All posts by Administrator

Lucid Sound Project – Exclusively on Bandcamp

Bandcamp is the only place to purchase Lucid Sound Project music. It is the only artist-first platform, paying 80% directly to artists every day.

I have music from my band LuLu’s Ascent on all the other platforms, and we get paid fractions of a penny per download or stream.

Anyway, there is a mix of sound meditations and new versions of my originals. The entire collection I have up so far is 15% off – click here to check it out!

More to come – love to all

Making A Mandala

This is a very simple and fun way to get started making mandalas. You can color them and do whatever you like.

Traditional Buddhist mandalas are much more complex, using colors, the elements, and the directions of north, south, east, and west to represent the transformation of difficult emotions into something useful.

Humanity Rising

This image has come to mind over and over during our current circumstances. I did this in college after 9/11. It was a mixed media project – scratch board, paper, & ink. I started drafting this post with this image on 4/27/2020 during COVID and then resumed it after the George Floyd killing.

This piece is titled Humanity Rising and at the moment it seems more relevant than ever. We are in the midst of a long overdue conversation. Voices that have been oppressed for far too long might finally be heard. There is no curtain to draw back any longer. That curtain is torn and tattered beyond repair. There is nowhere to hide – all the ugly is here for everyone to see.

We are in a moment of massive collective growth. The potential for incredible transformation is before us.

It is time to shine the light into all those dark corners once and for all. Then healing can truly begin.

WHOLE = When Healing Occurs Love Exists
(from my growing Acronym Dictionary)

I want to stay aligned with my commitment to contribute to the calm and not the chaos. I want to stay aligned with love inside of all that is happening so that I continue to learn, to listen, and to take right action.

There will be a better day on the other side of all this. I am starting to feel and envision what it could be like. If we can see it – it will happen.

What is your vision for the world?

 

Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won’t be any thieves.

If those aren’t enough,
just stay at the center of the circle
and let all things take their course.
~ Tao te Ching


aclu.org

blacklivesmatter.com

eji.org

grassrootslaw.org

naacp.org

Many more resources for learning:
https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/
https://www.sceneonradio.org/the-land-that-never-has-been-yet/
https://lit-together.org/equity-and-social-justice-resources/

List of Black-owned businesses to support

Om Namah Shivaya

“You experience the integrity of all world languages through the vibration of Sanskrit language
through chanting.”
~ Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

I absolutely love Sanskrit mantras because they contain so much, each syllable is a world. This mantra is so simple, yet so powerful. It is one of the few that has very few restrictions or rituals. It can be said at any time, aloud or silently.

While it is sometimes difficult to get a direct translation, basically, I bow to the supreme reality (or inner godself). This mantra embodies powerful healing for physical and mental ailments, and for the
healing of the planet. Peace to the heart, joy to the soul, sound therapy to the body, nectar to the Atman or soul.

This track is a brand new version somewhat like I do in sound meditations live with looping.
*best through headphones or good speakers!*

In the graphic I tried to show a few of the major correlations – to the chakras, the senses, and the elements. I changed the
orientation of the words/syllables to better match up with the chakras they correspond to.

As you chant this mantra envision each syllable at the chakra it relates to.

Another visual study, Connections to the Cosmos, can be found here.

Connections to the Cosmos

I have been working on this poster for a few years. It started as a small sketch that I reworked many times over. It ended up a full blown 14″ x17″ drawing that I have no way to scan at the moment. So I reworked it yet again into digital form. Pretty different, oh well.

I wanted to see all the ways that music connected to the various aspects of creation. There is still some debate as to how specific notes align with chakras etc. but I’m using what I have found at this point in time and am in no way claiming absolute authority here. For me it’s kind of a fun way to embed meaning and aspects into writing something. I hope you enjoy and find something in it for yourself. To be continued.

 

Lucid Sound Project: Summer Solstice Sound Meditation – June 21, 2018

Lucid Sound Project:
Summer Solstice Sound Meditation
Thursday June 21, 2018

4pm | Price: By Donation

Movement & Learning Center
(above the French Broad Food Co-op)
90 Biltmore Ave. | MAP

The Sun, the nourishing orb that sustains all earthly life. The inner Sun, our Divine nature, our inner light, our true source. What better time to appreciate and consciously align with these tremendous gifts of life through a sound meditation.

*to be most comfortable, feel free to bring a yoga mat, pillows, blankets*

Reserve a spot in advance

What is a sound meditation?

As I talk about facilitating sound meditations, I am often asked – “what is it?” – and it’s an excellent question.

Every practitioner has their own take on it, their own training, lineage, philosophy, or viewpoint. And I do not believe there is any right or wrong about it, as I believe all are well intended, so I will only speak from my perspective.

To me, sound is as ancient as it gets, no? All creation starts with frequency, vibration, sound, and it is what holds ‘form’ in place at any given time.

“Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion. The universe is immaterial-mental and spiritual.”
– Richard Conn Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University (quote taken from “The Mental Universe” ; Nature 436:29,2005)

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”
– Gautama Buddha

I do not have a science background. I haven’t studied in the Himalayas. I’m not really all that smart, although I do like to read and research. I have been studying the healing properties of sound and music for over ten years, mostly to confirm what I intuitively know. I seem to feel like my internal knowing is not enough. I am kinda done with that idea.

The first time I experienced a sound meditation I knew in my bones it was the missing link. And I knew I knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Oddly, it’s really where I started with music. As a kid I used to sit at my dad’s piano and hammer out repetitive drones that entranced me. My dad thought I was a talent-less dolt. I didn’t care; caring came later.

Growing up, I was surrounded by jazz and big band music. That’s what my mom and dad did. I fell asleep to them rehearsing in the basement. Then I got into teeny-bopper bubblegum music (I’m still a sucker for a pop song with a good hook!), then the caring started. While all my friends were into the usual rock music, I went along, went to concerts, and enjoyed some of it. At home, I was listening to stuff none of my friends were. I got into Charles Mingus, Stanley Clarke, Stevie Wonder. Then some punk & new wave, The Pretenders, Blondie, The Eurythmics, then Laurie Anderson, Natalie Cole, Prince, Steve Reich, Keith Jarrett, Peggy Lee, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, the list goes on and on.

Before I ‘went public’ as a musician, I was experimenting with delays and loops on a little Tascam 4-track recorder (which I still have, along with the cassettes, omg) in my tiny studio apartment, and I was in heaven. The cosmic sounds kept me at peace for hours into the night. There was nothing better.

Anyway, I played in bands, singer/songwriter, traveled, blah blah, and never totally felt at home. I hadn’t seen another road. I always wanted to take the listener on a journey. It was never so much about me.

Cut to sound meditations: it finally all made sense. My musical life and my spiritual life aligned. Years of yoga practice, Vedantic studies, and reiki joined together with my passion for sound and music. *PHEW* Halleloo.

My approach to sound meditations is to take a participant on a sonic journey. The participant’s listening, openness, and willingness to surrender to the ride are as much a part of the process as my playing. I create a hybrid of acoustic and electronic sounds, incorporating loops and vocals. As I always say, first, you will hear the sounds, then you begin to listen, then you BECOME the sound. That is when the experience becomes profound, diving through the surface layers of mental chatter, through self-consciousness, and onward into that still place inside where no words are needed. That place from whence we came. Complete. Intelligent. Whole.

I am still honing it, learning, and experimenting. Kind of like back in the day, in my tiny studio apartment, and there’s nothing better.

Lucid Sound Project: New Moon Meditation April 15, 2018

just as darkness defines light,
sound defines silence

Move over full moon – the new moon has something to say too. Our lives are full of cycles, every year, every month, even within the course of a day. While the full moon has powerful significance, that of completion, every month the new moon marks the phase of new beginning.

Allowing your mind to inhabit a lucid state while meditating with sound is a powerful way to align with your intentions at this potent time in the cycle of the planets. The ability to get beyond our usual level of thought and go deeper into imagination can tap into the power of our source energy to manifest what we truly see as possible.

In addition to setting intentions, meditation is known to reduce stress, reduce blood pressure, ease anxiety and physical pain, and improve sleep.

C’mon out and get your inner peace on.

New Moon Sound Meditation
Sunday April 15, 2018
Asheville, NC

Movement & Learning Center
at The French Broad Coop
90 Biltmore Ave.
11:30am
$10 suggested donation

Reserve Your Spot in advance