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Beautiful People Beautiful Rituals Healthy Living

Healing Music by Naoe Amano

Such soothing, liquid sounds … such beautiful music. I especially love the piece she composed called “Breathing Forest”… hahhhhh… sigh…it’s feather-like but grounding… so lovely:)

IMG_2549_01_smallAnd you know how much I love FORESTS – so much that I flip for it:)
IMG_2547_01_smallThat extra oxygen boost helps unleash the energy, you might call “exuberance”, I thought I had lost and the desire to open up the heart to the sky:)Feeling that oneness when you know trees’ exhale is your inhale – together it’s such feeling of wholeness – that feeling of coming full complete circle.

So grateful that I was able to go to her only performance here in the Bay Area as she normally goes between Japan and New York, not so available here in the Bay Area. What a welcomed stopover she made…

I have heard crystal bowl sounds before at Mt. Shasta but this is the first time I heard it fused or weaved into piano music. She gracefully merges the two instruments, where the crystal bowl generate not just “sounds” but more. The two collaborative sounds create music of healing … The vibration takes you to another realm and its mesmerizing to see her perform – while I loved watching her play the piano, at the same time, chime the crystal bowls to create unique blend… after awhile, you feel sooo sooo relaxed… you just want to close your eyes and take in the vibration. Unlike other concerts where you sit upright with good manners, at this lovely concert, she gently coaxes us that it’s perfectly alright to lie down and rest, nap, LISTEN – we were on our back just absorbing the vibe not just with our ears but with our whole body – practically in a trance state. (I just wished we had all the props to give our body the comfort to take even more healing powers:)

Luckily I was able to take home a piece of the sampling as she had released a CD – I thought to share this great gift with some of the yoga students with discernment – perhaps I will make it one of my playlists for a certain type and style of yoga classes. This sound will help restore students back to optimal health – I was convinced through my own experience. Being December holiday season, I myself arrived to the concert dead exhausted and stressed fighting the traffic, dealing with what I call the jagged edgy vibes … but almost like a restorative yoga session (which would eliminate our physical discomforts like tension, tightness, soreness, stiffness … the list goes on), after her concert, I felt soooo much better, recharged to have so much energy to face all that was to come after the concert – my evening shift awaited and I now had the energy to be fully present to meet the demands of others. Healing music is so precious. Dressed in all white, she looked like a delicate angel who had gone to the heavens and come back to provide light to those who seek it. Yogis are seekers. This seeker was so entranced – thank you so much for such an amazing concert. As far as energy transmission, nothing is better than “LIVE” – no quality CD or stereo system can match the artist’s LIVE performance where every note is ALIVE, sparkling with “energy”, “prana”, “chi” or “ki” in Japanese – but here’s a UTUBE video I found to give you an approximate idea:

Just close your eyes and imagine … the music transports you to ….. (fill in the blank:)
Or in my case – think NOTHING. It’s meditation practice that bubbles with no effort, foaming together streams of consciousness.

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Beautiful People

Opening the Heart through “Soul Growth Practice”

The Freshness

When it’s cold and raining,
you are more beautiful.

And the snow brings me
even closer to your lips.

The inner secret, that which was never born,
you are that freshness, and I am with you now.

I can’t explain the goings,
or the comings. You enter suddenly,

and I am nowhere again.
Inside the majesty.

– From Soul of Rumi
by Coleman Barks

Respect for this translator of the most difficult and beautiful…Persian in 13th Century … that would most certainly be “Greek” to me.
Sheer Respect.
Wish “sublime relaxation” would come over me:) My intention for my own practice of Soul Growth through stillness (that does not mean non-movement) and quiet peace (that does not mean there are no sounds…in fact, it might be so loud out there). Amidst the movements and noise, we find our own innermost serenity. Sometimes:)

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Beautiful People Beautiful Things

Poets and …

the Art of Healing …

Recalling this play starring Daviel Radcliffe (Harry Potter has grown up:) on Broadway last summer when I was challenged to understand Irish accents and humor …
danielradbut no trouble understanding where John O’Donohue comes from because his spirituality has surprising common thread with ancient Japanese spirituality as well – oddly, it does. Very odd, when you stop to consider that John O’Donohue was a Catholic priest before becoming known as a poet, a philosopher. Yet perhaps if you go back far enough, all wisdom crosses over borderlines of nationality, race, religion and cultural divides because our ancestors were all … human.

His words still hold power – words of wisdom of someone who has incessantly studied inquisitively mystics and spirituality … words of everlasting nature and beauty which seems appropriate for someone who virtually defined God to be … none other than … Beauty. While one may argue beauty is to eyes of beholder … that’s ultimately the point, isn’t it? It takes many forms, shapes and colors or be formless and shapeless and monochrome …but forever beautiful to YOU. Is perfection so beautiful to you?

When you become vulnerable, any ideal or perfect image of yourself falls away. (…)

Many people are addicted to perfection, and in their pursuit of the ideal, they have no patience with vulnerability. (…)

Every poet would like to write the ideal poem. Though they never achieve this, sometimes it glimmers through their best work. Ironically, the very beyondness of the idea is often the touch of presence that renders the work luminous. The beauty of the ideal awakens a passion and urgency that brings out the best in the person and calls forth the dream of excellence.

The beauty of the true ideal is its hospitality towards woundedness, weakness, failure and fall-back. Yet so many people are infected with the virus of perfection. They cannot rest; they allow themselves no ease until they come close to the cleansed domain of perfection. This false notion of perfection does damage and puts their lives under great strain. It is a wonderful day in a life when one is finally able to stand before the long, deep mirror of one’s own reflection and view oneself with appreciation, acceptance, and forgiveness. On that day one breaks through the falsity of images and expectations which have blinded one’s spirit. One can only learn to see who one is when one learns to view oneself with the most intimate and forgiving compassion.

― John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

So observant … as I am that “soft” thinker still. It’s a soft fuzzy collages randomly spread on the gallery walls of my mind …some day it will be that one pointed focus that zooms in … or the gallery may forever be like a Seurat painting, full of dots and pixels…delicate, precise and yet … soft & fuzzy ~ forever ambiguous and depending on the light … never defined.

I do not wish to criticize any system that can nourish people’s spirits, but I find that a lot of New Age writing cherry-picks the attractive bits from the ancient traditions and makes collages of them; it usually excises the ascetic dimension. In general it is not rigorously thought out, but is what I would call “soft” thinking.

― John O’Donohue

You find your rhythm by slowing down…”to truly receive time rather than mangling it …”.

There’s so much we can “receive” rather than ignore and reject or not even notice – simply because we have a disconnect with the stream of consciousness forever accessible if only… (you fill in the blank and finish the sentence, will you ?)

Today, recognizing Time and Love are all we really have in this life. Time does not slip by; we can claim it, have it. Love does not languish; it’s all around us when we don’t let fear rule but rather, come from a place of strength. Toughness, roughness or dominance is not strength but compensations and symptoms of fear; kindness and soft, tenderness at the face of transgression is … what I admire for I see tenacity…strength in faith. Just plain strength.

So there in print is my intention set for today. To cultivate peace through strength by visiting that sanctuary in search of … that rhythm of beauty in living where the divine manifests in everything seen and unseen.
To live consciously and fully, allowing my heart to reign over the head … Let’s:) It’s going to be magical.

autumn