Category: Quality of Life
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Rethinking Yourself and Your Life as Music
You Are Music. Your Life is Music I am MUSIC? My LIFE is MUSIC? Have you ever thought about yourself as being a piece of music? What thoughts come to mind when you look at yourself from this perspective? It can be a strange thing if you haven’t considered it before. Even with my experiences…
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Making Music for Healing, Transformation, and Fun
A few months ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Cymone Deborah Bedford at Athgoa about my work as a music therapist and psychotherapist who uses music to enhance the quality of life for people of all ages, and from a variety of backgrounds. Below is a link to our recorded interview where I…
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Healing When a Complicated Family Relationship Ends
The word “family” carries unique connotations for each of us. Ideally, families are a source of acceptance, unconditional love, and support. While the greater culture typically portrays and promotes this idealized, archetypal view of family, the reality is that families are made up of individual human beings who may or may not be able to…
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Being Music: Insights from a Buffalo Drum
An Invitation to Experience Being Music A few nights ago I was at an event in which we were invited to go on an inward journey with the assistance of a buffalo drum. As I listened to the drumming, I found myself becoming one with it- absorbed and enveloped in the sound waves in a…
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Gifts Gained Through Loss
Today is the 14th anniversary of the death of my mother from breast cancer. Naturally my thoughts start to turn to her at this time of year, but additionally the specific topic of cancer had popped up on my radar these last few days, which made me think that I needed to explore further this…
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Music Therapy in Hospice and Palliative Care
Recently I was asked by the hospice company where I work to write an article about what I do as a music therapist. I’m sharing it here with you so that you may also get a clearer sense of what music therapy is and the role it can play within the realms of hospice and…
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Hearing Ourselves: Voicework for Self-Care
A few months ago I was asked by music therapist colleague, Megan Resig, to write a guest post for her website Music Therapy Annex. I jumped at the chance to do this because I love her holistic approach to music therapy, and have enjoyed reading about her perspective on wellness and self-care. Below is what…
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Saying Goodbye
“Goodbye.” What feelings, thoughts, images, or experiences come to mind when you see that word? Depending on the context, “goodbye” can take on a lot of different meanings. “Goodbye” can signal a temporary parting, or it can represent something more permanent. And when it represents a more permanent situation, saying goodbye can carry bittersweet feelings.…
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Being a Wounded Healer
Having known pain, I can enter into the dark, inner places without fear. Having walked through pain, I know the light of healing guides the way. The Wounded Healer is an archetype which describes a person who is effective at bringing healing and empathy to others because they themselves have recognized and healed from their…
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Embodiment of Sound
Like all of us, I don’t always practice what I preach. Doing what I do for a living, I know about the healthful benefits of making music and how vocalizing is an effective way of relieving stress. Yet I don’t always practice that for myself. But today was different. Today I remembered to create time…