Healing

I was pondering the use of singing as a healing modality...an activity we engage in that promotes awareness of breathing, mind, body and vibration. It encourages us to "be" in the now, in the moment, with our breath, our thoughts. It encourages us to awaken to what we think before and during the activity - and then works with us to change the ineffective thoughts. When I was tremendously shy, I lived in an unconscious, reactive way to the world around me. I had no idea what I thought or felt about anything, other than uncomfortable or scared. My scales and exercises became for me a kind of "morning pages" (Julia Cameron, Artist's Way), a way of seeing what I was thinking in the moment - and how those thoughts became intentions for my body and emotions. I thought I wasn't good enough, so my body had rounded shoulders, tension in the solar plexus, my eyes looked down instead of up, I disengaged from the world in fear. When I was able to pinpoint the "aren't you awful" thought in my mind, and refute it and replace it, then I presented myself differently to the world. I spoke clearer, I looked up, I walked stronger, I smiled as I put out my hand to greet someone new... and I was able to focus my mind on the person I was speaking to instead of on myself. My discomfort of the past became an catalyst in my wishing to put others at ease, concerned they might feel as uncomfortable in social situations as I once did.