Sound Immersion

Looking forward to the next three days. I have someone coming to do a Sound Immersion with me tomorrow, staying for three nights. I spent a few hours preparing food so we won't have to spend too much time with that while she is here. There is so much ground to cover! She asked if she could apprentice with me and come up perhaps three different times between now and the end of the summer. Sound Immersion is what I am choosing to call it- it just came to me when I sat down to write. It leaves it open without expectations and I don't have to rename what is happening any time anyone wants to study with me or come for a sound healing retreat for a few days.

At the same time, my friends Lynn Carol and George Henderson are going to be here as well for two or three days, so it is going to be very full!

I have had the idea of individual personalized sound healing retreats for a while so I am excited that this is finally coming to fruition. This is not quite that- the emphasis of course will be more on  education and practice and there will be less time for receiving and reflection. She will very likely get a session each day that she is here however and that in itself is worth the price of admission! I also have several people coming over for sessions during the time that she is here.

We will be discussing and working with the voice, first and foremost and then dip into VibroAcoustic Therapy, tuning forks and Himalayan singing bowls. When she comes back we will explore more deeply the singing bowls and tuning forks and who knows what else? It depends on how much she wants. We can go into mantra, Sanskrit, chanting, crystal bowls, Healing Sound Journeys and more.

If it was you, what would you want for your Sound Immersion? Would you want to learn to heal others with sound? Yourself? How to incorporate an instrument you already play into your healing practice? Would you simply want receive and have time to process with Expressive Art Therapy? Or maybe after each sound healing session you would just want to go over to the beach and take a nice long walk!


Your Sound Immersion is for you- you get to design it the way you want it!

5 Exquisite Singing Bowls

I can't believe that after three years of not being able to upload videos from my computer to YouTube, it is so easy from my phone!

So here's what we have tonight- a few days ago I got a shipment of Himalayan singing bowls. This is a grouping of five of them that sound absolutely gorgeous together. I find myself haunted by the sound. Every time I walk by them I have to hear them and even thinking about them does something indescribable to my mind. I find them completely intoxicating.




Click here to find out about the upcoming workshop on Toning, Tuning Forks and Singing Bowls on August 1-2 in St. Petersburg, FL.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz...

Tonight I add a couple of small touches to the Event Registration page. Right now am going to Facebook to create an event there too. Also working on setting up some other events in FL while I am down there.

Very busy getting ready for apprentice who is coming for four days next week as well as my dear friends Lynn Carol and George who are coming up from Florida. I am feeling slightly anxious around the possibility of not getting enough time with them and putting my energy into trusting that it will all work out perfectly!

I got a small shipment of Tibetan bowls in a couple of days ago- a set of five among them that are absolutely intoxicating! They are more expensive than the ones I usually get but they are definitely amazing quality- stunning both visually and vibrationally. Tomorrow I will post a little video of them.

A Sonic Wonder

Well, I fell behind on my daily blogging with so much going on in my life. One was a problem with the internet for a couple of days and then a big glitch getting the Event Registration page working properly which took a lot of time. However it IS working now and you can click here to check it out! It needs a bit more tweaking just to get it really looking right but at least it is all working well and people can now sign up with relative ease.

So, I am committed to Being Back! Tonight is more of a brief check-in as I have to get on Facebook and create an Event for the Florida workshop, as well as making some final touches on the Registration Page for it. As of about an hour ago I am also contemplating setting up a series of Healing Sound Journeys for August and turning my ride back from Florida into a bit more of a road trip.

I did discover this very awesome project which is going on in Rangely, Colorado. A huge abandoned and unused oil tank was discovered by "sound artist and sonic thinker" (I love that description!) Bruce Odland back in 1976. When he entered it, he discovered it had extraordinary sonic properties. Ever since then, a small group of musicians have been playing and recording in it. As it says on the website, "The Tank is a sonic wonder of the world, with a shifting, swirling reverberation longer and richer than the Taj Majal or the Great Pyramid." In 2013 a project began to raise money to turn the tank into a Sonic Art Center which is now coming into being.

Guess what my newest obsession is? I can't wait to go out to Colorado and visit this place! I want to do a Sound Journey there. Please be sure to click here and visit the website (http://tanksounds.org/the-tank). It is just to cool to miss- and be sure to watch one or two or more of the videos. They are all so fascinating. They are on the top menu of their website under "Media" or just click here.

Let's Get Married!

While my dear friend, old boyfriend, loyal support person Henry is working on getting a link activated for people to register for my workshop I have a tiny window to post... well... something!

How about this? Seriously- this video blew my mind. I was sitting at my kitchen table cheering as I watched it on my laptop. I want to get married just so I can have Father Kelly sing this at my wedding!  

Sustainable Healing

Great day today! Gave a talk and a sound journey to a group of high school students at The Greene School in West Greenwich, RI today. What a cool place- I wish I could have gone to a school like that. The class was a group of seventeen 9-12 graders who are taking a week-long intensive on Sustainable Healing Modalities- and a few other students and faculty who stopped and listened on their way through the room to wherever they were going. They started the day off with yoga and then got me! Which basically meant they got to zone out on some really cool sounds for an hour- not a bad way to start the day.

Nothing Real Can Be Threatened

Finally I have my computer up and running again!

The follow-up to the "Mum Dream" has been powerful- tears of joy as I have felt the palpable sense of the presence of her personality fade and an overwhelming love take its place. I keep thinking of the last few lines of the introduction to A Course in Miracles. "The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: 'Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.'"

Ever since I took the money workshop in Holland a lot has been happening. Last week I wrote about being at the Rhode Island Cancer Summit. It felt like there was a big opening there. As a follow-up to that, today I got an email saying that the writer for Women & Infants Hospital wants to talk to me because they want to do an article on sound therapy. Meanwhile tomorrow I am teaching a class on sound healing to a group of high school students who are taking an intensive on Sustainable Healing Modalities. I am really looking forward to that. I have loaded the car up with all kinds of fun and interesting instruments from around the world. I suddenly have many more people calling for sessions and someone who wants to apprentice with me coming in a couple of weeks.

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

I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love

My son Namdev sent me this song. He sent it on Friday. Friday night I was visited by my mother during my dreamtime. (See last blog post.) http://youtu.be/IWwAUAWN5lQ

Dreaming Goodbye

Last night my mother came to me in a dream and said goodbye to me. I didn't realize the significance of it right away. The beginning of our journey towards her departure really began just over two years ago when I was here in the Catskills at this same exact place for a workshop with John and Silvia. My mother had been recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure but was on diuretics and was relatively stable. That weekend was the last time I left her for any period of time before she died. She declined over the next 6 months and passed in September of 2013.

I had the great good fortune of being able to be with her most of 2012 and 2013 up until she passed with the exception of a few days here and there. After she passed I felt a tremendous amount of peace around it. I had spent so much time with her and afterward felt so much that she was with me. I did not feel her absence- rather, I felt an overwhelming presence. I have had brief moments of missing her but they have been insignificant compared to the overall sense of her being with me so much of the time.

Last night I saw her in a fur coat (dark brown actually, not the the one in this picture). She looked middle-aged, not old, and beautiful- glamorous but very down to earth. Behind here were woods, a forest or a jungle- reminiscent of the feeling of the background in "The African Queen". She was going on a cruise ship. She was some distance from me, maybe 20 feet or so- close enough to talk, but not to touch... She stood at a distance and I realized with some surprise that she was leaving. She seemed very clear, steadfast, and peaceful. The sense was that she was going away and was not coming back and she was totally okay with that. I was surprised but okay too- I didn't feel like I needed to approach her, give her a hug. I was just accepting that this was what was happening.

It didn't hit me until I went into our dream group this morning and suddenly I realized that she had come to say goodbye to me. It was such a surprise. I didn't really expect her to leave- I thought I would continue to feel her presence. I do feel on one level that she is still with me, but not nearly so close as she has been. There is a distinct awareness that she is now further away, on her own journey. I have wondered many times if at some point that would occur and actually been curious that I could feel so okay and at peace with her passing. Up until now I have really had no real sense of loss.

I am fascinated that this process began for me in this same place when I was here two years ago and has come to a sense of completion, the closing of a door and a real sense of grieving. I think she must have known that this is a safe place for me where I have a huge sense of support. There were several people here this time that were here that first weekend and a couple of people who were also in the Bahamas when I went to a workshop there just a few months after she died. They knew what was happening at the time and in fact just yesterday I was talking to a woman who had been here that first weekend. The first thing she did when she saw me yesterday was ask how things went after I left here that weekend and we had a long talk about it.

I cried a lot today, more than I have in the past year and a half since she died. Still, tonight I feel happy and at peace even though I am sure that there are more tears to come.

Sweet Dreams

Last night's dream concert led to a night of deep sleep and rich dreams. Our experienced has been enhanced by drinking raw cacao with various other herbs added to it- the most intoxicating to me is the touch of rose which is completely intoxicating.

John Beaulieu~ "The dreamtime concert is an environment for incubating dreams".  Looking forward to sleeping tonight.

Silvia Nakkach~ "Music has oceanic possibilities".  She says she is the Minister of Transportation. Indeed. Her music transports us to wondrous places!

Are You Awake?

I love my dreams. In fact, I love my dream life as much as I love my "waking" life (which I believe is just a another level of dreaming where we actually think we are awake). So I relate to all 24 hours really as a dream.

Starting this evening and for the next 3 days I am taking an amazing workshop with John Bealieu and Silvia Nakkach on Sound and Dreams. If tonight's introduction is any indication, it promises to be off the charts. According to John, science is now saying that certain levels of sleep, dreaming and wakefulness are all going on simultaneously. For example, we can be awake and daydreaming or asleep and lucid dreaming which is actually an experience of being conscious in the dream state. This is an interesting article that seems to relate to these ideas.
Conscious Experience in Sleep and Wakefulness

Two of things John said we would be gaining of an understanding of are 1) Becoming more aware of when our consciousness is shifting from one state to another, presumably so that we can make more conscious choices about our state of awareness and 2) Learning about dream analysis.

Tonight we had our "orientation".  After the initial talk about logistics for the weekend, there were a lot of massage tables and yoga mats set up. We all lay on them and received incredible sound and bodywork. The musicians and sound healers are all very high level practitioners and it was really an extraordinary shamanic experience. I came out of it pretty disoriented! I am looking forward to going to sleep tonight and seeing what happens in my dreamtime.

Me n' Mercury

Wow! Crazy two days! Today was the RI Cancer Summit in Warwick, RI and tomorrow I leave for the Catskills for a four-day workshop on Sound and Dreams with two of my favorite teachers, John Beaulieu and Silvia Nakkach.

The day before yesterday I was reading an article on Mercury retrograde because I was actually wondering as we get further into it if the bizarre effects of it are cumulative! This is the article I was reading which I found pretty fascinating. Click on the title to get to the link.
~Mercury Retrograde and What it Means for You~

Honestly I don't even remember what was happening that made me curious- that was two long days ago! Yesterday things were pretty smooth until I got home and my car suddenly smelled weird and smoky and when I checked under the hood there was no oil whatsoever on the dipstick. I talked to my "car guy" and was going to drive a mile up the road to the gas station and get some oil but as soon as I got out the driveway I thought "Nope"- bad sound and bad smell- so a friend came over and put 3 quarts in it. Meanwhile I was freaked out because I had to get up to Warwick today and drive to the Catskills tomorrow.

I don't need to go into all the details but, over the course of the evening, after I had been telling my son Nic earlier in the day about the whole Mercury retrograde thing, he calls to tell me how he had picked up a really cool antique barometer/thermometer that he thought he could sell and suddenly realized it was leaking mercury all over his floor and had to clean up the spill (a relatively small amount), throw out his clothes, fumigate the house, etc. Not so cool.

Next event... today my dear son saves the day by picking me up and bringing me to Warwick to the Cancer Summit, since I suddenly had no way to get there. I got there and somehow there had been a lapse in communication (Mercury again? Rules communication...) They didn't have me on the roster, no table for me (although they let me set up at an empty one) and apparently (though it turned out not be true) no information on sound healing other than what I had brought myself. Ugh- I was so embarrassed- not to mention that they said that exhibitors were supposed to be set up by 7 a.m. and it was now after 10! I had never received any information from Women & Infants and knew nothing other than being told that it didn't really matter when I got there.

So everyone else had these nice fancy tables set up with banners and loads of information and there I was with my instruments and no space to do demos (and an unsolved problem about what was up with my car and how I was going to get up to the Catskills tomorrow) feeling very out of place.

In the end it all worked out. The other people from the Integrative Care Program had some extra information that I was able to put on my table and we found under some other flyers that in fact they had provided for me about my sound healing services. Turned out I had a great day, connected with some wonderful people and the woman who heads up the event for Women & Infants said that next year she would like me to do a breakout session. So that was very exciting.

After that whole thing Nic brought me back home and we got my car over to Pat, my car guy. He determined that the issue is a pulley for the water pump and a pretty easy fix. He can have it done first thing in the morning so I should be good to go! (Hopefully there are no other surprises under the hood.)

Mercury goes direct tomorrow and life is good!

Eeny Meeny...

Picking out the perfect selection of instruments to bring to the Rhode Island Cancer Summit tomorrow. (Right now I am hearing Mike Oldfield's voice saying "Plus- tubular bells!")

Joy and Radiance

Still singing the kirtan I learned yesterday every second I am alone today. In between those times I had a really lovely visit from two Baha'is, Philip and Anne Cantor, whom I met a few months ago. We had a great connection and are forming a wonderful friendship. They live about an hour and a half away and have become very interested in my work so they took the time to come visit today. I gave them each a sound healing demo- Philip in the Somatron recliner and Anne on the Soundweaver. Anne got some hands on work and came back a bit more grounded than Phil, who seemed to have gone somewhere far far away and clearly experienced a profound shift. I wish I'd had the video camera going when he was talking about his experience- he was in such a beautiful place. Amazing what can happen in less than 20 minutes.

They also shared with me some stories about Abdu'l Baha which I always love and never grow tired of and we watched a short video which talked about His embodiment of certain essential qualities as a spiritual being in a human body- the first one being happiness.

Banjo Kirtan

Woke up singing. Had a song in my head I wanted to learn- a kirtan actually- so as soon as I got up I went downstairs and listened to a recording I had of it from one of my friends at kirtan camp last summer. She had also recently sent me the chords so I sat down at the harmonium and began learning it. I played straight through until 9:30 a.m. when a friend stopped by to look at some singing bowls. We did the bowl thing, then sat on the porch together and had coffee and a beautiful conversation and connection. When she left I went back to singing until my son Nic and my grandson arrived a little after 11. I learned it on the harmonium, the guitar and the banjo! My first kirtan on the banjo- very exciting!

I had a really nice visit with Nic and Jonah- delicious lunch and badminton and then after they left I went back to playing it for the rest of the afternoon. Eventually I fell asleep on the chaise longue, then got up and went in to Newport to see the new movie "Love and Mercy" about Brian Wilson and was immersed in Beach Boys music for a couple of hours. It is really a pretty incredible movie, very well done, and quite difficult to watch at times, but it is as brilliant as he is and is a really beautiful and powerful tribute to his sensitivity and genius.

And guess what I did when I got back. Yes, I sat right back down with the guitar and started practicing the kirtan again!

Today's Inspirational Music Video: I will survive breast cancer!!!

This is absolutely the best! To see the guts, strength, and joy of this woman made me cry. Here is the accompanying article...

Sound Spiral

Very excited that I was able to easily upload videos from my iPhone to YouTube. Why can't I do that with my MacBookPro? Whatever...

I got some new Himalayan singing bowls yesterday and spent hours this afternoon and evening setting them up to create a visual and auditory spiral of sound.

In the second video I refined it a bit more by eliminating a couple of bowls.

Sound Around

Very busy last few days. After doing sound journey for a group of bankers the day before yesterday I had someone call and ask if I could give her son a treatment who has been going through a personal crisis. The session went so well and I hope he will continue for a while. The beauty of sound is that it can cut through the story...

Next Wednesday I am going to be offering demo sessions for the Rhode Island Cancer Summit in Warwick. I will be using tuning forks and singing bowls. The opportunity came through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital where I give treatments to oncology patients 1-2 days a week. The money is not great but the blessings are many and the fact that a hospital is paying anything for alternative treatments is pretty remarkable. I absolutely love the work and the amazing people I get to meet through the program- women who are grateful to be alive and
so proactive about their health, caregivers who need some nurturing for themselves- people who are empowered because they have made the choice to care for themselves in a challenging situation. It is pretty phenomenal.

Today I got a beautiful shipment of Himalayan singing bowls in and I know I will be getting more in about 3 weeks. I am very excited about that!

Wholistic Sound on Airbnb!

Just spent an hour updating my Airbnb site!

Sounds Affects

We are sound and we are profoundly affected by sound. Why? Because sound is energy and sound has the power to transform energy. (Think homeopathy- "Like cures like.") It works on all levels- physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. If you look a little more deeply into this video beyond the very cool effects, it actually demonstrates how and why sound can be such a powerful healing tool. We are composed mostly of water and free space, thus our bodies are excellent conductors of sound. Sound waves can penetrate all matter, but it flows easily through our bodies. Find the right frequencies and you can re-harmonize the body, the mind, the emotions- no different than tuning a musical instrument and in fact sometimes more quickly and easily than tuning a temperamental instrument! It's not complicated.

Beyond Relaxation... (Would That Be Dead?)

I missed a day. I was falling asleep at the computer last night!

Great turnout and a very warm and positive response for the Sound Journey at the Yoga Center of Newburyport on Saturday night. No one signed up for Sunday's workshop so I had a day off and a chance to visit with a dear family friend who was also very close with my mother and that was lovely.

Sunday afternoon, because I was free, I was able to go to Newport and hear my brother play for a while at the Wharf Deli and then have dinner with him and his girlfriend at the Black Pearl. So everything worked out beautifully.

When I finally got home yesterday I was so beat that I didn't even unload my car. I was going to do it today but was procrastinating- all for the good as it turned out! This evening I received a call asking if I would be available tomorrow morning to do an hour long sound meditation for a group of businessmen who are in Newport for a yoga retreat. Actually they are combining work and retreat- apparently meditation and sailing in the morning followed by an afternoon of business meetings! So... the morning sound meditation will serve them very well- and I am so happy that I hadn't already unloaded the car only to have to pack it back up again!

Yesterday morning I woke up around 6 a.m. at Marnie's house in Ipswich and decided to listen to the Sound Journey that I had recorded from the night before. I have recorded many sound journeys on my iPhone and am always astounded at the quality of the sound- yesterday was no different. I turned on the recording and lay in bed and went into a deeply relaxed meditative state and eventually into dreaming. I only remember the last part of the dream- I was with another person and suddenly realized that I could not breathe. I was struggling to get a breath or to let the other person know that I couldn't breathe but I couldn't make a sound. In my mind I said, "Shit. Shit. Oh shit," and then woke myself up with a startling snoring gasp for air! I had gotten so relaxed from the sound journey that I had actually stopped breathing! I'm not sure if that goes beyond therapeutic relaxation but when I did wake up I felt fantastic. Fortunately when I do Sound Journeys for others they have me to guide them back into their bodies!