Songs the Body Knows

A Voice of Praise | To Walk in Beauty | The Way of Pranotthana

 

A VOICE OF PRAISE...A VOICE OF WONDER

In times of great uncertainty and change in our lives and in our world, how can we come into a resonant and harmonious relationship with Life’s unfoldment? How can we find a voice of wonderment - a Voice of Praise -for this miracle that is our Life?

Experiences that can shake the very foundations of our lives are often gateways to a deeper and richer relationship with Self …with Soul…with Life itself. In this workshop, we will explore how - by directly inviting the mystery of uncertainty and unfoldment - hidden spiritual and creative gifts can be revealed. These wondrous gifts can be found in every aspect of our lives – from difficult health challenges, life patterns, relationships and work experiences, to dreams and spiritual challenges. Through voice, movement, poetry and dream, we will invite the inner revelation of these gifts…and – through their revelation – discover the utterly unique and essential voice that we each offer to the Song of Life. As we offer our voice to Life’s Song, we truly become a Voice of Praise.


Our Intentions For You

  • Enhanced radiance and opening of the Throat Chakra
  • Increased creativity and flow of creative energy
  • Expanded ability to express greater passion, range and facility through the voice and body
  • Find gateways to greet change with openness and grace
  • Open pathways to release blocks to expression, creativity, spiritual insight and healing
  • Enhanced personal vitality and aliveness

    NOTE: Previous vocal and movement experience is totally unnecessary – in fact, those who consider themselves to be ‘non-vocalists’ and ‘non-movers’ may find this workshop particularly enlivening and rewarding.

A Voice of Praise Article (PDF)

 

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TO WALK IN BEAUTY

Living in harmony with the rhythms of the Natural World is essential for all those seeking to fully participate in the unfoldment of our planet…our culture…and our Selves. However, in our fast-paced culture, many of us embrace lifestyles and belief systems that lack a harmonic resonance with Nature’s rhythms. This lack of harmonic resonance can be the source of physical, psychological and spiritual dis-ease.

For optimal wellbeing, our body’s overall vibrational frequency must be ‘fine-tuned’ moment-to-moment by Nature’s rhythms - by the time of day…the season…the phase of the moon. This fine-tuning is communicated to our bodies by the sounds in the world around us: by the songs of birds…by the buzzing of insects…by the sound of the wind and falling rain.

To re-establish our natural harmonic resonance, in this workshop we will begin to create ‘a temple deep inside our hearing’ - where the sounds of Nature will be received as divine gift.

Our Intentions For You:

In workshop & inspirational natural settings;

  • Feel voice music & movement attune you to nature’s harmonic rhythms
  • Experience how nature’s rhythms heal dis-ease
  • Express the vitality of your own natural rhythm
  • Joyously participate in the unfoldment of your life

To Walk in Beauty Article (PDF)

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THE WAY OF PRANOTTHANA

The mysterious force that animates all of Life is known by many names. Often it is called chi…life-force…élan vital…spirit…or bio-energy. In the yogic tradition, it is known as prana.

During the creation of each one of us, prana guided our transformation from a single fertilized egg into a miraculous multi-cellular being. During this transformation, our embryonic body elongated and twisted…involuted and stretched.

This movement and stretching continued all the way through our development in the womb…and into our infancy. We even displayed flowing hand mudras and other body postures well known to yogic and tai chi practitioners. At birth, we also added spontaneous vocalizations to our repertoire. Through these spontaneous movements and vocalizations, prana developed and matured our beingness.

However, very early in our lives, many of us began to use our will to restrict our body to culturally acceptable movements and expressions. This restriction of spontaneity impedes pranic activity – and ultimately inhibits our maturation into the full potential of our incarnation.

Awakening Pranotthana

To restore the free flow of prana, we must surrender our mind’s control over our body movements and expressions. This surrender initiates an awakening known by yogis as pranotthana. This awakening may be initiated through contact with someone in whom pranotthana is already fully active. Sometimes all it takes is the sound of their awakened voice…or the feel of their touch…or sight of their body moving…to initiate an unimagined pranic release.

Similar to the pranic activity of our early life, pranotthanic awakening is characterized by spontaneous physical movements and passionate vocalizations. Our reawakened prana then begins to mediate a gradual series of subtle – yet remarkable - transformations in our physicality and psycho-spirituality.

Through these transformations, we discover that – with no conscious effort at all – we have become more able to express our appreciation and forgiveness...more able to apologize and to love unconditionally. Family, friends – and even strangers – increasingly seek us out…to bask in the glow of our soul.

Simply stated: we spontaneously become nicer people. What a great gift this is! And what a great gift to offer back to Life’s creations.

A Personal Spirituality

As pranotthana continues, these simple sentiments – like appreciation, forgiveness, apology, love – evolve into feelings of utter awe and gratitude for the mystery and miracle of Life itself. And our spontaneous movements and vocalizations become more recognizable as expressions of devotion. Our body may worshipfully bow down to kiss the earth. Or we may suddenly begin chanting a name of God…and discover that – within the sound of Allah or Krishna or Yahweh or Buddha – lies the holy vibration of the Now moment that awakens faith in an ever more hopeful future.

Such spontaneous devotional expressions reveal that pranotthanic awakening underlies the sacred practices of many spiritual traditions – from ecstatic shamanic dance to the torso rocking prayer of Judaic davening…from charismatic Holy Ghost speaking in tongues to the whirling dervish and chanting dhikr of Sufism.

Yet pranotthana does not fetter us with the dogmas or doctrines of established spiritualities. Rather, our own personal spirituality effortlessly unfolds from within our own body. A personal spirituality in harmony with our innate uniqueness. A personal spirituality celebrating each moment of existence…where each moment’s passing carries us toward the further maturations (including kundalini awakening) that may be ours to experience.