Gardening and Grooving

It’s been a very intense year so far. Every day i want to write and I have had some frustration with not being able to post new pictures on my computer. Long story- not interesting to anyone, I’m sure! So we’ll just glide right past that. Update- problem solved

So where am I right now? Here’s a quick update. I fell in love.*

And now it’s September and I fell out of love. Okay, back to what I was writing two months ago.

My son Moose and his wife Jenny had twins- Ruby and Wren- on December 26. They came home from the hospital at the end of January a couple of days before their official due date of 2.22.22.

I drove back and forth to Rhode Island and Maine 3 times between October and December… and then a 4th time in April for my brother Tim’s funeral after he died from Covid.

Tim on the far right, 1972, with our younger brother Peter at the helm (age 15 at the time and youngest crew member) during transatlantic to Kiel, Germany for Operation Sail, aboard the Black Pearl.

A week after Tim’s funeral I flew out to Minneapolis to meet my granddaughters, Ruby and Wren, in the sweet pink baby flesh! They were 3 months old and it was the perfect balm after losing my brother- not that it could make up for it, but it certainly softened things a lot and nurtured my soul.

Oh, did I mention I had an appendectomy? February 22, the same night my brother Tim was put on a ventilator. Ugh, not a good night. The night before I was probably the sickest and most scared I have ever been in my adult life, vomiting violently to the point I thought I was actually going to suffocate as I was unable at times to even get a breath. it was horrible. Anyway, I got through it and felt a thousand times better after the offending organ was removed! But an emotionally challenging time as Tim was also clearly not recovering from Covid the way it was anticipated.

Next? May rolled around and I went to Florida to do 3 Healing Sound Journeys- the first public events I had done since the start of the pandemic! I have LOTS more to say about that trip and the things I learned about my work, all (or most) of which I am saving for another post. I will post a groovy picture here though!

Instruments set up for a Healing Sound Journey at the Temple of The Living God in St. Petersburg, FL.

And then it was June- which is when I started this post! A trip to Haris Lender’s Yurtananda, her very groovy retreat in the hills of Virginia down the road from Swami Satchitananda’s ashram in Yogaville. She had just completed a beautiful outdoor music stage and invited me up to do a Healing Sound Journey outside in the woods with the birds and the bees and some trees- and a few people too! She was unquestionably the hostess with the mostess and it was a wonderful time!

For those of you who are on Facebook, here is a link to a short video that Haris took. Unfortunately there is no other access to it. To watch video click here.

And that’s all for now- almost! I got back home and was able to do a bit of gardening- put in a sweet little herb garden… planted 3 kinds of thyme, rosemary, lavender, parsley, echinacea, mint, catnip, lemon balm, lamb’s ears, kalanchoe and a gorgeous orange canna.

I also managed to find time for a bit of artistic expression (besides cooking, music, sound healing and gardening) and I did this collage on canvas which I think is my favorite to date. So, I’ve caught you up to June with many gaps but I’ll leave you with this image. More to come.

Amusing Musical Musings

Really I don’t have any! I just liked the way all those words fit together. Let’s see what happens with a little stream of rambling though. I can’t call it stream of consciouslness because I’m not sure how much consciousness will actually be expressed here!

Some of the things I have been recently ruminating on… First, the sound journey I did two weeks ago at St. Mary’s Church in Portsmouth, RI. I played longer than usually- not incredibly longer but maybe 8-10 minutes longer… and I felt like I could have just hung out and gone on and on. I had to reel myself in at a certain point (that point being when I looked at the time).

It was such a gorgeous space- I had been wanting to do a sound journey in there ever since I first went there for a yoga class about a year ago. I record all my sound journeys so a few days ago I was listening back to this one. I often don’t remember what I did after a sound journey- I am in such a focused and meditative state. I just remember the feeling and the overall vibe of it. Sometimes there are certain instruments that stand out or maybe a particular chant. This one happened to be particularly trippy- there were a lot of combinations of tones that were creating very interesting and powerful binaural beats and as I perceived them I began to play off them and amplify them.

A few nights ago I went to a ukulele class. Now THAT was fun!!! I expected a small group of 12-20 people but it turned out that there were over 50 people in the beginner’s class- probably closer to 60- and the songbook we have been given is so much fun. Goofy songs like “Put The Lime in the Coconut” to songs by Herman’s Hermits, The Beach Boys and the Beatles- lots of Beatles tunes. My new favorite song to practice is “Don’t Pass Me By”- not something I ever imagined playing on the ukulele!

And then I went to an amazing workshop this past weekend at John Beaulieu’s property in Stone Ridge, NY- auriculotherapy with tuning forks- ie using tuning forks on acupuncture points in the ear, a brilliant therapy that I have wanted to learn for 20 years. It was a small group and thus a very intimate workshop and just what I needed for balance, inspiration and some great new information. John also gave me a really powerful treatment as part of his demo on Sunday morning which was also sorely needed. I have been trying to get my energy back and release some of the physical and emotional toll that my trips to Utah took on me earlier this year when my son Benjamin was having health challenges. A short treatment with John- who is such an extraordinary sound healing practitioner, bringing together his skills as a psychologist, osteopath, craniosacral therapist, musician extraordinaire and so much more- was just the right medicine.

And to top it off, we were in John’s sound studio which is for me, and I am sure all of the other sound healing practitioners, artists and musicians who are drawn to being there, like Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory was for Charlie!

Fall Sound Travels to Florida

Hey my friends! In less than two months I will be headed to Florida for my semi-annual Sound Journey and teaching trip. I will be teaching workshops in Tallahassee, Seminole and Sarasota and doing Sound Journeys in all of these cities as well. My schedule, thus far, is as follows: October 27- 30: Abundance Wellness Center, 325 John Knox Road, Building T, Suite 1, Tallahassee, Florida 32303 October 27: Healing Sound Journey 7- 8:30 pm October 28: Healing Sound Journey 7- 8:30 pm October 29-30: Workshop- Healing Protocols With Pythagorean Tuning Forks- 12 CEUs for FL LMTs- 9:30- 4:30 both days ~And I will be there at least another two days giving private sessions. Please contact me if you would like to set up an appointment~

November 4- 6: Yoga 4 All, 8836 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772 November 4- 6: Workshop- Healing With Tibetan Singing Bowls Hours: Friday, November 4, 7- 9 pm Saturday, November 5, 11- 6 pm Sunday, November 6, 1-5 pm November 4: Healing Sound Journey featuring Tibetan Singing Bowls, 7- 8:30 pm. (included as part of workshop for all Tibetan Bowl workshop students)

November 12- 13: Whole Person Healing, 1435 S Osprey Ave., Suite 200 Sarasota, FL 34239 November 12: Healing Sound Journey 4:30- 6 pm November 13: Workshop- Simple Tools For Massage & Healing

For details on all workshops and to preregister, please go to my website: www.rosemary-warburton.squarespace.com/new-events/ Please spread the word to anyone you think will be interested. Thank you so much. I don’t have the links posted yet for the sound journeys but they will be up soon. Can’t wait to see you all again! Blessings, Rosie Warburton

What A Life!

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!

 And the beat goes on! Blessed be. What a life...

Restorative Sound, Tinnitus, and Mother's Day (not neccessarily in that order)

First things first: To all the moms in the universe, past, present and to come,
Thank you for your love, care, courage, nurturing and sustenance. I am grateful to be here in this moment breathing this now-breath.

And to my own precious mother, I adore you. I love you, I thank you, I respect you. I am grateful to feel your strong presence in my life even though you are no longer in your physical body. You remind me that only the love is real. Thank you.

My blog has been calling me for days. You know what they say, "All are called but few choose to listen." Okay, I'm listening! 

I feel like I physically hit a wall a few days ago and have been achy and exhausted for close to a week now. A lot of massages, and sound journeys which entails transporting some fairly heavy instruments. In between those two things I have been trying to get some gardening done and somewhere along the way I got kind of knocked down. I feel like that's unusual for me. My pecs, rhomboids and neck have all been very uncomfortable. My cure? Long baths, a massage two days ago- which helped greatly- and listening to sound journeys.

I am feeling like changing the name to Restorative Sound Journeys rather than Healing Sound Journeys for two reasons. One because I am finding that they are exactly that- incredibly restorative- and two, because there are too many implications inherent in the word "healing".  I define "healing" as being at peace with what is, rather than "curing" but not everyone might agree with me on that. For example, if someone has tinnitus I have found that through sound healing sessions and a certain amount of guidance, that the person's perceived ringing in their ears may not go away, but they may learn to relax into that experience, meditate on the sound and let go of their resistance to it. Through that, they can completely shift their perception of their experience of it so that it is no longer perceived as a "problem". Also, when they shift their focus and allow themselves to follow the sound they often find that over time the sound seems to be quieter or not as constant and when it does occur it is simply a reminder to go inside.

I had a lovely Mother's Day today. My son Nic and my grandson Jonah came over with a dozen pink roses and cooked a delicious lunch of grilled teriyaki salmon for me, I worked in the garden and then came in and had mango-strawberry shortcake and a glass of Prosecco.

Life is good. It really is. I love my life. I am very grateful.

Baby Baby Burning!

Listening to great music on Youtube... Crazy busy lately- trying to chill in between sound journeys, Integrative Care patients, sessions at home, helping a friend out with her Etsy shop, promoting workshops, cleaning out my koi pond, spending time with family, cooking, singing, dancing, practicing music and every other little thing that life entails!

The above is my newest all-time (at this time, til another great one crosses my radar) favorite video. Plug in your good speakers, turn it up and dance like no one is watching!

Very excited about the video that was posted on Facebook of the Sound Journey I did last Friday night at The Cedars Nursing Home in Cranston. There was an awesome turnout- I think more than 60 people. It streamed live on Twitter and Facebook and the video that is on FB has now gotten over 1400 hits in only a few days. Here is the link to the video for those of you who are on FB. I suggest you skip through the first 15 minutes which is just me finishing setting up- boring! (You have to scroll down a little ways on the page to get to the video- apparently there is no direct link.)
https://www.facebook.com/wholisticsound/?fref=ts

Love In the Form of Sound

I don't know what to write but it's time so I'll have to stream...

Streaming video, streaming consciousness, streaming words, streaming sound, streaming voices
Let the river flow
Watch the river
Watch the words as I tap tap tap on the keys and thoughts crystallize 
Ideas
Out of my head on to the page

Crow caws outside as wooden chair and wood stove creak in unison
Sweet smell of copal
An air of magic and possibility
Possibilities abound
Future events soon to be past paving the way for more
For newness
For growth
For healing
Transformation, rebirth 
Spring is here
Yesterday's snow was a little white lie
It couldn't keep the daffodils down

What is coming?
In form? Healing Sound Journeys, workshops, kirtan
Love in the form of sound...

Five Days Later

Once again- a post I started 5 days ago and didn't finish!

(Sunday- 2.28.16) Today is a day of rest. Sort of... Will have to spend some time organizing my stuff to hit the road and head back up to New England in a couple of days. It has been a fabulous trip- and unlike my last road trip down here in August, the car has held up really well. The success of my time on the road however is definitely leading me strongly to think about getting a bigger vehicle.

Last week was Tallahassee- two sound journeys two nights in a row, both with full attendance and a very well attended workshop. I am loving the new community I have connected with there- wonderful new friends that will be friends for life and I am so grateful.

(Continued- 3.3.16) This past week- Thursday night... Sarasota Sound Journey, a small but wonderful group- seeing some old friends and making some new friends and a great new connection with Dr. Deanine Picciano, the owner of the Wellness Center that hosted me. Friday I did a Sound Journey to a full house in Seminole and then a one-day workshop for healers and massage therapists.

Between events I laid low and only saw a couple of very dear friends whom I hadn't seen in a long time and that felt really good, attending to my energy in a way that was regenerative rather than draining for me. Oh, and I stayed in Lynn Carol and George Henderson's house of magic which is the most nurturing and inspiring environment I could ever dream of- in fact it is quite like being in a dream, the juxtaposition of fascinating objects and elements. I always love being there.

On Sunday I went down to Sarasota and saw my dear friend, Course in Miracles sound soul sister, awesome musician Callie Chappell, and another dear friend, Diana Daffner, whom I hadn't seen in at least five years and danced for 3 hours- so much fun and much needed!

Now, 5 days since I started writing this, I am at my friends Mahesh and Mukta's house in North Carolina, taking it slow and easy before I head back up north. Two trips in a row now I have had huge success. The bar has definitely been substantially raised as to what I can expect, intend and ask for in regards to my work. I stuck to my guns for a long time, persistently determined to do work that I love and believe in. It is finally paying off. More and more people are becoming aware of the power of sound and vibrational medicine and the missing pieces in conventional western medicine which treats symptoms rather than the whole person.

As I said in the beginning of this, my car has held up well- the "Check engine" light did go on the day before yesterday on my way here but it seems to be running fine so hopefully it's nothing I need to worry about til I get home! Fingers crossed. ;-)

Silencing the Inner Critic With Sound

Things have suddenly been kicked up a few notches. The article in the Providence Journal did not hurt. Since then I have been asked to lead a stress reduction seminar at an event for Women & Infants corporate donors and possibly to become a part of the programming at The Cedars in Cranston, which from what I understand is a nursing home and rehabilitative care facility.

Meanwhile, I have been dealing with a respiratory infection while I am in the process of getting ready to go to Florida on a three-week road trip to teach some workshops, perform healing sound journeys and do private sessions! I have also been experimenting with some of my own music and exploring the effects.

Up until recently I rarely played back my own sound journeys. Last summer I performed a sound journey at Yoga4All in Seminole, FL. It was the day after the terrorist attacks on Paris when I was in a very open and vulnerable space. I make it a practice never to compare sound journeys but I when it was over I felt that it was quite possibly the most powerful sound journey I had ever done and I became curious about it. I listened to it when I got home a few weeks later and was genuinely surprised by both the quality and the effect of the sound and frequencies- I was as taken with it as I had been the night that I did it and felt that it could be very powerful as a healing tool.  I began using it regularly for healing sessions with some of my cancer patients.

About to begin "Après Paris" Sound Journey at Yoga4All, Seminole, FL 8.7.15

I have been recording all of my sound journeys for the past 2-3 years on my iPhone but not actually listening to them. Since the surprise of the recent recording I decided I needed to go through some of my others sound journeys and start listening to them and seeing if any were worth transferring to CD. Naturally they are nothing like the quality of a CD recorded in a studio but what I have been discovering is that the effects are profound, even with the recordings in their rawest form!

A few days ago when I was sick in bed, I decided to listen to a short sound journey that I had done at my friend Lynn Carol Henderson's house. Usually the sound journeys are a piece unto themselves and between 50-60 minutes long, but this was just over 20 minutes as it was part of a house concert I had done at her house. When I lay down to listen my mind was very active. Quickly my thoughts subsided and my witness consciousness observed my body and mind becoming very still- this is for someone listening with a critical ear. I was listening to myself playing music waiting for the flaws, the imperfections, the voice of my own inner critic. But what I experienced was a silencing of that entire part of my mind. It was extraordinary. I had no idea how powerful these sounds could be. I understood from the perspective of a totally objective listener who was there for a particular experience but I did not at all expect to have that same experience- the experience that people share with me over and over in their own unique ways after every sound journey.

Getting ready for Sound Journey at the Henderson home, St. Pete, FL- August 2015

So this gives me a lot of new information about the real power of these sounds. I have been performing Healing Sound Journeys for years simply because I love these sounds and I love the experience of creating and exploring vibratory frequencies and the nuances and subtleties of pure tones and overtones. I know and trust that they are powerful, that they will have an effect, that they will activate different areas of the brain, create new neural pathways, entrain the brainwaves to alpha and deep theta states- that they are restorative and healing on deep levels, some of which the listener may be aware of either during the journey or later, and some which they may never be conscious of. They may simply know that something has changed on a deep level.

Last night I was unable to get to sleep as I had taken Alka Seltzer PM cold medicine for 3 nights in a row because my head had been so stuffed up. I was desperate for something to clear my head out and it worked and I slept soundly each night. It's amazing how quickly the body becomes entrained to the frequency of medication! Last night my head was clear enough that I didn't need the medicine. I was quite tired and lay down to sleep about 12:30 after reading until I was nodding off. As soon as I turned the light off however, I could feel energy buzzing through my body and I couldn't sleep. I lay there, very still and quiet for 3 hours- awake! Finally at 3:30 I sat up and looked around for my tuning forks with the delta frequency- but they weren't in my room. I lay down again and then thought, Hmm- what about a sound journey? I put the sound journey on that I had recorded at Lynn Carol's.

I felt the stillness settle into my body and twenty minutes later I was asleep.

Learning to Love More

Yurt where we had our "Sound In the Round" Healing Journeys

Still working on those obstacles! I spent three days in Summertown, TN at the The Farm, one of the first and, at one time, the largest commune in the country. It was an interesting few days- basically at this point a gated intentional community for hippies. Thirty-five to forty years ago it was a lifestyle that interested me- today, so not! However I met some very lovely people, did two sound journeys and gave several private sessions and that was all good.

Also I have gotten to be around quite a few tiny people these last few weeks and that has been so wonderful- my new friends Ryan and Arielle's 6 year-old son Aidan, a beautiful little boy named Nick who was 3 who visited my friends Mahesh and Mukta with his mother when I was staying there, and Zarina- Katrina and Forest's 11 month-old daughter in Summertown. So I have had several doses of unadulterated preciousness on the trip so far.

Aidan trying out a singing bowl!

So- back to the obstacles... Ganesha, Ganesha, Ganesha... Om Gam Ganapataye Namah, Om Gam Ganapataye Namah, Om Gam Ganapataye Namah... (Repeat endlessly...) I left Summertown around noon yesterday, for the first time since I've been gone thinking quite excitedly about the prospect of getting back to my sweet log refuge in Rhode Island today. It has been such a wonderful trip that up to this point I have been thoroughly enjoying riding the wave further than I ever anticipated. Well, apparently it's not quite time for me to get home. Within about an hour of being on the road the rear end of my car started shuddering like crazy. I pulled off and thought about what to do and figured I would try to make it a bit further and see if I could find a repair shop to look at it. When I got back on the highway it stopped doing the weird shudder dance for a while and I thońght maybe it was just a bumpy stretch of road... And then it did it again.

I ended up making it to Knoxville where I pulled into a gas station just off the interstate. Fortuitously (as has been the way with this amazing trip) a cop pulled in right next to me. I asked him where he would recommend I get my car checked out. Next exit, Pep Boys- so off I went. I made it there safely. They checked it out and found that the bushings were totally worn out and needed to be replaced. Since it's a 2001 Subaru they didn't have the parts and had to wait until today to get them from the dealership down the road.  So, I am in a room at the Hilton (I decided at least I would treat myself to a nice room!) while my car is being fixed.

Today's lesson... "I do not know what anything is for." Lesson 25, A Course in Miracles Workbook.

My old massage teacher, Dale McNitt, would say "It's always to teach us to love more." That works for me.