Category: Sound Meditation

Acornology & Change

4/3/2021

Photo by Leah Kelly, Pexels

The acorn is a seed with a nature and destiny to become…an oak tree. It is our nature and destiny to become…

We are not broken but blessed.

When we are in grief…from the little losses of a normal human life…or the big losses of death…we must go to ground.

Grief cracks us open. Pandemics crack us open. Death cracks us open. Go to ground..

Go to the ground of our being, and a world of growth and possibility opens up, (ahem)... after a time.

Can Grief be Medicine?

It was for me...and I handled it badly.
I accumulated so many little griefs that I was numb by the time the big hitters came by. I wrote about it...until I was empty. It worked for me. (and I created a book with gifts for you...should you be wise enough or courageously curious enough to want to hear another's story: Her is a link)

Grief offers up for your review that which changes...contrasting with that which DOES NOT CHANGE. This is inner work. It is a spiritual journey.

I did not know how to process feelings as they came (feel them ...and let them go) much less allow my support system in. I thought I was along. I was not.

I am not and neither are you.

But by far the most important thing is to have faith in a friendly universe...and that change is not a bad thing.

A Sound Meditation about Change:

A story about change by Jacob Needleman

Once upon a time, in land not so far away, there was a kingdom of acorns, nestled at the foot of a grand old oak tree. Since the citizens of this kingdom were modern, fully Westernized acorns, they went about their life with a purposeful energy; and since they were midlife baby boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses. There were seminars called “Getting all you; can out of your shell” and Who would you be without your nutty story?” There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their fall from the tree. There were spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being.

One day in the midst of this kingdome there suddenly appeared a knotty little stranger, apparently dropped out of ht eblue by a passing bird. He was capless and dirty, making an immediate negative impression on his fellow acorns. And to make things worse, crouched beneath the mighty oak tree, he stammered out a wild tale. Pointing up at the tree, her said “We…are…that!”

Delusional thinking, obviously, the other acorns concluded, but htye continued ot engage him in conversation: “ So tell us, how do we…become tht tree?” “Well, said he, pointing downward, “it has something to do with going into the ground…and cracking open te shell.”Insane tht responded. “Totally morbid! Why then we wouldn’t be acorns anymore.”

We are that.

Acornology – by Jacob Needleman, retold by Cynthia Bourgeault in the Wisdom Way

A Hafiz Poem ...about the biggest &
most mysterious change

I used to know my name.
Now I don’t. I think a river understands me.
For what does it call itself in that blessed
moment when it starts emptying into the
Infinite Luminous Sea,

and opening every aspect of self wider than
it ever thought possible?

Each drop of itself now running to embrace
and unite with a million new friends.

And you were there, in OUR union with All. Hafiz

Attributions & Inspirations

1. I am inspired. By Rev. Mark Fuss. Unity booklet Courage to Imagine.
2. Acornology – by Jacob Needleman, retold by Cynthia Bourgeault in the Wisdom Way
3. A Year with Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
4. Breathing Underwater - Richard Rohr

The Audible book is really lovely to walk with...and savor

These translations will change you!

Get one on Amazon here;

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Sound to Stay awake...and to sleep with...

12/6/2020

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Max Richters piece Dream 3 (in the midst of my life)

Like many others, I stumbled into Zoom to support people. Almost 200 YouTube sound meditations later, I am on sabbatical for the holidays and thinking about what i might offer in January 2021 when I begin again. What do I need? What does the world need. My answer to both is rest. This post is about a composer who makes music to help us sleep: Max Richter may be in your COVID-19 necessary coping toolkit...

The Work of Max Richter is a COVID-19 toolkit must.

The intention for my sound meditations are to help us STAY AWAKE yet still open hearted in order to continue to show up in the world, which needs us to do so... but sound can also help us sleep.

As I started researching how sound might help us do this, I came across an artist whose work has gracefully delved into "What kind of music would I want if I am sleeping?" (LINK to it here) Max Richter sees music as an extension of natures balance and symmetry...for growth.

Max Richter' sleep music for your Covid-19 coping kit.

Max Richter does music compositions for sleep - One lasts 8 hours - this link is called SLEEP 2 & lasts 2 minutes...

As a hospice chaplain, I support many in the scariest places they have ever journeyed: to the edge of life. It is the edge of our known world. My intention in my own work is to walk with people to enough ease...to support people in staying awake...while actively giving care in the world.

Because insomnia is rampant here...on the edge of the known world...and we need "a place to rest".

Max Richter walking in a Los Angeles outdoor venue with an interviewer...before the concert there in 2018

And he made music (and a film) for SLEEPING PEOPLE..."to help us navigate our way through the chaos that we live in..."

Max Richer at the Sydney Opera House...performing sleep

Max Richter Composes with the symmetry of nature...

Max Richter composed a piece of music that lasts 8 hours and is derived from the symmetry of nature. He has, before COVID-19 restrictions, performed it to sleeping audiences...on cots in symphony halls and outside in amphitheatres for eight hours. It is lovely. I would like to recommend it and many other sleep pieces for your COVID-19 coping tool kit

We need to find harmony and growth. Max Richter sees it in fibonacci
numbers and the symmetry of nature...

May it help you too this holiday season.

SHELTER IN GRACE Sound Meditations may help you stay awake...May it be so. Thank you for your support too.

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CONNECTED & a Perfecting Moment

8/1/2020

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I begin by reminding myself, (and you) about the FIRE HOSE of power in the moment.

EVERYTHING can change in a moment but when we make the moment a practice...it perfects us.

(Ahem, that would be THIS one.) No... wait we missed it. Don't worry here it is again... because the quantum scientists and the ancient mystics say that we only have ONE: i.e. This one moment.

Practicing the PERFECTing Moment

We began this sound meditation with a ONE MINUTE meditation. I call it PRACTICING the PERFECTING MOMENT: It is a Pause button which may be pushed any time. We always have a minute. This one was to the Indian singing bell with an "In & Out' mantra.

Daily Word today that day spoke about getting to a "calm certainty…in connection…" (that would be a great 1 minute mantra...) or simply Let your breath be your in and out mantra….

Here: it's simple:

1. Align – your spine …you should get a little spark of energy when you sit up straight or stand in a mindfully balanced way….( a frisson of flow)

2. Allow the breath to breathe you – to the sound of the singing bell.

3. Repeat for ONE minute.

   I am called to a sacred connection to all life.

   Our interconnectedness of everything with me …is my conscious powerhouse of energy.

   I am called to connect with my full, and confident expression of myself and engage the circumstances of life with poise and tenacity.

   I see A calm certainty of CONNECTION When I look at nature.

   I notice how the trees provide a nesting place for birds and how rainfall nourishes all living creatures. My observations remind me that I am connected to all things through Spirit.

   I remember and honor my connection to all living beings as sacred by

•   expressing respect to animals, the environment, and all people.
•   Giving thanks for how nature provides & sustain my life.
•   improving my interpersonal skills so that I may connect with authenticity and compassion.
•   growing from life’s wisdom
This wisdom informs my mind and directs my steps. I am a conscious agent for beneficial change.
I connect to my full, and confident expression of myself and engage the circumstances of life with poise and tenacity.

    - Daily word – Believe

An Embodied PAUSE BUTTON...

This is a PAUSE BUTTON in your day…making a better day by making the next moment better. IT REMINDs us in a deep embodied way…that we have all the time we need right now for a good life…well lived.

I teach this to my teams in hospice, (if they are willing). There are many ways to pause but using meditation techniques allow quick access the deep medicine of CONNECTION, (to the Holy SPIRIT or our Higher Power ) in THE NEXT moment.

BECAUSE…pausing can mean that we respond instead of react …and that matters in my world, in your world, and in everyone else’s. Is the world today not reactive ENOUGH?

CONNECTED:
Listen to the meditation here.

No time...not to.

Now is the time
for the world to know
That every thought and action
is sacred

This is the time
For you to deeply compute
the impossibility

That there is anything
But Grace….

–Hafiz, The Gift
Translation Daniel Ladinsky

Because playfully …and in truth…there is no time. This is both quantum and eternal truth that time does not exist.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience…and we are… only now. (i.e. that would be that same moment I mentioned earlier...)

FOR a single minute, you can
• Drop into ‘NO TIME’…(and in no time you can find a moment of ‘no-time’.)

• Take a moment (Say...this ONE) to know time because "NOW is the time" to Know Time… because we don’t need 20 minutes to be calm. We can, with practice, put it all aside..for 60 seconds, drop down, touch down, and BEGIN AGAIN.

No. 1 The In & Out Mantra...

In this first exercise, the "In & Out" Mantra, let's make the mantra short but EXPANSIVE. It can be a word, a principle, an image, a color, an idea, or it could be an experience.

The feeling of opening would be a great mantra for this one minute practice. Whatever you choose take it from your 'happy list'. You don't have a HAPPY LIST...Make one. It's important to your happiness to know the things that make your heart sing.

BEST PRACTICE: the list of happy.
What are your happy symbols, words, images to carry with you?.
ere's my list:

• puppy energy,
• color orange,
• a crackling fire,
• a walk in nature,
• Deco architecture
• laugh lines
•screened porches
• Hafiz etc.

What MAKES YOU HAPPY?)

Choose Happy...(Why not?)

Whatever mantra you choose for the in breath, use it for the out-breath, too. REPEAT & Start again. Do this for one minute. It can be intense but it is easy... Let's take 'EASE" as an example:

Breathe in - THINK: ease
Hold it for a count of 4 - think of that image, sound, meaning as filling you up

Breathe out fully & slowly: THINK: ease (flowing out into the world)
BECAUSE, if you are connected to LOVE (insert you word for God/SOURCE here) you are connected to a fire hose of refreshment and YOU (little old you) have more than enough to spread around. What you are and do matters.

RIGHT? If you are not fully convinced that you have to put in hours on the cushion (to earn) your peace, prove it to yourself. TRY this one a day. Like our AA friends say, it works if you work it.

**HOW to DO a Perfecting Moment?**

1) Go APART – (find a quiet place...where no one can find you...it's only a minute...)
       a. Put it all aside for just 60 seconds.
       b. Decide on what you want your mantra to be for the next 60 seconds
       c. Set timer & go.

2) Align spine …You should get a little spark of energy when you sit
up straight or stand in a mindfully balanced way….

3) Allow the breath to breathe you – BEGIN the minute: breathe in, pause, and out repeating your mantra of the moment.

DO this once a day – or once an hour and you will grow a better life.

ATTRIBUTIONS TODAY:

Daily Word July 29 & 30, 2020: Connection & Believe

THANK YOUs

THANK YOU to all you who have signed up for my monthly writings in Taking Care Resilience News And, of course, to those who have purchased my book.

It is lovely to be seen….and heard

A new & free audio book will be coming out soon… you will get it automatically for those who belong to my mailing list… sign up HERE

1) My thanks to Mary Oliver for her line from THE SUMMER DAY. – my one wild and precious life…

2) MY thanks to SF unity for the invitation to practice as my highest self. I invite you to do that today. We need your voice.

Blessings….on your day.

1 Comment

RE: renewable caring

Acornology & Change

Can Grief be Medicine?

A Sound Meditation about Change:

A story about change by Jacob Needleman

A Hafiz Poem ...about the biggest &
most mysterious change

Attributions & Inspirations

Sound to Stay awake...and to sleep with...

The Work of Max Richter is a COVID-19 toolkit must.

Max Richter' sleep music for your Covid-19 coping kit.

Because insomnia is rampant here...on the edge of the known world...and we need "a place to rest".

Max Richter Composes with the symmetry of nature...

CONNECTED & a Perfecting Moment

Practicing the PERFECTing Moment

An Embodied PAUSE BUTTON...

CONNECTED:
Listen to the meditation here.

No time...not to.

No. 1 The In & Out Mantra...

Choose Happy...(Why not?)

**HOW to DO a Perfecting Moment?**

ATTRIBUTIONS TODAY:

THANK YOUs

EM Hager
Author, Bereavement & Spiritual care, Sound meditation guide.

Archives

Categories

Sustainable Caregiving in sweet small steps...and two books:

RE: renewable caring

Acornology & Change

Can Grief be Medicine?

A Sound Meditation about Change:

A story about change by Jacob Needleman

A Hafiz Poem ...about the biggest & most mysterious change

Attributions & Inspirations

Sound to Stay awake...and to sleep with...

The Work of Max Richter is a COVID-19 toolkit must.

Max Richter' sleep music for your Covid-19 coping kit.

Because insomnia is rampant here...on the edge of the known world...and we need "a place to rest".

Max Richter Composes with the symmetry of nature...

CONNECTED & a Perfecting Moment

Practicing the PERFECTing Moment

An Embodied PAUSE BUTTON...

CONNECTED: Listen to the meditation here.

No time...not to.

No. 1 The In & Out Mantra...

Choose Happy...(Why not?)

HOW to DO a Perfecting Moment?

ATTRIBUTIONS TODAY:

THANK YOUs

EM HagerAuthor, Bereavement & Spiritual care, Sound meditation guide.

Archives

Categories

Sustainable Caregiving in sweet small steps...and two books:

A Hafiz Poem ...about the biggest &
most mysterious change

CONNECTED:
Listen to the meditation here.

**HOW to DO a Perfecting Moment?**

EM Hager
Author, Bereavement & Spiritual care, Sound meditation guide.