Coffee with Birds... Perfection

Sitting here with my morning coffee listening to a recording I made on my iPhone of the sounds around me while I had breakfast one morning almost two years ago- mostly an amazing recording of bird sounds and songs, the occasional chewing of toast (!) and some very quiet chimes in the background. I don't remember making this recording but I titled it "Bird Song Breakfast" and it is over 10 minutes long so it must have been quite deliberate. October of 2014- so it was just after I moved into this house. It must have been one of those fall days when there were a ton of birds out in my yard because all of a sudden the sound just fades away as if they suddenly all flew off!

My life is full of sound- of course yours is too. I just happen to be acutely aware of it, maybe a bit more so than many people. Sometimes when it is quiet and an unexpected sound cuts through the ambient noise I feel it in my body- my ears, my scalp and my skin have an instant response to it- much like the way an animals ears perk up when they hear something. It is an involuntary and fascinating reaction that I have only become aware of within the last 5-6 years, although I suspect it has always occurred. Does that happen for everyone I wonder?

I had a reading from someone a few years ago who had never met me prior to the reading via Skype and knew nothing about me or my profession. He said to me at one point, "You have very big ears." Actually physically my ears are pretty tiny (I was told by someone once that my ears were like little dimes!) so that was not what he was referring to. It was the way in which I hear, which he said is similar the way a cat listens/hears- they are aware of all the sounds around them. Actually voices are what I have the most trouble with in a way. I am so acutely aware of all the other sounds around me that it is often hard to stay focused when someone is talking to me.

Self Portrait??? I didn't realize it when I did it but of course it is... Me, loving sound.

It is such a beautiful day right now. Sitting at my wooden table, listening to these sounds which I have recorded, a hint of fall in the air since last night's rain cooled things down. Perfect clear day, not a cloud in the sky. The recording has just come to an end. Now I hear the steady drone of cicadas, the wind and rustling of leaves in the trees, the clicking of keys on my keyboard, the steady rhythmic chirping of one cricket, the glass chimes on my front porch and the light metallic tinkling of a different set of chimes, staccato sparse quiet chirping of birds- and a car coming into my driveway. Time to give a session to an old friend. Perfect day!

Preciousness- Forest Dweller's Melody by Jai Uttal

Ran across this tonight. It was so sweet and precious I had to post it.

Sweet subtle breathtaking beauty... Thank you Jai Uttal.

The world is a river of sound.
Nada brahma...

Sisters and Sounds

Just a quick update here as I am getting ready to go to Newburyport for this evening's Healing Sound Journey. The picture above is the sweet little harbour in Rockport, Massachusetts where I have spent the last three days with my sisters Jenny and Miranda. Unfortunately the only picture I have of the fabulous threesome is of us lying on the grass with our heads at our mother's gravestone trying not to laugh and it just doesn't feel quite like the perfect portrait to post on my blog- although maybe it is!

Looking down from the entrance to Green Acre, the Baha'i school and retreat where I did a sound journey a few nights ago.

It was a beautiful ride on a perfect day and the sound journey went well and was very well received. I recorded it with my iPhone as I always do. I've listened to the sound journey several times since and have been enjoying it which somehow surprises me- not that I enjoy it, because of course I love what I do! That's why I do it- but I must admit to being surprised that I want to listen to it over and over.

The weather in Rockport has gone from perfect and sunny to perfect and foggy and remains consistently beautiful with the sounds of surf, birds and insects and very little else other than the chatter of three sisters- a different sort of sound journey! We had a good rain this morning which has let up. I'm hoping there won't be any more until after I'm all done with tonight's sound journey so I won't have to unload instruments in the pouring rain!

I have had the great good fortune of receiving several new shipments of Himalayan singing bowls recently which I think have really added to the powerful dynamic of the sound journey. I brought some bowls with me to Green Acre that I had never used before and they were quite amazing. I continue lately to be happily surprised at the effect of the sound journey, finding it so calming and restorative.

Carolyn Cruikshank, her daughter Anne and I at Green Acre after the Sound Journey at Green Acre.

A Perfect Embrace

This Sunday I am leaving for Green Acre Baha'i School and Conference Center in Eliot, Maine. I have been invited to give a talk in the afternoon and do a Healing Sound Journey for the Oneness of Humanity in the evening. Expected audience: 225 people from all over the world!

I can't say much about this. Only that I have loved Abdul-Baha since I was first introduced to him- I don't even know what that means. When I lived in Florida I used to sometimes play during the devotionals at the Baha'i Center in St. Pete and always loved the community and the energy there.

Most of all I loved the huge picture of Abdul-Baha. I would often walk over to it while I was playing my flute and just stand in front it and play while he looked at me with those loving eyes. I always felt that he was playing through me, inspiring and loving me while I held the flute up to my lips.

All I can say is that I am honored and excited. My tendency is to say/think that I am a bit nervous but as I sit with myself, I don't think that's true. The truth is that I feel that all the events and connections in my life have led me to this and it feels absolutely perfect. I know that I will be in an environment where I will be totally loved and embraced and I do not need to fear not being good enough, making a mistake or whatever things I could dream up about being less than perfect. It is all already perfect and therefore so am I.

And my kindergarten teacher and dear friend Carolyn Cruikshank, who is a Baha'i will be there and whom I am so excited to see again! 

I am feeling embraced.

Left: Summer camp at High Rise (then called North Hollow) in Rochester, VT (visiting Fort Ticonderoga on this particular day) with my former kindergarten teacher Carolyn Cruikshank. Circa 1963?

And... 50 years later, together again at High Rise, summer 2013.

Oh, yes. I forgot to mention how I have been completely immersed in the sound of Himalayan singing bowls for days! At the suggestion of my son Nicolas I got out all my bowls- my personal collection and all the ones I have for sale and put them all together in my living room. It has been incredible. Over 100 bowls and every time I went near them I would pick out a few and play them, sampling them (sort of like a box of chocolates!) and trying different combinations. It has done something wonderful to my mind and my emotional body. I had been in some turmoil due to a bad experience I had with a friend recently and the bowls completely relaxed my psyche. It was quite extraordinary and beautiful.