HELLO AND WELCOME- WE HAVE MOVED!!! Our new website, complete with blog and updated events, is located at: www.wholisticsound.com Please visit!!!
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.
Aidan discovers a new way of playing the singing bowls!
St. Pete... visiting my closest friends, walking in Selby Gardens, walks on the beach, a great motorcycle ride with my friend Brian, sound journeys, healing sessions... an invitation to Tallahassee- which of course I accepted! Really? You guys can pull off a sound journey with less than a weeks notice? Okay! I'll be there!
What a great 5 days that was! Arrived in Tallahassee on Monday, August 10. The Sound Journey was scheduled for that evening. My alternator went just as I got off the highway and pulled up to Ryan's house where I was to stay with his wife, Arielle and their awesome six year-old son, Aidan. I had met Ryan about ten years earlier when I taught a class at Bhakti Academe of Intuitive Massage and Healing, where I had gone myself. Apparently it had a huge impact on Ryan and he dove into the field of sound healing after that. When he heard I was coming to Florida he immediately signed up for the workshop and let several other people from Tallahassee know and they all made the trip to St. Pete.
We transferred my instruments to Ryan's vehicle, dropped my car off at his father's auto repair shop (just another tiny miracle) and went over to the Abundance Wellness Center to set up for the Sound Journey. Ryan let me use his room to do sessions which was absolutely beautiful and full of wonderful instruments from around the world!
That little group of four from Tallahassee was a powerhouse! I had never been to Tallahassee and my life and didn't know a soul there other than those who had come to my workshop. When I arrived a week later they had a full house for the sound journey and sessions booked with me for the next three days.
Here are some pictures from that leg of the trip.
Session with Himalayan singing bowls
After the session...
Healing Sound Journey at Abundance Wellness Center
Notice new element added to Sound Journey instruments
Flower arrangement made for the event- so beautiful!
I am making a point to get out and listen to more live music- even if I have to go by myself... Another one of the realities I have to get used living alone for the first time in my life!
Last week I saw Eliza Gilkyson. She was wonderful- irreverant, funny and a fabulous singer/songwriter/performer. Tonight I am going to see Joan Armatrading whom I have always loved and wanted to see live. I wasn't going to go because I knew I'd be going by myself. Then I thought, that is ridiculous. That is crazy. Music is my sustenance! So I am going- and so looking forward to it.
Tomorrow night I am going out to hear Geoff Muldaur , a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band back in the sixties. I saw him once in 1974 when he played at the Salt Tavern in Newport with his then-wife Maria Muldaur. I love his voice.
Very excited about that, but most of all to see Joan Armatrading tonight, whose music has always touched my heart and my emotional body so deeply. Here she is singing one of her most poignant songs.
So- when I was driving down to FL- it must have been July 29- I got to South Carolina and was on the phone with my friend Carol Mitchell talking about the possibility of finding another venue to do a sound journey. She suggested I might try Yoga4All in Seminole where my ex-boyfriend Henry and I used to do sound journeys on a regular basis for a few years. Marty Maddox, who owns the studio, did a lot of promotion and we always got a good turnout- typically upwards of 25 people. We also scheduled each event well in advance with plenty of lead time so there was lots of time to get the word out there.
It was about 8:30 pm when I called the yoga studio and I hardly expected anyone to answer but there was Marty on the other end of the phone moments later, telling me how much everyone missed me down there. I said, "Well, actually I'm on my way down there right now" and I told her my sparse schedule- workshop on August 1-2 and a sound journey on the 6th. I said I had some availability the weekend of the August 7-8 and was she possibly interested in hosting a sound journey. She gave it a few seconds and then said, "What the heck. Let's put it out there and see if people are up for it." I was totally surprised since it was so last minute but as it turned out we packed the yoga studio!
The evening of August 7 I was driving over to the studio and Marty called me several times because she didn't what to do about so many people wanting to come the Sound Journey. It got to a point where she didn't feel like she had any more space for people to preregister and at one point she called to tell me that people were actually fighting for spots over the phone! 36 people showed up that night.She had figured she had space for 30 but we managed to get everyone in.
I recorded the sound journey on my iPhone as I always do these days unless there's some kind of a glitch- like I forget to turn it on! I try not to judge or compare the sound journeys as I always trust they are perfect for the time that they occur and for the group that is receiving it, but in this case I honestly felt, when I was performing the sound journey, that it was quite possibly the best one I had ever done. I'm talking about over a 15 year period. I have listened to it several times since and am starting to use it regularly in sound healing sessions which have been very powerful. I definitely looking forward to burning it to a CD and getting someone to clean it up. We'll see how that goes. I can say for certain that there has been a step up in the expression and the healing power of the sound journey.
Which takes me to last night. Last night was the Autumnal Equinox and I led a sound healing meditation at my home with crystal singing bowls as part of a global network of sound healers and peacekeepers that meets every solstice and equinox in a unified intention. I used to lead these Circles of Sound when I had my sound healing center in St. Pete but I hadn't done one in 3 1/2 years. It's not so much that I am particularly into these astrological and astronomical events as it is that, if I am putting myself forward as a leader in the community of sound healers wherever I happen to be, I feel that it is part of my role to participate in any global sound healing events and host them whenever possible. So I set up an altar on my deck and we had a small gathering. There were six of us outside under the stars listening to the ascending frequencies of the bowls as I played. It was cool outside and everyone was wrapped up in blankets. We could hear birds, dogs and the running of the waterfall in the koi pond behind us. Afterwards we shared prasad and tea. It was a truly lovely gathering and I was so grateful that I had put the message out there for people to come and bathe in the sounds and the intentions of harmony, acceptance, compassion, unity and joy. For some it was a totally new experience. For all of us it was a blessed one.
Koi pond at Lynn Carol and George Henderson's house
Lynn Carol's art studio
My week in St. Pete was wonderfully full. Every time I've gone back in the last few years I have had so much to do- teaching workshops, closing up the center, moving stuff out of the house I lived in for 13+ years with my ex-boyfriend- and spending time with him because he still one of my dearest friends- that I was not able to find the time to see so many of the other people I was so close to when I was down there. This time I made sure that I took the time to visit everyone that I wanted to see- some of whom it was brief or I saw at one of my sound journeys, others I was able to hang out, walk with or share a meal. It was so wonderful to take that time and be sure that I saw all my old friends.
I stayed with my dear friends Lynn Carol and George Henderson, whose house is definitely my idea of heaven on earth!
Healing Sound Journey at Temple of the Living God
On August 6 I did a Healing Sound Journey at the Temple of the Living God. There was some kind of weird poverty consciousness going on before I got there. They asked me to lower my minimum which I had already discounted 70%! I decided that I was not going to join in their consciousness of lack so I said to my good friend Carol Mitchell who had arranged the gig for me, "Okay, here's what we are going to do- I am not going to charge a minimum. Instead, let's join our minds in this moment and set the intention that there will be at least 40 people at the Sound Journey." She heartily agreed. We set the intention and the night of the event, slowly but surely, the place filled up- 46 people for the Sound Journey! So many of them were dear old friends and people who had come to so many events at my sound healing center when I lived there. It really was the loveliest reunion- and I made what I would normally charge for my minimum rather than the heavily discounted price I had originally given them! The ladies at the church who were taking the money were stunned and delighted. Apparently they rarely get such a good turn out for their events. I would have to say that I was not as surprised as they were, but I was definitely very pleased!
A walk on the beach with my good friend, Brian Ransom
Expectant journeyers!
Selby Gardens with my old friend Linda Romero
Happy day with my new friends Ilona and Agnieszka, who I met last year in the Bahamas and discovered they live in Sarasota and that we have a whole circle of very close friends in common!
Three and a half weeks ago I returned home from a trip that was supposed to be just over two weeks long. It turned out to be almost exactly one month. I didn't document it very well so, a little bit at a time, I will make an effort to fill in some of the gaps.
On July 28 I packed up my Subaru Outback with tuning forks, singing bowls and all my magical sound instruments and headed on down the road. I have to add that my car was running very well. (There's a reason I mentioned that which I'll get back to that in another installment!) I had a great, and easy, drive down. Google maps sidestepped all the heavily trafficked areas and I got there way ahead of schedule!
On August 1-2 I taught a workshop on Sound Healing with Toning, Tuning Forks and Tibetan Bowls at the office of my favorite Ayurvedic practitioner, Dr. Soman Nadhan. The workshop was full, not only with local therapists but also four people from Tallahassee who had taken the 5 1/2 hour trek to St. Pete! The workshop was partially for massage therapists to get continuing education requirements to renew their license but my workshops are always open to anyone who would like to enhance their personal practice or their healing practice with sound, so the majority of the class were massage therapists but we also had a violinist whose husband is a sound healer and a vibrational healer who came with her best friend, a sound healing practitioner. It was really a great weekend. Everyone seemed very pleased with the content and the delivery- and we all had a great time together. Some of us, including me, made some great new friends!
Lydia Riedell, a very happy camper with two beautiful new (antique) bowls to add to her collection of sound healing tools.
This past Friday I attended a retreat for oncology patients in Exeter, Rhode Island. I was there as a therapist offering treatments with tuning forks and craniosacral therapy. For the closing of the retreat I did a sound journey in the woods by a fire. What a setting! All the women that I spoke to during the course of the day expressed feelings of gratitude, empowerment and deeper connection to themselves and the people around them. Here are some pictures of the beautiful spot under the pines where I did the sound journey as the shadows grew long at the end of the day. It doesn't get much better than this! Some women sat by the fire, others lay down on rugs and blankets.
As I wrote in my last blog entry, I had just learned the night before that Dr. Mitchell Gaynor had recently been found dead in the woods near his home in New York. He did so much for the field of sound medicine, bringing it to the forefront as a complementary therapy, introducing it to all of his patients, as a means of boosting the immune system and helping patients to quickly drop into a natural state of deep peace. It was very powerful and poignant for me to have the opportunity to dedicate the sound journey to him at a time when I was still feeling raw from the news.
A couple of years ago I gave a patient with very advanced cancer a treatment
with tuning forks. She was a beautiful bright spirit who was in a lot of
pain with tumors throughout most of her internal organs. She had fought
for a long time and knew she did not have a lot of time left. She was still willing and eager to try anything that might give her some relief. I gave her a
treatment with tuning forks, never touching her body. After the session
she told me her pain was not relieved but that she had experienced deep peace which was a great gift for her as it was something that she no longer had.
Dr. Gaynor was right. There is no other modality that can bring a person to a state of peace as quickly as sound. It doesn't have to be long, complicated or dramatic. It can be as simple as one tone from a Himalayan singing bowl or the sound of two tuning forks tapped on the knees and held up close to the ears, vibrating the temporal bones and sending the frequency directly into the nervous system in a matter of seconds. (Dr. John Beaulieu's Body Tunerswith the frequency of 256hz and 384hz (C & G) are ideal for this.) Sound is simple, effective and can also such a pleasant form of medicine, so natural that we often don't even consciously notice its effect right away.
Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, oncologist and pioneer in his efforts to bring the awareness of the healing power of sound to the Western medicine, was mysteriously found dead in the woods near his home a few days ago. I am so sad to hear this news. Tomorrow I am playing Himalayan singing bowls and crystal bowls at a retreat for cancer patients. I will play the bowls in honor of the memory of Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, as a tribute to him and in deep gratitude for the work he accomplished in this field.
I did finally make it home to my house of wholistic sound a little over a week ago. A two and a half week trip that evolved into exactly one month- full of surprises, old friends and new, sound journeys, car breakdowns, a visit to a gated community for hippies (The Farm, Summertown, TN) and much more!
Amazing what happens when you leave a house for a month. I could not have imagined how overgrown everything would be! Also factoring in living alone for the first time in my life- no kids, no sweetie, no mom to take care of... an interesting time in my life. Some days I feel like I am a bit lost and floundering and I have to remind myself that I have never done this before, not even knowing at times how to start my day... Yoga? Coffee? Music? Art? Writing? Breakfast? Vitamins? Weeding?
It's not sad and not particularly lonely although I suppose it could become that. More, it's just weird! When someone else is in the house I know what to do even if I think it's not necessarily what I want to do.
Meanwhile this blog is supposed to be about music and sound. And I am sitting at my dining room table loving the sound of the beautiful glass chimes that Josh Poll of Zen Glass in St. Pete, FL made for me when I had my sound healing center, which I finally hung up a couple of days ago. I have an entire box of chimes that people donated to the center which eventually all need to be hung in my new home and place of healing sound pleasures and treasures.
I opened up Facebook this morning and was greeted by this video of a most amazing version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". I was blissed to tears. My total inspiration for the day- how can you not love it?!
