The Global Conversation

Tag: music

  • Heart as Wide as the World

    I recently had the most extraordinary and unforgettable experience of attending a Krishna Das kirtan in the city where I live.  I have always been a fan of his resonating voice and soulful music, but this was the first time I immersed myself in the experience of his gift.

    Krishna Das led a very large room of people from all different walks of life, and every age imaginable, through two-plus hours of his extremely powerful and deeply moving chants, taking a moment here and there to explain the meaning of some of the Sacred Sanskrit words to those of us in the audience who didn’t know, although hearing the translation didn’t seem to matter much to me. I knew – I could actually feel – that what I was chanting in unison with this room full of people was Holy and meaningful.

    Krishna Das (born Jeffrey Kagel) is one of the best-selling chant artists of all time.  He was recently nominated for Best New Age Album at the Grammys and performed “Narayana” (which means Supreme God) live at the awards ceremony – yes, the Grammys!  — demonstrating in another exciting and very real way that our world is changing and growing and moving towards a greater acceptance and embracing of new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of doing things…a New Cultural Story.

    If you have the opportunity to place yourself in the space of a Krishna Das kirtan, please consider gifting yourself with an experience that will enhance whatever spiritual path you are on and wherever you are on it.  And if you are unable to participate in a live performance, I would urge you to add one or two of his CDs to your playlist, such as “Heart as Wide as the World” or “Heart Full of Soul.”   Visit the Krishna Das website where you can purchase any of his music and read more about who he is.  Reading his life story only adds more layers of love and gratitude for the Divinity of his music.

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

    (If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)

  • Soul of Healing Affirmations

    Chaos, noise, career demands, illness, violence, emotional pressures, and stress are all reminders to us.  They remind us of the importance of meditation in our lives, both physically and spiritually.  However, for many, meditating in what some might term the “typical way” does not come with ease and sometimes evolves into an experience of frustration and disappointment…and eventually giving up.

    You are not alone.

    For those of you who may be experiencing roadblocks in your meditation practice, or simply don’t have the slightest idea where to begin, I am here to share with you one of my very favorite CDs:  “Soul of Healing Affirmations” by Deepak Chopra.

    I purchased this CD a couple years ago because I was having trouble falling asleep.   I was searching for something to help relax my body and quiet my mind before going to bed, and this CD showed up in my life.

    Utilizing the powerful process of affirmations, accompanied by soul-centered music, the tranquil voice of Deepak Chopra gently moves you through an A to Z guided journey — what Deepak calls an “A-Z Guide to Programming the Software of the Soul”:

    Acceptance

    Bonding

    Compassion

    Divinity in Me

    Empowerment

    Fear

    Giving

    Higher Self

    Intention

    Judge not Today

    Kindness

    Love

    Mindfulness

    Nurturing

    Opposition

    Presence

    Question

    Relationship

    Self Referral

    Trust

    Understanding

    Vision

    Wisdom

    X Factor

    Yes to Life

    Zero

    The good news is meditation does not come in only one flavor.  It does not have to be done in a candlelit room, with your legs crossed, eyes closed, for hours on end.  We can meditate through mindfulness or noticing the moment, through prayer, in a walking or moving meditation such as yoga, through chanting, or in silence.

    As in all of life, there is no right or wrong way…only what works best for you.

    Whether you are new to meditation and looking for a tool to assist you, or perhaps you desire a unique and enjoyable way to relax, or maybe you are seeking to deepen your spiritual awareness, I highly recommend adding the “Soul of Healing Affirmations” by Deepak Chopra to your meditation and life experience.

    This CD can be purchased and downloaded on Amazon.com.

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

    (If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)

  • I see you…even when you are not ‘here’

    As we transition into the first week of December, the radio stations are also transitioning into their holiday musical line-up and beginning to play Christmas tunes, some stations devoting their entire program exclusively to “sounds of the season” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all the way up to Christmas Day.  So during my early-morning commute today, I was not surprised to hear Elvis Presley crooning “I’ll Have a Blue Christmas Without You” and Jon Bon Jovi belting out “Please Come Home for Christmas” and Mariah Carey sorrowfully singing “I Miss You Most at Christmastime.”

    I’ve heard these particular songs hundreds, if not thousands, of times before.  But today these three melancholy tunes caught my attention in a new way, one which invited me to think about how many people, myself included, are physically separated from their loved ones not only at Christmas, but for prolonged periods of time, whether that separation is as a result of children growing up and moving on to the next chapter in their lives, or due to a special friendship parting ways, or perhaps a loved one who has left this earthly realm to continue on in their eternal spiritual journey.

    These physical separations have the potential to stir up a wealth of emotions and confusion, especially when the way we desire our relationships to be experienced is entirely different than the way in which they are actually physically showing up – or not showing up – in our lives.

    But are we as separated from our loved ones as we imagine ourselves to be?

    Is there a way to actually experience the presence of those who no longer share a physical proximity with us?  Not only at Christmas, but all the time?

    If we limit our definition of “relationship” to include only that which we experience in physicality, our answer to that question may cause us to miss a most extraordinary spiritual opportunity.

    Have you ever experienced the essence of someone you love without them being physically in the room with you?  Have you actually felt the wonder and intimacy of a Beloved Other even in the absence of their physical being beside you?  Has a particular aroma or unique sound or distinct taste triggered an opportunity to actually relive, in a palpable way, a moment with somebody who is no longer physically here?

    We are provided infinite opportunities to experience our loved ones through the path of our consciousness.  For me personally, the smell of roses delivers to me an experience of being a very young child, cuddling on my mother’s lap after she bathed and luxuriated herself in Rose Milk Body Lotion, instantaneously drawing into my consciousness my mother and an opportunity to be with her in a way that transcends physicality.  The gentle sound of an acoustic guitar gifts me with an opportunity to linger within the essence of my 18-year-old son and his music, who now resides on the other side of the country.   A large percentage of the people in my life with whom I share an intimate or especially meaningful relationship live nowhere near me, yet their presence is significant and certain.

    And this is because what we choose to focus on and what we choose to see will determine What we experience and Who we experience and How we experience.  Life calls upon us to do and be many different things.  And as a result, we may find ourselves physically separated from what we have come to know as our most important and cherished relationships.  Yet day after day, year after year, lifetime after lifetime people manage to move through these transitions and changes, most often to experience an even deeper level of love and a more profound level of awareness.  And this is because we truly are never separate from each other.

    Our relationships never end, as we imagine or perceive they do.  The existence or magnitude of a relationship cannot be measured in terms of physical distance or closeness.  Relationships simply change the form in which you experience them, and a physical “separation” may be just the thing that allows us to know and experience not only who we are in relation to each other but who we are in relation to our Self.

    Perhaps this holiday season will provide you an opportunity to create a new experience, one which celebrates the presence of a loved one in an extraordinary yet familiar way.  Maybe the warm embrace of a loved one will be experienced through the surrogacy of a child’s tender hug or seen in a stranger’s smiling eyes or warmly felt through the gentle touch of an unknown passerby.

    Maybe, just maybe, you truly are as close as your next thought.

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

     

  • The music never stopped

    “Ours is not a better way…ours is merely another way.”

    This concept is one of the basic tenets of the “Conversations with God” material and the prominent underlying message in this poignant movie I recently had the pleasure of watching called “The Music Never Stopped.”

    Based on a true story, this film revolves around the relationship between an estranged father and son who use the gift of music to bridge the painful emotional and physical distance existing between them.  When Gabriel’s overly strict father forbids him to attend a Grateful Dead concert in his teenage years, Gabriel runs away from his family home and becomes homeless.  20 years later, his parents learn that their son has a massive tumor growing in his brain which requires immediate surgery, and they are reunited once again to care for their son as he moves through this complicated and risky medical procedure.

    The unfortunate consequence to this delicate surgery is damage to Gabriel’s short-term memory, resulting in his inability to distinguish between the time period of the 1960s and today, and communication becomes frustrating and nearly impossible due to his almost catatonic state.

    Determined to reconnect with his son and repair their fractured relationship, Gabriel’s father, Henry, seeks the assistance of a renowned music therapist, whose research reveals that the key to unlocking Gabriel’s mind lies within the notes and melodies of the beloved music from his youth:  The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Steppenwolf, and the Beatles.  This new revelation invites Henry to overcome his sharp distaste for anything but classical music and venture into the world of classic rock-n-roll so that he may forge a new relationship with his son.

    This film is compelling in that it demonstrates how adopting a new perspective can be transformational and healing.  Life is a never-ending process of change.  When we fear change and resist change, clinging tightly and begrudgingly to our thoughts and beliefs, as Henry did, we may very well find ourselves so stuck in “our way” that we miss the opportunity being presented to us in “another way.”  Our relationships invite us to experience life in ways that gently, and sometimes boldly, challenge what we hold to be true by offering us an opportunity to see – or in Gabriel’s father’s case hear – things in an entirely new and different way.

    I highly recommend and encourage you to consider adding this wonderfully original film to your next movie night!

    “The Music Never Stopped” can be found on Netflix and is available on video from most movie rental sources.

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

    (If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)

  • Bring on the bliss

    For those of you yearning to hear the internal whispers of your soul amidst the noisy chatter of an unruly mind…for those of you longing to experience the calm bliss of simply “being” when your experience of life at this moment feels like a never-ending cycle of “doing”…perhaps the soothing voice and gentle rhythms of Snatam Kaur is something you would be willing to make a regular part of your day.

    The transcendent power and healing qualities of the devotional chants of Snatam Kaur have elevated it to become one of my most beloved choices in my musical collection.   Her songs combine a unique blend of ancient chants sung in Gurumukhi, the sacred language of the Sikhs, and English.

    Snatam Kaur (whose name means universal, nucleus, and friend to all) uses her music to bridge diverse cultures, faiths, and traditions, and to promote peace and inner strength.  When asked what her definition of ‘peace’ is, she replied, “I feel peace is defined in each person’s life in the moments of their greatest struggles and challenges. Peace is the ability to stay true to yourself, and in any situation find the light or find the way to grow and transform in that situation, while uplifting yourself and other people.”

    The purity and clarity of Snatam’s voice radiates and her soft spiritual chants touch your soul.  Her albums “Anand,” “Celebrate Peace,” and “Grace” are just a few of my personal favorites.  You will quickly realize that understanding the language in some of the songs is not a necessary element to having a profound experience of bliss and peace, that her music transcends the confines of any one particular language, and that her universal message of oneness is one that is deeply felt.

    The book When Everything Changes, Change Everything speaks to the importance of meditation, whether that be a sitting meditation, a walking meditation, or a “doing” meditation; that some form of meditation is “the single most important commitment of your entire life: a commitment to your soul, to be with your soul, to meet your soul, to hear and listen to and interact with your soul.” 

    If your attempts at meditation thus far have been unsuccessful, I invite you to consider incorporating the sacred mantras of Snatam Kaur as a gentle assistive tool to elevate your meditative experience to the next level.

    I close now with the lyrics to one of Snatam’s songs, “Long Time Sun,” an old Irish blessing which is currently sung by thousands worldwide as a parting prayer in Kundalini yoga classes:

    “May the Long Time Sun
    Shine upon you
    All love surround you
    And the pure light within you
    Guide your way on
    Guide your way on.    “

    You may read more about Snatam Kaur and purchase her music on her website:

    www.snatamkaur.com 

    (If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)