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 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