This is It - Episode 7: Healing

He ventured to return to his own town. The followers came along.

The next thing, they brought him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher.

He saw their faith in him. 

To the paralytic, he said, Take heart: your errors are forgiven.

Some of the canon-lawyers said to each other, That’s blasphemy!

But he said, Which is easier to say:‘Your errors are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk away’? So you’ll know that this son of humanity, child of the earth, has earthly authority—he said to the paralytic—Get up, take your stretcher and go home.

The man, paralyzed no longer, got up, took up the stretcher and went into his home.

Onlookers were either terrified or praising the holy one that a mortal had been granted such ability.

Yeshua saw one of the onlookers at a toll station, Matthew by name, and said, Join me.

And they went to the house of Matthew, who was a tax collector; they and the students were joined at table with other tax collectors and other marginal people.

Pharisees addressed the question to Yeshua’s students: Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ungodly people?

Yeshua heard and said, The healthy don’t need a doctor. Go, find what it means ‘I seek mercy and not sacrifice.’ I’m here to call the godless, not saints.

John’s students asked, We fast, as the Pharisees do. Why don’t your students fast?

And he said, The wedding party does not mourn while the newlyweds rejoice. When the groom is taken way, they will have reason to fast.

An official of the town came to summon him. My daughter has just died, but if you put your hand on her, she’ll live.

They got up to go, and a woman came from behind and touched the hem of his cloak.

Yeshua paused, Courage, your trust has saved you, and she was healed of her excessive bleeding.

They passed on the official’s house. Yeshua said to the crowd gathered there, Be on your way. The girl is just sleeping. They laughed at him. He pushed through the crowd and took the child’s hand.

She woke up.

They left, and were followed by two blind men. Have mercy on us, son of David, they called out. 

Yeshua touched their eyes and said, Let it be for you according to your trust.

Their eyes were opened.

Then a mute person was brought; it was presumed a demon had silenced him.

Yeshua whispered in his ear. 

The man spoke.

Even though he told them not to divulge what had been done, word got out.

Yeshua and the students went out to the towns and villages, where he taught, proclaimed the good word, and healed. 

The crowds needing healing grew and grew, and he felt sorry for them.

He said to his students: Ample the harvest, too few the workers. The harvest master must send workers into the fields.And he deputized them to heal.

Go out, with only the clothes on your back. I send you like sheep into packs of wolves.  But, it’s enough for the student to be like his teacher. Don’t fear those who kill the body; they cannot kill the soul.

I did not come to case peace over the land. I came to wield a sword to separate people from wrong thinking.

Whoever receives a prophet by the name of prophet will receive a prophet’s pay. Whoever receives a just person by the name of a just person will receive a just person’s pay. Whoever gives a lowly person even but a drink of water by their name, as my student, you will not forfeit your pay. 

John, in jail, had heard of the work. He sent the question through his students: Are you the one who’s coming, or should we expect another?

Yeshua said to them: Go back. Tell John what you hear and see. Blind people see; lame people walk. The dead rise, and the poor are given good news.

And as they went away, Yeshua spoke to the crowd about John.

You went to the desert to see what? A prophet? A prophet, yes, and much more. About him was it written, ‘Look, I send my messenger to prepare your road ahead of you.’ He is the Elijah to come. Those with ears to hear, hear!

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings

Confluentia

  for Maura Sipilä  

Music tumbles over exuberant waves,
voiced over by circling kittiwakes and gulls,
tumbling joyfully into the sandy shores,
crashing, unquelled, across stony shingle
into the headlands of my heart.

Wherefore, wherefore, ye winds?

To tantalize by stirring a symphony,
knowing that the world is broken,
as if such sonically blooming waves
could fill wounds that gape and cry.

Responses billow from overland:
trees hugged by children send time,
being a representation of timelessness;
gorgeously gazing flowers smile
while bees distribute pollen as favors.

Brooks burble, bubble and babble,
flowing thither from origin to origin,
touching, fresh to salt, in confluence,
merging and surging, joy-joining,
clinging only toward outward release.

Songbirds unwittingly serenade
every small creature that sleeps in shade
given by all that verdantly defines place,
and the bell rung to call forth evensong
reverberates with healing and grace.

© 2018 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen 

Returning

Catalog of woe,

no need to say;
the Book does show
costs we can’t defray,
wrongs we know
we made — but may
we mindfully sew
better seeds on our way,
share the harvest, go
lightly, kindly, fairly, and pray;
debts we can outgrow,
redeem to new day,
admitting what we owe
and honoring, lovingly, to pay.

© Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Todtnauberg by Paul Celan - a translation

Arnika, Augentrost, der Trunk aus dem Brunnen mit dem Sternwürfel drauf, in der Hütte, die in das Buch - wessen Namen nahms auf vor dem meinen?-, die in dies Buch geschriebene Zeile von einer Hoffnung, heute, auf eines Denkenden kommendes  Wort im Herzen, Waldwasen, uneingeebnet, Orchis und Orchis, einzeln, Krudes, später, im Fahren, deutlich, der uns fährt, der Mensch, der's mit anhört, die halb- beschrittenen Knüppel- pfade im Hochmoor, Feuchtes, viel. (Frankfurt, 1. August 1967) Arnica, eyebright, the drink from the well with the star-carved-die on it, into the Hut, into the book —whose name did it take before mine?— in this book, the penned line about a hope, today, for the thinker's coming word from the heart, forest peat-sward, uneven, orchid and orchid, singly, crudeness, after, while driving, explicit, he who drives us, the man, he also hears it, the half- trod log-paved trails on the high moor, cloy-clammy, very much.

English rendering © 2017 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

This poem by Celan, this very difficult poem, is a poem about place, about person, about the potential for healing and about hope unrealized. The brilliance of this piece is its economy (69 words), with at least half the words being each so pregnant with meaning that reams of commentary have been written on them.

I undertake my own variation at great risk—many, many more informed people than I have attempted to render this poem in English. My attempt is particular to me, owing to the presence and symbolism of plant life, and the fact that this poem is an entry in Celan’s internal diary.

This poem is a single-line sketch of the 1967 meeting Celan had with the philosopher Martin Heidegger at his Todtnauberg cabin retreat called “der Hütte.”

For just the barest background, Celan and Heidegger were engaged in intellectual dialogue between the years 1952 and 1970; Celan had a great deal of admiration for the work of the philosopher, discovering similar views on “truth” and “language”, “time” and “being”, and how “language speaks.” But Celan also had a great deal of ambivalence toward Heidegger because of his affiliation, collaboration with Nazism, while Rector of the University of Freiburg, for which he seemed reluctant to express public – or private – regret. For Celan, the German-speaking Jewish Romanian survivor of a labor camp, whose parents were deported and died at an internment camp, this “fact” of Heidegger’s complicity with Nazism created an insurmountable gulf, despite mutual admiration and shared dialogue, despite Heidegger’s support of Celan’s work.

Shortly after giving a Der Spiegel interview, and following Paul Celan’s July 24, 1967 lecture at Freiburg, Martin Heidegger took Celan to see his cabin at Todtnauberg. Celan signed the famous guestbook, the two men engaged in a brief conversation, followed by a short walk and a drive back to town.

Brevity is key. The poem is all too brief; in fact, it seems rushed.

The botanical surroundings, at first, breathe hope into the encounter. Arnica Montana, that bright yellow asterid, dots the landscape surrounding the cabin; so, too, eyebright, another asterid—this one’s flower is shaped like two lips. Arnica, a balm for bruises; eyebright has been used for centuries to quell eyestrain, to bring a return to visual clarity, or to relieve inflammations of the upper respiratory system. The only caveat is that eyebright grows as a semi-parasitic plant in conjunction with various grasses and other plants.

There is a tapped spring, right alongside the cabin, a source of life and renewal. A cube, carved in the shape of a star, adorns the top of the post that houses the waterspout that feeds water into a long stone trough. The poem doesn’t really indicate a cube, however—the word choice indicates that carved block is like a die. So, chance may be at work; the meeting may not be by chance, but the visitor may be taking a gamble. Even so, the scene continues to seem benign and full of potential. The visitor takes a refreshing drink of the pure mountain water.

And then he is brought into the cabin and invited to sign the guestbook, this book that has taken many names before his. Do the names of other Jews reside in these pages? The visitor cannot help but associate this taking of the name and documenting of his name; perhaps in two ways—on one side, in the Book of Life, juxtaposed on another side against the meticulous records Nazis kept with regard to atrocities and thefts against the Jewish people.

The visitor recorded this line in the guest book:

“Ins Hüttenbuch, mit dem Blick auf den Brunnenstern, mit einer Hoffnung auf ein Kommendes Wort im Herzen. Am 25. Juli 1967 / Paul Celan.”

“In the book in the cottage, with a view of the well star, with the hope of a word to come in the heart. July 25, 1967, Paul Celan.” 

In whose heart was the hope of a word, at that moment, I wonder?

In the poem, clearly the word is desired by the visitor of the thinker, the philosopher. This is a kind of pilgrimage.

But the poem does not even hint at discussion. The time in the hut seems but no time at all, and they are back outdoors, walking briefly over the damp ground, one orchid beside one orchid. The mountain orchid has been used medicinally for centuries in Europe to ease gastro-intestinal complaints; the Chinese use orchid medicine to improve eyesight and boost the immune system. More to the point, in this poem, the plants consist of a double bulb, very like testicles in shape; one German word for orchid is Knabenkraut (boy’s weed). Celan refers to orchids in other poems. I am not sure if Celan would have been aware of Zen symbolism of orchid as “poet” and “thinker”, but I will gamble on that. The poet walks alongside the thinker, but they are not joined as brothers; instead, they are just as contained and separate as they were when they arrived at this locus. Further, the ground is uneven, so they are not on the same footing, at the same level.

The pilgrimage fails to ford the chasm, despite the appearance of benignity and healing.

The visit further dispels any notion that such a transcendence of their differences can take place, with unfortunate words being uttered during the car ride back to town. It is unclear who uttered the words, but the visitor claims the driver to be a witness who can verify, leaving the implication towards the thinker, speaking without thinking, perhaps.

As they drive back to town, the occupants of the car pass by and through wooded areas, partially logged, with log covered foot trails, perhaps owing to the moistness of the landscape. The living pines stick up straight, the logs lining the path are likewise straight, like cudgels, in the soggy, peaty ground, dispelling the artifice of the semiotic presence of the benign, the healing, and the hopeful. Now, it seems as if the ground is swollen with rot; this meeting is no longer an idyll with an idol. The idol has proved himself not to be worthy – or, the pilgrim has not brought forth the purpose of his quest.

While others tend to translating “Wort im Herzen” into English more literally as “word in heart,” I chose “word from the heart” because I understand the point of the meeting to be a pilgrimage, in search of a means by which to transcend the gulf of differences into brotherhood, if the thinker could but offer a heartfelt word of some kind. Instead, the meeting seemed perfunctory, and whatever discussion exchanged is either insubstantial (at the cabin) or “crude” and “explicitly so” on the way back, in the car.

The encounter that inspired this poem did not end well; but the two men continued to communicate with one another, even if the communications were somewhat strained, until the end of Celan’s life.

//

Despite this pessimistic reading (really the only choice available), I suggest that implicit in the poem is the endless potential for healing, if the all important (magical?) word will be spoken. The potential for the positive and the healing is always alive, always rich, always supported. The fact that healing and transcendence were not experienced here was a matter of choice, both on the part of the thinker and on the part of the poet. Place was not the primary factor, neither was the timing. Overloaded expectations may have been a factor, as well as courage or lack thereof, toward articulating a question. Certainly, an inner struggle and perhaps a crisis of identity factored into this outcome.

Perhaps I chose to explore this poem on this day is to suggest that brother/sisterhood is always a worthy goal, and always possible – if one can bridge the chasms of ethnicity, class, race, religion, criminal record, victimhood, guilt, shyness… loneliness. And this may be at some cost, but it should never be at the cost of personhood and self-value/self-respect.

Pristine water still wells from the spring; the arnica and eyebright, the orchids still grow and bloom; the turf and the trees provide fuel and shelter. We humans pass through this land of potential, and don’t often enough use the good of what is provided. We opt instead to avoid, or worse utter the unmindful word, and tend toward the destruction of what is good.

My thought and prayer for you, for me, for all of us this day: Positive potential greets you, everyday; don’t be afraid to engage it. Don't let unrealized hope close the book on your quest.

Colds and Flu, Just Chase Them Away With Elder Berries and Flowers

Hard to avoid this fact: the cold and flu season is indeed hard upon us. I have been hearing from many colleagues and friends who have been suffering from a seemingly endless stream of illness. One bug can be replaced by another, which might be slightly different, but equally as annoying as the previous one. Busy lives are caught in a maelstrom of sneezing, coughing and energy lack.

I have a simple refrain: Elder Berries, Elder Flowers; TEA, GLORIOUS TEA!

If all you have in your herbal pharmacopeia is Elder (sambucus nigra), I tell you, you cannot go far wrong with regard to treating your colds, flus and catarrhal inflammations of the respiratory tract. Add white willow for analgesic and yarrow to help with fevers, and you are well on your way to a return of good health. We, in my family, have all fought against colds in recent weeks, and have been able to avoid serious down-time because of drinking elderberry tea.

But let me get back to the basics about Elder.

Parts that can be used are: bark, flowers, berries and leaves. All you need, really, is a sack of dried berries and or flowers. Either or both can be obtained from your local health food store.

The flowers contain flavonoids: rutin, isquercitrine and kamperol, hydrocyanic glycoside sambunigrine, tannins and essential oil. The berries contain invert sugar, fruit acids, tannins, Vitamins C and P, and traces of essential oil.

The actions of the flowers are these: diaphoretic, anticatarrhal, pectoral. The actions of the berries are: diaphoretic, diuretic, laxative.

What that means is your system will get a good flushing. Out with the yucky, in with wellness!

I use the flowers in infusion. A cup of boiling water over 2 teaspoons of flowers. Infuse for 10 minutes. Drink hot three times a day.

The berries make a great tea, also. I take 2 Tablespoons of dried berries, place them in a tied muslin teabag and boil them in a full pan of water for 5 to 7 minutes. The resulting liquid is a lovely purple color.  I let this cool and squeeze the bag of berries to get the most out of them, then fill the pan with water and do it again on the same berries. The liquid can be stored in the fridge, and you can pour a cup to warm in the microwave.

To either tea, you may add honey to taste; but they can both be drunk without sweetener. Children will not be turned off by your medicine tea, especially if it has honey (no honey for infants, though!!!!).

I have made my own Elderberry cough syrup. It is so tasty, it can be poured over ice cream, for a special treat! And kids will not gag; they'll want to have it. Not to mention, it is less expensive than the horrid concoctions you can obtain at the local pharmacy.

Elderberry Cough Syrup

•              2/3 cup dried black elderberries

•              3.5 cups of water

•              2 Tbl fresh or dried ginger root

•              2 Tbl dried licorice root

•              1 tsp cinnamon powder or half a cinnamon stick

•              1/2 tsp cloves or clove powder

•              1 cup honey

•              [1 tsp each optional herbs such as thyme, coltsfoot, sage, peppermint, chamomile, rosemary, yarrow, elderflower, eucalyptus and red clover tops, all good choices to pick from. Hot pepper, garlic and onion juice can also be introduced—but you will want to experiment!]

1. Pour water into saucepan and add elderberries, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. I put the berries into a reusable muslin teabag, tied with a bow.

2. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour until the liquid has reduced by almost half.

3. [Optional] in the last 5 to 10 minutes, you can add a teaball with additional herbs to infuse into the liquid. Thyme, coltsfoot and sage are good throat soothers; peppermint and chamomile are good calm agents. You can also use garlic and hot peppers to bring warmth to the syrup, which also can soothe the throat. Eucalyptus and red clover tops are natural decongestants. Elderflowers, rosemary and yarrow are good, as well.

4. Remove from heat and let cool enough to be handled. [Leave in the tea ball with additional herbs, if you added them; they can continue infusing the liquid.] I fish out the berry bag and put that into a soup bowl to cool off. Once the berry bag is sufficiently cooled, you need to squeeze the gooey juice out of the plumped up berries into the pan with the rest of the liquid.

5. If you need to, strain liquid into a mixing bowl, to separate out any loose contents like whole cloves and roots. [Pull out the tea ball.]

6. Add the honey and stir or lightly whisk. If the resulting consistency is not quite syrupy, add a bit more honey. (The trick to this is reducing the elderberry liquid enough in step 2.)

7. Funnel the mixture into a large glass jar or a recycled bottle with a lid. (I had saved a lovely green olive oil bottle with a screw cap.)

You can refrigerate this mixture for 2 months or so. It can be used as topping for desserts, a dash in tangy salad dressings, an additive in hot toddies and warm teas, or stirred into fruit juice.

As always, you know I am a country cook and no doctor. This is just a soothing recipe, for your enjoyment and wellbeing!

Meanwhile, if you have been among the many brought down by illness, I hope you will feel better SOON!

In the Garden of Delights: V. Perfect Storm

By faulty thinking and vision,
having achieved imbalance irrevocable,
there seemed nothing for it
but to throw a party.

Invitations addressed and sent,
an invisible feast was prepared,
a metaphorical table set.

Nothing left
but to await
the coming
of the guests.

First a gathering of winds,
from east and west,
from north and south;
well met were they in song
over a scarred and ravaged land.

The great whirling howl
stood time and travel still;
even the oceans stood in their tracks.

A quiver of lightning arrows
signaled volleys of hail and fireballs;
such foundations as remained
were shaken to the core
and submitted to a tired earth in defeat.

The seas and rivers walked upright,
dancing to the music of the wind,
joining a rhythmic patter of rain,
purifying all places low and plain,
in a symphony of lyrical wetness.

Into the deafening roar, I cried out:
“Save me, O Divine One, save me!
The water is wide upon the earth;
there is no place to stand,
and I drown in my own tears!”

“Save me from the drink!
Don’t let me sink!
Awaken me to think
beyond this gaping pit
of watery depths!”

My Dear,
this rising brew
comes to renew,
to save and sew.

These rivers of water,
walls and sheets of water,
with the leaky clouds and springs,
come by invitation to celebrate!
They come to wash, to heal, renew.

Allow your heart to be opened by your tears,
open your eyes and ears;
a way shall arise
beyond the rubble of former years,
a way of peace and wellness.

These watery guardians shall eventually recede,
their dancing shall give way to pure land;
in the places where monsters tormented,
sweet grasses and herbs shall rise.

Through the merry waving thickets,
a highway shall verily appear,
bidding you welcome
to a new journey.

O Daughter of Zion,
cast off the lameness
that paralyzes you!
Open your voice
to the dawn of day
with the new song
that all life is a celebration!

© 2012 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

---
We are too rational to realize that weather is a wild party. All the natural forces are our neighbors who we might wish would party in a quieter and less destructive fashion. The destruction wrought at such times is an invitation to build anew, with better plans, better materials and better intentions.

Luke 14:16-23; Psalm 107: 29; Psalm 18:13-15; Psalm 69:14-15; Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 35; Zephaniah 3:14

Mulling -- 1. Tea Way

It’s that time again,
and because all this takes time,
best to first brew a cup of tea.

Tea is first a vegetable,
then a medicine,
a meditation,
a poem.

To brew,
first clean the house,
cut the wood,
catch the stream,
lay the fire and light it,
then boil the water.

Set a flower
in a vase,
bowing to its smile.

Sweep the path,
from the gate to the house,
then call a silent invitation:
come, o my soul, come.

Enter in the gate,
follow the path,
your steps leaving no trace,
and enter at the little door.

Join yourself, seated.

Scoop tea into a warmed pot,
then add boiled water,
whisking lightly.

Contemplate as you pour,
meditate as you sip;
drink in the color and scent
of the bending and flowing flower.

First cup blesses thirst;
Second cup melts loneliness;
Third cup reads the book of unfolding;
Fourth cup chases fear out through the pores;
Fifth cup warms and clarifies;
Sixth cup is uplifting;
Seventh cup casts the lifted spirit onto the wind.

Ah, wherever I am,
am I here?

Indeed, it is so,

and that is a poem.

© 2012 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

N.B. This is not intended to be apt description of an actual Asian tea ceremony.

Il Pleut

Like a sanctification,

it rains, sending all inward
to the physical and psychic centers.

Veins of flowing water merge,
becoming tiny ribbons and rivulets,
streaming, flowing and cleansing,
outlining paths of reconciliation
we might take, once sun returns.

There is a world of hurt out there,
being bathed and healed in holy tears;
the birds are already rejoicing.

© 2012 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Fine Sound

Through each vibration,

the universe
is intoned and out-toned,
tuned and healed—renewed!
—so that, glowing with vibrance,
we may blossom and delight
in the myriad company of
all the invisible gems of tone,
by which Fine Sound
is delivered to all voice hearers
and those who observe
sounds of the world
as music.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

This my summary of the last chapter of Roll Seven of the Lotus Sutra. 
Which is to say that this is not what it says, but what it says to me.

Roll the Tide

—Roll the tide,

o roll the tide over,
roll the tide over me,
and so hide my tears
in folds of your timelessly flowing,
salty blanket of turbulence
and music.

—Roll the tide
and rock me to a watery sleep,
rock and roll me
until my cares
have worn to sand,
and lay me bare and free
in the bosom of your shore.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

This piece was written in 2009. It has been set to music by composer Michael Kaulkin, and has its debut tonight at the 43rd Kodály Institute Choral Concert, 7:30PM Friday, July 29th, McClean Chapel, Holy Names University, Oakland, CA.   Here is the sound file of the premier performance.

Healing

Even the smallest wave shapes the shore it sings to,
Ebbing and flowing with the breath of the moon by night,
Shimmering in the warmth of the sun by day;
Sing, sing, sweet wave--
The sands await your caress;
Ply the sands, little wave, ply them, ply--
And you will greet every bit of shore, by and by.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Healing B

The Infusions of an Amateur Herbalist

These formulas have been kitchen and illness tested by me personally. You can fine-tune them for yourself.


For Sinus Congestion

FENUGREEK
Fresh GINGER (grated)
GINSENG
PEPPERMINT
TULSI (also known as HOLY BASIL)
Lemon juice

or

For Bronchial Distress

ANISE Seed
ELDER flower
HYSSOP
MULLEIN

1. Add the herbs in equal parts to a large infusion ball or reusable teabag and toss it all into your teapot, along with the non-herb ingredients, if any.
2. Boil up some water and pour it on in.
3. Let steep for 5-10 minutes.

[Optional, add honey to the bottom of your mug (my favorite is Bio-Active Manuka* Honey)]

Pour yourself a big dose, and feel better soon.

* Manuka is better known to us as Tea tree (Leptospermum scoparium), a flowering bush from New Zealand and South East Australia. Honey containing Manuka flower pollen has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Most good health food stores will have some available.

You know I am not a doctor, so any information I have to offer is not a prescription, but a soothing recipe.

Singing Your Way To Health

I got my flu shot this week, and what do you know, but I have a cold!

So, what did I do last night? Instead of lying about in bed, I went to a rehearsal, to SING. And I came home tired, but feeling good.

Crazy? Well, I might be a little wacky, but not because of that.

Back in August, I was invited to present a vocal workshop to a church choir. The emphasis was to be on vocal technique, but as I was thinking about how to make a presentation on the technical aspects of breathing and making sound, due to the particular circumstances of certain people I know, I could not help but also think about singing from a healing perspective.

I said to the assembled choristers that our times in worship are about regrouping, re-centering and renewal, a turning and returning to being in tune with the Divine. Whether we celebrate in churches, synagogues or mosques, we are meeting the Divine from our grounding as individuals, as well as from within the harmony of our larger fellowship community or our greater culture. The shared element between each of person and the Divine could be described as unity of spirit--a vibratory exchange resulting in a sense of well being or peace.

Outlandish? New Age? Hippy-dippy?

Not so, not so!

Everything in the universe vibrates. Even seemingly solid stone mass vibrates. Children hiking through a dark forest hum and sing songs to themselves. How could it not be so that humming, toning, chant and song are an individual’s innate vibrational self-healing tool, a built-in coping mechanism? As physical beings, we are music; everywhere we go, we carry our song with us.  That famous line from T.S. Eliot’s Dry Salvages says it all: “You are the music, while the music lasts.”  This is a truth that is not new; this is timeless wisdom.

The great Sufi teacher to West, Hazrat Inayat Khan offers this, on the power of sound:

The physical effect of sound has also a great influence upon the human body. The whole mechanism, the muscles, the blood circulation, the nerves, are all moved by the power of vibration. As there is a resonance for every sound, so the human body is a living resonator for sound. Although by one sound one can produce a resonance in all substances, such as brass and copper, the there is no greater and more living resonator of sound than the human body. The effect of sound is upon each atom of the body, for each atom resounds; on all glands, on the circulation of the blood and on the pulsation sound has its effect. (Khan, 1992)

How many times have you gone to a concert hall feeling stressed from a long day at work, and exited feeling refreshed. Moreover, everyone around you seems to feel the same things you do about the performance you just heard. What is this? It is called entrainment, a synchronization of patterns, whether they are brain wave patterns, attitudinal patterns, emotional patterns. The Wiki definition of entrainment from a pure physics perspective is given:

The process whereby two interacting oscillating systems assume the same period. (Wikipedia, 2009)

More recently, the science of entrainment is being applied in different areas, such as music for therapeutic use, in the clinical setting, as treatment for everything from depression to personality disorders to cancer.

Sound enters the healing equation from several directions: It may alter cellular functions through energetic effects; it may entrain biological systems to function more homeostatically; it may calm the mind and therefore the body; or it may have emotional effects, which influence neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, which in turn help to regulate the immune system--the healer within. (Gaynor, 1999)

Singing is an activity in which both hemispheres of the brain are simultaneously activated, coordinating and cooperating to get all the right muscles to work together to gather the breath, form the words and  sounds, find the pitches and control the air flow that results in the song. Research shows that neither side of the brain dominates in music making (Gates & Bradshaw, 1977). When you sing, or engage in any music making, it could be said that you are single of mind, because your brain hemispheres are working together toward a single outcome.

I personally know singers who have sung and instrumentalists who have played through major health crises, coming out the other side, not merely healed, but transformed.

So, whether you have a cold today (like I do) or not, help yourself to a mantra or hum a little tune, or, heck, just belt out that cool, jazzy song you love in the shower.

You'll feel better. I guarantee it.

AUM.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gates, Anne and Bradshaw, John L. Brain and Language, Vol. 4, Issue 3. Elsevier, Inc., 1977. Pp. 401-431: "The Role of the Cerebral Hemispheres in Music".
Gaynor, Mitchell L. Sounds of Healing, Broadway Books, 1999, P, 134.
Khan, Hazrat Inayat. The Mysticism of Sound and Magic, Element Books, 1992. Pp.261, 263.
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrainment, 2009.