38 Singing Loves

38 Singing L♥ves

Dear Friend
I’ve made it through another year on earth and to celebrate here are 38 things I love about singing with much love and gratitude to all of YOU for being part of my singing journey.

My birthday wish is that we create a tidal wave of singing love so please do take a moment to close your eyes and sing a heartfelt AH of love for our world. 

Also if you feel inspired, please do throw some pennies in my virtual fundraising bucket as I’m going to be taking part in Sing for Water at the Thames Festival raising funds for WaterAid projects bringing clean water and sanitation to some of the world’s poorest communities -  Click here to visit my Just Giving Page

38 Singing Loves
♥ 1. Exaltation - singing makes the spirit soar
♥ 2. Breath - singing is literally inspiring - as patients from the Singing for Breathing programme testify
♥ 3. Listening - singing helps us listen to ourselves and each other
♥ 4. Transformation - singing changes our lives, one note at a time
♥ 5. Togetherness - singing bring us into unison and empathic connection with others
♥ 6. Bridge building - singing crosses all social, religious and cultural boundaries and helps us remember our common humanity
♥ 7. Peace promoting - singing is a powerful tool of peaceful communication
♥ 8. Creativity - singing stimulates our imagination and charges our enthusiasm
♥ 9. Self Expression - singing liberates our authentic expression
♥ 10. Presence - singing helps us become powerfully present in the moment
♥ 11. Mental Gym - singing improves our concentration, focus, alertness and memory
♥ 12. Emotional Balance - singing helps our feelings get in e-motion
♥ 13. Body Boost - singing helps us become more embodied, grounded
♥ 14. Joie de Vivre - singing boosts our vitality with a host of health benefits
♥ 15. Empowerment - singing helps us discover and express our power appropriately
♥ 16. Taking a Stand - singing enables us to raise our voices for change in our world
♥ 17. Courage - singing enables us to access our core strength
♥ 18. Possibility - singing helps us discover new territories
♥ 19. Learning - singing is an journey of self-development
♥ 20. Teaching - singing can help us educate one another
♥ 21. Dancing - singing gets our toes tapping and our hands clapping to irresistible rhythms
♥ 22. Laughter - singing gets us giggling
♥ 23. Bogey-buster - singing helps us bust fears, stresses and sticky issues
♥ 24. Multi-sensory - singing engages all our senses
♥ 25. Stories - singing can help us share important stories and oral traditions
♥ 26. Ancestral - singing can connect us with the wisdom of those that have gone before
♥ 27. Culture - singing connects us with our roots and helps us learn from other cultures
♥ 28. Social - singing is a core part of social occasions - from the Happy Birthday song to football chants
♥ 29. Originality - singing helps us connect with our uniqueness and inspires innovation
♥ 30. Heart opening - singing helps us to listen, follow and express the song in our heart
♥ 31. Trust - singing inspires more trust in ourselves and with each other
♥ 32. Interdisciplinary - singing connects with many other artforms
♥ 33. Intergenerational - singing can bring together elders, adults, young people, children and babies
♥ 34. Harmony - singing helps us listen and harmonise with each other
♥ 35. Catharsis - singing can helps us express, release, cleanse and let go
♥ 36. Performance - singing supports our presentation and performance skills
♥ 37. Charity - singing can be part of our social contribution
♥ 38.  Infinity - singing connects us to the big cosmic symphony of which we are all a unique note

Sending you a big AH of Love and Gratitude for a wonderful songful summer
Love and Blessings

The Feast of the Heart

Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, and life will become a continual feast - Norman Vincent Peale


 

With festival season in full swing here in the UK, I’m reminded that life truly is a feast of many flavours. Throughout history, people have come together to celebrate special moments, suspending everyday routines and embracing creative expression and connection.  Carnivals, parties, festivals, holidays and retreats offer a space to reflect, experiment and grow.

Vocal Vibrancy
Last weekend my second back garden (Westow Park) and local shops were full to the brim of all the creative happenings of Crystal Palace Overground Festival   Shop doors were flung open with warm hospitality, folks appeared from all directions wearing all manner of colourful garb and the wonderful random chats could be had on street corners. I loved the vocal vibrancy as neighbours, shop keepers, friends new and old opened up to new levels of connection with each other.

Doing Things Differently
I recently had the delight of facilitating an urban retreat day with Katrin Heuser and I loved the way she prompted us to do yoga differently - to place a foot or an arm in an unusual place - it was such a joyful experience.   This is my continued experience as I work with sound - I find ways shake up my habitual responses and to enjoy the spontaneity of being alive.  As I find myself turning up and tuning in with amazing individuals who are up for transformation, I am stretched in all directions.

Creative Celebration
Whether it’s Dolly at Glasto or a child’s gorgeous giggly made up song, it’s just glorious to celebrate creativity in its abundance.  The increasing number of local festivals cropping up all over the London is testament to the need to balance and harmonise the challenges of urban living.  During the festival, Joe Duggan from Crystal Palace Transition Town gave a me a guided tour of the edible garden in Westow Park, one amongst many local trouble spots that have been transformed into community resource.  I was so inspired to see how much positive change has been seeded by green fingered creatives.  Creativity grows us and grows our communities.

Beautiful Breathing
Festivity does not have to be frenzied.  Special days can offer us time out - a moment to retreat, reflect and recuperate.  The still, reflective, meditative moments of tuning in deeply through song help me reconnect with the feast of the inner world.  As working with the Singing for Breathing group at Harefield Hospital, has reminded me - all that is required is one simple breath.  As I remember the preciousness of every breath, and listen to the beauty that whispers in the breeze and the pulse of the heart that beats within everything, life indeed becomes a feast.

You are warmly invited to come celebrate the beauty of your HeartSong at the HeartSong party on 21st July - an interactive feast of singing in celebration of summer (and also my nearly-birthday)

Wishing you a full hearted, love drenched, feast of loveliness this July