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!

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...

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 out. But 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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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?

Feeling Isolated? How to Melt the Ice...

Ever feel that icy vibration of isolation?

If everything vibrates at a certain level, and the law of attraction shows us that like attracts like, it got me to thinking about the vibration of isolation.

I pondered an old familiar habit of isolating myself and feeling alone. It immediately conjured up an image of my immediate family mother, father and brother – and our politically correct sense of relating which made it difficult for me to honestly connect with them as authentic human beings.

It seemed on one hand, there was my family living according to a certain set of rules, and then the rest of the world.... which operated according to another set.

The two didn't operate on the same wave length at all. Out in the world, things were portrayed one way, but inside our house it was quite a different reality.

Do you ever experience feeling one way inside, yet what you express outside in the world to others is completely different? It's feels something like a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde existence.

Why does this happen?

It comes from identifying your core and the root of your power, outside of yourself. In other words, identifying with your mind and your thoughts and being a body, separate from the ALL.

How can you break through the glass ceiling of isolation?

1. Acknowledge it. Taking responsibility for creating your reality takes you off of automatic pilot and puts the power back into your hands.
   
   
2. Stop. Listen to yourself. Listen to your mind. What is it telling you? Or if your mind is so noisy that you cannot even hear it, you may feel it kinesthetically as stress. If so, listen to the stress. What is it telling you?
   
   
3. Listen to the answer without needing to DO anything about it.
   
   
4. Accept Yourself. Just the fact that you listen to yourself without wanting to change anything will break you through your sense of self isolation. Ask yourself what would be the one loving, kind, gentle thing for you to do right now, which requires no money, nor anyone else's intervention?
   
   

When you tune into yourself first, you will break through the isolation with others.

If you are truly interested in breaking through your own self isolation, transforming your inner exhaustion into ecstatic energy, click here to receive a Deep Calm and Focus – Instant Energy Rejuvenation Kit.

How you communicate to yourself inside is important.

Your voice truly makes a difference.

How can you melt your self isolation?

Leave a Comment.

Comforting Ways to Soothe Your Self Sabotage

Have you ever gotten real clear about some authentic desire which your heart yearns to express, yet when you take the steps to give it voice, you find yourself going in the opposite direction? Things start to shift and change like the ocean tides and your faith starts to plummet.

Welcome to the voice of self sabotage.

How can you actually defeat self sabotage without sabotaging your best efforts? Susan Falcone of Powering Possible wrote a beautiful and powerful article on the subject in Forbes magazine.  I share the parts which most resonated with me, which I hope you will find inspiring as well. She writes...

"If you have a fixed mindset you work with the assumption that growth and success are the direct result of your work product, performance, talent or intelligence. If it doesn’t work out the way you had hoped, or you fail altogether, then you think you suck, you’re stupid, and a giant loser. If you don’t get what you anticipated, you beat yourself up, blame someone or something else, or find every reason in the world why it wasn’t your “fault” because that smacks of epic failure.

When you’re operating from this failure/success point of view, your real motivation is, “Are people going to love me?”, “Are people going to accept me?”, and “Am I good enough?”

Here’s the shift in mindset that actually fosters sustainable change: People who have a growth mindset are not inspired by the fear of failure or the promise of success. They believe that wisdom and success are gained through each experience. So if they stumble, they assess the blip, modify their behavior and proceed in a different way. Subsequently, each behavioral modification increases their rate of success as they move forward—a sort of live and learn mentality. They don’t expect special attention or rewards. That’s not their motivation. Their motivation is simply a sense of forward movement (not fixed ideals) and the accumulation of wisdom as they work toward their ultimate goal. Because they accept their imperfections and are gentle and kind to themselves when they trip up, they move forward more successfully and are generally happier.

In other words, they modify as they go, avoiding the hamster wheel altogether.

Stop trying to be perfect

If you’ve adopted a fixed mindset, chances are you live in or frequently visit the Land of Perfectionism. It’s a huge trap, like that weird toyland Pinocchio went to before he got turned into a donkey. In his twisted pursuit to become something he wasn’t, he turned out to be something else altogether. A rather undesirable outcome, I might add. He turned into an ass.

The problem with perfectionism is that you’re trying to achieve an undefined and ever-shifting standard, so it’s a perfect setup for failure. In the process of trying to be the “winner” at whatever you’re trying to do, you’re creating an unattainable goal and trying to meet it in an unsustainable way. Perfectionism creates the perfect conditions for self-sabotage. There’s always someone better and more perfect, so striving to be the best at everything all the time is lost cause. Being the best is unnecessary for success, unless you’re trying to feed your ego. Your best is all that is required.

Susan goes on to say...

"When you’re motivated by making yourself feel bad so you’ll try harder, you’re engaging in a cycle of behavior that almost inevitably ends in failure.

Let’s revisit the fad diet scenario. Most of us have experienced self-talk like this: “I ate this bad thing; Now I feel guilty; I’m a loser because I have no willpower; Next time I will suffer through and stick to the diet.” Then you repeat the same cycle. Studies prove that this cycle ends up in you failing even worse the next time around. That’s why people lose five pounds and gain ten.

According to Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., a health psychologist at Stanford University, stress, guilt and shame actually make you more susceptible to immediate gratification, temptation and anxiety. She says, “The harder you are on yourself when you have a willpower failure, the more likely you are to have the same failure again, and the bigger it’s going to be when you do.”

Fascinating, huh? (my note :-)...

When we feel guilty for either letting ourselves or someone else down, most of us are really experiencing false guilt. False guilt is feeling responsible for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy. It stems from a perception that you are somehow breaking unspoken rules, are not meeting some perceived standard or are just not good enough for the task at hand. Limiting beliefs are the operating formulas created by those unspoken rules. Those limiting beliefs will suck the energy right out of you and cause you to fail or have a setback because they are not finite. They’re constantly changing and have no basis in reality.

If you enjoy your jog on the hamster wheel, keep guilting yourself.

Be kind to yourself

So, it’s been proven now that, contrary to popular belief, self-flagellation and guilting yourself do not help you get what you want. They actually cause setbacks, complete failure or regression.

You’re more likely to meet your goals or break your bad habits if you treat yourself with kindness and allow yourself some grace if you trip up. 

This is one of the principals of the growth mindset and certainly does not invite perfectionism to play.

This is where self-compassion is crucial to helping you get to where you really want to be. If you want to meet your goal or change the bad habits that are preventing you from doing so, and sustain your practice of creating change, you need to be kind to yourself. The actual practice of being kind to ourselves and giving ourselves some leeway is called self-compassion.

When we don’t practice self-compassion, we often don’t allow ourselves experiences that make us feel good, or we may downplay our successes when we do have them. We use negative self-talk and self-deprecating humor to punish ourselves for our perceived shortcomings. We tend to deny ourselves feel-good experiences because we feel like we’re not worthy, or we’re not getting the approval from others that we seek, so we must not deserve kindness. We tend to allow unrealistic romantic sentiment or learned ideals to hold us back from celebrating a seemingly insignificant milestone. Or, we put everyone else’s needs or expectations ahead of our own, causing us to sabotage our own plans."

For those of you who work independently, Max Simon produced a humorous yet to the point short video on How to Get Things Done and End Your Self Sabotage.

In order to reattune yourself to your self compassion, here is a soothing music meditation, imperfectly human, to revive your energy and refocus your attention to your own imperfect perfection.

If you'd like to deepen your own self compassion, please subscribe to my youtube channel where you will find more than 130 ancient healing and transformational music videos to connect you with your authentic voice.

Stop and forget, you'll accomplish more...Try this...

After a very productive, yet intense day... I fell asleep exhausted.

I woke up tired.

Mind chatter began to belittle me for not achieving more.

It made me feel anxious (that's an understatement)! 

Noticed my immediate reaction - get busier, drown out and stop that damn voice.

But it only got worse. Made me even more anxious and stressed inside.

The angel mobile hanging in my stairwell has been a touchstone of lightness and calm for the last eighteen years. But it got all tangled up a few weeks ago, keeping it from flowing freely in the breeze. This morning, as I was untangling the knots, I responded to that battling, belligerent belittling mind chatter assuring it that all would be fine, and that like the knots, little by little all the tangled threads would surely be worked out.

The mind chatter didn't like that. It shouted louder.

But then I did something surprising...

I stopped.

I forgot about the nine additional tasks I set to do before leaving the house.

Instead, I stopped and lay my back upon my bed. 

I listened to the badgering voice.

I acknowledged it and gave it an internal hug.

Something shifted.

Deep within, I felt a bit more at ease. 

When your inner critical voices push you to "do this, do more, be more... blah blah... you get the picture (it's not a pretty one :-)... how do you respond? Do you argue back? Compete?  Give up?

Amazingly, I discovered a simple quick recipe for restoring my sense of inner calm when experiencing 'anything but':

1) Stop.

2) Forget what the critical voices are trying to say.

3) Acknowledge them by LISTENING COMPASSIONATELY, but NOT RESISTING them.

It took less than two minutes.  I had more energy to complete my tasks at hand, and most importantly, I felt fulfilled and satisfied during the process.

Stop. Forget. Acknowledge. Listen.

Simple. What a concept! (Even the mobile got untangled :-)....

Where will you apply this today?

Share below. Your voice makes a difference.

How to Increase Your Intuition with Ancient Wisdom

In today's overly chaotic world, when it seems you've got even less free time to do more essential things that you need to do just to survive, it's even more important to S-T-O-P.

 Sometimes, when you stop for a moment, it helps you to reconnect to your intuitive power, which will guide you more effectively to whatever is next on your plate, with alot more calm and inner focus.

 How can you listen to your intuition when you're too busy to even stop for five minutes?

 Sometimes, less is more...


 What does your intuition tell you?

 Please share it below in the comments box.

 Your voice truly makes a difference!

How Do You Get Them to See & Hear You in Noise??

How do I get other people to hear me in all the noise and distraction? 

Ever ask yourself that question? 

You have something genuine that your heart yearns to share. And at the same time, inside another voice warns you not to share your authentic truth for fear of being criticized, attacked or just plain ignored.

Last week I wrote about my inner voice guiding me to go to Tel Aviv - to sing onstage with Bobby McFerrin, even though the "authorities" e.g. his agent and organizer had politely declined in an email written back to inquiry from my marketing director. 

If you want to have more authority, be more authentic.

Eliana Gilad and Bobby McFerrin  in Tel Aviv

For those of you who need physical proof :-)...

It wasn't a matter of "pushing" or "forcing", rather listening authentically and giving more credence to the small voice inside and acting upon "It" vs the outer authority, which may have looked like and sounded like "No".

Yet, there's a higher authority at work in the universe. When we attune ourselves to the Source of our power, there is truly nothing that can stop us.

If you want to create miracles in your life, start by giving more credence to your authentic inner whispers...

On a similar tangent, ever asked yourself...

How Do I Get Attention In a Crowded Field?

Author and Thought Leader Jonathan Fields wrote a beautiful blog post this last week, that resonated with me as I have been pondering the whole issue of authenticity to it's depths.  He writes:

I’ve been asked this question by everyone from bloggers to actors, artists to entrepreneurs and corporate aspirants to movement makers.

How do I make a mark when it seems everything that can be created, said or done has been created, said or done by someone else?

Short answer.

"No field is too crowded to make a mark when you’re remarkable."

He continues...

What is your experience?

How do YOU connect with your authenticity when it seems like everything is all the same or no one's listening, because they are too consumed with their own worries about the same thing? Express your voice below...

Do less, achieve more with this seldom practiced secret

"May You Live in Interesting Times!"  Ancient Chinese Proverb

 Seems like the ancients knew a few things about the future, eh :-)!?!

Amazing, we are most certainly living in interesting times!

Even if you are not a stressed out kind of person, you may still be experiencing inner conflict feeling confused about what to do next, frustrated because your best laid plans keep falling apart. You know you're destined for something big, yet you have no idea what that is. Just a short while ago, life seemed so clear. Now it's all a fog as everything seems to be falling apart. 

Nothing is wrong with you.  Everything IS falling apart.

 It's exhausting. and giving up with abandon may just be the best thing you could do for yourself.

Are you finding yourself needing to reinvent yourself?

Maybe you flip flop back and forth several times within a day, an hour or sometimes even within moments. 

There are powerful forces of change at play. Old ways are breaking down and the new has not yet fully been birthed into place. It's a messy uncomfortable place to be. 

The old ways, the old models of "effective" operation just don't work anymore. The new has not yet come in. First things have to break down. 

How can we deal with this mess?  Improvising is the solution.

Improvising?! In today's world, you've gotta be even more sure of yourself - you may be thinking to yourself. But is it working? Insistence upon the traditional way of doing things, such as making plans and expecting them to be followed through is a particularly dangerous way to operate.  It's counter productive and unprofessional. 

Improvisation is the ultimate tool of authentic power!

I had the good fortune of performing onstage with Bobby McFerrin in Tel Aviv this last week, during his tour in Israel. It all came about through improvising. Our meeting. Our singing. Our mutual musical creation. 

How did it happen?

My marketing manager wrote to Bobby's manager to suggest that they include me, at last minute to Bobby's program. She received a lovely email in return with a respectful decline. 

She wrote again, suggesting that we meet just for a brief period as I wanted to personally thank him for our meeting during his last tour to Israel (see photo).

Again, she received a lovely, respectful "no".

I thought perhaps I'd go to the concert anyway. I went to order a ticket online. Only a few seats were avialable - way on the side, with a way too heavy price tag. I respectfully declined. 

Then on the day of the performance, the small inner voice nudged me to get in the car and drive to Tel Aviv. When that voice speaks, I follow it's instruction. I prepared to pay the extremely high price, even though I felt secretly scared that I was irresponsibly creating an embarrassing financial debt to myself. As I walked out the door, the voice also guided me to take the ancient bells with me.  "You never know what can happen", the voice guided me. The bells fit perfectly into the side pocket of my pocketbook.

I drove the two hour journey from my Jezreel Valley home to Tel Aviv, showed up at the box office and purchased a ticket. They gave me 5th row front center seat ( wasn't available on the website) for half of the price on the website.

Half way through the concert, Bobby placed a microphone in the center of the stage, silently motioning people from the audience to come onstage and improvise with him. As if on cue, I took the bells from my purse, arose from my seat, and approached the stage awaiting my cue for Bobby and I to sing together. 

The conscious melding of two voices into one. Playful. Unplanned. Uncensored. 

No nerves, no mind. No thinking. In service to the sound which asked to be sung. 

Heaven. Showing up to myself, listening to the voice that said "Go!' and acting upon it, and meeting my inner fear and doubt about spending money on what seemed like a frivolous outlay provided me with a tremendous gift. 

The heavenly bliss of being in service to The Music. This is a gift I have to give. What a blessing.

How can you do less and achieve more by improvising in your own life?

1) Show up in the moment.

2) Listen inside for guidance 

3) Be willing to look like an idiot.

Try it. You might like it. Let me know....

What is the cost of true independence?

What is independence and what is it's cost?


Today is Independence Day in Israel. Last night, folks, young and old, joined in circles and danced in the streets.  I've been contemplating the meaning of independence.   A quick search in the dictionary brought up: "Freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others".

If this is true, does this mean that it's opposite is dependency? Is  there a difference between dependence and dependency?

Lester Levensen, a truly wise and free being, one of the huge gifts of my life, had this to say:

"A dependency relationship does not allow you to think for yourself, admits you are dependent on another human being, and prevents you from seeing your infinity. Conformity is dependency, is having to do what others do, wanting their approval. And independent person is always an oddball, not understood by society".

His continual prodding would stir me up, My own experience has found this to be true. Societies are set up for the individuals within them, to get along. Conformity is a necessary. You can express yourself as long as you don't stir the waters too much.

When your own truth differs from the consensus, it stirs up contention. The system is not set up to support the freedom of authentic independent voice of each individual.

When you are truly dedicated to your independence you risk being ousted from the group. I believe that this is the reason why, the biggest fear we humans possess, after the fear of death, is the fear of public speaking.

I also believe that this is the root cause of our Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde existence... yearning to express the voice of our hearts... then in the actual moment, speaking what seems to be the most politically or socially correct thing to "get along" and keep us safe.

Yet is it really safe when the cost of this "safety" is the price of your own inner truth.
Are truly independent people doomed to be always be the oddball, not understood by society?

What do you think?

One Long Single Note Remembers Six Million

Today in the Holy land marks Holocaust Day. It is a day of remembering the six million people who died during World War 2 in Nazi Germany.

At 10 am in the morning, a single note siren was sounded through out the country, at the same time, for the duration of two minutes.  Whatever people are doing at that moment they stop. And I mean S-T-O-P.

Imagine, on the sidewalks and in the streets and on the freeway, everything goes comes to a grinding halt.

Have you ever seen traffic stop in the middle of a busy intersection - people get out of their cars and silently

- wherever they are - whether it's in the middle of the boulevard, in an office building, on the freeway, wherever, and stand in reverance, without saying a word, without any movement.


It's an amazingly powerful experience. An amazing sight to behold.


In Ancient Healing and Transformational music a long single note is used to create a sense of safety. During the three years of the first scientific research conducted upon Voices of Eden live music, the long single note was a fundamental element I showed mothers in the neonatal ward to practice in order to quiet their babies as well as their own inner stress.


What does this have to do with a long single note of a siren during Holocaust Day?  How we use sound, can either soothe us or send us reeling. Sound is a powerful element which touches a deep chord in our soul. When it is used wordlessly, it bypasses the intellect and has a profound affect.


When you consciously hum a long single note to yourself, it can bring you focus and clarity as well as provide you a sense of deeper connection to the Source of all life.


Though the impetus of sounding a long single note in remembrance of six million is particularly poignant and  painful for those who lost family members, the deeper potency of the sound lies in it's ability to move an entire country to stop and unite for two motionless minutes - in turn connecting it to the higher power of eternity.

Is your voice healing or hurting your finances?

Is your voice healing or hurting your finances? 
This might seem like a pretty weird question.

What does voice have to do with money?
Actually, quite alot. Maybe not to what meets the eye... but in the case of finances, what meets your ear can have a direct impact upon what shows up (or not) in your bank account.

When you push and task master, it means there is some voice silently pushing you to "do, do, do"... there is no room to stop.  This will certainly cause stress and anxiety. You're so focused on "doing", that you forget the power of just being. Seeds sprout and gardens bloom, without their "doing" anything. They don't have to work so hard. Neither do we.

I learned something about how "not doing" can generate abundance today. Today is the second holiday of Passover. Passover celebrates freedom. It has been a glorious week - having the freedom to focus exclusively on Miriam's Secret, preparing the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for producing the multi-media took kit. It is exciting and empowering... and extremely intense and scary.  Instead of my usual pushing and forcing myself passed my fear, I decided to work in spurts of ninety minutes, then take a half hour break in the sacred grove which borders on the edge of my neighborhood.

Last week, I shot this photo when a group of my clients and I were leaving the grove, after a glorious session of ancient healing and transformational music.  I was mesmerized by the stark red color of the natural poppy flowers. I remember being very focused on work as I took the photo. It was a lovely respite for the eyes.

Today I have been particularly focused upon enjoying the experience of "being" without "doing" anything. This is while I am in the midst of writing the   book cover for Miriam's Secret as well as preparing the project page for Kickstarter. I am working on deadline. The experience is relaxing and uplifting. 

I shot this second photo in the same spot as the first. What astounded me was how many other flowers had sprouted within less than a week since I had shot the first photo.  No one "did" anything to sprout those flower. Nature took care of itself.

Nature takes care of itself.

You'll know this is at work, because you become energized instead of exhausted. When your inner voice is busy criticizing your, you may feel like you are being pulled in a bazillion gazillion directions and it's exhausting.

So how can you use your voice naturally that heals your finances?

Wordlessly.
You can dive into the source of all creation, by creating your own well song.

What's a well song? 

No words, no rules, just connecting to what soothes you.

When you sing wordlessly, you bypass your busy intellect. This allows your brain to rest.  The reverberation of the sound acts like a small pebble thrown into a pond. The ripple effect gently penetrates and allows the mind to relax. In this space, your higher consciousness becomes clearer and from this space, creative solutions appear.

Here's a well song I created a while ago to support the opening of abundance and prosperity. It's a pleasure to share it with you here... I was so suprised by what transpired in that recording... whimsy... bluesy... hadn't heard those tones in my voice for Y-E-A-R-S!

Slowing down, listening to yourself, soothing your inner critical voices through wordless singing, will quiet them down like a whining child. No more need to act out to get attention. Instead you give yourself much deserved acknowledgement... just for being alive. 

It's natural.  What did the music evoke in you? Leave a message. Your voice is important.  

We Love You - Iran and Israel - Love is Stronger Than Hate!

Love is stronger than fear or hate.
Your voice makes a difference.
What do YOU think?

 Post it below. Let your voice be heard!

Depletion to Replenishment

This coming Saturday night, I will be composing live music  for an Ancient Healing and Transformational music event - just down the road from Mary's well at the Fauzi Azar Inn, a beautiful old mansion in the old city of Nazareth.

The Fauzi Azar Inn is a multi-faith initiative - Jewish and Arab and it brings travellers from all around the world to experience good in the Holy Land.

This will be the first time that I am going to be composing a full program of live music on the spot for the people who will be attending.

The group will be a mixture of Jews, Arabs, foreigners visiting Israel and whomever else will show up that day. It is a live exercise in showing up in the moment, opening my heart and allowing it to sing. I am not planning beforehand. My heart says, "go for it".


Drinking or sinking by the Well?


A big part of me is excited to just show up. It's like getting back on the train. Another part is afraid of flubbing up. My ego warns "you're gonna die of embarrassment". What if they don't get it? What if they aren't open? What if I don't know what to say?

What I really want to do is show up and allow the moment to guide me, without planning. It takes alot of guts to do that. It requires dealing with the fear of failure, and it's powerful sibling, fear of being mocked and made fun of.  I choose to do this because I believe that when I show up authentically in the moment, it supports other people in showing up in the moment as well. While scary and uncontrollable, it's also extremely exhilarating.  I love living life this way.

Our biggest fears can also be our greatest source of inspiration and power. 

In Hebrew, if you turn around the root letters of the word for "fear", you get "inspiration" or "movement forward".  That is exactly how I am meeting my sense of vulnerability.  I

The whole point of healing and transformational music is to allow the listener the experience of  meeting themselves authentically in the moment. If we will just stop for a moment and listen to ourselves, we can ask ourselves any question, and receive the answer. I am praying to have the ability to clearly address this with the audience - particularly having no idea who they are nor what language they speak.

Singing from the heart can replenish your well of energy.


Last week, I went to visit the Fauzi Azar Inn in preparation from the program and sat by the well and composed a short, impromptu piece of music. I didn't know anyone else was listening or watching. No one else was around, except for the man who kindly agreed to hold the camera.

When I finished, I heard applaud resounding from above. Evidently a group of German visitors stood on the balcony above listening to my heartfelt, impromptu song. You can watch it here.

Where do you find your well of courage, or well of inspiration when you are afraid to show up for yourself? What helps you most in those moments? I'd love to hear from you.