Monsanto Equals Crimes Against Humanity

Monsanto is a US company guilty of crimes against humanity...against YOU! Educate yourself.
Then share it with everyone you know. Then start visualizing a world where this kind of thing just doesn't happen anymore. Imagine a world where a corporation as large and as powerful as Monsanto starts to realize the amount of good it can actually do in this world...where fear, greed and impatience no longer rule over man. It all starts within us.

What Do You Believe In?

Had a conversation with someone I just met at a dinner party the other night. He was asking me about the Toltec path, "What is the most transformative thing you learned?" I responded that don Miguel's teaching not to believe everything he said, not to believe anybody else, and not to even believe myself was the most powerful teaching of all for me.

The man I was speaking with asked me, "then do you believe in nothing at all?" Excellent question. Because if my world still exists, then there is plenty I believe in. But what the doubt is really about is choice. I went on to explain that the teaching simply helps us to question everything so we don't blindly follow others or store our faith in outdated constructs that no longer serve us. It puts everything in doubt until we can experience it for ourselves or choose it with our full awareness.

This is the artistry of the spirit: choosing what to believe in, where to place our faith. I think I also said something about the teachings helping me to live the life I want. But something about that struck me as untrue after I said it. I felt like I was coming across as some ""Secret" you too can manifest the car of your dreams" fanatic.

That got me thinking, because the work IS about living the life you want. But the thing...the car, the house, the relationship...those things aren't really what I want. I want to be happy. I want to be free of suffering. The Toltec path has helped me to live a happier life. Now that's the life I want!

Poignant & Powerful

Frequency, frequency, frequency!

We ARE vibrational beings.

What's Your Frequency?

The Scientific Awakening to Our Vibration Nature Continues:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000140.htm

Maybe All You Need Isn't Love

So, do you believe all you need is love?

Last night, I attended a class in intimacy for which the topic was Nonviolent Communication. The instructor, clearly, was very enthusiastic about it. As he shared it with us, he explained that not being aware of or able to express and meet our own needs is the reason for all of our problems in relating to others.

Right away, at the mention of needs, my ears pricked up having put a bit of attention on sorting that out for myself over several years. I raised my hand and asked how the founder of NVC defines needs and how he distinguishes them from wants. In our handout was a "Needs Inventory", and I was shocked to see over 50 items. Clearly, I wasn't going to be in agreement with this part of NVC.

That word "need" is a powerful little bugger with the ability to cast us into survival and worth issues, lack of fulfillment, and even comparison and resentment when our "needs" aren't being met. So, I have decided to define "need" simply as something that is necessary for my survival. Food, water, shelter and clothing, oxygen, sleep, touch, and as a dear friend so eloquently puts it, "a place to shit." These are needs. Everything else is something else.

When I shared my opinion on the matter with the group, I felt the prickly barb of the words "argue" and "philosophize" in a sentence directed toward me. You would think I was taking away everyone's hope or right to these things by offering up that maybe nuturing, beauty, harmony, and community weren't actually needs but wants. With all due respect, I wasn't dissing NVC nor the importance of these things to a happy life. I was simply posing a question about whether the model could use a slight adjustment in how it defines needs and wants. In my own experience, the confusion over needs and wants can create panic and anxiety. When we see our wants as needs, we think we have to "do" something to "get" something we "don't have". It takes us out of the moment and out of our gratitude. And it sets us up to blame, compare, and wither in our fear or wanting when we don't get it.

I even found that many of the things on the needs list in question were niether needs nor wants. We don't need love, for example. Love is what we are. It is all pervasive. If anything, we need to remember who we are. Maybe we need to feel or accept love, but we don't need love itself. The idea that we"need" love is a dangerous mental construct that separates us from what we are, creating a sense of something missing, and "need" implies it is something we will die without. Imagine the ugly duckling having died of being a duck. He wasn't even a duck! The misperception of needs opens the door to our old friends, fear of survival, despair, separation, and a whole host of other less than fun feelings (which ironically are on another class handout of what one feels when one's needs aren't met). Seems to me this way of thinking serves as a nifty tool for generating justifications to feel miserable.

Try this: Do you have food available? Do you have clean water to drink? Do you have a roof over your head? Are you clothed? Are you breathing?

If you answered yes to these questions, congratulations!!! In this moment, all of your needs are met and you are completely safe! Wow! Doesn't that feel amazing! You have everything you need! You are one fortunate human! Now, in this moment, and most likely the next and the next, you don't have to feel afraid, neglected, resentful, nervous, or frustrated! There is no immediate threat to your survival.

Granted, life seems pretty pointless and bleak without such things as companionship, self-expression, empathy, and inspiration, but that doesn't mean they are needs. We all want these things, but the truth is humans survive without them all the time. You would survive without them.

One still has to effectively identify and find ways to meet his or her wants. Our inability to do that, as my instructor said though he substituted "needs" in place of "wants", truly is a cause of much of our suffering. But let's not confuse wants and needs and subject ourselves to a highly disempowering illusion. The confusion over needs and wants creates panic in us. We think we have to "do" something to "get" something we "don't have". And it sets us up to blame, compare, and wither in our wanting...to die of being a duck.

Recognizing that our survival is truly dependent on much less than we think, we free ourselves to be immensely grateful for what is and patient with the moment. And in creating that space, life floods us with so much fufillment...effortlessly.

One Song Project

"THE FOCUS for the One Song Project is to bring our awareness, presence and sonic prayers together and send them into the oceans, the rivers, the streams, into the water of our Living Planet. To send a Song of Peace, Healing & Gratitude into the Water, to the creatures of the Oceans & the Water and to remind humanity of the preciousness of all of life and to unite together in a resonance of Peace, Consciousness and Oneness."

Check it out!

http://www.onesongproject.com/index.html

Benjamin Zander on The Power of Music

Julian Treasure: The 4 Ways Sound Effects Us

Cymatics--Visualizing Sound

Joydancer

Here is yet another fantastic online Toltec wisdom resource I turn to again and again...the online community at Joydancer.com. Don Allan offers insightful articles and a series of free teleclasses that carry the sweetness of his love on the soundwaves of his voice. There is also a great video available on Living Passionately without Attachment to Outcomes.

Pathways to Happiness

I want to share this site with you, Pathways to Happiness. It is the website of one of my Toltec teachers, Gary Van Warmerdam. On it he offers helpful and insightful articles and fantastic MP3's on topics such as Reasoning Your Way Out of Fear and why that doesn't really work and Fear of Love and Emotional Change which ends with what I experienced as a powerful tranmission of energy. He also offers a Program in Self Mastery to understand how we create emotions, how to become a skeptic of your own thoughts, and how to live artfully in happiness.

This is a great resource when you need a reset in your life.

The Six Healing Sounds of QiGong

Whale Song

What would happen if you could sing a love song for a whale?

http://www.optuswhalesong.com.au/

Blow Your Mind...Read This

Rense.com article "The Holographic Universe" written by Michael Talbot.

Chanting

Here is a link to a fantastic book written by Ana Hernandez called The Sacred Art of Chant: Preparing to Practice. This particular page offers samples of various chants. They are very fun to harmonize with. Enjoy!

A Presentation on Listening with Jon Meuller

Jon Mueller at Pecha Kucha Chicago from rhythmplex on Vimeo.

Encounters with Meher Baba Part V

Earlier that day, I had visited the Lagoon Cabin where Baba used to give his interviews and such. I sat facing the chair in which he used to sit, but something remained illusive to me. I had the thought, "This isn't the view you want," and just briefly I decided to sit on the floor in front of Baba's chair facing out, taking in the room from his perspective. There was some mental chatter going on from past belief structures about not turning one's back to a master, and I couldn't, in that moment, get past that. My meditation was shallow, and I left.

Later that day, after the beach and a shower, I wasn't quite ready for dinner, so I returned to the Lagoon Cabin. This time, I sat in a chair to the side of Baba's (and it was just right) facing a large photograph of Meher Baba sitting in a chair as I was. In that way, we were mirror images of one another. And to me, it felt like we were sitting across from each other for real.

I read the prayers on the walls, thought about some of what I had read the day before, and inferiority began to arise. There were some beliefs operating about not being good enough or ever in a million years being able to measure up to this Avatar. I don't perform the miracles of Meher Baba. I don't administer to the sick and poor. I am not selfless, nor fully awakened in every moment, nor free of petty thoughts or emotions. All the ways we are different flooded me.
But the thoughts didn't cling. Like waves, they receded. I dropped the idea that I had to live my life like Baba lived his to be close to God. I dropped the concept of worth. And then I decided to say a prayer that don Miguel Ruiz taught called the Circle of Fire Prayer. In a way, I was saying to Baba, "Here is a prayer I love and how I choose to live my life to the best of my ability." It was my offering. It was, in that moment, the only treasure I felt I had.

When I got to the line "we will respect all creations as a symbol of our love communion with the one who created us", something in me popped and opened. I had a realization that the one who created the perfect being Meher Baba also created the perfect being Dielle. That One began to shine through from behind Baba's photo. I saw we were brother and sister, a projection of the same source, not master and student. We are animated by the very same source. I sat across from Baba as an equal creation in God's eyes...not a lesser one. I don't perform the miracles of Meher Baba. I don't administer to the sick and poor. I am not selfless, nor fully awakened in every moment, nor free of petty thoughts or emotions. AND I am a perfect creation.

This was the first time in my life I ever truly felt the complete absence of self-hatred. I only thought I knew what that was before this moment. I felt a wave of such deep gratitude, kinship, and peace to be me. There were two books on the table. The first was titled "Love Personified." My eyes took it in and then POP! I realized, "Oh, that's me!" The second was titled "God in Human Form". And POP! "Oh, that's me too!!!" I laughed, and I thanked Baba and exclaimed Jai Baba! to which I heard in reply Jai Dielle! And I laughed some more. And I swear, the photo of Baba grew brighter and his smile three times wider.

I floated to dinner, and the next morning I went to give my blessing to the sea. The sun was just coming up turning the waters a liquid shining silver. I prayed for all its creatures, for its protection, for its continued majesty. And I gave it my gratitude. And the waves rose gently lapping, kissing my feet.

Encounters with Meher Baba Part IV

My third day at the beach, I was determined to live as completely and richly as I could. I wanted every sensation to be heightened and enjoyed to the fullest. I had so much fun swimming, walking, eating my snack and drinking fresh water from my cooler (which I had forgotten the day before). I watched crabs and gulls and little fishies. I delighted in every little thing. And when the waves got bigger, I got more bold. I swam further out than I dared, and I rode the waves back. I nearly drowned twice caught unawares by two really big ones. But I loved every minutes of it...feeling like I didn't know up or down, feeling sea water filling my nose and mouth and pouring down into my gut, gagging, wondering if I would ever see the light of day again...and then coughing and laughing at the same time as I came up wondering if I hadn't lost a limb out there somewhere, my eyes and throat stinging with salt.


That day, I realized that since the "dribbling neighbors incident", I had been wearing a smile on my face almost the entire time. I even caught myself thinking "I better tone it down! I'm gonna freak people out!" and immediately corrected that and thought, "NOT!" It was funny how much internal dialogue the smile on my face stirred. "Maybe I'm not really this happy. Maybe I'm faking it. This can't be right!" Ha! There was so much to smile about! "Wow! This is me happy! Dielle is happy!"


That evening, I had what I almost hesitate to try and write about because it was so beyond wordly description, and yet it was what felt like my whole reason for being there. Baba said, "I come not to teach but to awaken." That evening, I had my awakening.




Next: Awakening

Encounters with Meher Baba Part III

After my meditation at the Meher Abode, I was scheduled to go on a tour of the center. After being in that quiet for which I longed with every atom of my being, the tour was somewhat painful. It was a large group of people, not all of which were staying at the center, and some of whom were quite bestowed with historical knowledge they felt compelled to share. There's nothing wrong with that, except all I wanted to do was go back to the silence! Somehow I endured. And when, after the longest hour and a half of my life, we were dismissed, I ran with my arms outstretched through the woods happy to be alive and free at last and "back on retreat".

I spent that afternoon at the beach swimming and enjoying how like the mind the ocean is. The waves, like thoughts, never rest. They just keep coming and coming and coming...relentlessly. Yet underneath all that, there is so much depth and mystery and blackness.

That evening, I saught refuge in the air conditioned coolness of the library reading room. Eventually, I had it all to myself and was able to read some of Baba's Discourses. Within those pages I discovered the answer to my question about Baba's sleep. He wrote that when a master "rests his body, he experiences no gap in consciousness."

Afterwards, I went into a very deep meditation feeling Baba's loving presence stir my own. It was so powerful. Heaven! Tranquility!

Next: The Ocean of Love

Encounters with Meher Baba Part II

That first night, my intention was to stay in my cabin and meditate after dinner until bedtime. A family with several children were just moving into a cabin near mine. The children were yelling at one another, and one was dribbling a basketball. I figured, "Okay, they are just getting settled." And I focused on allowing the sounds to pass right through me. Within minutes, I became mentally hooked, and I began to think of nothing but the noise! The children continued to dribble and scream at each other. They were slamming doors and screaming, "Mommy!" And a righteous indignation began to arise in me. "This is a retreat center, for Christ's sake! Not a family motel!" I'm thinking to myself.


So, as I was already completely hooked and couldn't unhook, already fantasizing the nightmare of an entire weekend like this, I decided to do the most compassionate (toward myself) thing. I broke my own pledge of silence to ask the parents if the kids could dribble and play elsewhere...like at the playground. The father looked at me as if he was on his last legs after driving across country all day with a car full of children and said with great patience, "We just need to figure out where that is!"

After that, I couldn't resist slamming my own door shut, after which point I fell on the bed crying in a rather entertaining drama about my rotten luck and how the only thing I wanted, the only thing, was complete rest and solitude. "Is there no peace and quiet left on this earth? When you can't even get it at a bloody retreat center?!!" I live in a neighborhood full of children playing, and this was not the "getaway" I was anticipating. But aside from that, I was upset that I had lost my cool, already broken my silence, and that I was now behaving like a child myself!

I didn't want to hear humans or even machines and noise. Suddenly, in this heightened sensitivity, I couldn't even stand the hum of the fan in my room, and believe me it was HOT. Everything, especially my own mind, was so LOUD! I cried myself to sleep with such grief...not about this family making noise but about the cacophony of the mind and all of life. I was grieving the trap of the senses, the endless distraction, the veil of illusion. Only in hindsight did I see the perfection of this entire encounter. I had to feel that place...that desperate longing for peace and quiet. I had to experience the din to contrast it to the peace and silence that was eventually available to me all over the place. And I had to come to realize that it was there all along...and always in me.


The next morning, I woke feeling very sober. I walked to the Meher Abode and spent an hour and a half meditating at Baba's bedside. Finally, I was in that absolute stillness and quiet I longed for, my mind at rest, feeling the delight and blessing of an answered prayer. I loved Meher Baba's room because there was no room for "me" in it. Everything was illuminated. If nothing else, that moment made my stay there worth everything! But the blessings were just beginning.


Next: Blessings in the Library

Encounters with Meher Baba Part I

This is the first in a series of five writings on my recent trip to the Meher Baba Spiritual Retreat Center in Myrtle Beach, SC. I knew very little about Meher Baba...just that a friend of mine in Florida several years back held him in very high esteem and that many friends in my area now have made trips to the center which is situated on virgin beachfront property. Back in April, I began to feel a desperate need to get away. I needed not only a change of scenery but a real retreat from the world. So I wrote to the Baba Center and asked if I could visit in June. Fortunately, they had room! It was only then that I began to read up on Meher Baba and learned that he shared my love of silence. He also stated, "I have not come to teach but to awaken." That resonated with me. And when I arrived at the center and was shown my cabin, I received an unexpected confirmation as the room was something I had dreamed a year or so ago right down to the furniture.

That first day, I was able to visit The Baba Abode, the home where Baba lived. As soon as I stepped inside, I wanted nothing else but to be silent...and from that point on for my three day visit, I remained so (with one exception which I'll write about later). I felt such a crispness in that house, so clean, so impeccable. When I entered Baba's bedroom where visitors are allowed to sit and meditate, I stood at the foot of his bed unmovable. I just kept inhaling deeply into every cell of my being the incredible, indescribable presence. It was reminiscent of the Palace of the Jaguars in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Tears streamed out of my eyes as I stood in delight. I wondered, what was sleep like for Baba? What kind of dreams did this man have? I would later get my answer from a book in the library. : )

Next: Diving deep into the ocean of longing

Mantra to Overcome Challenges

This is one of my favorite chants. It is a mantra to overcome all challenges and bring prosperity. Enjoy!

http://spiritvoyage.net/2008/12/11/meditation-for-prosperity-aap-sahai-hoa-sachay-daa-sachaa-doa-har-har-har/

The Song of the Universe

Cymatics reveals to us how vibration creates form. It reveals to us our birth, for we too, like the sand, are subject to vibration. Some unseen, unheard song is creating us...singing us into being. We are the sand upon the vibrating plate taking shape into our existence believing we are the peaks and points that take forn...believing we are this or that. And sometimes, we get stuck. We freeze in a familiar formation and say, "I am this." In reality, we are meant to be maleable, moldable, and at the mercy of the Great Sound. For if this great sound were to cease or be disrupted, these mighty houses we've constructed would disperse like so many grains of sand flung to the wind. Something is conscious of us and listening as it plays upon the instruments we are. It takes delight in the cocophony, an orchestration so grand it is far beyond our contemplation. It is masterful, elegant, swift, and awesome. It is the Song of the Universe, and still more. It is our Composer, and one who Loves beyond conditions, beyond the beyond.

If the law of "as above, so below" holds true, then we too are composers. We too sing songs that breathe shape into reality. But are we listening? Are we paying attention to the composition we create? What is our rhythm? What is the order we sing out of chaos? Are we in harmony with the Great Sound? With the words we speak, do we breed forgiveness or hatred? Do we give form to self-pity and blame or maturity and wisdom? Do we relinquish our masterpiece to our reasoning minds, ignoring the awkward thud that deflates our spirit? Do we allow the voices of others to influence our melody with fear or with hope? What are the consequences to our choices? You see, we are in the in-formation age. Our reality is forming based on the vibration of our thoughts, feelings, and actions...and based on the overwhelming amounts of information constantly being fed to us.

Someone is ALWAYS listening. What are you saying? In essence, our words do not matter. They are but sand upon a plate. You are the vibration that stirs the sand. You are the energy that forms the peaks and points and geometic patterns. Where is your faith? In the words with the meanings that have been told to you, in the words themselves, or in your own musicianship? Can an artist infuse hatred with love, fear with love, resentment with love, violence with love? Yes! Reclaim the symbols (agreements) and Be Love, sing love, create love, perpetuate love. Make sure the music that everyone hears in your presence is the Divine Song, no matter what.

Changing the World

I had a client today who shared with me that she sat with Max, the Crystal Skull. She was told in session with him that she "is here to change the world." "What a burden!" I smiled, noticing that she was using this bit of information to make her life seem stalled and unfulfilled. Such a belief is a burden when we take it as it comes within this illusory three dimensional dream we are living...the literal world. But it isn't so important or special as it sounds, and as many people would take pride and comfort in believing, because it doesn't just apply to a few. Max said something very true, not just of my client but of us all. We are here to change the world. But what does he mean?

Is it enough when a person is a full-time mom? "How can I save the world that way?" she asks herself? Should we drop everything and run to an ashram? Are we meant to write a miraculous book that will change people's lives? "But I don't even have a college education! I'll never meet my potential," someone else argues. Are we meant to work with the poor like Mother Theresa? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

These considerations and doubts simply don't matter. You see, each of us is a world unto ourselves. That is the world to which Max was referring. That is the only world we can ever hope to change. That is the only world we should want to change, for it's the only one we have even a prayer of affecting. Yes! You ARE here to change the world, the world that you are... And suddenly the burden lifts. For there is nothing more we need to do than wake up every day with the intent of changing "the world" for the better. That's it. Done. Put the books away and save all that workshop money.

Kaleidoscope

Each of us is like a kaleidoscope. With just a turn of circumstance or a change of mind or heart, we make such amazing patterns, each of us unique and brilliant. When we are in flow with life, the image of ourselves is fluid and ever-transforming like the images one sees when one turns the dial of the kaleidoscope. But what tends to happen to us? We fixate on an idea of who we are and all that we could be becomes stuck into one fixed image. I am like this. I am like that. I can’t do this. I don’t do that. Yet each of us has so much untapped potential…so many gradients of colorful expressions. What will it take to explore all your colors and let them show?

Imagine walking through life as if you were looking at everything through a kaledioscope. Everything would shift and move before you could pin it down.

Talking to Plants

On the back of my car, I have vinyl lettering on the windshield spelling out my website http://www.thevoiceoflife.com/. Today, one of my students at the college where I work part time asked me what that meant. I explained to him that I work with sound for healing. As usually happens when I answer that question, I got a blank stare and then a strained attempt at relating to what I had just shared. People often try to understand sound healing as they understand any kind of western approach to health. "Oh, so it's like eating foods that are good for an illness?" Yes, I said. Only one uses the voice instead of the food for the health effect. I said working with sound in this way was my passion.

As the student was leaving for the day, he turned to me and said, "Now I am going to spend time in my passion." He explained that he works with a friend to tend a garden. He went on to describe how he and his friend have divided the garden in half. They both talk to and give lots of attention to the left side while the right side, they just tend without involvement. On the left side, they touch the plants with their bare hands while on the right, they wear gloves. He said, "You know, that left side is doing so much better than the right. Those plants like to be talked to!"

"Exactly!" I said. "So you do understand sound healing!"

Plants don't speak English or French or any other language save one. They speak the langauge of the soul. They respond to the vibration of intent. When we speak to our plants with loving, compassionate words, they feel that energy, and they respond. It isn't much different for us. We too respond much more to the energy behind the words rather than the words themselves. We too grow and trust and open when we receive the kind attention of others, be it a smile, a thoughtful word, or a simple "ungloved" touch. And that is just the beginning.

Playing for Change

Music and Its Potential to Change the World
It's only just begun...

Dharma

What is dharma? Dharma is what we do in the world, it is action, contribution.

But it is more than just working a job or business. Dharma is unique to each of us. We each bring something to the world that only we can bring. The problem is we don’t believe that we have anything to offer. Or we shrink from putting ourselves out there…and really, we only shrink from it because we don’t believe it. Our faith is elsewhere. And yet, if you are still breathing, there is a reason you are…something you are supposed to share, or want to share, or need to share.

I remember a dream I had in which a voice from somewhere posed the question, “What would have happened if Jesus hadn’t shared his truth?” I woke immediately crying. I was so astonished by the very thought! Think about it. He could have easily told himself, “I can’t do that.” “Those people won’t like what I have to say.” “I just want to sleep in today.” And it left with me filled with so much gratitude that he did share and the strong urge to likewise share my truth.

I recently read that when we use our gifts in this world, without apology, we free others to use theirs. Imagine what this world would be like if each of us had the courage, faith, and generosity to bring ourselves fully into the world as a gift. So, I ask you now, what light are you hiding under a bush? What is it you have to say? What is your contribution? And what is keeping you from knowing the answers to these questions or from sharing these gifts right now?

And Now a Message from the Masters

If I only had a camera, you could gaze upon me in my flowing embroidered clothes from many lands and see me hold a very special sceptor that I found walking near a vortex in Sedona. I have laid out my alter of golden cloth which I purchased at Walmart and spread my ancient sacred styrofoam balls that I saved from my neighbors garbage can on top. I now light this candle infused and connected with the flame of Saint Zoomba to bring forth the divine hollyhock essence of the 9th order of ascended green light masters who has given me a very important message to share with you all. Please open your minds and hearts to receive this crucial information at this very important time in the evolution of humanity. I'm sure you will be as awed and inspired as I am by the depth of this message:

Greetings, earthlings. I speak to you through the being known as Dielle, decked out in her spiritual finery, because she's one, too embarassed to say these things herself and two, thinks no one will listen to her or believe in what she says if it's just her saying it...besides, she doesn't really have much to say. She just likes being different and loves your attention...and as long as she sticks to the obvious, no one can fault her. I know your hearts are weary of the confusion in the world, and you seek the support of wise ones in other worlds and times. We are here and you are not alone, so give all your faith and power to us lest you claim your own. Let not the nonbelieving naysayers and ignorant skeptics drag you down. They simply don't vibrate at your level. And heed this very important message from the ancient realms of Diggydog:

Let's twist again. Like we did last summer. Come on, let's twist again. Like we did last year. Let us all chant this mantra together...Oh, and love is all that matters. Thank you.

River Prayer

May you be protected from taking things personally. May you be innoculated from misinterpretation and assumptions. May you always immerse yourself in the flow with no excuses, justifications, and explanations of why the river pulls you one way when someone in another river gets pulled another. May you be free from having to judge why one river is right and the other river is wrong. Just float down your river, neither grasping nor clinging...trusting the life of the river to become your own. Dissolve in that river and find freedom.

Do Re Mi

I really think this is what I thought life would be like BEFORE I moved here...here being Earth. It was meant to be a musical! Enjoy the chakra tuning from this song...a little bonus!

Beauty, Wisdom, or Power: Which Voice are You?

You have the technique. You even know how to use it to bring out your individual gifts. But have you even considered the underlying energies at play when you sing? Why would you even want to? According to Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan in his profound mystical work, The Music of Life, there are three types of voices. Becoming aware of these types and becoming fluid in accessing their power can increase your magnetic influence over your audience. It can turn an average performance into something inexplicably magical.

So what are the three voice types? The first of these is Jelal, and is a voice indicative of power. Remember listening to Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech? He exudes power (as well as wisdom) with his vocal essence. Oprah Winfrey is another good example of a different flavor of Jelal. Oprah knows how to command attention and exert control with her voice. Can you think of any vocalists who have a Jelal voice? I would put Barbara Streisand in this category. Her voice is most striking for its Jelal qualities. I would also put Pink, Steve Perry, Ann Wilson, and Whitney Houston in this category.

Bear in mind, though, we all cross over into each category at different times and in different circumstances, and blending the voice types is part of our artistry. The examples I've chosen are simply for illustration, to illuminate the invisible. I'm not saying Barbara Streisand, for instance, represents only that one quality in her voice. It is merely dominant.

Next is Jemal, the voice indicative of beauty. I think of icon, Marilyn Monroe, with her lilting, breathy voice. A good example of the Jemal voice in the written word is Sufi poet, Rumi. For vocalists, I would put Fergie, Dido, Chris Martin, and Josh Groban in this category.

Kemal is the third voice indicative of wisdom. I think here of the recitations of poet Maya Angelou and the written word of author Paulo Coelho who wrote The Alchemist and many other wisdom tales. Musical artists Jack Johnson, Alicia Keyes, Sting, and Roy Orbison.

I wouldn't say that one voice type is better or more important than the other. And there are some amazing vocalist who tend to stay in only one voice type just as there are singers that tend to blend together two or more voice types. For example, I would say that Tori Amos does an amazing job of weaving beauty and wisdom together. Whereas Alanis Morrisette tends to blend power and wisdom. Who are some recording artists who have mastered the blending of all these three voice types in their music? In my opinion, U2's Bono, John Lennon, Judy Garland, Freddie Mercury, Imogen Heap, and Nina Simone are examples of sublime union of all three voice types.

There are certainly many variables at play here in determining which of the voice types is most prominent, and certainly opinions will vary. It is impossible to remove the meaning of the lyrics, the influence of the musical composition itself, and even the personalities and life experiences of the respective singers...not to mention that of the listener. The point is learning to listen with new ears and hearing the supernatural elements at play behind the music. It's an exercise in building awareness.

An understanding of these three voice types represent a new approach to our own voice and its power to inspire or make an impact on others. As a vocalist, when are you engaging power, when beauty, and when wisdom? Do you know how to blend them together to create an intentional vocal color in a song? Or when to draw upon only one for greater impact? To build an awarness and deeper understanding of these three voices, you can create a list of examples of each of the three voices from your own repetoire. Consider the message in the lyrics and the melodic structure as well as your unique vocal characteristics. Have fun here. Be intuitive. Ask your friends what they think. And enjoy your discoveries.

Interview with Dielle by Our Next Thing

An anonymous listener writes:

I am loving the TLC Ascension piece! Its energy is sacred and uplifting,and I truly feel myself transported into a different dimension, connecting to higher frequencies. I imagine this music being played in a temple in the 5th dimension as a form of prayer and divine connection.

You can hear a sample and purchase this CD for $22.50 or get it for free when you buy a $25 a year membership to Visionary Music which includes over $60 worth of music.

True Lemon

I was in the grocery store today and noticed a box product in the juice aisle. It's called True Lemon, and while I didn't bother to inspect it very closely, I surmize it was a powder substance to replace the taste of real lemon. It prompted a mini-awakening.

True lemon? Give me a break! There's nothing true about it. It doesn't even resemble the shape of a lemon, which at least their competitor's conscentrated lemon juice does. "True Lemon" is a powder...a white, ashy, dried up dust. It may taste like lemon, but it is still not a lemon. Calling it "true" doesn't make it so. And what's more, the real lemon is just two aisles away...fresh, alive, and beautiful. This boxed stuff cost over $3! I could buy a whole bag of lemons for $2.56.

I hope you realize this isn't about True Lemon. It's about how often we slap a label on something phony and cheap, call it "Pure Goodness", and buy it! We could have the real thing if we just walked a little further, if we just dared to pick up the real thing, rather than be hypnotized by a lie on a box. There is nothing true about "True Lemon". And why that pisses me off so much, I can't quite understand. Except that I'm just really tired of being surrounded by lies.

I want the real thing. Although, to be fair, this is another meaning to the word "lemon." So, like the car that won't run, maybe "True Lemon" isn't so poorly named afterall.

Demand the real thing, people. Or years from now, our children will believe a lemon is shaped like a box.

Song of Peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1bD0cosFOk

No Turning Back

We are the voices of the women. We will no longer be suppressed.

Stop beating us. Stop burning us. Stop persecuting us. Stop fearing us. Stop hating us. Stop raping us. Stop manipulating us. Stop oppressing us. Stop killing us. Stop killing our children (and who are not our children?). Stop betraying us. Stop lying to us. Stop taking from us. Stop separating us. Stop torturing us. Stop resenting us.

Start hearing us. Start loving us. Start respecting us. Start honoring us. Start opening to us. Start supporting us. Start trusting us. Start knowing us. Start protecting us and our children. Start reaching out to us. Start begging for our forgiveness. Start acknowleging us and empower us. We have come to save the world. Listen to our truth.

From this day forward, we step into the this life with our power, our ferocity. We are embodied, bold, powerful and wise. We are women. And there is no turning back.

Great Blog on Vocal Meditation

How to Have a Powerful Meditative Experience whilst Singing
by Shane Magee

on Radio Sri Chinmoy

A Question of Taste

Music is without a doubt a question of taste. Some people only like listening to one type of music. Others have broader palates and enjoy many types. Still others have an ear for all kinds of sounds, hearing music in everything, while others remain very sensitive to the abundance of auditory stimulation in the world doing what they can to protect themselves from it.

I have been working with Visionary Music's DNA Activation music for many years now and am just beginning to work with their second series. The fourth in that series is a very dissonant, difficult piece for me to listen to. I actually get nauseous and headachy at certain parts when I listen to it. It makes the entire world move under my feet like an opposing sliding floor of a fun house and causes the molecules of my body to rise up and float off. So why do I listen to it?

For some of us, sound is our path. We use sound as a tool, a practice, and a challenge in our spiritual growth. If this is your interest, then you may want to consider acquiring a taste for the strange and dissonant. We can certainly filter sounds through our limited perception, thank God, but we can't always pick and choose what we are exposed to in life. Life is full of dissonance just as it is also full of harmony. But can you hear the harmony within dissonance? Can you get past the challenge of a sound and move into the silence that contains it? How willing are you to expose yourself to something challenging and uncomfortable...not just for the sake of doing so but for a higher purpose?

A master I revere, Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote:"...in order to open the doors of his heart, to keep its sensitiveness, the one who communicates with life within and without is open to all influences, whether agreeable or disagreeable, and is without any protection. His only escape from all the disturbances of life is through rising above them."

In some ways, that is what I think this Level 2 #4 CD is training me to do...to be open to all influences and to rise above them all into soundless sound.

I have interfaced with Shapeshifter's music enough to know that pockets of it unfold and present themselves when I am ready and not before. There are CD's that I didn't like at all at first that have become my favorites because now, I can actually hear them.I know that passages I find difficult are moving something in me that I cling to and offer me support in moving energies that I have been resisting or suppressing. I have faith in the process.

Don't get me wrong here. I would never sit and listen to just any old music that made me sick to my stomach. I would never purposefully subject myself to noise. There are those who have chosen plant medicine as a path. To me, the idea of taking Ayahuasca and throwing up all night just don't appeal. And yet, I don't doubt that people with that practice experience amazing insights. I don't doubt it's value. But I also don't think they would then go around ingesting e-coli contaminated foods for the thrill or endurance-testing. Some things really are toxic and/or devoid of Life, whereas other things are sacred instruments that help us evolve. Like medicine, it might taste bad when going down, but these instruments can change and heal us. Shapeshifter's music is my medicine, neither better nor worse than any other medicine, just the best medicine for me.

Sound Healing: An Experience

Dielle is featured at the following blog:

http://brookesnextthing.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Speaking in Tongues

Glossolalia, otherwise known as "speaking in tongues" has its roots in ancient tribal and religious practices. The idea is letting go, sometimes into a trance-like state but not necessarily so, and allowing Spirit to speak through you. And some who practice glossolalia also translate it into understandable spiritual messages.

Recent research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown just how glossolalia affects the brain. Those speaking in tongues experience a sharp decrease in frontal lobe function (this is opposite of what meditators' brain scans show) and an increase in activity of the parietal region. The former area of the brain enables reason and self-control so glossolalia involves a surrender or letting go. The latter takes sensory information and tries to create a sense of self relating to the world. So glossolalia may help us make sense of our experiences in life.

There is a lot of initial discomfort for people when talking this way. It may feel like silly, gibberish, and I guess from a certain perspective, it is. But the point is what that practice of making gibberish is doing for you and whether or not you can allow it to provide you with a rich resource for inner guidance that bypasses your judging, justifying, "need to know" mind. If you can get over yourself and the embarassment of making strange sounds, you may be able to get in touch with a part of you that is comfortable with and open to mystery. It just may enrich your spiritual life and fulfill a need you didn't even know you had.

Try it. Light a candle. And just set your intent to engage in speaking nonsense. See what happens. Do you fight it? Giggle? Can you let go of the part of the mind that resists? Can you enter a space of surrender? As you become more and more comfortable with this practice, you can begin to use it for information. You can ask for teachings on situations in your life that are troubling you. And eventually, you can learn to translate what you receive into messages that help you. It's just a tool. Experiment and see what it can mean for you.

Vocal Toning Meditation for Beginners

Announcing a new live web course in Vocal Toning Meditation starting Monday, March 9 from 8-9PM EST on Talkshoe! This is a weekly teleclass that requires no previous experience.

This teleclass, which is not open to the public, is being offered for $40 (or also register for the intermediate and advanced classes for a discount). Details for registration are on the Voice of Life website.

In this beginning program you will learn about the history of toning, its many health benefits, how to care for your voice, the signifcance of the vowels, vocal flexibility, how to tone for release, traditional toning methods, the importance of breath, how to listen, call & response, and how to focus your intent when toning. This course will lay your Vocal Toning Meditation foundation so you can fly on the wings of your voice!

The Life that Informs You

So much beauty, so much depth, so much love...

Beyond the Frige

I recently rented the movie Millions: A Lottery Story, a documentary about people who have won the lottery. It was fascinating to listen to the different points of view around that sticky, tricky topic of money.

One woman had purchased herself a new refrigerator complete with an external ice maker. It was a real splurge. She explained that when she got it, she started to cry. Her husband asked her, "What are you crying for?" And she replied, "Who would have thought I could have what I want." I got stuck in that moment as the film went on. My mind was astounded by what this woman had just said. It was a profound question.

First of all, this woman had won massive sums, and her big splurge wasn't on a Mercedes or diamond necklace. It was an everyday appliance. That was the greatest thing she could conceive in her mind...to have a new fridge. Yet she could have had practically ANYTHING! It reminds me of how elephants can be tied down with a simple rope because they are conditioned with a chain when they are very young and unable to break free. If they only knew how much they had grown!

Secondly, who would have thought we could have what we want? I certainly didn't grow up thinking that it could be so easy...that it could just one day happen. I was taught that I had to work for it, suffer for it, pine for it. I was taught to dream small.

The more I thought about this woman and her profound statement, the more curious I became. What was my refrigerator in life...what am I settling for because I can't think bigger? What is the ceiling I self-impose on what I am willing to receive from the Universe? And more importantly, what is beyond that refrigerator just waiting for me to see it and act? Am I afraid of what might lie beyond the refrigerator? I mean, it's so vast, so limitless, so...scary! But I want to know. I want to be that one crazy elephant that suddenly awakens to the flimsy rope at it's foot. Snap!

Make Music!

Music is a form of love.
It is love you can hear.
It is love you can dance to.
Do not put off loving yourself.
Make music!

An Exercise in Exorcism: The Demon of Resentment

It started a couple of weeks ago when I slipped in some mud and injured my knee. What do they say, "Pride goeth before a fall?" There was an element of that in there, yes, but what was more evident to me was a relationship to stored resentment and anger. In fact, I was also having severe gallbladder pain a couple of hours before my fall. Gallbladder; resentment. Since then, I had also injured my right middle finger twice...resentment...and I woke up this morning with a head cold...again irritation and resentment. At least it is moving!

So, I decided to pay attention and work this out (I'm a little slow). First, I signed up for some free healing. Even healers need healing sometimes. Then I sat down with pen and paper and decided I wasn't going anywhere until I made a complete inventory of my past and present resentments. I wrote out about 7 or 8 pages! It was slow at first. I was in a bit of denial, I guess. But I was determined to have it out. After a page or so, the task started to feed on itself. Things were coming to me that I hadn't thought about in years. I decided that even if I "thought" I had released them, I would still write them down. I refused to censor anything. Some things carried quite a charge and other things felt stale. I underlined all the heavily charged ones. Into my 5th page, I realized this process could go on and on.

That's when I realized that I resented resentment. And that was when an interesting shift happened. I started to inventory why others may resent me. It didn't matter if it were true or not. Again, it was a creative act of intention but one that illuminated a things that I never considered before. This went on for a few more pages.

When I was done writing, some personal guidelines for living without resentment glistened out from the shadows between resentments:

• Don't make promises I can't keep.
• Follow through on those I do.
• Speak up if I feel uncomfortable whether or not I understand why.
• Don't be oblivious to others or exclusive in my attentions.
• Express appreciation.

I then went through my list of greivances and began expressing appreciation to each person on my list. I then went through other people's list of possible greivances against me and made up things that they might appreciate about me instead. I know I was doing good work because I was burning up, literally, and feeling rather altered.

By the time I finished, I was crying and feeling a great deal of relief and love. I toned "Shu Eh Eh Jiao", sounds associated with the Liver/Gallbladder and ended with a prayer. May the Divine help me to transform my anger and resentment into keen discernment and respectful action.

Flying Lessons

When I was little, I was fascinated by things that could fly. I completely believed in fairies (still do!), loved Peter Pan, and got a thrill from riding my bike downhill. There's a thrill of freedom that arises with the wind in my hair.

When I was in college, I was determined to learn to fly. I was either going to hang-glide off a mountain or become a barnstormer. I loved Richard Bach's Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah and his other books but only got so far as a pilot's permit.

Later, my dream turned to one of performing the role of Peter Pan in the musical. I would have only been flying from a wire, but it would have been an amazing experience. I came within a hair's breath of that one, but didn't get the part in the end.

The week after that let down, I started a Toltec apprenticeship with Spiritweavers during which we made power sticks. When my guide handed me back my stick, he laughed and said, "I don't know what this means, but use this to become Peter Pan." We then walked up a hill to a medicine wheel to perform a ceremony with our sticks. The wind started to kick up something fierce as we held our sticks to the setting sun. I really did feel like I was flying in that moment, leaning into the wind with my arms stretched like wings. It was an unforgettable moment.

The things is, I still have that feeling of flying. In fact, the more I sing, and the more I use the voice for my own healing and that of others, the more I realize that singing is really a type of flying. I have always wanted a pair of wings. I didn't know I've always had them and that they were called "vocal chords!"

I feel like I've been in flight school my whole life and didn't even know it. But I've always been licensed to fly. If you can sing, you can fly. No one should be denied nor deny themselves this role!

I'll conclude with a poem by Sri Chinmoy from The Source of Music: Music and Mantra for Self Realization:

“Let us not try to understand music with our mind. Let us not even try to feel it with our heart. Let us simply and spontaneously allow the music-bird to fly in our heart-sky. While flying, it will unconditionally reveal to us what it has and what it is. What it has is Immortality’s message. And what it is is Eternity’s passage.”

Singing is Good for Your Health!!!

There is more research out there than I realized that supports singing is great for our health, both physiological and psychological. I already knew that, of course, because I experience it directly and see clients experience it too. But it is nice to know that science is adding credence to our experiences. Research shows that:

Singing boosts our immune system with antibodies and anti-stress hormones.
Singing reduces pain and relieves stress through the release of endorphins.
Singing is therefore also a natural mood lifter with no negative side-effects.
It improves our breathing and, therefore, our oxygen intake.
It tones facial and abdominal muscles.
It stimulates our circulation.
Singing brightens our expressiveness and voice quality.
Singing keeps us young in body, mind and heart!

Best of all, singing is accessible to anyone with a voice and highly economical.

So Tra La La the next time you want to feel good fast!

God is a Rubix Cube: My Mythology of the Day

Here is my silly mythology of the day. Remember the Rubix Cube, that funky multi-colored puzzle popular in the 80's? I woke up last night at 12:30AM with a perfect Rubix Cube being dropped into my consciousness. It drifted in like a feather surrounded by light and came with a feeling of Divine grace.

Last night, I held a gathering at my house. We discussed the question, "What is next?" in terms of spirituality. More importantly though, we stopped discussing at one point and just sat still. I believe that collective stillness is what delivered an opening that would then infuse my night with the message of the Rubix Cube...an answer (not the answer, but an answer) to our question.

Might the Rubix be a symbol of spirituality, of what our oneness really means, of where we are headed? Right now, humanity is a jumbled puzzle, the Divine Rubix spun out of whack by our self-importance and thought-driven decisions. It isn't that we're wrong, just that we're capable of something much more amazing, though we might not see our own potential. Yet changes are happening that we can liken to a cosmic turn of the cube. Strangers are being brought together. New questions are being asked. Challenges are bringing in new energeies and new directions. Rows of color are aligning.

Just as we get one side together though, when we turn the cube, we realize the rest of it is a mess. Some of us quickly flip back to the neat side ignoring the jumble beneath. Others of us think WE have to DO something. So we start thinking again. Turn here. Move there. This is right. That's not. We work on this new side only to realize we no longer have the first side complete. Or we dig in our heels and refuse be turned...that one stubborn red block on the yellow side. This is a metaphor not only for the collective, but for each individual as well. Cubes upon dizzying cubes.

But there is a greater benevolent force at work. There's something mysterious going on in the center of that cube! What's next is to trust it. As we allow ourselves to be turned, surrendering to a greater intelligence and broader plan than our ego can conceive, we begin to align. As we trust and allow, we begin to witness a "lighting up" of the grid of colors on the cube until that pivotal moment when that last turn is made and all six sides align, and like a key unlocking a gateway, we ascend. (By the way, I have no idea what ascension might mean or look like; I'm using that word to point to the mysterious passage for which we are headed.)

As we love and respect those different sides of ourselves, those people who think nothing like we do, those people who are so close to being "acceptable" if only they would change one thing, and those we keep close because they reflect us so perfectly...if we loved and respected all, we would align those sides of ourselves and begin to see the perfection of the whole. Maybe. I guess it depends on one's idea of "love and respect."

The 41 Cent Project

Check out this blog...a simple idea with a profound result. It just takes a quarter, a dime, a nickel, a penny, and your intent to restore America's integrity.

41 Cent Project

A Question of Control

I've been considering the topic of manifestation quite a bit lately. I really dislike that word for some reason. And I wonder, if we have any control, how much do we have? Surely we can't use "the secret" to bring people back from the dead. Or can we? We don't have to co-create with God for our hearts to beat and our lungs to fill. It just happens. But how often do we use the idea of manifesting to abuse ourselves and be angry with God because things aren't the way we desire?

There is the camp that says we create everything with our thoughts. I believe our thoughts color our world at the very least.

There is the camp that says we are God's puppet. Certainly, there is a greater force than what I think is me plotting out the course of the world.

I decided to check in with the Christ energy and asked for a soul message on the subject, this is what I got:

You are wasting your time to reason these mysteries. All you need to do is love. Love and you are closer to God. Love unconditionally and you are one with God, and these questions no longer hold relevance.

Oh.

Summoning

Too much effort in manifesting,
As if I must toil and make it all happen.
Rather, may I but summon all I desire.
For as a Queen summons her servants,
So are they there before her on bended knees
awaiting her command; and it is done.
My heart open and loving
is the key to the storehouse of spontaneous arising.
I am the point of miracles, The Empress.

What's Next?

I am about to enter a paradox. Will you join me? I am going to write about life beyond point of view...but it's just my point of view.

As we evolve and grow ever more spiritually conscious, I see a new obstacle forming...a potentially sticky one. These days, there are just so many different paths available. There are so many spiritual masters coming forward with their teachings and blessings. It is wonderful, truly, because so many people are being attracted and opening up. There is something for everyone. But someone explain to me how more pieces of the whole are ultimately going to unite us?

Look at what is going on out there on one level as different paths vie for attention. They purposely discount one another. People feel "special" and "spiritually superior" for the guru they follow or the blessing they are "ordained" to give. Everyone is trying to one up everyone else. We attach to "a way" because we find value in it, but at what point is it keeping us from acknowledging our own authority and power? At what point does it separate us rather than unite us?

At what point will we realize there is only Love. It isn't love and healing from Atlantis, love and healing from Christ, love and healing from Deeksha, love and healing from Divine Souls, love and healing from the Toltec...and on ad infinitum. Sure the different paths are necessary now in order to attract more and more people, but now is as good a time as any for some of us to rise up and say "Enough! Let us transcend what has brought us here! Let us enter the abyss that lies outside of form and see what we discover."

This is the next step. We have the awareness. We have the concepts. Let's move now into experience. Let every voice be the voice of a master. Let every hand offer a healing blessing. Let wisdom pour out of every being. Let's create from that place!!!

Love

Love is all you need.
Love is the answer.
Live and Love.

"I love you." "If you loved me, you would..." "I love chocolate." "I don't know how to love." "Do you love me?" "I'll never love this way again." "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Love me forever and ever."

Love. A tiny word with a lot of muck covering up its power. I am so happy that I don't understand Love, for if I did, I'm sure I would have nothing but a sorry fragment of "it" that I convinced myself was "it". Love is so much more than anything and everything. It is everywhere, in everyone, and in everything. But when we insist on defining it, Love naturally gets a bad wrap. It becomes corny, pithy, overused, false, or too serious. But our ability to salvage Love, to mine it from the pile of poo it is buried in, to shine it up and share it, that is our salvation. What if we became boundless vessels of Love, unafraid in every moment to be it...not just feel it? What if our Love was so great that nothing but Love could exist in our presence? What if we stopped defining Love and instead, we let it be?

Lisssssten!