Tuesday, October 30, 2012

We officially moved. Come visit our new blog...

Well, if you didn't know by now it IS official... We moved...

The official address of my new blog is: www.voicesofeden.com/blog

Lots of healing music, posts on connecting to your authentic voice... how to listen for and follow your own inner direction.

When was the last time you listened to and followed through on that small whisper of a voice inside?
Isn't it time?! You deserve your good!


Thursday, August 23, 2012

The blog has officially moved...almost.

In my earlier posts about the transition and transformation of the Goddess statuette I made in Sinai, I promised to give you an update...

Well, the big unveiling is here... She didn't explode in the oven, though she did come out... cracked and looking very different from what I expected


My blog has officially moved my new website... yet there are still lots of kinks to work out... which is why I am still blogging here. It's very a propos to the transformation of the Goddess.  I produced a cool video about it. You'll see madame live as well.

Peeling off the old layers, getting to the eternally youthful essence lying below the surface. Come see, hear and read...

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Do you know what your "Why" is?


I have known my "Why" all along.  Do you know yours?  

This inspiring Simon Sinek TED Talk   I saw today brought the point home how lately I have not expressed  my "Why" clearly. When you live from your WHY, you attract those who are like you.  This is good news and bad news... depending on how honest you are with yourself.  It's good news if you are expressing yourself from the inside outBut if you're looking outside to get the answer, you won't find it. 

Stop looking where the answers AREN'T. It doesn't work. It's exhausting. It's a dead end.

I am committed to listening to and living by my inner voice.  WHY? I feel wretched when I don't. I spend my days in constant inner questioning. Some may see this as navel gazing, some as nitpicking. I call it deep self inquiry. I know that I am the source of my reality. This truth is relative and can shift at a moment’s notice.

So how do you live in this turbulent world, living from your truth, expressing it, from the inside out, when it can shift like the sands every second? Two days ago, inspired by the Olympics, and by Nicola Bird's Jigsaw Box – 50K in 50 Days Bootcamp Challenge  I presented my own Special Offer program to help people connect and communicate who they really are from the inside out 

I grew up in a household of wonderful people who felt insecure about expressing their authentic voice and being heard safely. It caused me to feel alone, isolated and punished when I spoke up for myself.  My early experience evolved into a mission to  empower people to express themselves and be heard for who they really are, without having to be perfect or learn the “Secret 3 Steps” to "whatever solution" that makes your life "xyz" (you fill in the blank)...

While listening to my own authentic voice in the midst of change, I have met with ballistic anger, which has built up over many eons of supressing my inner truth. I won’t spend one more minute of my life looking for a way to oh so politely fit into society and bring what I have to bring... not knowing how it fits in, or whether it relates to anyone or anything. 

I am here now, joyfully showing up to support anyone ready to speak out and share themselves authentically. This is what Voices of Eden is all about. 

Why is it called Voices of Eden? It's an experiment to create a Garden of Eden. Not a physical garden, but creating your own promised land. Imagine what life would feel like as one by one, each one of us, in our own time, when ready, stops and listens inside for their honest inner voice... and they communicate it... and each voice is heard.... Imagine... all those honest, authentic (and I don't mean perfect) voices sounding together... this would be TRUE HARMONY

This is what my friend and colleague Christine Stevens has done to make her beautiful voice heard through her 
new book Music Medicine – the science and spirit of healing yourself with sound which I have the honor to be part of. 
(Sounds True, August 1, 2012).   The book is filled with over 170 research citations; more than 40 guided practices, and more than 60 audio tracks in playlists that accompany the chapters.  It is a ground-breaking book that SINGS!  

 What is YOUR "Why"?  If you don't know, WHY? 
Please leave a message... Every voice truly makes a difference.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Beautifully Messy Transitions: Adventure Packed White Knuckle Ride

   I wrote an entry entitled "How to Evolve the Old Into the New", where I wrote about a clay sculpture which I fashioned on a Sinai desert retreat some ten years ago.  It became a symbol of creativity, authenticity and my dream of reviving the ancient tradition of healing and transformational music. My cat smashed it, and I felt moved to revive the statuette by adding Israeli clay to her Egyptian soil foundation.
We tend to throw the old out, opting in for  "let's get a new one" mentality.  I decided  to keep her, to see what evolvement might come from merging the two soils. Perhaps a symbol of creating something totally new from the merging of ancient and modern energies.
Repairing this  goddess is symbolizing the messy part of change - that unknown part of  being in transition -
where the old doesn't work anymore, but you have no idea what the new will be, and there is no guarantee that it will be better than what was.
The fear often warns that things will grow worse.
I was warned that when you mix 2 foreign things (in this case 2 types of clay) together they could explode in the firing oven.  For the last two weeks, I have returned to my pottery class anxious to learn of her fate? Exploded bomb or bomb shell of a gorgeous model? Positive thinking had me hoping for the best.
Good news is: she didn't explode.
Bad news: her shiny lacquer coating was all cracked.
Miriam Statuette,The gold beads cradled in her bosom - fell out. Empty nipple shells in lack of juicy milk. I had coated her with a lovely light fleshy shade. The color came out ashen white, like Miriam just before she was sent off to the leper colony.    just cracked. there are stages of transition, slow is fast, less is more
I am choosing to trust this process. Instead of throwing her away, I am staying open and curious as to what the next phase will offer.
I  liked and preferred - how she looked before. I secretly felt disappointed when I received her back. She was all cracked and not at all the inspired beauty I looked forward to encounter.
My spiritually correct response, would not allow me to show it though. On the other hand, the ashen white cracks give her an ancient look, although unintentional.
The goddess went through change, yet I'm looking for what she was like before.
That's fruitless.
It is much more fruitful to learn to love  for how she is now (in that cracked, ugly stage).
I can't look for her how she was - she's undergone change, transition.
What she was not longer exists.
As I love what there is, it will open the door for loving what comes. Then the white knuckle ride of transition, becomes a wild adventure and  I love the ride.  Excited to see what will evolve, knowing that as I go with the flow of the sudden turns and twists of fate, I will learn to enjoy even more.
How can the Goddess' white knuckle transition support you in yours?
What does it remind you of?

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Higgs Boson Music - Ancient, Modern or Unversal?l?


Our voice reflects the essence of who we are. 
It is the bridge between our inner and outer worlds.

We tend to think of the "voice" as the substance, but there is an unseen part - we could call it the Higgs Boson field of voice;  when attuned to it, it slows us down and provides our expression with more substance, mass... meaning. 

The listener "attunes" to this frequency. Our message is not only transmitted, it is more effectively communicated. Others hear or "get us" more.

I am so intrigued with Higgs Boson and it's connection with expression of voice.... and the musical practices of the pre-biblical world where sound, voice and rhythm were quite consciously used for  scientific, medical and spiritual purposes.  In those days, the world view was feminine in nature - many layers of reality existing all at the same time. The wise ones were attuned to the mystery of the universe. Scientists and mathematicians, Pythagoras being the first one who comes to mind, were also musicians.


How are sound, music and your voice connected to this? 



Atom-smashing physicists have just turned data for a newly discovered particle, likely the Higgs boson, which is thought to give all other particles their mass, into music. What does the possible Higgs boson sound like? 

Have a listen here...









What do you say? 

Does the way you 'attune' yourself effect the mass perception of the way your message is received when voiced?


Leave a message below.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

How do you evolve the old into the new?



In May 2010 I wrote a blog post responding to Anita Diamant's query as to "What is on your desktop altar?"


I describe the items on the altar, all of which center around the central piece:  


"Clay statuette of Miriam that I made some seven years (now ten) ago on a glorious vacation in the Sinai desert. This statuette, fashioned from simple clay mud found in Sinai, which I sealed with simple glue (now peeling), has chaperoned me through countless ancient healing music tours overseas. It's my number one touchstone."


I met Ute, a vivacious fifty-something German woman that summer in the Sinai. We shared dinner, snacks and a sun umbrella to shade us from the scorching sun.


Ute dreamed of coming to the Sea of Galilee in Israel.  But her mind resisted as did her family and friends. Secret fear and shameful memories of the Holocaust kept her away. 


My personal invitation broke through her resistance and got her to come to my Galilee healing music center for ten days. It was a glorious visit. She returned a few years later, and last month, Georg, her husband joined her on a third visit. 






The Miriam statue chaperoned both our travels...


Overseas to the US, Europe and even China! It's as if an ancient talisman was guiding from the old into the new.


A few weeks ago, on the last day of Ute and Georg's visit, the cat playing frivolously caused an object fall onto the statue shattering her legs and part of her body to pieces. I was crushed too.


After allowing the strong wave of emotion to release, I chose to be  patient and look for the deeper lesson.


Pain always bears gifts if we're open to receive them.


I wondered, when things crash and fall apart, do we need to put our energy into repairing them, or should we release them and start with something new?


Everything happens for good reason.


Closing a circle begun 10 years ago. 


The energy embodied in the statue is no longer relevant. It's ready to be released, and soar.  I am ready to move on.


This statue has chaperoned me for so long, so it's so painful to let it go. And, I am not an idol worshiper and I don't want to go back into ancient times. I choose to stay in the present, knowing that the ultimate authority is inside, rather than outside of me. 


Let the old evolve with the new.


The local shopping center started sponsoring a weekly ceramic workshop. It is a gift for me to return to an old hobby I enjoyed years ago.


Clarity struck like a bolt of lightening...


I'll add new Israeli clay to the old Egyptian clay.


How symbolic! This statue will blend a mixture of ancient and modern, just like the blending of the ancient healing and transformational music modality with it's modern applications.


The mixing and firing of Egyptian and Israeli clay symbolizes:


1) The universal core of both
2) Freedom from bondage to old patterns
3) Respect for heritage
4) Evolvement of old and new


I carefully wrapped the shattered pieces into a plastic bag and waited for Tuesday afternoon's ceramics workshop. To my disappointment, when I arrived, they were already closing up shop.  A substitute teacher had arrived earlier that day.


Taking a step, I took out the statuette and asked her how I could blend the old clay with the new?


 "It's impossible. It'll blow up in the oven. No use. Give it up... And learn to let go!", she added, perhaps thinking that she would offer me a lesson in spirituality...  which she did :-)...


I released my expectation of her providing me an answer and chose to find my own.  Molly Gordon, a coach and true artisan wrote a great article about how the hardest trust to earn is your own.


Last week, I brought the statuette back to the workshop, determined to follow my inner voice guiding me to mix the clays together. To my delight, the regular teacher showed me how to do it, though he said there are no guarantees that it will stay intact in the scorching hot heat of the firing ovens.

Life doesn't offer true guarantees. 



And guarantees don't offer true life. 


If the statuette blows up, so be it. If she survives the heat, she'll be even stronger for it. Either way, the old will evolve something new.


For the time being, I am enjoying the process.  What is YOUR experience?


When things have crashed and fallen apart in your life, have you put  your energy into repairing or did you release and start with something new? 


P.S. Just returned from the pottery workshop where I painted the statuette. Left her with the teacher.who will hopefully bake her in the oven this week. Stay tuned for Part 2!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

How Detaining Something Can Help You Attain it More Easily

I'm deep in the throes of re-building and re-launching of my website, making preparations for the launch of Miriam's Secret, and let's just say that it takes alot of patience and faith to bring this whole project to fruition.

At noon we scheduled, once again, to meet with the designer, on skype. I shifted everything around today to be present at that meeting, since the deadlines keep getting pushed back from delay after delay.

Designated hour arrived... no designer. No where to be found. Not available.
First I felt ballistic, then, when I stopped myself and re-rooted myself, went inside, I became mystic.

I listened in earnest to that small deep voice.   It whispered...

"Detainment... can help you attain something much better than what your mind can conceive."

I decided to follow my inner voice, and went on to the next task... It felt so freeing to allow myself the discomfort, without reacting to it, or suppress it.  I actually detained my auto-pilot, control freak, do-it-yourself response, which freed me to move ahead with comfort.

It gave me the time to meet with a Dutch rabbi who is looking to deepen the power of her voice, from the inside out. My voice went "bonko's" in the middle of presenting one of my approaches to her, yet, again, the detainment of a knee jerk reaction, allowed me to demonstrate in real time how to release tension from the voice, when you are feeling alot of inner tension. It relaxed me.

When we finally met later in the day, it was a great productive meeting.

I mozied on over to Anita Diamants wonderful blog "Thinking Out Loud" and was astounded to find this:


When I speak in bookstores or libraries or sisterhood luncheons, I sometimes read a few pages from one of my books. The reviews are generally good. "Do you record your own books?"

I know better. It takes a very good actress to give voice to many characters and maintain consistency for 250+ pages.

But when I was invited to record a passage for The Drum, an online "Literary Magazine for your Ears," I coudn't resist.

Here's the link.
http://www.drumlitmag.com/index.php?page=sounds&catageory=Issue_25._June_2012&display=518

It's okay. I'm not mortified, but even more certain that it's better left to the professionals. 

When you get detained, how do you respond?