Singing Makes Peace - Equinox Gift Peace Download

Singing Makes Peace

I just took part in Sing for Water this weekend, an event which brings together a mass choir of 800 people at the Thames Festival to raise funds for WaterAid’s life saving projects in Ghana.  Founder Helen Chadwick told us that she was initially motivated to create the project partly by her frustration at the start of the war in Afghanistan which went ahead despite massive protests at the time -
‘What you are creating’ she said ‘is peace.’

This is true on many, many levels: -
singing makes peace  

As we approach Peace Day this Equinox, here’s my thoughts on how:

Personally, singing enables us to make peace with ourselves.  

Singing brings us into a connected space where all levels of awareness - mental, physical, emotional and spiritual - become integrated and focussed intentionally.  

When singing, we begin to breathe more deeply and rhythmically which regulates our heart-beat and brain waves - our whole body gets a melodic work out.  As we concentrate on lyrics and melody, our mind becomes calm and centred.  Connecting with the meanings and feelings of a song brings us into emotional connection, enabling us to express ourselves deeply.   We become more present to our own presence and gain perspective. We enter a meditative state of creative connection.

Its a great boost of confidence for singers to learn a wide range of songs and perform in a huge choir to an enthusiastic and participative audience at the Thames Festival.   This year I was so proud of the members of Forest Hill Singing Group and also my Dad (John Burden) who all sang and fundraised admirably.  There was water in our eyes as well as the skies,as we were all immensely moved by the profound power of being immersed in such a huge sound with such a big-hearted intention.
 

Socially, singing helps us make peace with one another

Singing together creates a sense of unity.  When we sing together in a group, we move and breathe together and our heart beats become regulated.  I often find myself standing in front of groups of seeming-strangers who within a few moments of singing together become a community.  This is why singing can be such an amazing tool for conflict resolution, mediation and dialogue.  

At Sing for Water, choirs come together not just at the big day but also beforehand, as choir leaders collaborate on leading shared rehearsals.  Many choir leaders have been inspired to create Sing for Water events across the UK and beyond, (including Sing for Water North, Sing for Water West and Sing for Water Leicester) which as Helen points out makes it a collectively owned project.   It’s a massively creative process which enables singers to meet, co-create and share a unifying experience together.

Globally, singing helps us make peace across the planet.

With our current technology, we now have an amazing platform for global connection.  Eric Whitacre speaks of how seeing the first finished video of the Virtual Choir  - a project whose most recent project Fly to Paradise featured 5,905 singers from 101 countries - brought him to tears: “The intimacy of all the faces, the sound of the singing, the obvious poetic symbolism about our shared humanity and our need to connect; all of it completely overwhelmed me.”

There is something truly amazing about participating in an event like Sing for Water which transforms people’s lives across the globe. Easily preventable diseases claim the lives of one child every second because they lack access to clean water.  The shocking and inspiring fact is that it is so easy to solve and costs so little - only £15 to give one person access to clean water for life.  So the funds raised make a big difference, demonstrating that when we all share resources creatively, everyone benefits.  

If you feel moved, please do make a donation at my Just Giving Page.

Ecologically, singing helps us make peace with the planet

Becoming aware of our own innate rhythms attunes us to nature.  As we breathe out, plants breathe in.  The tidal rhythms of our own inner waters are affected by every sound we encounter and emit.  We become aware that we are actually composed of waves of vibrations that interact with the vibrations of everything around us.   So as we listen for our own song, we become more attuned to our environment - the big symphony of nature around us.  When waves of thick oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 I felt a shock wave passing through my body that prompted me to sing, a song that grew into an album (Shiva’s Rain 2011) which grew into a connection with Sing for Water

Sing for Water is just one project of so many across the planet where singing is being used to make peace and change lives. It’s message is simple - we can sing and we can change our world, one beautiful peaceful note at a time.  

I am including a Special Equinox Gift Download - “We Belong”- a Song for Peace  

and invite you to join us at the special Heaven on Earth Equinox Gathering where we will be harvesting and celebrating together.

Wishing you a peaceful Equinox

Shalom, Shanti, Salam, Peace

 
After Sing for Water with John Burden (my Dad☺)

Soul Sounds

Soul Sounds

“We connect to the world through the sound: the chatter of people, the hum of the traffic, the whisper of touch, the percussion of a heartbeat.”
- Caro Ness  - A Space for Silence  

I’m having some absolutely amazing adventures with sound at the moment and just wanted to share my excitement with you.

This week I read an article that suggested that our nerves communicate by sound rather than electricity.  This correlates with the profound experiences of sound I have witnessed with clients with chronic illnesses such as MS and Cancer.  Release from pain and tension becomes available when our nervous systems are soothed and nourished by experiences of sonic relaxation.  The caress of beautiful music goes way deeper than the skin, massaging our inner awareness and giving space for our body systems to breathe, rejuvenate and rebalance.  Author Caro Ness describes her experience of our sessions in this beautiful poem:

Sound Therapy

Lie back on your bed, and close your eyes,

Time to shut out the world, re-energise.

Watch your breath, yes, contemplate,

What it is to be still, then meditate.

Now the therapy begins and the sound starts to grow,

And you’re washed in pure music from your head to your toe.

A brush on a gong that reverberates,

And every bone in your body melts and disintegrates…

The melodious tone of a singing bowl,

That speaks to the mind, the heart, the soul.

A chord on marimba, some notes on the flute,

Arpeggios played on the sitar or lute.

Unaccompanied chants, a roll on a snare drum,

A tip from a rain stick so your sinews hum.

Your body is washed with a beautiful noise,

That gives you a feeling of well-being and poise,

A thrum of unique notes that creates a beautiful sound,

That is loving and giving and very profound.

Caro Ness


 

There is in every ancient civilisation, a deep acknowledgement of the healing power of sound. The indigenous peoples of the earth have a profound understanding of the way in which sound connects every living being.  In the film The Weeping Camel modern day Mongolians use this ancient understanding to heal the relationship between a mother camel and her calf.  Early hospitals in ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and Persia all used music for the treatment of illness.  Traditional Chinese Medicine, first documented in 440BCE, still uses vocal tones as part of their diagnosis and treatment.  In both the Middle East and India we find advanced systems in which pieces of music (Makams/Raags) were prescribed to be played at specific times of the day to assist with different conditions.  Centuries later Western composers would debate the effect of different musical modes and intervals on the emotional states of their listeners - something which modern day marketers put to full effect.

In our cells, we know and remember that sound is the essence of our existence and that we hum and vibrate at the frequencies of our longings, dreams, emotions, thoughts and visions.  Sound has the capacity to shake and remake us, to reconnect and regenerate every nerve in our body and to enable us to communicate radiantly and radically in the world.

This means when we fine tune the instrument of our expression, our voice - our whole world begins to change.  The ancients across all cultures understood that each individual was a microcosm of the whole, so when just one person reclaims their voice, we are all liberated by their expanded presence.   In recent workshops and sessions, I’ve been honoured to witness lions and lionnesses reclaiming their roar and enjoying all the subtle nuances of their expression.

It's a beautiful thing when you know exactly when to purr and when to roar.... Nikki King

We become so creative and courageous when we Roar for those things which matter to us.   The Commons have Roared a NO to military action against Syria this week and inspirational campaigners are roaring against fracking across the UK.

I shall be roaring for WaterAid with 800 singers at Sing for Water at the Thames Festival this month. I’ve done a virtual busk and will be busking at a mainline station very soon - it's so amazing to see what happens when I get in action for my passion and let the sound current take me where it will.  Please do throw some pennies in my virtual bucket! :)

Thank you so much for listening
I look forward to singing and sharing sound magic with you soon!
Wishing you a super soulful sonic September.