The first thing I thought about this morning was time. Again! Specifically more songs about time. I thought I would post them right away and get my blog out of the way first thing. But before I got to them this beautiful ancient healing mantra came up on my Facebook feed. Years ago my Sanskrit teacher, the late and beloved Swami Shivananda- affectionately known to his students as Swami Bob- told me that it is the oldest healing mantra on the planet. I decided to check it out as I was curious how they chanted it, whether it was melodic or more straightforward traditional chanting.

It turned out it is beautifully sung by Shankar Sahney in responsive form and I was pulled right in. For the next 45 minutes I chanted along with it. It did wonders for me on so many levels including opening up my voice. By the end, all the cells in my body were vibrating and felt somehow perfectly aligned as if I had had a cellular repatterning. When I got up I felt clear, balanced and grounded.

When I finally got to my blog the webpage was totally uncooperative so I’m just getting to it now! Enjoy the music.

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...