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This site is a forum for the introduction and discussion of ideas regarding the use of vibration, frequency, sound and music as a non-invasive modality for healing on the physical plane as well as expanding consciousness and furthering our connection to the psychospiritual realms.
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!
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.
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.
I was going through some old emails and I came across a very thought-provoking blog post by Seth Godin, dated June 28, which I had saved but not yet read, and it inspired me to write.
Someone faced with doubt rarely brings her best self to the table.
Doubt undermines confidence, it casts aspersions, it assumes untruths.
Yes, of course you need to qualify your leads. And yes, we know that
you need to protect against risk and to not waste your time.
But... if you're going to spend five minutes or five hours with
someone, what happens if you begin with, "the benefit of confidence"
instead? What if you begin by believing, by seeking to understand, by
rooting for the other person to share their best stories, their vision
and their hopes?
Perhaps you can manipulate someone by scowling, by negging, by
putting on airs. But if you do that, you end up with people who have
been manipulated, who are wounded and not ready to soar.
The problem with qualifying leads is that all the obvious ones are already taken.
The challenge with assuming that someone is completely imperfect is that you'll almost certainly be right.
There's plenty of room for doubt later, isn't there?
I love this. "The benefit of confidence." Of course... we see what we want to see- or, we see what we believe. It may not be what we think we want to see and of course we are constantly projecting. We see others ultimately as we see ourselves or the parts of ourselves we choose to deny and disown. I'd much rather see that needy aspect in someone else than to own it! But, what if that neediness is just a mistaken belief about myself? And what if I let go of the all the doubts I have about myself and about all the supposed "ugliness" that I am constantly trying to hide? What if I made it all up? Can I change my mind and reveal my hidden (and deeply rooted) beliefs about myself? Can I make a deliberate choice on how I see another rather than simply casting out the old projections and assumptions? When I approach another with the "benefit of the doubt", how am I
approaching myself? Can I approach myself with the "benefit of
confidence"?
This is a powerful possibility for healing our minds on a very deep level.
A few days ago something came across the internet while I was online- a website where you can find out all kinds of personal information about pretty much anyone. The suggestion by a few people who had done it was to put in your own name so you can see how much information is really out there about you. So I did. It took quite a while. It kept running through more and more information searching for different addresses, criminal records, financial records, etc., etc. I watched my level of anxiety rise. What would they find out about me? What awful things have I done or gotten in trouble for that I have forgotten about? What things am I being accused of that I didn't do? What terrible things are people that I don't even know thinking, believing about me?
It ran through the whole program- which took quite a while- and when it got to the end I was informed that I could now access the file for the mere sum of $27.95. Should I go for it, after hanging out for an hour waiting for it to finish doing its thing and unearthing every scrap of dirt about me? Yes, because there is bound to be something awful in there and I need to know what it is. Yes, Paypal. Boom.
There was nothing there. A few old addresses where I had lived over the past 30 years (and one where I hadn't lived- the address of my mother's lawyer). My educational background- not much information there!
What I did discover was my own deeply rooted belief that I must be guilty even if I don't know/remember what terrible sins I have committed. So, this turned out to be an incredibly powerful and revealing process for me. I saw a depth of fear and belief in my own guilt that I was not consciously aware of up to that point.
A Course in Miracles tells us, “When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy
encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you
will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself.
Whenever two Sons of God meet they are given another chance at
salvation. Do not leave anyone without giving salvation to him and
receiving it yourself. For I am always there with you, in remembrance of
you.”
Over the past twenty plus years as a sound healing practitioner, I have played this song many hundreds of times for people who were moving through their own personal doubts and challenges. I guess I need to listen to it again myself... deeply.
The documentary "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" is without a doubt one of the most brilliant, poignant, joyful stories of the power of the human spirit, of the ties that bind us as global citizens and of the power of music to heal and to bring people together. I was knocked out by it and cannot wait to see it again. It is one of those movies that I know I will watch over and over again.
I can't really say anything else about that. It is beyond words.
Life has been busy and full as it tends to be these days! I actually stopped this afternoon and watched the second Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie with my son, Nic and my grandson Jonah, which was totally fun and engrossing. Other than that my life just seems to be full of sound, music and healing- both myself and others! Myself, on the level of letting of some old stuff- habitual patterns from the past that no longer serve me and others through sound journeys and private sessions. Things seem to just keep getting busier.
The day before yesterday I did a private sound journey for a dear friend who is dealing with Stage 4 cancer and a lot of physical pain associated with it. A mutual friend asked me if I would be willing to do a Sound Journey for a small group of people, including our friend in need of healing and support. The sound journey is so restorative and I was very grateful for the opportunity.
Here is a photo of the set up. I didn't bring a lot of instruments but I just got a new 14" very high quality Himalayan bowl (for sale- I'm just playing it til someone buys it!) and I brought my 30" gong and some other choice instruments- so I brought out all the big guns. The intention is everything and this was for healing in the highest so it was a very powerful sound journey.
The other big event recently was the workshop that my friend D. Crowfeather and I did together. He came up from Florida and did a day of sessions for a number of people which were very powerful and I think perhaps life-changing for some. The next day we co-facilitated a workshop together which was very much about consciousness and spiritual intention. It was pretty beautiful and definitely very powerful. My part was really to provide sacred sound so that the participants would be in a totally open place to receive the teaching that Crowfeather was sharing. It was all very good work. The evening after the workshop we had a fire ceremony in the backyard with fireflies dancing all around. Beautiful and transcendant...
Through the course of the weekend I also saw places where I need to manage my energy better if I am going to have people moving through my house. There were times that it got very intense for me, essentially holding space and having to be "on" at times when it felt a bit beyond my capacity! It was really different than when I had my sound healing center because there I could go home at the end of the day or leave a key for people to use the space for sessions and not have to be present myself, so that was definitely a big lesson for me.
One of the most striking things for me about the weekend was the sense that my space was being used for that which it is intended for and the reason that I chose this place to live. I chose it (or it chose me!) because I could teach workshops and have groups here. I have dreamed of having a sound journey on the deck since I first moved in and I finally got to do that. That in itself was so sweet and beautiful. We have used the fire pit in the backyard a few times before but we had not had a ceremony there and I feel that the space was so blessed from that, so I am super grateful for all of that. The energy has always been good here but I feel like there were a lot of shifts from the weekend.
And tomorrow night I get to do a sound journey at the Integrative Care Program for Women's Oncology in South County which is always such a wonderful gift.
Oh yeah- AND tonight I bought tickets to go see The Zombies and The Rascals in Scottsdale, AZ on September 11. Woohoo! What a gas- going with my sister Miranda who bought me my very first album- The Young Rascals when I was in 6th grade. Can't wait!
Opening Sound Journey for workshop at Wholistic Sound, Saturday, June 25, 2016.
Sitting in my house, my beautiful log house, listening to birdsong on a perfect day. I was blessed with a surprise day off today when all the power went off in South County Commons where I usually do massage on Thursday. Perfect, as the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of intensity.
A weekend of sessions and workshop with my friend and spiritual healer D. Crowfeather had been planned for a while for last weekend, which I knew was going to be very powerful- and it was. More on that in the next installment! Leading up to that, just two days prior to the weekend before, I heard that an Ecuadorian shaman, Don Alberto Taxo, was going to be teaching a workshop in Jamestown. I knew nothing about him or the people who were hosting him but I was very drawn to it and immediately registered for the workshop.
What a gift. I am so grateful that I listened to the voice that pushed me forward, rather than the one that sometimes holds me back- that I listened to the voice for Spirit and Truth and Beauty which knew this would be the perfect preparation for the weekend to follow.
The workshop was about our relationship to Pacha Mama and our connection to the four elements. It was very powerful for me. I experienced and deepened my relationship to the four elements in profound ways. I learned from the air that I could let go of my past with every breath- not just distant past, old memories, old wounds and traumas but now, in every moment. That I can breathe in now and let it go and breathe in the next new moment, that I can make love to the air with each breath.
I felt the alchemy of the four elements merging within me and creating something more powerful and more magical in every moment. I felt the stardust within my cells. I felt the channels of fluid that run through my body, flowing, pulsing, nurturing, supporting and sustaining me.
Four Directions Mandala from materials found on beach. Rosie Warburton 2013
This experience deepened my understanding of who I am on this earthly plane in ways that are still being revealed to me.
Before the workshop I had been thinking about the Sacred- how we bring the element of divinity to those things (people, places) which we honor. In unseen ways it may already be there, in that All Is Truly Divine, but as we navigate the earthly plane we often miss it. So we need a dedicated and powerful intention to bring it forth- really it is for our recognition of That Which Already Is, we infuse with our sacred intention and bring that energy forth. A crystal bowl, when played, does not automatically produce "sacred sound". It is dependent upon the energy and the intention of the player.
When I got to the workshop, one of the first things Don Alberto talked about was how we have an intimate connection to the elements but we must make a practice of exercising this connection through deepening our awareness of the sacred in all things. Right away I knew I was in the right place.
I also saw by the end of the weekend how it was preparing me for the weekend to come.
