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...

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

Happy, Grateful and Loving My Life

Feeling grateful for my life and work. Loving working with oncology patients, caregivers and survivors through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital. Feeling oh-so-blessed. Appreciating the beautiful space I am living in where I am able to give private sessions and offer workshops for small groups. Excited about the workshops I have coming up in May and June and the possibility of being able to have participants stay here. Excited about the possibilities that have opened up through the article that was published by the Providence Journal in January. (If you haven't read the article, see below.*) Love the fabulous connection I have made with the hospital to offer programs to their corporate donors as well as with The Cedars, a really lovely nursing home in Cranston, where the administrators are open to and excited about complementary holistic therapies to assist their residents and caregivers. I had a fantastic meeting with their Assistant Administrator, Spiritual Director and a young woman who works with their dementia patients as well as doing private sessions using  reiki, reflexology and CranioSacral Therapy. I will be giving a sound journey there on April 22- Earth Day- which I am super excited about. The same week I am doing a Sound Journey at the World Citizen's Cafe in Framingham, MA, also celebrating Earth Day.

Lots of very exciting stuff!




And again, for those who may not have seen it, here is the link to the video posted on Providence Journal's website.
http://videos.providencejournal.com/providencejournal/vljjcu?v=default&e=default&opn=below_article_ticker

*The Sound of Healing Women & Infants group among those adopting the 2,500-year-old practice of sound therapy

   Meghan Kavanaugh Special to The Journal

PUBLICATION: Providence Journal (RI)

SECTION: RI Special Sections

DATE: January 24, 2016

Artist and start-up consultant Shin Ae has always been interested in the intersection of science and art. It’s what led her to her first job, working in a cancer research laboratory, and it is ultimately what led her to explore the healing power of sound when she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer more than a year ago.
“Music has always been a really big part of my life, so it made a lot of sense,” says the 42-year-old Hopkinton resident who goes by her first name professionally. Sound healing, in which therapists create certain tones and rhythms to try to match and restore balance to the body’s internal energy, can be traced back more than 2,500 years to the days of Pythagoras. The practice continues today, with Women & Infants hospital, in Providence, expanding its Integrative Care Center offerings last month to include the service, making sound therapy available to cancer patients and survivors, their caregivers and the public at locations in Providence, Middletown, South Kingstown and Fall River, Massachusetts. Shin Ae has thus far chosen the holistic treatment over more traditional ones. “I haven’t yet opted for standard chemo and radiation, even though I was diagnosed at stage 4, because my test results and quality of life are proving that the integrative wellness modalities are helping me return to health, little by little,” Shin Ae says. “Everyone wants to know if sound therapy works or whether I’m being foolish, but it’s up to every person to choose what tools they take with them, and trust them to work.” Shin Ae has been working with Rosie Warburton, a licensed massage therapist and sound therapist with 25 years of experience, who leads Women & Infants’ private sessions and small group classes. Rather than using music to supplement treatments by playing it in the background during Reiki or massage sessions, Warburton makes it the focus of the healing process, using objects like tuning forks, Himalayan singing bowls and didgeridoos. “I feel like the sound is more effective than the touch alone,” Warburton says, explaining that particular tones have been shown to reduce anxiety and slow heart rates and respiration. A tuning fork carrying a certain frequency can even activate the body’s naturally occurring nitric oxide, she said, which stimulates the immune system and brings more oxygen to red blood cells. “There are effects that are universal. … No matter who I use that on, they’re going to experience a spike in the nitric oxide,” Warburton says. “It’s so, so powerful for people.” Warburton stays grounded within the science and reasoning of the treatment, says Shin Ae, who explains that sound therapy helps her locate the physical places within her body where she needs healing. “The chills I experience listening to Bach’s cello suites and Rosie’s acoustical therapies are restorative moments,” Shin Ae says. And while she stops short of recommending any treatment as a solution for all cancer patients, Shin Ae acknowledges music’s ability to transcend language, experiences or diagnoses. “It’s one of the great things about using music for people in pain or people with depression or cancer: It affects you whether or not you want it to, and it affects you in a really good way.” Women & Infants’ group sound-healing sessions are held monthly. For details, contact Jessica Barletta at (401) 274-1122, ext. 47285.

Copyright © 2016 Providence Journal, All Rights Reserved.

Creating Clarity

Demo with tuning fork after a sound journey at Women & Infants Hospital

Besides giving treatments at Integrative Care and doing Sound Journeys at the hospital I have been crazy busy getting ready for trip to FL- compiling instruments, going through paperwork, feeling inspired and full of new tools and ideas to bring to the workshops.

I also want to include here the link for the Providence Journal article which finally ran in last Sunday's paper and again, the link to the video.

http://www.providencejournal.com/special/20160124/in-ri-hospitals-program-tuning-forks-and-didgeridoos-help-you-heal

http://videos.providencejournal.com/providencejournal/vljjcu?v=default&e=default&opn=below_article_ticker

I have also gotten another shipment of amazing singing bowls and a 30" gong which is quite extraordinary. Unfortunately I haven't uploaded the pictures onto my computer yet but I will soon. Have been doing lots of reorganizing, opening space in my healing room as well as the rest of my house. Feel like I'm shifting some energy for greater clarity and openness as I step into this new year.

Sound Therapy at Women & Infants Hospital

A while back I was contacted by the Marketing Director of Women & Infants Hospital saying she would like to do an article on the sound therapy being offered at the hospital. I suggested that the best way for her to understand it would be for her to experience it for herself, so we set up a Sound Journey for a group of patients and staff at the hospital. This is the article that was inspired by that event.

Not long after that, the Providence Journal contacted me through the Integrative Care Program at the hospital. They were also interested in doing an article so I performed another Sound Journey there about two weeks ago, which was not only photographed but videotaped as well! I am told it will run on Sunday, January 17, 2016 in the "Thrive" section of the paper- there should also be some footage online. 

So this is all very exciting! 


Sound Therapy at Women & Infants Hospital 
by Susan McDonald

Women & Infants offers sound therapy for cancer patients and survivors

In a dimly lit room, lying on yoga mats with pillows and blankets for comfort, a handful of women were listening. So were their bodies.

Eyes closed, the sounds flowed over them – the deep tone of the Aboriginal didgeridoo wind instrument; the sonic reverberations of the Tibetan singing bowls; the whistling of air passing over the two reeds in the drone flute; the aquatic sounds of fingers rubbed along the top of the dolphin bowl.

This day in the Integrative Care Center at the Program in Women’s Oncology, the sounds were the therapy, offering a unique feeling of wellness to the women, all of whom have battled, or continue to battle, cancer.

“I thought I was relaxed at one point, then another part of my body would go down,” says Dori Gerhardt of North Kingstown after the session.

That was music to Rosie Warburton’s ears.

“When you feel the sound resonate in your body, it’s definitely having an effect. When the frequency of the bowl is the same as the body part, it vibrates and vibrates and vibrates until the body lets it go,” explains Warburton (pictured here), a licensed massage therapist and sound therapist who has started conducting sessions at the Integrative Care Center.

Holistic sound, she continues, is a non-invasive blend of healing modalities using sound, music and frequency to restore balance and harmony to the physical, mental and emotional bodies.

For the sound therapy group session, Warburton sat for a bit surrounded by the tools of her trade – bowls of metal and crystal, flutes, and a Freenote xylophone that operates on the pentatonic scale so there’s no wrong note. During the session, she walks quietly and slowly among the women, often standing before each to create various sounds ranging from high-pitched to lower and more primal. Periodically, she offers soft words encouraging the journey.

The goal is to release tension and even pain, balance the body’s energy and calm the spirit.

“Sound just does it. You can go so deep in a short amount of time,” she says simply. “Take the didgeridoo. It stills the thoughts and when your thoughts come back, it’s connecting you to your feelings. You feel more grounded. And, as it’s grounding you, it’s taking you out of your body at the same time.”

Different sounds speak to different parts of the body because of their frequency. If she knocks a tuning fork against the palm of her hand, for example, she can place it on joints, muscles and various acupuncture points to render relief from aches. It worked for Roxanne Lucas of Providence, who has neuropathy in both of her feet. Placing the vibrating tuning fork on the joints in each foot brought her instant relief. Minutes later, Gerhardt was experiencing the same relief when the tuning fork was placed on her wrist, which requires a brace for the effects of her Lyme Disease.

“I can feel it tingling down in all of my fingers. That’s great!” she exclaims.

Warburton smiles as she works on helping people understand the healing powers of sound.

“All matter has a resonant frequency it will vibrate at, including the bones, organs and other parts of the body. When you can find that frequency, you can release trauma from the body,” Warburton explains. “One tuning fork has the same resonant frequency as nitric oxide, and therefore stimulates the relaxation response, increasing oxygen flow, activating the parasympathetic system, and decreasing pain, stress and anxiety.”

In addition to the group sessions, Warburton also offers private sessions at the Integrative Care Center, using a combination of tuning forks, massage and craniosacral therapy. The results are “incredibly relaxing” and can help to increase range of motion while decreasing inflammation in the client. She also visits with women hospitalized with cancer at Women & Infants to help ease their discomfort.

Anyone interested in group or individual sound therapy sessions through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants, integrative therapies are offered in Providence, Middletown, and South County, RI, and Fall River, MA. For appointments in Providence, call (401) 274-1122, ext. 7143; in South County or Middletown, call (401) 846-0042; or in Fall River, call (508) 235-3500.

Sound Around

Very busy last few days. After doing sound journey for a group of bankers the day before yesterday I had someone call and ask if I could give her son a treatment who has been going through a personal crisis. The session went so well and I hope he will continue for a while. The beauty of sound is that it can cut through the story...

Next Wednesday I am going to be offering demo sessions for the Rhode Island Cancer Summit in Warwick. I will be using tuning forks and singing bowls. The opportunity came through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital where I give treatments to oncology patients 1-2 days a week. The money is not great but the blessings are many and the fact that a hospital is paying anything for alternative treatments is pretty remarkable. I absolutely love the work and the amazing people I get to meet through the program- women who are grateful to be alive and
so proactive about their health, caregivers who need some nurturing for themselves- people who are empowered because they have made the choice to care for themselves in a challenging situation. It is pretty phenomenal.

Today I got a beautiful shipment of Himalayan singing bowls in and I know I will be getting more in about 3 weeks. I am very excited about that!

Ceramics, Gratitude, Sound and Blogging (Not Neccessarily in That Order)

The next week is going to be crazy busy for me with a house full of guests. My good friend Brian Ransom, maker of ceramic instruments extraordinaire, is coming up from FL with 3 of his best students for the NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) Conference- , which is being held in Providence this year. They are all going to be staying at my house and we will be spending a lot of time in Providence listening to talks, going to different shows, etc. and I know I will be very preoccupied with that and making sure that everyone is comfortable, etc.

This weekend I have another dear friend visiting for the weekend to celebrate my 60th birthday with me- which we have been trying to do for the last two months but the stuff of life kept getting in the way.

That being said I know that I am going to have very little time to write so I am thinking about how I want to proceed in the coming week so that I don't lose my momentum. What is coming to me in this moment is simply acknowledging some of the things I am grateful for in my experience of sound and music in my life.

Deity of Sound- Brian Ransom

Deity of Sound- Brian Ransom

"All things hollow, or those that are in the form of a vessel, we humans among them, have the capacity to resonate." ~Brian Ransom~

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to work with oncology patients through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital. I feel so incredibly fortunate and blessed to have been given the opportunity to work with these women of all ages and their caregivers, some currently in treatment, some survivors, all grateful and proactive about their health and welfare with amazing attitudes and commitment.

Revving Up

It's Friday, and I'm feeling good. It's been a full week and I have a sense of forward motion, for which I am grateful. My friend Morgan and I are ready to start teaching our class together on Mindful Yoga & Sacred Chant next Tuesday. We have talked about it for so long but there seemed to be one obstacle after another- Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha! The engine just wouldn't turn over. Suddenly it has kicked in and energy is moving!

I met with a therapist today as there are some things I really want to work and move through and that felt really good. He was clear and perceptive and I feel like I'll be able to do some good work which I am excited about. Time to peel away another layer...

I have a couple of different people to talk to next week as far as getting some more work out there- one who wants me to lead a chanting meditation at her office for a group of people and another who markets small businesses and might help give my business a jump start in this area. She is very interested in sound healing so partial trade may be an option too which is kind of nice.

I gave a lovely woman a session today at my house, which has really been my plan since I moved in- getting my business going here in my house. I moved in last October but there has been so much upheaval between getting the house and healing space set up followed by holidays, birthday, travel and being sick for three weeks that it has been a very slow start. She was one of the people who came to the chanting group last Saturday. I didn't charge for the group last week because their usually their donations go to the soup kitchen at the church, and I was very comfortable with that; and through that event I have at least one new client so it was well worth it. I loved that she felt her health issues were as she put it, "A problem with resonance." It's nice to work with someone whose operating premise is that restoring health is a matter of restoring harmony. Usually that's my line and it's definitely what I am good at!

Newport Community Chanting, Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI World Sound Healing Day- February 14, 2015

There was a time when I was fearful of offering my work for free and there are several sides to that. One is that I knew it was important for me to begin to make a living at what I do and know that I was accomplished enough at it to feel comfortable charging a reasonable wage- and then the other side of it, which is learning to let go and trust- and being able to discern which is the way to go in any given moment and set of circumstances.  I have definitely learned that the more I give fearlessly, the more comes back to me in ways I cannot anticipate or predict. The universe is so much better at that stuff than I am!  This was definitely one of those instances where I offered something for free (more accurately, gave what I would have made to the church) and now it is coming back to me with new clients as a result.

I'm also working with several oncology patients through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital and starting to get more and more new patients each week. It's definitely another case of giving without concern for the return. The patients- oncology, caregivers, and senior citizens- get massage, sound healing, acupuncture, lymphatic drainage, and various other alternative therapies at a highly discounted rate. The therapists get a portion of that and in terms of monetary remuneration it isn't much, but it is such great work. When I am there I do massage, craniosacral therapy and sound healing with tuning forks. The clients are so much in need of the work and so appreciative that it is always such a pleasure working with them. All of these people, most of them women, are very proactive about their health and doing everything they can to stay balanced, which is a beautiful thing. In the beginning I thought, "I must be crazy to travel as far as I do for this work to barely make enough money to cover my gas!" but I love working with these people so much. And it is so thoroughly appreciated and that in itself is a huge reward. I only go out there one or two days a week so there are plenty of hours left in the week to make up the difference.

Oh, and tomorrow night I get to take my youngest son Nic, who just turned 34, out to dinner for his birthday to a fabulous restaurant in Bristol, RI. He is a foodie and has been aware of the restaurant, Persimmon, for quite some time but never been there. I, on the other hand, have- and I know he will love it! We have been trying to go for two weeks now but again... obstacles! Yep, the energy is finally starting to move!

My son Nicolas Hardisty and I