session today in return for the time she spent with me last week. Telling someone what I do is one thing. Having them experience it for themselves is another thing altogether!

And a quick note to say how wonderful it was to have friends, old and new, at my house the last few days. So much appreciation for the sound tools here- all the kids trading off on the various sound tables and recliner- trying everything out- playing musical chairs for real!

Devin dancing to the music

Connecting With Clay Through Sound

Still getting back in the swing of things after a week of intense pain, then sudden almost miraculous relief, followed immediately by having a group of 5 ceramic artists stay at my house last night. Two of them are my dear friends Devin McDonald, ceramic artist extraordinaire and Brian Ransom, musician, ceramic artist and maker of exceptional ceramic instruments. The other three were Brian's top students at Eckerd College. They were all up in RI for the NCECA Conference.

The visit was wonderful although I was in too much pain up until yesterday to be able to attend any of the conference other than one opening last night.

Below is video of Brian Ransom, Barry Hall- author of From Mud to Music, his wife Beth Hall and Eric Peterson playing an assortment of ceramic instruments at a show in Highlands, North Carolina. Unfortunately when I filmed it I didn't realize I couldn't zoom in and out without the camera muting, so there are some interruptions but it does give you a good idea of the variety of instruments and the beautiful sounds that are possible when such talented people are playing them. All of the instruments were made by the musicians.

And on that note, here are a few pictures of one of Brian's students who totally connected with an udu I made in Brian's studio a few years ago! An udu is a ceramic vessel originally made to carry food or water but which doubles as a percussion instrument with a unique sound reminiscent of Indian tablas.

Udu in the making- Rosie Warburton

Sweet Relief

Today I celebrated my pain relief after 6 days of hell by listening to Jai Uttal's "Queen of Hearts" CD and dancing, dancing, dancing!

Putting Out Fires With Sound- Literally!

Today's short share. This is seriously cool. Or should I say, cooling?



This does make one think... an external fire? It makes even more sense then, that sound can extinguish the internal flames of worry, fear, anger, doubt and all manner of physical, mental and emotional pain. Why not? Everything is frequency and responds to other frequencies. It's just a matter of observing how we respond to different types of sound, music and frequency and listening to what works.