Don't just do Something, sit there! / Is it safe to sing?

Adventures beckon me. Any way that I can push myself to do something better than I did before, bring it on! A new experience that challenges me, I am so there.

Here are some images from my recent adventure to Kaua’i!

But what challenges me the most is to do “nothing”.

Does doing “nothing” even exist? I think not. The concept that we could do nothing may have been created by type A people. You probably didn’t know that I qualify. The antidote for this information junkie is that I stopped ingesting caffeine, I sing all the time, and do A LOT of breath-work.

The thing is, in a resting state, our nervous system is actually doing something. Replenishment and restoration. Our sympathetic system is the more activated and ready for action aspect of our nervous system, while the parasympathetic is the more relaxed, restoring aspect.

From the perspective of creation, a seed grows in a protected space, a baby grows in a womb. There can be deep nourishment in actions like staring off into something beautiful, or the darkness, or “spacing out”. And from that place of inaction, space is made for the answers to surface. There is that “just right” amount of time where we neither forcing a solution, or avoiding something – the timing that can feel like not one moment too soon or too late. I often get those answers right when I wake up. Guess there really is something to the term, “let me sleep on that”.

Creation and creativity grow from a place of relaxation and space. While in Kaua’i, I found my voice to be much more open and easily ornamenting as I sang on my daily journeys.

One of my musical mentors, and Abuelitos of my heart, Tito La Rosa (may he always be blessed) said: “El silencio es la Madre de el sonido”. “Silence is the Mother of sound”.

______________________________________________

Is it SAFE to sing?

Actually, the real question for me is, is it safe NOT to sing?

There is a bombardment of information coming at us daily that feed the programming of fear in our brains. We are easily manipulated by these messages and we constrict or take actions. There’s A LOT going on, and it’s very intense. There is a choice point to focus on the chaos or to create an inner reality that roots down to the earth, and with her support, move towards that which can bring us release, meaning, and joy.

From my perspective, there is medicine in singing with others with spacious connection so that we may keep supporting our immune function, our sense of connection with others, with source, and do it all while we laugh and play. All that said, I follow science-based data, and I am keenly aware that we are dealing with a highly contagious variant. I’ve not found any conclusive data indicating that this variant is more likely to spread more outdoors.

After having “slept on it” for a few weeks, I have decided to keep our Sept. 5th, 1st Sunday eve class with extra precautions. Here are the deets:

Sunday, 9/5/21 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

· Private back yard in Richmond, CA

· If you’re not vaccinated, please wear a mask.

I have recently learned of these masks that are the only singer’s masks approved by N.A.T.S.

· Tickets are limited to 8 for safety, and registration will conclude on

Sunday 9/5 at 12:00 p.m.

May the voice be with you!