Kicking ass on my computer today! Working on creating a flyer and links to February workshops in Florida, thinking creatively and expansively... And trying not to be just the littlest bit nervous about hitting the road so soon again and wondering what I am going to do for a vehicle. Not so sure, after the last thrilling trip I took to FL in my Subaru, that I want a repeat performance. I have put so much money into my car in the last year that I would love to think that it is now like new, but I am not so sure about that theory.
Just listed two courses on CEBroker- Sound Healing for Massage Therapists and Intro to Healing with Toning, Tuning Forks, and Tibetan Bowls. One is a 12-hour class the weekend of Feb. 20-21 at Abundance Wellness Center in Tallahassee. The other is a six-hour class in Seminole at Yoga4All on February 26. Still have more to do but I feel like this is a good start.
No two bowl layouts are alike... I could say more about this... Or you could just come to one of the workshops! Just click on Upcoming Events and Workshops on the top menu...
I am very happy and grateful to be feeling relatively settled in my house so that every day now I get to spend a fair amount of time either playing music or doing something related to sound healing- instead of just unpacking and organizing! One or two days a week I am off to South County to give massage and sound healing treatments to oncology patients, which is really an incredible gift for both them and for me.
Today I spent several hours practicing my harmonium, combining a couple of different chants to Shiva, the transformer, for the yoga and chant class tonight. The icicles are melting, spring is around the corner and with that transformation is in the air! I am starting to figure out the chords with relative ease now which is really a big step. Also, for some reason that I don't really understand, my guitar playing seems to have improved dramatically recently even though it seems like I don't play that much. I feel like it has something to do with the pretty constant immersion in some form of sound that, even though my actual technique isn't nearly as good as it was when I was younger (since I took about a 15 year break from it), my sensitivity to sound has greatly increased and by virtue of that, so has my creativity. Whatever it is- I'm liking it!
Slowly starting to get new clients in my new space. Today someone came for a session who I met almost two years ago at an Expressive Art Therapy training I had taken. Turns out she saved my contact information and last week contacted me to make an appointment for a session. We hadn't had any contact since we had taken the class together.
So interesting to me when you don't have any idea that what you shared at some past time has had an impact on someone. You might not have even known they were listening or remotely interested. I have had people contact me for a session sometimes years after they came to one event that I did.
So, part of the moral of the story is, don't be afraid to share what you do- and don't assume that no one is listening. You never who you might reach- usually just when you least expect it!
A few years ago when I was in St. Petersburg I taught a class for the Florida State Massage Therapy Association. It was an opportunity for me to network and reach a fairly broad audience and for Licensed Massage Therapists to get a few of their necessary continuing education credits. About three years later I got a call from a woman who had been at that meeting. I had played a crystal bowl and she told me she had never forgotten the sound of that bowl and had wanted one ever since. She was just waiting until she could afford it. She came to the center later that week and bought her first crystal bowl.
And this is the other part of the moral of the story. That is how sound is. Sometimes it just penetrates through all the other clutter and chaos and you know when it strikes you. You know that it just changed you- or brought you back home in a way that nothing else could in such a brief instant.
Fell asleep listening to Jeff again last night. Suddenly awoke with my heart pounding when I heard footsteps outside in the snow- crunch, crunch, crunch... Someone walking around my house.
Oh... no. It was just Jeff taking me for a walk up Temescal Canyon! Back to sleep. Slept like a log.
More good stuff in the works. Scheduled a couple of kirtans in Newport with a holistic counselor/life coach for her clients- a result of leading the chanting group last week.
Gave a kickass massage and sound treatment to a good friend this afternoon who has been dealing with a traumatic physical health issue and serious pain for many months at best. Her relief from the session was very significant, so that was a wonderful thing.
AND someone just reminded me of this fabulous band that was around for a few years- I saw them a couple of times at the Unity Church in St. Pete when I lived in FL and they were awesome. Excellent musicians, very conscious, and they rocked! Both times I saw them I danced nonstop through the entire show.
So here is a little treat for you. I strongly suggest you have your good
speakers hooked up to your computer when you watch it. Here II Here,
formerly Inner Voice...
The first time I ever saw this video of Zoe Keating playing "Escape Artist" I was hooked!
Somehow when I transferred all my data to my new phone a couple of weeks ago not all the music I had on the old one was transferred. So today, when I was going to give a massage, the music that I had hoped to play was not on there. The only thing that I thought might really work was Zoe Keating. I had never used it before and I wasn't sure but I thought I'd give it a try.
It was so good! Rhythmic, entraining... I felt my client's breathing become steadier and deeper, and my own movements became entrained to the music so that it felt like I was doing a rhythmic dance on the body- sometimes working broad flowing strokes in time to the music, sometimes focusing in on a very small area, an indentation at the base of the neck or kneading a small knot on the bottom of the foot. Next client- same music, same steady rhythmic flow. She went into a dreamlike state during the massage. They were both super-happy, much more relaxed, way less pain and I had a great experience as well. Thanks Zoe!
