Tiptoeing Through the Tulips!

I slept really well last night and woke up here feeling like I had finally landed. When Paul saw me this morning he said, "Oh, you've arrived!" Yes, I've arrived.

We went to see tulips- fields and fields full of tulips, rows and rows- wide swatches of deep reds, brillliant yellow, pale pink, deep rose, mixes of swirling pink and white with pale green running through them. And so much more. Double orange, scarlet and yellow blossoms that were so intoxicatingly fragrant I thought I might just lay down in them and never get up, the way Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz in the field of poppies. The clouds were deep and dark but the sun kept shining through and hitting the edges of trees. At one point after walking through rows and rows of tulips we got back in the car and within a minute it started to hail. We didn't see it coming and made it just in time!

The sad part is that I have taken tons of pictures but can't seem to access them on my iPad to put them in this blog. There is no iPhoto on here which is what I use to upload them from my computer. I have no idea if there is a solution.

The most exciting sound I heard to day? Birds singing in the trees next to acres of tulips! I also heard some music by Ludivico Einaudi which was very beautiful and I am posting here. Enjoy!

Writing on Borrowed Time

Arrived today totally exhausted. nauseous on the plane last night which never happens for me- maybe because of a latenight in-flight dinner.

Back spazzed up from hoisting my bag with Tibetan singing bowls and tuning forks onto the train in Amsterdam. When I got back here I immediately got in the hot tub to relax my back and then took a short nap. Too tired to take in Paul and Jane's beautiful spot but will enjoy it tomorrow before taking off to see the tulips! This is the last week. Paul told me that next week they cut the heads off them so they can sell the bulbs!!! Made it in the nick of time.

According to the clock on my iPad it is now 12:15 a.m.- I can't even believe I am still awake- but for those of you in the states this is actually an early post for me.

Given my current state of exhaustion I'm not going to try to write any more than this-  instead I am sharing this totally cool video Paul just played for me- enjoy!

You Just Have To (Let Go and) Go!

Okay, slightly angsty... Sitting in Logan Airport trying to get used to new iPad. I don't usually get so anxious. Only my second time flying to Europe though... Fortunately my son Nic and my grandson Jonah kept me company on the ride to Boston. Nervous about silly small things which don't mean a thing- so I guess I'm just nervous and making up reasons to be so!

At least I have an opportunity to write a short update... Plane leaves for Amsterdam at 9 p.m. Will arrive in Dublin in the morning with an hour and a half layover and then off to Amsterdam. Jump on a train and my friend Paul will meet me at the train station in Amersfoort. I know once I get there I'll be fine.

Not that there is anything specific I am afraid of- just letting go of the familiar I guess. I am excited and I adore Holland and I adore my friends and I will be in the bosom of people who love me!

The last time I went my mother was alive to cheer me on. I got the invitation when Paul and I were on a Skype call, early 2012. I went downstairs and told my mother and said I had just been invited to Amsterdam and she said "Well, you have to go! That's all there is to it- you just have to go!" So I called him back, we made plans and in March of 2012 I was there. I haven't had alot of tears or sadness around her dying. It was so natural and perfect and I had so much wonderful precious time with her, but today I just keep hearing her voice saying, "You have to go!" and I miss her. I wish she was here to cheer me on. And I know that wherever she is, she is doing just that.

Holland's Calling

Whoops- up since 6:30 preparing for my departure tomorrow- almost forgot about my blog! My two things I have managed to stay consistent with for some time now- Weight Watchers since last June and blogging daily since January. WW success is 22 pounds so far. I would like to lose another ten (at least). My fear- that I will get derailed from both of these and lose my momentum. If I can maintain my current weight I will be happy with that because it is so hard to travel and not gain- at least for me.

As far as my blogging, that will be another challenge- mostly because I anticipate being so immersed in everything I am doing that I will just forget about it! I hope that's not true. I hope that I will discover that I really have developed a strong enough habit that it will be fairly automatic for me to find a time to sit and write.

Also, the fact is that I will not be as distracted in some ways being there as I am in my own home where there are constantly interruptions and distractions. In some I ways I think my world may be a bit quieter there as I will not have nearly as much access to my phone, family and friends as I do here.

So, it will be interesting to see which way this goes. One thing good- it's 6 hours later there so all my posts will show up 6 hours earlier than they usually do!!!

So, since this is where I'll be the day after tomorrow, I am posting a video of a session I gave with Himalayan singing bowls at a workshop in Utrecht, Netherlands, when I was there in 2012. The person I am working on is my dear friend Paul Goudsmit who hosted me last time, along with his partner Jane, and with whom I will be staying for the next three weeks when I return. Enjoy!

Tuning Into A Tune (You Can Relax Now)

I had a pretty wild thing happen today. I was driving to a friend's 70th birthday celebration and this song came into my head. I used to use it a lot in sound healing sessions, usually at the end of a treatment, but the CD eventually got too worn and I never replaced it.

Today, as I was driving to my friend's party and thinking about singing a song to her, this song suddenly came to me. I haven't thought of it in a very long time. I had to focus to bring it forward but suddenly I started singing it and all the words and melody came back to me. I was a little surprised because I had only ever sung it along with the CD but it was always one of my favorite songs. It was so nice to have it enter my mind that way and I sung it a few times through. It was about 1:45 pm.

When I got to the party I sang a different song, a birthday song that I always love to sing on the celebration day of the birth of those whom I love. I had totally forgotten about the Shaina Noll song by that time. It was just sort of a sweet passing pleasure that came and went.

A couple of hours later I was driving home and a dear friend called me from the Berkshires to wish me well on my trip to Holland. Then she said, "Rosie, do you remember that song that went... Something about 'You can relax now... Breathe deeply... You are a child of god.'?" "Yes!" I exclaimed. "Why are you asking me this?" She said "Well, I went to a funeral today and they played that song and it made me think of you." I said, "Lynda, I was singing this song just a couple of hours ago- it came into my mind out of the blue and I sang the whole thing through." Then I asked her what time it was that they were singing it. I told her it was about 1:45 when I was singing it. She said, "That's exactly when it was- 1:45. The funeral started at 1 pm and they played that song at the very end- it was 1:45." Honestly, I don't even know what to think about that. As Eric Burdon said so fittingly in his unforgettable voice back in 1970, "This really blew my mind." (Spill the Wine)

Sleeping child of God, my granddaughter Patience- photo by Kim Whaley

Musical Toilets and Synchronicity

If I could have any toilet in the world, this would be the one I would want. Unfortunately it belongs to someone else.

Three years ago, when I went to Holland the first time, my friend Jane Tipping and I decided one day to go to the medieval town of Amersfoort to go shopping. Jane had heard it was great place to shop and she finally had someone to go with!
 
The tall narrow houses in Amsersfoort, which form the perimeter of the town, were built from a fortification wall that surrounded the town in the 1300's. In the 1600's another wall was built around the inner one as the town was growing rapidly and the inner one was used as the foundation for the Muurhuizen, or wall houses.

We hadn't been there but about ten minutes and were walking down the narrow street on the perimeter of the town when we were stopped by an old man who insisted we come into his house and see what the buildings look like from the inside. I think his name was Fritz (or Frans?)...

 We were mildly uneasy about going into a persistent old man's home- but he WAS persistent and we were ready for an adventure so in we went! He had a crazy little place that was FULL of knick knacks- but when I first walked in the house I looked around a corner and found myself looking in the bathroom at the toilet pictured above. I know that usually a toilet is not the first sign that you are in the right place unless you have to pee really badly, but I was there to teach a sound healing workshop. Sound and music were very much my focus, as they tend to be most days and there was this wild musical toilet. I couldn't believe it. I did indeed take it as a sign from the gods that we were in exactly the perfect place!

It turned out, needless to say, that he was a musician- a stand-up bass player- and that his whole family had all been musicians. His father had been a musician- I think maybe his mother had been a singer and his sons were both musicians. He had a picture of his father as a very young man with a group of musicians- maybe an orchestra or something. I don't remember the details but it was all just great, funny and as magical and synchronistic as anything in my life. I had the feeling I had just walked into some crazy, dreamlike, divinely orchestrated scene that I couldn't possibly have dreamed up on my own!

He tried to get us to go up the very narrow stairs to see the upstairs but we managed to escape at that point. The picture below is Jane looking slightly unnerved and clearly ready to leave at this point! I have often wondered whether it was just a weird synchronistic event or if he actually just hangs out outside of his house accosting every obvious tourist and stranger that walks by. Was he lonely or was he just an old man who was totally turned on by the heritage of his town and his family and wanted to share it? Who knows, but I am leaving for Holland on Tuesday and my guess is that very soon Jane and I will be headed for another shopping spree in Amersfoort (we found some great clothes there the last time!) and I am definitely wondering whether we will run into Fritz and his musical toilet again.

Taking the Plunge

A few days ago I made a decision around something I was wavering about. I recommitted to going to Holland even though no one has signed up for my sound healing workshop. I was feeling very nervous about it, basically in regard to spending money with the possibility of not making enough money to make it financially viable. The discussion I had with my friend Paul, who is hosting me along with his partner Jane, was about going out on a limb and the fact that when we do that some of the best stuff happens. As Gabrielle Roth once said (possibly in reference to something else, but it fits), "That's when things get really juicy."



Just now I read Seth Godin's blog post for today. It feels very applicable.

Reckless abandon (is neither)

It's not reckless, because when we leap, when we dive in, when we begin, only begin, we bring our true nature to the project, we make it personal and urgent.
And it's not abandon, not in the sense that we've abandoned our senses or our responsibility. In fact, abandoning the fear of fear that is holding us back is the single best way not to abandon the work, the pure execution of the work.
Later, there's time to backpedal and water down. But right now, reckless please.

Once I made a clear decision I felt relieved and unafraid. I have gone from feeling nervous and anxious to very excited.

Plus, as it turns out spring is late this year in Holland, as it has been here, and apparently the tulips are only just starting to come out- which means I will be there at the peak of tulip season! That in itself will be worth the price of admission.

Photo by An Maria C

Mantra 108

ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram

राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम
राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम
राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम

Musical Prayer

Tonight I did a short sound journey at the World Citizens Cafe in Framingham honoring Earth Day and offering musical prayer to Mother Earth. It was one of those events where I was asked to do it knowing I would be giving a five to ten minute sound offering and traveling an hour and a half to do so and knowing all the while that I wouldn't be making any money but that it would be well worth my while in every way. And so it was.

I only brought a handful of instruments with me but I chose instruments from as many parts of the world that I could. On their Facebook page the description for the World Citizens Cafe is as follows: "A place to relax and share our multicultural heritage. Discover the cultural differences that distinguish us and the commonalities that bind us. Stories from worldwide cultures, music,
tastes of international foods, lively conversation and of laughter ! Free and open to all." So, my guiding thoughts were to choose instruments that were global and the intentionality of a healing prayer for the Mother. I brought four Tibetan singing bowls, a Paiste gong made in Switzerland, a wind gong made in China, a condor feather flute made by a Peruvian shaman, an antique transverse flute made in London, a Native American flute, an instrumental tamboura made in India, a clay pot flute made by me, a rattle given to me by a Canadian shaman (which I think was made in the Amazon), a crystal bowl made in the United States and a didgeridoo from Australia. 

It was such a lovely evening... a beautiful group of people, and everyone seemed to love the sound journey. It was wonderful to see how deep and how far people were able to travel with the sound in spite of it being so short. I am reminded that time really has no bearing on the experience because the effect of sound is instantaneous and transcendent.
 

Leap of Faith

I have had to do some processing around my trip to Holland as I did not state my needs clearly enough in advance. Meanwhile however I have been acting as if I was going to be going and immersing myself in practice and writing so that I am well prepared for the workshop. Today I talked to my dear friends Paul Goudsmit and Jane Tipping and confirmed that yes, I am going to take the leap of faith even though there is no one confirmed for the workshop. There is definitely interest and if there are not enough people to make my staying the extra week worthwhile than I will simply come home a little sooner than planned.

Sita Ram- Sing With Your Hands!

I was looking through one of my old journals with notes from many sound healing workshops I have taken. There are notes in here from workshops with Shri Shyamji Bhatnagar, Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Namadeva), Jai Uttal, Fabien Maman, and John Beaulieu plus some writing about some shamanic journeys with two Peruvian shaman. This journal, along with the one that follows it, probably contains the most important writing of my life. Interestingly it begins and ends with workshops I took with Shyamji.

I opened it to look up some notes from a workshop with Silvia Nakkach which I realize now is actually in the other one. I got sidetracked because I opened to a page that had the words to this lovely bhajan that Shyamji sang in a workshop one time and I wanted to find a melody to it. His tune was completely different than this one- so gentle, sweet and beautiful it had us all in tears. Unfortunately I don't think there is a recording of him singing it.

Sita Ram Sita Ram
Sita Ram Kahiye
Jahi Vidhi Rakhe Ram
Tahi Vidhi Rahiye

This one is sweet too though, in a different kind of a way, and I decided to post it as my musical inspiration for the day although I have already sat down and found my own melody to it. One of the things I enjoy about this video is the way this man sings with his hands. You get the feeling he is telling a story- which he probably is! One of the things Silvia always tells us is to free our hands and arms when we sing and it will help us to free our voice.

This is a photo from a page in my journal during one of Shyamji's workshops. It says, "Sita Ram Sita Ram Sita Ram." (To any Sanskrit scholars who may see this- I didn't realize that "Ram" had a long "A" when I wrote it. I think that's the only mistake?))

Sacred Sounds Revisited

Katurah Robinson, dancer, & Fred Johnson, vocalist (International Bazaar?)

In this moment I am sitting at my dining room table listening to a fantastic recording of a group of amazing and dedicated musicians and dancers who got together to raise money for the Sound Body Wholistic Health Center in 2007. This was the sound healing center that I had opened in St. Petersburg in 2005. Early in 2006, just as things were really getting off the ground I sustained a pretty serious head injury and was basically out of commission for about a year. The community did not want to lose the center which had become an oasis, so a core group of supporters put their heads and hearts together to keep it going. One of the things we did was to start a membership to the center which raised enough money to keep things going throughout that year but it was still a struggle, so in 2007 beautiful Jacqueline Connelly and her husband Kenny from the International Bazaar in Ybor City told me that they wanted to have a fundraiser for the center.

The International Bazaar was a huge space that sold items from around the world- clothing, gifts, jewelry, instruments and also hosted wonderful community events and had a great network... Jacqueline put together an amazing event with so many incredible musicians and performers from all over Tampa Bay- African musicians, dancers and drummers, jazz musicians, belly dancers, poets and my dear friend and colleague, sound healer, musician, awesome vocalist and the best MC ever, Fred Johnson

Ha, I didn't know what was on here. There are three CD's- one is missing. I am listening to the second one, just checking it out- and suddenly I am hearing myself speak with gratitude to all the people who made this event happen, who believed in the center, who experienced the healing power of sound. And now Carol Mitchell kicking butt with her amazing voice... "Let your little light shine, shine, shine." A group of us, seven women singing together, Sacred Voices- me, Carol Mitchell, Cathy Costa, Sharon McCord, Robin Hill, Jennifer Samuel-Chance and Penny Heffelfinger. I miss my singing friends so much. I miss our weekly gatherings at the center and all the singing we did together in other venues, on our own, in churches, in mosques- wherever there was a sacred space and an opportunity to come together with our voices and our hearts.

Sacred Voices- Katurah Robinson, Sharon McCord, Rosie Warburton, Robin Hill, Cathy Costa
at Unitarian Universalist Church, Clearwater, FL
Fundraiser for Haiti

I love where I am and I also miss my sound healing center and a place that is geared for having groups of people on a regular basis. I haven't quite figured out how to weave all that into this space. Listening to this CD is definitely an inspiration for me.

Late Night, Feeling Grateful

Once again, the day got away from me and i just looked at the clock and see that it is almost midnight. My daily blog challenge. Very busy couple of days. Woke up this a.m. to have the hutch of my dreams delivered to my house. Sounds silly... but at the age of 60 this is actually the first time that I have ever lived by myself without either my kids or a partner. Setting things up the way I want in a house that I love has been exciting for me- and in some ways scary... but all in all pretty wonderful.

The other supercool thing that I got to do tonight was to build a fire outdoors with my youngest son, Nicolas, and his son Jonah. The last time I built an outdoor fire was when Nic was 14 and we were camping out at Maggie Gulch outside of Durango, CO. I have pictures of us from that night. It was one of my best memories and now we did it again with Jonah, who is 13- not camping out but in my back yard. We didn't even have to go anywhere!

The pervasive awareness for me over the last 3 days goes back to what I was writing about a few days ago- the richness of life. This overwhelming sense of gratitude- and beyond that, gratitude for the opportunity and ability to experience gratitude. This is what the apparent experience of separation offers us. This is the gift.

Sacred Voices

Yikes, I got so sidetracked by day to day stuff today that I forgot to write until just this second! It's past midnight but the day is not over. Having a large piece of furniture delivered tomorrow and had to clear a space, move a bookcase and reorganize.Everything else went by the wayside!

Listened to a CD today that a small group of us recorded when I had my sound healing center in Florida- chants with flute, guitar and tamboura. There was a core group of us who used to get together every week and chant- we called ourselves Sacred Voices. Some of the voices changed from week to week but some were pretty constant. It was so nice to revisit that period of time and sing along with y old friends again.

I know there are more, a lot of recordings that need to be uploaded- concerts, small groups of us chanting together and Sound Journeys. Compiling it all is something to look forward to. It will be a good project. I need a computer tutor who can help me put it all together!

I wish I had some videos of us- but I do have videos of some of the sound healing sessions so tonight I will post one of those on here.

Sound Exploratorium

Well, I have spent the last hour in frustration. Now I have to let it go. I had a video I wanted to upload here but I have to get it into iMovie first (I think). For whatever reason my file menu is not showing me the option I need to import it ("Import") so I am stuck. Time to get unstuck.

I have tried to upload it directly to here and that didn't work either.

I took a walk in the woods today and discovered the most wonderful underground stream that flowed under the rocks I was walking on. The sound was so magical, creating a resonance as it flowed under the rocks.

I took a video of the stream and wanted to post it here. The other thrill when I was walking was the sound of a bird that sounded so much like a human whistling that I was a little uncomfortable at first, wondering if someone was messing with me. I started imitating though and it just kept answering back and I could tell by that it was going from tree to tree by the change in direction of where the sound was coming from- unless there was actually a ventriloquist hiding in the woods who had the ability to throw his voice!

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!