Sunday, August 7, 2011

The Healing Power of Music: A Profound Experience for me


The final session of the conference was what is fondly called "jump time" in the drum circle world. It is a time for co-facilitated leading by the conference participants and anyone who wishes may come in and lead the group toward a new music making direction. This session was filled with humor, energy and great enthusiasm from both the people that stepped in to lead and the participants.

Tak had asked me to lead a closing with the intention of healing those reeling from the disaster and peace to those that lost their lives.

I must say that this closing was one of the most profoundly powerful music making experiences I have had, bringing me back to the music making around the time my Mom was dying. One of the facilitators in the final jump time activities had invited participants to leave their drums and play the chime bars, these are the kind of instruments played in bell choirs- and the sound of each note is sustained and pure- just heavenly- this is when Tak and I stepped in to close the group- Tak set the intention for healing and I invited Mr Pecker to play the didgeridoo, sharing that this is a healing sounds from Australia, then we moved to a very quiet heartbeat on the drums in honor of the Native American healing pulse and then we added piano and long vocal tones over this as a personal way in which each person heals from the vibration of sound- from there the music, chanting, and drumming took on a life of it's own and even now as I write about this I am in awe of the power of this moment for me- through the music making I could feel the pain of the past months for these people and the profound love and support that they have for another- and there were moments that the voices would rise with this feeling of hope and then fall to a hushed whisper...the group facilitated itself through this most profound musical journey and as it began to find it's natural ending, I invited people to leave their instruments and step into the center and stand closely, while sounding long tones. There was this moment for me, eyes closed, engulfed in the sheer magnificence of the human experience in sound and vibration, as it rose and fell of it's own accord, changing with each breath- that I felt what Jill Bolte Taylor describes in her book "My Stroke of Insight" the complete connection of everything and everyone, that we share this planet , both it's joy and it's pain, and even though we may live half way around the earth- we are all completely connected to one another and can most profoundly effect one another's lives by the vibrations that we sent forth, take in and share.

This was a moment I will never forget and will be ever grateful to this amazing group of people for inviting me to share it with them. It is why I do what I do in my life.

Later I heard that our participant from the disaster region, a man, had left during the middle of this final session- overcome by the experience. Later that evening he emailed the staff and told them that during this music making experience, he was overcome by the love and support that poured out in sound from the group and that he felt, for the first time in a long while, a sense hope and joy returning to his life. He had written to express his gratitude to the group.
Truly the healing power of music in action.

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