I am sitting at my good friends Mahesh and Mukta's house in Murphy, North Carolina. I arrived yesterday afternoon after a fabulous drive from New England over to I-81 through Virgina and then south and due west to Murphy. There was some alarm over an impending ice storm that was supposed to hit 81 at exactly the same time I was traveling on it but either it didn't happen I came in through the window. In any event, my drive was relatively painless with some extended periods of gratitude and bliss and lots of great music. Some of the highlights were Silvia Nakkach, Jai Uttal, and Tito la Rosa. There was lots more too but right now I am smelling delicious food cooking- kale and butternut squash and I am distracted. Mahesh can turn any ordinary vegetable into amazing Indian food! Yesterday when I arrived there was a pile of savory pancakes made from chickpea flour with grilled onions in them waiting for me- so delicious.
Not only that, but I walked into the house and one of my favorite songs by Tom Rush was playing. Not just that it's one of my favorites by Tom Rush- but I would say that if I had a top ten list of my favorite songs of all time, this would be on it. Feeling like I'm starting this trip in a good groove!
2.24.16
A very good groove- it's a been a week since I wrote that, maybe longer- I have been so busy I never got back to this!
I am writing something that has not emerged yet- maybe a bit of stream of consciousness because I have stopped keeping up with this on a daily basis and am determined to pick my momentum back up. So much going on.
I had a skype session with my teacher Silvia Nakkach a few days ago and have committed myself to practicing sargam a minimum of 21 minutes a day. It was kind of an amazing session. I have had an issue with my breath ever since I was sick with a terrible respiratory infection in 2009. I have felt that I could not get the strength in my voice back, so I finally decided to get a one on one session with Silvia. It was so great and helpful. There were two issues- one with my breath and two with the actual pitch. Every note that she sang, when I sang it back to her I was down a half step. She showed me the simplest way of changing the shape of my mouth and lips that lifted the tone right away to the proper pitch- a revelation!
On a different note (pun intended), tonight my sister Jenny and I went to see the new movie, Mr. Holmes, about an aging Sherlock Holmes with Ian McKellan. In it was someone playing the glass harmonica, an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. How they managed to weave that into the movie is beyond me but it was very exciting to see and to hear! I have seen videos of it before but it was wonderful to see an instrument so unusual and relatively obscure in a movie. I love when unusual these sounds and frequencies that I am constantly searching for and researching are brought to the forefront in mainstream media.
Last night's dream concert led to a night of deep sleep and rich dreams. Our experienced has been enhanced by drinking raw cacao with various other herbs added to it- the most intoxicating to me is the touch of rose which is completely intoxicating.
John Beaulieu~ "The dreamtime concert is an environment for incubating dreams". Looking forward to sleeping tonight.
Silvia Nakkach~ "Music has oceanic possibilities". She says she is the Minister of Transportation. Indeed. Her music transports us to wondrous places!
I love my dreams. In fact, I love my dream life as much as I love my "waking" life (which I believe is just a another level of dreaming where we actually think we are awake). So I relate to all 24 hours really as a dream.
Starting this evening and for the next 3 days I am taking an amazing workshop with John Bealieu and Silvia Nakkach on Sound and Dreams. If tonight's introduction is any indication, it promises to be off the charts. According to John, science is now saying that certain levels of sleep, dreaming and wakefulness are all going on simultaneously. For example, we can be awake and daydreaming or asleep and lucid dreaming which is actually an experience of being conscious in the dream state. This is an interesting article that seems to relate to these ideas. Conscious Experience in Sleep and Wakefulness
Two of things John said we would be gaining of an understanding of are 1) Becoming more aware of when our consciousness is shifting from one state to another, presumably so that we can make more conscious choices about our state of awareness and 2) Learning about dream analysis.
Tonight we had our "orientation". After the initial talk about logistics for the weekend, there were a lot of massage tables and yoga mats set up. We all lay on them and received incredible sound and bodywork. The musicians and sound healers are all very high level practitioners and it was really an extraordinary shamanic experience. I came out of it pretty disoriented! I am looking forward to going to sleep tonight and seeing what happens in my dreamtime.
There is a new film coming out called The Healing Power of Sound. I am wildly excited about this. Apparently was shown at Cannes this past weekend. It is so wonderful that there are more and more films coming out sharing the power of this beautiful, noninvasive, highly effective healing modality. This is good news!
Himalayan singing bowls balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain and create deep alpha and theta waves which induce states of deep relaxation, spontaneous meditation and healing.
Also my teacher Silvia Nakkach has a new CD coming out. She has started a Kickstarter campaign to cover production costs. Given that she is one of the most brilliant, beautiful, beautiful, wise and talented women and teachers that I know, with a voice like silk and honey, of course I am supporting her campaign to spread her sweet sounds. I hope you will click here and go to the link and check out the video. Really- it is just so sweet and you will get a lovely sample of her voice!
I was looking through one of my old journals with notes from many sound healing workshops I have taken. There are notes in here from workshops with Shri Shyamji Bhatnagar, Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Namadeva), Jai Uttal, Fabien Maman, and John Beaulieu plus some writing about some shamanic journeys with two Peruvian shaman. This journal, along with the one that follows it, probably contains the most important writing of my life. Interestingly it begins and ends with workshops I took with Shyamji.
I opened it to look up some notes from a workshop with Silvia Nakkach which I realize now is actually in the other one. I got sidetracked because I opened to a page that had the words to this lovely bhajan that Shyamji sang in a workshop one time and I wanted to find a melody to it. His tune was completely different than this one- so gentle, sweet and beautiful it had us all in tears. Unfortunately I don't think there is a recording of him singing it.
Sita Ram Sita Ram
Sita Ram Kahiye
Jahi Vidhi Rakhe Ram
Tahi Vidhi Rahiye
This one is sweet too though, in a different kind of a way, and I decided to post it as my musical inspiration for the day although I have already sat down and found my own melody to it. One of the things I enjoy about this video is the way this man sings with his hands. You get the feeling he is telling a story- which he probably is! One of the things Silvia always tells us is to free our hands and arms when we sing and it will help us to free our voice.
This is a photo from a page in my journal during one of Shyamji's workshops. It says, "Sita Ram Sita Ram Sita Ram." (To any Sanskrit scholars who may see this- I didn't realize that "Ram" had a long "A" when I wrote it. I think that's the only mistake?))
The goddess Sarasvati is the Hindu deity of learning, creativity and knowledge- the goddess who revealed language and writing to man. She is the consort of Lord Brahma, the creator in the Hindu trinity. In the Vedas, Sarasvati is personified as a river goddess. At one time the Sarasvati River was the greatest river in India, originating in the Himalayas. The goddess Sarasvati is "She Who Flows." All of the creative endeavors that flow through us are through the grace of Sarasvati. When we begin any creative project it is helpful to invoke the Mother Goddess of art, music, language, learning, literature, science. Her flowing energy purifies our mind and provides the stream of inspiration just as the water cleanses and purifies the earth and our bodies. She is also called "She who dwells in sound."
Today I spent the afternoon practicing the harmonium, singing sargam, and practicing a Sarasvati chant in the "bilawal thaat"- which, in Indian music, is the equivalent to the Western major scale.
Here is a beautiful Sarasvati raga by my teacher Silvia Nakkach. Enjoy!
Today's successes...
Completed on new flyer for Wholistic Sound
Spent hours fixing my harmonium so that I could play it at class tonight
*Thank you Daniel Tucker for the How To Fix Your Harmonium 101 at Kirtan Camp 2011!
Taught the first class on Mindful Yoga and Sacred Chant at Sandywoods with my friend Morgan Ford Brunketurner
*Starting with an hour of yoga and then going on to chanting is definitely a recipe for success! And the acoustics in the room are wonderful!
Set up two kirtans in Newport (March 5 and March 15)
Spread paperwork all over the floor as the first step to pulling out stuff for tax person and organizing!
*Definitely a job for brain tuners- results will be posted!
Through random synchronicity suddenly came across my book on The Tibetan Yoga of Dreams and Sleep
*Very exciting since I am delving into that arena right now- taking a workshop on Sound and Dreams in June with John Beaulieu and Silvia Nakkach and going to sleep each night listening to Jeff Bridges' Sleeping Tapes, which is an amazing experience. If you haven't downloaded it yet I am urging you to GET ON IT!
Speaking of synchronicity here's a little throwback to 1983 for you! Love the backup singers- those girls are great!
"Synchronicity I"
With one breath, with one flow
You will know
Synchronicity
A sleep trance, a dream dance,
A shared romance,
Synchronicity
A connecting principle,
Linked to the invisible
Almost imperceptible
Something inexpressible.
Science insusceptible
Logic so inflexible
Causally connectible
Yet nothing is invincible.
If we share this nightmare
Then we can dream
Spiritus mundi.
If you act, as you think,
The missing link,
Synchronicity.
We know you, they know me
Extrasensory
Synchronicity.
A star fall, a phone call,
It joins all,
Synchronicity.
It's so deep, it's so wide
Your inside
Synchronicity.
Effect without a cause
Sub-atomic laws, scientific pause
Synchronicity
And on that note- if you like Sting, read his autobiography. He is a good writer and it's very engaging- pretty much about his life pre-Police and leading up to that point. Really good, at least I thought so. Very thoughtful.
Okay, so apparently if you watched the Superbowl you would have seen this- but I am not a sports fan (nor am I politically correct) so I didn't see it until last night. I happen to enjoy food much more than sports so I was watching "Chopped" last night when, during a commercial break, Jeff Bridges comes across the screen playing a Himalayan singing bowl and "Omming" some very lucky couple to sleep! And the words came across the screen www.dreamingwithjeff.com. What??? I RUN to my computer and jump on the website!
Seriously... Jeff Bridges has made a pretty amazing album called "The Sleeping Tapes"- just what they are. This is my huge excitement right now. A mainstream superhip DUDE lulling people to sleep with his bowl and his deep OMMM.... Go Jeff! If I had watched the Superbowl I guarantee you that seeing that commercial would have been the most exciting 51 seconds of the whole thing! (In my world Himalayan singing bowls are the Superbowls!)
Here is a video of him talking about making the album and the very cool web building site Squarespace. (I've used it before- it's great.) It is a seriously cool video- you should definitely take the two minutes to watch it.
I downloaded the album last night and didn't hear the whole thing. You know what that means!
I love Jeff Bridges, I love sound healing, I love sounds, and I really love sleeping and dreaming- it's probably my most favorite thing of all! In fact I just signed up for a workshop on sound and dreaming with John Beaulieu and Silvia Nakkach, so this could not have been more synchronistic in my book.
What I am super excited about though is that this little 51 second video reached millions of people! Sound is so powerful and important and non-invasive and can be such an enjoyable healing modality. Right now I reach about 80 people a day on my blog. I'm thinking that's a lot! This year 114.4 million people watched the Superbowl. Jeff Bridges, you are definitely The Dude!
Oh by the way- all sales of the album go to No Kid Hungry. Here's to The Dude!
This morning I updated my profile on my blog and spent so much time looking at pictures as I was considering updating that I came across all kinds of wonderful inspirations in the process! I decided I would share some of the things that have inspired me today- people, places, instruments- rather than getting too wordy.
The first is a suikinkutsu, also known as a Japanese water harp- an instrument I discovered while researching outdoor instruments for my healing sound gardens. The next one is a music piece by one of my teachers, music therapist, preserver of indigenous and sacred music Silvia Nakkach who has a voice of gold and a heart to match- Sarasvati incarnate!
Deity of Sound- sculpture by my dear friend
Ceramic artist and musician, Brian Ransom
The side of a music school in Minneapolis
Singing, Ringing Tree- Crown Point, Lancashire, England
John Beaulieu's sound studio in Stone Ridge, NY
Sarasvati, She Who Flows
My beautiful teacher, shaman/maestro Don Tito La Rosa
Jim Pepper's saxophone! Smithsonian Institute
"The Gift" by Patricia Bowers
Playing music for visionary artist Alex Grey
Dear friend, colleague, amazing sound healer, Baba Frejon/Fred Johnson- vocalist extraordinaire and dancer Katurah Robinson who dances from her heart
Athena VibroAcoustic Table
built by Somatron Corporation
My dear teacher, bhakti yogi,
amazing musician and "kirtanmeister "Jai Uttal
Beautiful friend, brilliant artist, hostess of my healing sound journeys Suzanne Benton-
blissed out after a Sound Journey
Another brilliant teacher teacher and revealer of the magic of tuning forks as well as craniosacral therapist/polarity therapist/naturopath/psychologist John Beaulieu
My Sanskrit teacher, the late Swami Sarasvati Sivananda
I miss you, Swami Bob!
This one is sweet too though, in a different kind of a way, and I decided to post it as my musical inspiration for the day although I have already sat down and found my own melody to it. One of the things I enjoy about this video is the way this man sings with his hands. You get the feeling he is telling a story- which he probably is! One of the things Silvia always tells us is to free our hands and arms when we sing and it will help us to free our voice.
