Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Competition and Voices

Who's most popular? Who makes the most money? Who's the best parent ? Who is the biggest star?

Who has the most clients? Who is more spiritual?
Who's most honest? Who's right?

Too many questions can make you nauseous!

Gulp, it's scary to write this, not sure whether it's an act of courage or stupidity. In the interest of being real, I'll go ahead and take my chances.

Competition. The Western world is founded upon it. Our value system is based upon it and the entire way we learn to express ourselves, from the time we are young children is based upon it. More is better. Really?

To learn how to go beyond competition and the stress it places upon your heart, soul, and vocal chords, read the article "Voices and Competition".

Do you consider yourself a peace maker, healer, teacher, coach, therapist, artist, educator, or musician, genuinely wanting to free hearts and minds for the highest good. But how can you when your voice inside can't get out? Learn to free your authentic voice for use as a transformational tool, healing old wounds to freely and fully express your beautiful natural voice that is your Divine tool for making a difference in this world.

Learn more here.

Perhaps you were a free spirited child who loved to sing and dance wildly down the streets, but you grew up in a "proper" family where etiquette and manners were the most important order of the day. Instead of whistling dixie, you were told "children are to be seen and not heard". Your beautifully frivolous songs were met with " You're making too much noise!"

So you learn to adapt your communication to "get along" and succeed in your surroundings.

What happens when your heart lives on a different page in a different reality?

Read on.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Transform Your Stress, Transform The World!

Does It Frustrate You To Know - Inside, You Have 90% More to Sing, Yet Only 10% Seems to Come Out?

Have you invested lots of money, time, and energy on self improvement, sound healing courses, perhaps even vocal training, or meditation seminars only to stand in front of a group only to discover that what you so consciously intended to sing or say and what comes out of your mouth are like night and day?

Inside you know you're a catalyst for change and transformation. Yet your inner stress and fear of sounding silly, ridiculous or way "too out there" keep you from expressing the powerful voice that is uniquely you.

Transform Your Stress, Transform The World!

Learn How...

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Mary Magdalene and the Well

I had the good fortune this last week to guide Jan Cercone, Music Practitioner, who offers inspirational programs for using music in patient/staff settings, on a sacred peace tour to Mary Magdalene's well and other power points in Jerusalem and in the North of Israel, little known to tourists, nor locals alike.



Together, we sang and vocalized at Rujm el Hiri - a neolithic crop circle and sacred energy vortex, similar to Stonehenge in the Golan Heights. Jan came to Israel, having no idea what awaited her here. She just trusted the inner voice calling her to come.




How many times has a small still voice whispered some direction in your heart, only you did not have the faith in yourself to listen to it? We spoke about this alot. We contemplated this alot and sang about it alot. At Mary Magdalene's well, we meditated upon it, such that it would support all of us in opening our hearts to allow them to sing more. You can hear the singing of the babbling brook here at Magdalenes' well, with me humming in the background, and Jan contemplating good by the water's edge:

Healing Music Peace Project with the Physically Handicapped

It's important to you to make a difference in the world. You are a person of peace. But sometimes you feel like a lonely Pollyanna? The news, the violence, the sinking dollar, the stress, make you wonder if you're hoping for some childish dream?

When you don't have others to share good with or to reflect it back to you, it's easy to feel hopeless. Yeh, I know this story all too well.

Here's a story and a video to uplift your spirits and your energy. To know that all IS good.

Healing Music Project for Physically Handicapped & Disabled Terror Victims

Last year we began a new research with Knafayim, an organization for young disabled people born with physical handicaps, injured through acts of terror, and victims of the second Lebanon War. The program last year provided an immediate means of stress relief for the handicapped youth following the war. Their participation in the scientific research project conducted during the project provided them with a sense of importance.




There have historically been very few programs available for young people with special needs after high school and NO options that encourage or facilitate their leaving home and becoming independent adults capable of running their own lives. The few programs that do exist, and which Knafayim often works with cooperatively, typically address only one aspect of the person’s needs and do not focus on self-determination and real adult freedom as a central goal. Self care, social skills development are critical needs for this group. Following the war, this is even more critical.

While the program last year was successful, it also taught us the importance of meeting within small groups to overcome the embarrassment, self consciousness, and other negative effects caused by group pressure.





This video includes people such as yourself - who have come together to increase healing good. Israel Dvir, Liane Shalev, and Shira Yaarh, three graduates of the Voices of Eden ancient healing and transformational music program and I meet with the fantastically creative and inspiring youth at the Knafayim "Wings" Program.

Tamir, a blind Ethiopian boy leads the ensemble playing darbuka. Atef, a Bedouin Arab boy has just finished playing a beautiful tune on a flute that he made himself from an old unused pipe, Dana, Nofar, and Anna play a mean rhythm section with shakers modelled after the ancient ones found in the Galillee, close to the facilities at Bustan HaGalil. James, whose brilliant mind only makes his voice sound that much brighter, when he sings, holds the energy for the entire group while we sing and play.

This year's program consists of three phases to reach the following milestones:

1. Self Care Development. Through a weekly small group meeting, students address issues related to acute post trauma.


2. Social Skills Development. Within the small group meetings, the Voices of Eden five healing music elements will be taught to the students for practice within small groups:

a. Listening Skills
b. Receptivity to others
c. Response to the other

When the students express themselves, it builds self confidence.

Here you have it folks, the birthing of a true healing music ensemble born from the ashes of war, and flying like a phoenix up towards the heavens in a chorus from the voices of Eden.

The project is sponsored by the World Trust Foundation, whose mission is to support youth by various programs, training them to be youth ambassadors of peace. Special thanks to the Herson Stirman family foundation who has supported this project from the start. Also to Susan Jeffers, best seller author of "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway", whose support in the project and my work has made a world of difference. If you would like to make a donation to this project, please go to this site, and ear mark your donation, which is tax deductible in the US for the Voices of Eden music project.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Israel 60s independence day - a Peaceful Note



There are actually Israelis and Palestinians making peace. For six years, a grass roots movement has been quietly taking place, with individuals ready to create a healthy future, by BEING an LIVING EXAMPLE of peace.

In the words of Mohatma Gandhi... "Be the Change You Wish to See". The hundred plus, Jews, Christians, Moslems spent two days to listening to and acknowledging the "other" - pain, sorrow and celebration for the good that is, with resolve to create a better tomorrow, by living a more loving today.

While for Israel Jews, Independence Day is a celebration of freedom, for Palestinians it is a day of mourning.

This video was taken today, at the end of a two day meeting to acknowledge the pain, the wounds sustained from a multi-faceted complicated situation for both sides, with a willingness to listen and learn from the "other".

See and hear for yourself...

Monday, May 05, 2008

Israel's 60th Birthday - Celebration and Healing Old Wounds


For the last six years I have spent Israeli Independence Day in a very unique way. We, a group of 150-200 conscious Israelis and Palestinians have met to respect and commemorate the pain and loss on both sides and to create a shared independence.

Each year we meet in a different place. This year, our group will convene in Givat Haviva a peace college in the center of the country. The invitation calls for all those ready to move forward, to participate.

Two years ago, the meeting was held at Kibbutz Nes Amim in the upper Galilee, where German volunteers come to make their own peace between Jewish and Christian communities. That particular year was particularly powerful for me, as the German side of the Holocaust plays a very real part in both the creation of this state and also the victim-persecutor dynamic which gets played out between Israelis and Palestinians. It is the human drama, acted out sometimes in high drama in these parts. We focused upon the circle of victimy and how to go beyond it. We each chose a situation where we feel victim in life, learning about the different stages and where, we as victims, by our thinking, unwittingly become aggressors to ourselves and others.

Can you see a place in your life where you may unwittingly be aggressing yourself or others unneccessarily by victim thinking? If you don't think that you can overcome this, please listen here.

As you
enjoy listening to the beauty of this music, I invite you to contemplate how you might become more independent yourself by becoming easier upon yourself and your victim thinking.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Ancient Ringtones

Ancient Ringtones. Sounds like a non-sequeter, eh?!!

Yet, here I sit in the Holyland, amidst the ancient healing sites, and am inspired daily by the sights and sounds of this beautiful land.

A few years ago I played around with recording vocal healing sounds as a ringtone. This was my way of bringing the ancient to the present. When my telephone rings, instead of the usual electronic sounds, a single voice sings it's song. People sometimes smile and ask who is singing. I respond "it's me and my telephone".

Today, I played around with my bare hands, on my bare thighs and my bare voice.

Here's my newest ringtone - lively yet relaxed. If you would like a copy, just post here with your email, and I will happily forward it to you.