Beloved 6:17
"The music resonated with me and reminded me of the deeper dimension of myself. This revelation was instrumental to me, as I finally see the first spark of light that yes, perhaps I can shine again."
"People's perspective and perception change as we come face to face with our deeper knowing, which makes it easier for us to go forward. "
The man for whom Beloved was played said, "I felt a tangle being unraveled and straightened out inside of me."
He felt "lighter, as though a weight lifted from my heart."
Music brings healing closer than we could have imagined.
Music opens us to the truth of Who We Are, not an imagined, distant hope but in touch with the immediacy of our own resilient Inner Resources.
November 4, 2014 LISTEN TO SAMPLE antidote to stress
Encounters with the True Self through Music; Healing Grief and Old Wounds
December 22, 2014 LISTEN TO SAMPLE peace in motion
Music as Medicine SPECTRUM
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BLOG ARCHIVES
2014
November
Take a 4 Minute Peace Break: Music of "Moonlight Water"
December
Music Opens Doorways in Awareness; "On Earth As It Is In Heaven"
Encounters with the True Self through Music
Siok had lost her husband, her best friend and co-worker when he passed away one year before. Tormented by grief with little left to inspire her, she made a decision to rejuvenate her life, to explore her creativity and find herself at a new and deeper level.
She had a formal music education but, like many well-trained music students I have met, she had become drained and lost the joy she once knew that music could bring.
She wanted to find her "own voice" and a deep sense of self-knowing in exploring music yet, as she said, "It wasn’t easy as, all my life, I’ve only been taught to play other people’s music."
Siok Khoon arrived at my door, understandably downtrodden and despairing, reaching for help. She wrote about of her healing process through music that ignited the day we met.
The message that Siok Khoon conveys is that music "Set free my soul to sing again!" as music is meant to do.
My Healing Through Music by Siok Khoon Kent
Music has always been part of my life, but I never really realized what a significant role it played, until very recently.
A bit of history…
The music training I had when I was young killed much of that sacred connection I have with music, leaving me a frustrated artist, unable to express.
My hope to reconnect with music rekindled years ago, when I came across the wonderful works of Shinichi Suzuki. When I heard young children playing straight from their heart with the competent techniques and skills of a master, I knew he truly understood that music is our mother tongue, irregardless of culture, nationality and race. And more importantly, he recognized that music is the language of our soul.
I immersed myself in the Suzuki community for a couple of years, and that has helped heal a lot of damages and reclaim more confidence in my playing. The part that I enjoyed most was attending & observing masterclasses, for I feel that music lessons shouldn’t be just about the boring technics and mechanics of music, or how to impress audience and score points, but how to bring music to life.
So, each music lesson has always felt like a spiritual trip to me, and I felt I needed to learn more about life.
When I was diagnosed with “eczema”, I couldn’t play the piano without feeling the pain in between the fingers, and that led me to my pursuit on health. Lucky was I that I met Ray (my husband and a natural health proponent), and I felt I’ve found one of the biggest missing puzzles in my life.
If music is the language of our soul, then our body is our first musical instrument. And the more natural the body, the easier the music comes through. I am reminded of the native tribal people who have a natural sense of rhythm that civilized folks just couldn’t keep up to.
Ray has always encouraged me to keep playing the piano as part of my on-going healing, and to go find my own voice. He encouraged me to improvise and play what I feel in my heart.
I had to take baby steps. It wasn’t easy, as all my life, I’ve only been taught to hear other people’s music, and play their music.
I’ve always wondered why music education has to be taught in such a spirit dampening way. Whereas children learn how to draw by just drawing, and then learning the tools they needed to draw what they want, why children who learn piano or violin have to spend their lifetime playing other people’s music and nothing of their own?
So, anyway, I started a bit of improvising, playing Ray’s favorite songs and my favorite songs, and it felt great.
With Ray’s passing, I sank deeper into my grief, and I went back to the piano.
I played our favorite songs and tears just fell like flowing out of a dam. I went through many such episodes, until I got sick of listening to my own grief. That was when I felt that perhaps music will help me heal and I should take on Ray’s advice and find my own voice.
So, I guess it was not by accident that I found Suzanne Grosvenor, while I was having lunch at Wholefoods and browsing through a holistic magazine and saw her ad. I checked out her website, and just had a feeling that maybe this is the person who can help me.
Suzanne has the gift of hearing music from people at 3 levels - personality, emotional and a third level which she describes as a “a deep layer of serenity which is the territory of the human spirit.”
I was curious of her sensitivity and her ability to play spontaneously what she honestly hears. She calls it a “sound portrait” and of course, I was dying to hear what she hears from me.
As soon as she started playing, I knew she was connected to my soul. It was a deeply emotional experience for me, hard to describe, but the music resonated with me and reminded me of the deeper dimension of myself. This revelation was instrumental to me, as I finally see the first spark of light that yes, perhaps I can shine again.
The day that she handed me the CD, I played it in the car, 80 miles all the way home and I cried all the way, but by the time I reached home, I felt a sense of calmness and serenity.
I’ve never known what music can do for me as this!!! And it was not Mozart’s music or Bach’s. It was a music Suzanne played for me, from me. Isn’t it wild?
Suzanne went on to show me how to play myself, and to be honest to play only what I hear.
I tried it for the first week, and was surprised that I can write myself in music. It is truly liberating and wonderful to play my own music and appreciate every note and silence I wrote, because I know I f--king MEAN it. This joy is far greater than playing the music of Chopin or Schubert.
I observed that I have been writing music that keeps going back to the same motif. Suzanne said maybe it’s all part of a big piece. Ya, it does seem to feel this way, and I’m still in the process of linking these smaller pieces to something that I feel is more complete.
So, for now, I’m happy to be back in the journey to myself, through music.
And I like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Suzanne, whose groundbreaking work is truly an eye opener. She is certainly pioneering a new frontier of healing through music, and I am so fortunate to have found her in this lifetime. Thank you, Suzanne! You’ve helped set free my soul to sing again!
Because of this unique experience, I wanted to share it with my love as well. I enlisted Suzanne’s help to do sound portraits for my parents and a few close friends. Her insight and music was mind-blowing.
What I found most valuable in this exercise is that people’s perspective and perception change as we come face to face with our deeper knowing, which made it easier for us to go forward.
I guess this experience is truly about “facing the music” :-)
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What a joy to hear Siok Khoon's story of seeking and finding healing through music, not only for her recent trauma but for a long-standing wound!
Music brings healing closer than we could have imagined. Music opens us to the truth of Who We Are, not an imagined, distant hope but in touch with the immediacy of our own resilient Inner Resources.
It is only a matter of having enough vision to allow ourselves to step into the great healing that we know we deserve that lies within us, waiting just beneath the surface of the mind.
Music ignites the spirit. And the spirit is the source of healing of our wounds. The spirit takes us beyond our mind and emotional patterns and programs.
The music presented today is 'Beloved,' a continuation of music played for the man whose stress immediately transformed to deep peace and self assurance. This piece followed 'Moonlight Water' (blog Nov. 20) in that day's sound portrait session.
The man for whom the music was played said, "I felt a tangle being unraveled and straightened out inside of me."
The music influenced him to feel "lighter, as though a weight was lifted from my heart."
The music had a dramatic effect, causing him to become more deeply aware of how he felt and had been feeling in recent days.
During the holiday season, it is important to keep to your center. Abide in the peace of your inner core, in touch with common sense of your inner voice.
Wishing you a beautiful season of peace, love and refreshment.
Suzanne
"I’d never known what music can do for me as this!!! And it was not Mozart’s music or Bach’s. It was a music Suzanne played for me, from me. Isn’t it wild?"
