Category: Healing music

A bucket left under a dripping faucet overflows after we forget about it.

Change is slow, then fast.

Here is a melody vibrating with the pace of immediacy, slowly, steadily arriving:

This is a lullaby to sooth the tired.

There used to be a popular bumper sticker in the Bay Area that said “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” If you’ve been outraged since then you’re probably also tired.

The cries of fatigue are seeping through the cracks in the façade.

In a recent poem by Amanda Gorman, brought to my attention by a friend on this mailing list, she says “We can feel we have nothing to give, & still belove this world waiting, trembling to change.”

Bonnie “Prince” Billy, in the first track of his latest musical release asks “Haven’t we proved that our love can’t be moved? Isn’t it time we are rested?”

The truth, as far as I can see it, is that we heal ourselves. What we expose ourselves to can be more or less supportive to that mysterious process.

The question in this melody is: when we go inward and close off from the world “out there”, what do we remain connected to? It makes me think about the beings of the ocean that live within their own shelter, yet remain part of the whole.

There’s a phrase “a change is as good as a rest.”

For me, this song evokes a feeling of, “Moving in the same direction, until deciding to take a turn.”

Today is also Chinese New Year, welcoming in the Yang Fire Horse. A good day to try something different.

Healing happens right where we are. Convenient, but not always comfortable. The right music can bring us back to right here, and here is where we can activate our own capacity to heal.

When we hear “healing music” it may conjure images of harps and an angelic chorus. But that’s not always the right music for here.

Here’s something less “calm” that matched how I was feeling at the moment, and was very healing for me. I hope you enjoy it, and if it harmonizes with where you are at right now, may it be healing for you as well.

This one was recorded with the light of the full moon on my shoulder. Some songs aren’t so much composed as they are revealed. Like a leaf swirling in the eddy of a river. Or chimes singing in the breeze.

The clouds don’t go home early, and the rain doesn’t give up mid-storm. Whether it feels good or bad, what do we need for healing besides to let ourselves be nature?

This past week, I had the opportunity to play healing music to someone to provide comfort during a stressful time. Two hearts, one guitar.

Here is an arrangement of the melody I was playing live:

If you have something inside that is pulling at you to give it some attention, I hope this can serve as a supportive background for you.

Until next week,
–Alex

This week I’ve got a song for you that I hope will gently lift you, wherever you are on your journey.

To me, it feels like a reminder that the sap will be flowing up the trees again soon… it’s okay to sit up just a little bit straighter.