And Then There Was Paris

Life and times have been oh so full lately! I have sat down at this computer many times and just as quickly had to get up and attend to something else. So, since my last post I have been to Florida and back, done three Sound Journeys- including one house concert and one for oncology patients at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence- plus created and posted a new Sound Healing Workshop for February 2016.
Florida was intense, emotional and productive. Nice to be in the thick of emotional stuff and still be able to get done what needed to be accomplished. Basically I was there to go through books and others odd and ends that I had left at my old boyfriend's house where we lived together for many years. Funny to say "boyfriend"- it sounds so temporary but it was a definitely a long-term relationship and we had lived in that house together for close to 14 years. So there was stuff around that, and then going through boxes in the garage that had books and papers I hadn't looked at in over 15 years- I found some treasures from when my kids (now all grown men) were young and that was such a treat, like this poem written by my son Moose when he was about 14.
Some were funny, some were poignant- sadly having to throw out some of my favorite books from when I was a child because the covers had fallen apart and it was just too painful to hang on to them in that condition.

And then there was Paris.

What can I, or anyone, even say about that? Another violent tragedy. Like everyone I know I was affected deeply. My heart ached, my mind was confused by the violence. I didn't know about it until a few hours after it happened. I was in my car with a friend on the way to Sarasota when we found out- just another day in paradise. We chose not to look for several hours and when I got back to where I was staying I went online and began reading the news. I was afraid to watch the videos. I found myself having to avoid the commentary that followed the news posts because they were so hateful... more violence, more attacks... just on a different level... But where do you draw the line? What level of violence is acceptable? Angry hateful words? I think not. I cried a lot, checking in on the outside- the news- and then checking in on the inside. What do I do with this information, these feelings of deep sorrow? I was up very late, unable to sleep.

In the end I slept about 4 hours. I had a Sound Journey to perform the next day and that is not enough sleep for me. I woke up feeling somber and very internal. I moved through the day thinking about this latest event. No doubt there were many other acts of violence committed on that day, as there are every day, but this one was loud and in our face. I became grateful for the opportunity to create a space of healing with sound, to somehow change the energy for at least some of us.

Sound is a carrier wave for intention, as I have said before. The thought I carried with me throughout the day before the Sound Journey was that we had all felt the reverberations of the violence that had occurred in Paris. I knew that I was in a place of vulnerability and heightened sensitivity due to my lack of sleep and emotional state. I considered taking a nap during the day but didn't have a lot of time. My tendency is to think I need to be "on" and certainly well-rested to do my best work but in this case I decided to use my vulnerability as a catalyst for the healing session rather than as a hindrance.

Before the Sound Journey I spoke about my process and what I was feeling, including my fatigue which everyone shared. I said that, as we felt impact of the attacks, we had an opportunity to send out vibrations of an entirely different nature and made the request that we allow the free flow of healing to be carried forth to wherever it was most needed on the waves of sound. The thought I held was the 45th Principle of Miracles from A Course in Miracles:
     A miracle is never lost. It may touch many people you have not even met, and 
     produce undreamed of changes in situations of which you are not even aware.

I think that everyone in the group experienced deep rest and relief that evening. One of my close friends who was there had a significant physical healing which she shared at the end. It was a beautiful intimate evening and I felt deeply grateful that there was some small thing that I could "do", that I could offer, to bring some relief to perhaps a handful of people, perhaps more of whom I am unaware.
Before the Sound Journey, talking about Paris...






Music is Medicine (Science is Catching Up!)

This is what I'm talkin' about! Great article!
http://upliftconnect.com/health-benefits-of-music/




Research Shows the Health Benefits of Music

By Jacob Devaney on Friday November 6th, 2015
Music-Benefits-child

Scientists are now supporting the claim that Music is Medicine

There are many mindfulness practices to stimulate inner awareness, increase health, and elevate our mood. Now we can add to that list practices such as listening to Mozart with your full being while sipping tea, singing a pop-song out loud while you drive across town, or losing your body to ecstatic dancing. Scientific research now shows us the ways that music has a physiological effect on our bodies and can improve concentration, relieve stress, act as an antidepressant and more.
Music’s beneficial effects on mental health have been known for thousands of years. Ancient philosophers from Plato to Confucius and the kings of Israel sang the praises of music and used it to help soothe stress. Military bands use music to build confidence and courage. Sporting events provide music to rouse enthusiasm. Schoolchildren use music to memorize their ABCs. Shopping malls play music to entice consumers and keep them in the store. Dentists play music to help calm nervous patients.
– Mental Health, Naturally: The Family Guide to Holistic Care for a Healthy Mind and Body
Take a moment and listen to Billie Holiday’s Lady Sings the Blues and you will be transported to another time. Sing along with her and you may ooze with the feelings as if they are your own. Crank up Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and you will be filled with emotions you may have never known existed. This capacity to feel is core to having compassion, yet music also has a profound effect on cognitive processes and learning also.
Listening to musicMusic has a profound effect on cognitive processes and learning
Auditory biology is not frozen in time. It’s a moving target. And music education really does seem to enhance communication by strengthening language skills.
– Nina Kraus, the Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology & Physiology, and Otolaryngology at Northwestern University as well as the principal investigator at the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory

Musical entrainment

Musical entrainment creates connection both internally and externally which can be seen when watching a whole crowd dance to a live band, or the people around you sobbing at an opera. Science explains this as an aspect of mirror neurons, which are a form of mimicking that can happen emotionally and physically. Maybe a song will give you chills, make you cry, or spontaneously start jamming on an air guitar, or dancing uncontrollably. In the study, The Neuroscience of Music, published by the Department of Psychology at McGill University, Montreal, researchers found preliminary scientific evidence supporting claims that music influences health through neurochemical changes in four domains: reward, motivation and pleasure; stress and arousal; immunity; and social affiliation.
Woman listening to musicListening to music has potentially therapeutic effects
The potential therapeutic effects of music listening have been largely attributed to its ability to reduce stress and modulate arousal levels. Listening to ‘relaxing music’ (generally considered to have slow tempo, low pitch, and no lyrics) has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety in healthy subjects, patients undergoing invasive medical procedures (e.g., surgery, colonoscopy, dental procedures, pediatric patients undergoing medical procedures, and patients with coronary heart disease.
– The Neurochemistry of Music

Human cultural universal

It is no surprise that music has been used in ritual and ceremony since the beginning of time. Women share playlists for the delivery room to welcome new life. You can even higher a hospice harpist to help the transition from a terminal disease. Music education has also been shown to help children’s developing brains. So it is only natural to place it in a category for mindfulness, meditation, and healing.
Music is a language of energy, a “vibe” of emotions and joy. It speaks to our core desires and feelings. It speaks to our core desires and feelings. It spans language barriers and political borders, making it a powerful means through which humans can connect.
– Patrick Groneman
Crowd listening to musicMusic is a powerful means through which humans can connect
Music is also a reflection of culture. In today’s world we are experiencing an unprecedented fusion of ideas through the internet and technology. We are re-mixing historical themes, embellishing forgotten ideas and combining belief systems across time and societies. For instance, electronic dance music has captured wide acclaim as DJs and producers improvise with musical tools that have the ability to drop samples, mix, change tempo and induce ecstatic states of consciousness. This music has become central to the emerging transformational, or visionary culture that is influencing our world view through integrating art, spirituality and technology.
As with everything else, it is our conscious intention or lack of it, that makes the difference in our experience.Try exploring new music when you want to get out of a rut. Just as you are what you eat, you should choose your music wisely because it is influencing the way you feel whether you notice it or not.

Inspiration (Breathe In)

Setting the stage for a Healing Sound Journey last week at the Yoga Center of Newburyport
To all my beautiful sound loving and healing friends- I am sorry my posts have been sparse lately. Fortunately, the reason is because I have been really busy doing lots of healing work!

I have spent the last 6 hours sending out information and making calls to people who are interested in hosting either sound journeys or workshops. I am about to call it quits for the night but I wanted to at least do a short blog post.
Today I ran across two wonderfully inspiring videos- one by my friend, the beautiful troubadour JP Jones, and the other by a sound healer who I have been hearing a great deal about over the last couple of years- Alexandre Tannous. It is a video of a really good TEDTalk he gave on Sound Meditation. Some of it gets into stuff that is a bit difficult to follow (at least for me!) but he is so pleasant to listen to and it suddenly becomes quite mind-blowing at about the 15-minute mark, so stay with it! It is well worth it.



I Want the Peace of God


"I want the peace of God." ~Lesson 185,  A Course In Miracles, Workbook

Today is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Helen Schucman's 7 year process of scribing A Course in Miracles.  

 Sadly, I do not know how to embed this video, so click here. It is an amazing video of author and musician James Twyman meeting with the Wooten brothers working on music for his new film A Chorus in Miracles. About 8 years ago I read Victor Wooten's amazing book The Music Lesson. I was captivated by it. Clearly he was an exceptionally spiritual guy and aspects of the course came shining through but I had no idea until tonight that he actually has been a student of the course since he was 16 years old.

"This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim however at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no oppostie. 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."
                                  ~Introduction, A Course in Miracles, Text~







 

Arguing the Case for Sound (A Sound Argument!)

Thinking about all the ways that sound plays into our experience... 

These pictures are from the app "Frequency", one of my favorites. I use it to measure the tones of Himalayan singing bowls. What I love, of course, is that it shows the sound waves.

I love all the different ways we can think about sound- the word, the meaning, the experience. Ideas and people resonate with us- or not! A word, a phrase, a title, an image, rings a bell. I especially like the idea of sound as an adjective that implies stability and strength- such as a sound building... or a sound argument.

Stop, hey, what's that sound?

I don't know. I didn't hear it. I was sound asleep!


"Sound" can be used as a noun, a verb or an adjective. The following is from www.thefreedictionary.com.

sound 1

 (sound)
n.
1.
a. Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of hearing.
b. Transmitted vibrations of any frequency.
c. The sensation stimulated in the organs of hearing by such vibrations in the air or other medium.
d. Such sensations considered as a group.
2. A distinctive noise: a hollow sound.
3. The distance over which something can be heard: within sound of my voice.
4. Linguistics
a. An articulation made by the vocal apparatus: a vowel sound.
b. The distinctive character of such an articulation: The words bear and bare have the same sound.
5. A mental impression; an implication: didn't like the sound of the invitation.
6. Auditory material that is recorded, as for a movie.
7. Meaningless noise.
8. Music A distinctive style, as of an orchestra or singer.
9. Archaic Rumor; report.
v. sound·ed, sound·ing, sounds
v.intr.
1.
a. To make or give forth a sound: The siren sounded.
b. To be given forth as a sound: The fanfare sounded.
2. To present a particular impression: That argument sounds reasonable.
v.tr.
1. To cause to give forth or produce a sound: sounded the gong.
2. To summon, announce, or signal by a sound: sound a warning.
3. Linguistics To articulate; pronounce: sound a vowel.
4. To make known; celebrate: "Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound" (Alexander Pope).
5. To examine (a body organ or part) by causing to emit sound; auscultate.
Phrasal Verb:
sound off
1. To express one's views vigorously: was always sounding off about higher taxes.
2. To count cadence when marching in military formation.
[Middle English soun, from Old French son, from Latin sonus; see swen- in Indo-European roots.]

sound 2

 (sound)
adj. sound·er, sound·est
1. Free from defect, decay, or damage; in good condition: Is the bridge sound?
2. Free from disease or injury. See Synonyms at healthy.
3.
a. Marked by or showing common sense and good judgment; levelheaded: a sound approach to the problem.
b. Based on valid reasoning; having no logical flaws: a sound conclusion; sound reasoning. See Synonyms at valid.
c. Logic Of or relating to an argument in which all the premises are true and the conclusion follows from the premises.
4.
a. Secure or stable: a partnership that started on a sound footing.
b. Financially secure or safe: a sound economy.
5. Thorough; complete: gave their rivals a sound thrashing.
6. Deep and unbroken; undisturbed: a sound sleep.
7. Compatible with an accepted point of view; orthodox: sound doctrine.
adv.
Thoroughly; deeply: sound asleep.
[Middle English, from Old English gesund.]
sound′ly adv.
sound′ness n.

sound 3

 (sound)
n.
1. Abbr. Sd.
a. A long, relatively wide body of water, larger than a strait or a channel, connecting larger bodies of water.
b. A long, wide ocean inlet.
2. Archaic The swim bladder of a fish.
[Middle English, from Old English sund, swimming, sea.]

sound 4

 (sound)
v. sound·ed, sound·ing, sounds
v.tr.
1. To measure the depth of (water), especially by means of a weighted line; fathom.
2. To try to learn the attitudes or opinions of: sounded out her feelings.
3. To probe (a body cavity) with a sound.
v.intr.
1. To measure depth.
2. To dive swiftly downward. Used of a marine mammal or a fish.
3. To look into a possibility; investigate.
n.
An instrument used to examine or explore body cavities, as for foreign bodies or other abnormalities, or to dilate strictures in them.
[Middle English sounden, from Old French sonder, from sonde, sounding line, probably of Germanic origin.]

Cruising at the Speed of Sound

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

Later in the day, after she and her boyfriend (my good friend Walter) left, I put Mike Oldfield's "The Songs of Distant Earth" on in the Somatron vibroacoustic recliner and went for a long journey myself. It's such a brilliant album and totally exquisite as a vibrotactile experience- one of my very favorites. Sounds, rhythms, melodies penetrated my mind, body and spirit from all directions. I traveled far- it was wonderful.
And then there was Mary Gauthier. I honestly cannot begin to say how amazing- how powerful and moving- her concert was last night. I was just knocked out by it. (Check yesterday's post to hear a great song by her.)

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

Belly-Dancing Baby (or, The Crying Game)


Queen Mother Belly-Dancer, Barb Donahue
For most of my life dance was part of my personal therapy. It was something I had to do- with live music. So, it was the combination of the music and rhythm. I have always loved free-form dance, which was basically either modern, when I was a teenager or just dancing to rock n' roll. In the last fifteen years my dancing has been less and less frequent. Up until then I had always gone out dancing a minimum of once a week, but typically 2-3 times at least.

The funny thing is, when I met my ex- boyfriend Henry in 1998, who I lived with for 14 years, I rejoiced that I had finally found my dance partner! I loved dancing with him. When we lived in Sarasota we would go out and dance as often as possible, but when we moved to St. Pete in 1999 we never really seemed to find the good music. Also, he was highly sensitive to cigarette smoke so he didn't want to go dancing in bars where smoking was allowed- and I no longer wanted to go dancing by myself because I had someone I loved to dance with. It just felt weird to go out by myself. So, over the years, instead of my joyful dancing increasing, it just gradually fell away (and, needless to say, my weight went the opposite direction).

I split up with Henry three years ago, relocated, and up til now have not gone out by myself to find the music. At sixty, and single, it just feels a little weird. So, in desperation, this past week I went to my first belly-dancing class! Oy... I went because I want to get back in my body, I want to get my body back in shape and because I love to dance. The catch is- there are steps. There are moves! Oh my, how challenging this was for me. It brought up all my old stuff of feeling stupid in front of other people, one of my biggest emotional triggers. I started crying the second the class ended and cried my eyes out on the way home! Of course I told Barbara, my friend and teacher and the other women who were there (since I clearly wasn't going to be able to contain my tears until I left) and they were so sweet and understanding. Barb told me that she has had other women who came to her class, started crying and left and never came back so she was pleased and congratulated me for staying!  Nonetheless, it opened up a deep dark well of old stuff for me.

The thing that became clear to me from this process was that I don't know how to laugh at myself. I never have. My early years were filled with people picking on me, laughing at me,  and making fun of me- to some extent within my family but particularly throughout elementary school. I was tiny, I was painfully shy, I had few friends, and I was very vulnerable- an easy target. I came home from school in tears almost every day for many years. So now, if I am going to do this (yes, I will go back next week) I am either going to have to cry my way through it til all my crying is done- or- I'm going to have to learn to laugh at myself! You'd think at sixty I'd be over this!


(And of course there is all the stuff around all the emotions and trauma we store in our gut, in our belly, not to mention having four kids in five years. That has not escaped me.)

So, my dance therapy turned out to be therapeutic in a far different way than I imagined! My challenge now is to dance my way through the all the emotional stuff to find the joy that is underneath it. I know it's there waiting!

The Vibration of Wholeness


This afternoon I went for a walk at Sachuest Wildlife Preserve in Middletown, RI- one of my favorite places to walk. At a certain point I stopped and made a conscious effort to feel the vibratory frequencies of all the different elements around me- the dirt and gravel path on which I was walking, the air, the blue sky, the clouds, the different varieties of plants, trees and shrubs, the pounding surf, the birds, the rustling of unseen animals in the bushes near the path. I stopped, breathed, tuned in all of my senses, and took it all in- and in that moment realized that the synergistic effect of all these frequencies was
                    
                      ME
                         
                               feeling HAPPY
                                       
                                              wholistic resonance

Morning Bliss

This morning was cold and wet but for me it was beautiful, leading the Newport Chanting Community in sacred songs and chants. They meet in a sweet little chapel at the Emmanuel Church in Newport, RI. The group was small when I got there but as we started chanting more people came until the room filled up. It was very lovely. They learned some new songs and it was evident that many of them were touched deeply by the music. What a perfect way to start the day!

This photo was taken at the end- you can see that I am pretty blissed out!

Touched by the Warmth


Update: Leading a chanting group in Newport, RI early tomorrow morning.

It is an interesting challenge to try to recreate the feeling in my home that I had at my sound healing center; such a very different venue in all ways except the intention, which was and is to create a warm and welcoming space for all lovers of sound and music to experience and explore the healing power of music, sound and frequency. I guess I am succeeding. This is the very sweet message that was sent out by Carol Dutton, the organizer and host at Emmanuel Church, as a reminder about tomorrow's group. I was really touched by her warmth and sincerity.




 
Dear Friends
I am happy to say Rosie Warburton will be leading our chanting session tomorrow in the All Saints Chapel, Emmanuel Church from 9 am to 10:30 am.  I met with Rosie last week at her beautiful log cabin  in the woods in Tiverton.  When I walked in her door I felt at peace as I looked around her living room which was filled with singing bowls and musical instruments.  Rosie has a separate room for her sound healing sessions.  I felt so very fortunate to be in her presence, chanting with her.  I am truly blessed to have her in my life as I learn and experience healing through the power of sound.  I hope you can join us for a very special chanting session.  May today and every day bring you peace, joy and happiness.  Namaste, Carol












Back to the Present

In an effort to keep current, as well as to share a bit about my travels, I am jumping back to the present here! That may have been a sentence full of oxymorons- but I like the concept of jumping back to the present. ;-)

Anyway, one of the things I have committed to do is listening to lots more live music so last Saturday, the night after Joan Armatrading's wonderful concert, I went to see Geoff Muldaur in Common Fence Point. What a great show- and in such a small intimate setting. I am really enjoying these concerts put on by CFM. They take place in a sort of fellowship hall with long tables that seat 12-14 people. Lots of people bring food and do a sort of potluck dinner before the show. It feels very homey and comfortable even when I don't know a soul!

I have noticed a distinct difference in the way that I feel having soaked up some live music in the last week- a very positive lingering effect.

Installment 4- The Road to Tallahassee

Aidan discovers a new way of playing the singing bowls!
St. Pete... visiting my closest friends, walking in Selby Gardens, walks on the beach, a great motorcycle ride with my friend Brian, sound journeys, healing sessions... an invitation to Tallahassee- which of course I accepted! Really? You guys can pull off a sound journey with less than a weeks notice? Okay! I'll be there!

What a great 5 days that was! Arrived in Tallahassee on Monday, August 10. The Sound Journey was scheduled for that evening. My alternator went just as I got off the highway and pulled up to Ryan's house where I was to stay with his wife, Arielle and their awesome six year-old son, Aidan. I had met Ryan about ten years earlier when I taught a class at Bhakti Academe of Intuitive Massage and Healing, where I had gone myself. Apparently it had a huge impact on Ryan and he dove into the field of sound healing after that. When he heard I was coming to Florida he immediately signed up for the workshop and let several other people from Tallahassee know and they all made the trip to St. Pete.

We transferred my instruments to Ryan's vehicle, dropped my car off at his father's auto repair shop (just another tiny miracle) and went over to the Abundance Wellness Center to set up for the Sound Journey. Ryan let me use his room to do sessions which was absolutely beautiful and full of wonderful instruments from around the world!

That little group of four from Tallahassee was a powerhouse! I had never been to Tallahassee and my life and didn't know a soul there other than those who had come to my workshop. When I arrived a week later they had a full house for the sound journey and sessions booked with me for the next three days.

Here are some pictures from that leg of the trip.
Session with Himalayan singing bowls

After the session...

Healing Sound Journey at Abundance Wellness Center

Notice new element added to Sound Journey instruments

Flower arrangement made for the event- so beautiful!

Aidan chilling...




Music Is My Sustenance

I am making a point to get out and listen to more live music- even if I have to go by myself... Another one of the realities I have to get used living alone for the first time in my life!

Last week I saw Eliza Gilkyson. She was wonderful- irreverant, funny and a fabulous singer/songwriter/performer. Tonight I am going to see Joan Armatrading whom I have always loved and wanted to see live. I wasn't going to go because I knew I'd be going by myself. Then I thought, that is ridiculous. That is crazy. Music is my sustenance! So I am going- and so looking forward to it.

Tomorrow night I am going out to hear Geoff Muldaur , a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band back in the sixties. I saw him once in 1974 when he played at the Salt Tavern in Newport with his then-wife Maria Muldaur. I love his voice.

Very excited about that, but most of all to see Joan Armatrading tonight, whose music has always touched my heart and my emotional body so deeply. Here she is  singing one of her most poignant songs.

Travel Installment 3, plus Sound Healing on the Equinox.

So- when I was driving down to FL- it must have been July 29- I got to South Carolina and was on the phone with my friend Carol Mitchell talking about the possibility of finding another venue to do a sound journey. She suggested I might try Yoga4All in Seminole where my ex-boyfriend Henry and I used to do sound journeys on a regular basis for a few years. Marty Maddox, who owns the studio, did a lot of promotion and we always got a good turnout- typically upwards of 25 people. We also scheduled each event well in advance with plenty of lead time so there was lots of time to get the word out there.

It was about 8:30 pm when I called the yoga studio and I hardly expected anyone to answer but there was Marty on the other end of the phone moments later, telling me how much everyone missed me down there. I said, "Well, actually I'm on my way down there right now" and I told her my sparse schedule- workshop on August 1-2 and a sound journey on the 6th. I said I had some availability the weekend of the August 7-8 and was she possibly interested in hosting a sound journey. She gave it a few seconds and then said, "What the heck. Let's put it out there and see if people are up for it." I was totally surprised since it was so last minute but as it turned out we packed the yoga studio!

The evening of August 7 I was driving over to the studio and Marty called me several times because she didn't what to do about so many people wanting to come the Sound Journey. It got to a point where she didn't feel like she had any more space for people to preregister and at one point she called to tell me that people were actually fighting for spots over the phone! 36 people showed up that night.She had figured she had space for 30 but we managed to get everyone in.
I recorded the sound journey on my iPhone as I always do these days unless there's some kind of a glitch- like I forget to turn it on! I try not to judge or compare the sound journeys as I always trust they are perfect for the time that they occur and for the group that is receiving it, but in this case I honestly felt, when I was performing the sound journey, that it was quite possibly the best one I had ever done. I'm talking about over a 15 year period. I have listened to it several times since and am starting to use it regularly in sound healing sessions which have been very powerful. I definitely looking forward to burning it to a CD and getting someone to clean it up. We'll see how that goes. I can say for certain that there has been a step up in the expression and the healing power of the sound journey.

Which takes me to last night. Last night was the Autumnal Equinox and I led a sound healing meditation at my home with crystal singing bowls as part of a global network of sound healers and peacekeepers that meets every solstice and equinox in a unified intention. I used to lead these Circles of Sound when I had my sound healing center in St. Pete but I hadn't done one in 3 1/2 years. It's not so much that I am particularly into these astrological and astronomical events as it is that, if I am putting myself forward as a leader in the community of sound healers wherever I happen to be, I feel that it is part of my role to participate in any global sound healing events and host them whenever possible.

 So I set up an altar on my deck and we had a small gathering. There were six of us outside under the stars listening to the ascending frequencies of the bowls as I played. It was cool outside and everyone was wrapped up in blankets. We could hear birds, dogs and the running of the waterfall in the koi pond behind us. Afterwards we shared prasad and tea. It was a truly lovely gathering and I was so grateful that I had put the message out there for people to come and bathe in the sounds and the intentions of harmony, acceptance, compassion, unity and joy. For some it was a totally new experience. For all of us it was a blessed one.



Revisiting the Road, 2nd Installment- A Lesson in Abundance!


Koi pond at Lynn Carol and George Henderson's house
Lynn Carol's art studio
My week in St. Pete was wonderfully full. Every time I've gone back in the last few years I have had so much to do- teaching workshops, closing up the center, moving stuff out of the house I lived in for 13+ years with my ex-boyfriend- and spending time with him because he still one of my dearest friends- that I was not able to find the time to see so many of the other people I was so close to when I was down there. This time I made sure that I took the time to visit everyone that I wanted to see- some of whom it was brief or I saw at one of my sound journeys, others I was able to hang out, walk with or share a meal. It was so wonderful to take that time and be sure that I saw all my old friends.

I stayed with my dear friends Lynn Carol and George Henderson, whose house is definitely my idea of heaven on earth!

Healing Sound Journey at Temple of the Living God
On August 6 I did a Healing Sound Journey at the Temple of the Living God. There was some kind of weird poverty consciousness going on before I got there. They asked me to lower my minimum which I had already discounted 70%! I decided that I was not going to join in their consciousness of lack so I said to my good friend Carol Mitchell who had arranged the gig for me, "Okay, here's what we are going to do- I am not going to charge a minimum. Instead, let's join our minds in this moment and set the intention that there will be at least 40 people at the Sound Journey." She heartily agreed. We set the intention and the night of the event, slowly but surely, the place filled up- 46 people for the Sound Journey! So many of them were dear old friends and people who had come to so many events at my sound healing center when I lived there. It really was the loveliest reunion- and I made what I would normally charge for my minimum rather than the heavily discounted price I had originally given them! The ladies at the church who were taking the money were stunned and delighted. Apparently they rarely get such a good turn out for their events. I would have to say that I was not as surprised as they were, but I was definitely very pleased!

A walk on the beach with my good friend, Brian Ransom               




Expectant journeyers!



Selby Gardens with my old friend Linda Romero

Happy day with my new friends Ilona and Agnieszka, who I met last year in the Bahamas and discovered they live in Sarasota and that we have a whole circle of very close friends in common!

Revisiting The Road, First Installment (My Own Healing Sound Journey)

Three and a half weeks ago I returned home from a trip that was supposed to be just over two weeks long. It turned out to be almost exactly one month. I didn't document it very well so, a little bit at a time, I will make an effort to fill in some of the gaps.

On July 28 I packed up my Subaru Outback with tuning forks, singing bowls and all my magical sound instruments and headed on down the road. I have to add that my car was running very well. (There's a reason I mentioned that which I'll get back to that in another installment!) I had a great, and easy, drive down. Google maps sidestepped all the heavily trafficked areas and I got there way ahead of schedule!

On August 1-2 I taught a workshop on Sound Healing with Toning, Tuning Forks and Tibetan Bowls at the office of my favorite Ayurvedic practitioner, Dr. Soman Nadhan. The workshop was full, not only with local therapists but also four people from Tallahassee who had taken the 5 1/2 hour trek to St. Pete! The workshop was partially for massage therapists to get continuing education requirements to renew their license but my workshops are always open to anyone who would like to enhance their personal practice or their healing practice with sound, so the majority of the class were massage therapists but we also had a violinist whose husband is a sound healer and a vibrational healer who came with her best friend, a sound healing practitioner. It was really a great weekend. Everyone seemed very pleased with the content and the delivery- and we all had a great time together. Some of us, including me, made some great new friends!
Lydia Riedell, a very happy camper with two beautiful new (antique) bowls to add to her collection of sound healing tools.



Finding Peace- A Woodland Sound Journey

 
This past Friday I attended a retreat for oncology patients in Exeter, Rhode Island. I was there as a therapist offering treatments with tuning forks and craniosacral therapy. For the closing of the retreat I did a sound journey in the woods by a fire. What a setting! All the women that I spoke to during the course of the day expressed feelings of gratitude, empowerment and deeper connection to themselves and the people around them.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful spot under the pines where I did the sound journey as the shadows grew long at the end of the day. It doesn't get much better than this! Some women sat by the fire, others lay down on rugs and blankets.



As I wrote in my last blog entry, I had just learned the night before that Dr. Mitchell Gaynor had recently been found dead in the woods near his home in New York. He did so much for the field of sound medicine, bringing it to the forefront as a complementary therapy, introducing it to all of his patients, as a means of boosting the immune system and helping patients to quickly drop into a natural state of deep peace. It was very powerful and poignant for me to have the opportunity to dedicate the sound journey to him at a time when I was still feeling raw from the news.

A couple of years ago I gave a patient with very advanced cancer a treatment with tuning forks. She was a beautiful bright spirit who was in a lot of pain with tumors throughout most of her internal organs. She had fought for a long time and knew she did not have a lot of time left. She was still willing and eager to try anything that might give her some relief. I gave her a treatment with tuning forks, never touching her body. After the session she told me her pain was not relieved but that she had experienced deep peace which was a great gift for her as it was something that she no longer had.
 
Dr. Gaynor was right. There is no other modality that can bring a person to a state of peace as quickly as sound. It doesn't have to be long, complicated or dramatic. It can be as simple as one tone from a Himalayan singing bowl or the sound of two tuning forks tapped on the knees and held up close to the ears, vibrating the temporal bones and sending the frequency directly into the nervous system in a matter of seconds. (Dr. John Beaulieu's Body Tuners with the frequency of 256hz and 384hz (C & G) are ideal for this.) Sound is simple, effective and can also such a pleasant form of medicine, so natural that we often don't even consciously notice its effect right away.


Dr. Michell Gaynor, Oncologist and Sound Medicine Pioneer, I Honor You


Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, oncologist and pioneer in his efforts to bring the awareness of the healing power of sound to the Western medicine, was mysteriously found dead in the woods near his home a few days ago. I am so sad to hear this news. Tomorrow I am playing Himalayan singing bowls and crystal bowls at a retreat for cancer patients. I will play the bowls in honor of the memory of Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, as a tribute to him and in deep gratitude for the work he accomplished in this field.