For more information on this training, The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music: Level I Integrative Therapies, and also on how to use music to enhance your life, or the lives of those you work with, visit our website at www.integrativemusicinstitute.com   And follow us on facebook!

The community discussion for this blog…. Tell us about your relationship with music.

In his book, A Year to Live, Stephen Levine writes “Gratitude is the state of mind of thankfulness.  As it is cultivated, we experience an increase in our sympathetic joy, our happiness at another’s happiness…. we begin to feel a growing sense of gratitude for whatever happiness great or small that comes to those around us.”

Practicing gratitude increases our appreciation for life.  It brings balance and kindness to ourselves.  Try it.  In a journal, write down three things you are grateful for every day.  You will likely find that your sense of well being is heightened.  And give at least one gratitude each day to a coworker, family member, or friend.  You may notice your heart feeling warmer and lighter.

In his book, The New Earth, Eckhart Tolle writes, “Body awareness is the shifting of your attention from the external form of your body or your thoughts about your body, to the feeling of aliveness inside it.”  He also notes that this practice “strengthens the immune system and the body’s ability to heal itself.”

As we strive to do so much, so many people are out of tune with their body, and experience stress related illnesses.  Meditation that focuses on body awareness is something that we can do for ourselves that doesn’t require a gym membership or special workout clothes!  We can also practice body awareness when we are in motion as well as sitting in stillness, or experience moving the body in exercise or dance, and feel the sensation of the body moving freely.  We all could use more of feeling that sense of joy and freedom in our bodies, right!?

He goes on to say, “Mindfulness provides a simple but powerful route for getting ourselves unstuck, back in touch with our wisdom, and vitality.  It is way to take charge of the direction and quality of our own lives, including our relationships within the family, our relationship to work, and to the larger world and planet and most fundamentally our relationship with ourselves as a person.  The key to this path is an appreciation for the present moment and the cultivation of an intimate relationship with it through a continual attending to it with care and discernment.   It is the direct opposite of taking life for granted.”

What do you do to get unstuck?

Carl Jung, was particularly intrigued with mandalas, he believed that mandalas arising in dreams or drawn in waking life were unconscious attempts to heal one’s inner self.  He believed that all images, even frightening ones, come in the service of wholeness.

Bailey Cunningham in her book, Mandala, Journey to the Center, writes, “Mandala making can serve as an activity for meditation and relaxation, or if we dare to explore the deeper aspects of our psyche, it becomes a tool for transformation.”

In our workshops and trainings we teach our students how to use mandalas as a tool for self-discovery, and how to create mandala journals for themselves and others.  We both also use the MARI Card Test, an assessment tool that is based on mandalas and colors to identify unconscious issues related to one’s career, relationships, health, spirituality, and creativity.   To learn more about mandalas, or to register for a workshop that includes training in mandalas, please visit our website.

The poet John O’Donohue in his book To Bless the Space Between Us, writes “It would be infinitely lonely to live in a world without blessing.  The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection, it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable.  Each life is clothed in a raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else.  Though suffering and chaos befall us, they can never quench that inner light of providence.”   And he goes on to illuminate the gift that a blessing can be, the doors it can open, the healing and transfiguration it can bring.

Who or what are you most grateful for?

Labyrinths are archetypes for wholeness, and labyrinths are found all over the world.  When Erin was in  Austria last year, she was hiking at the top of a mountain, and came upon a labyrinth made with grass paths outlined with stone.  The simplicity of the labyrinth against the incredible beauty of the view from the mountain was breathtaking.  Cara enjoyed walking one when she was in Sedona last year, and was surprised to find one in a park in Lewes, Delaware.   In recent years, people have been rediscovering labyrinths as tools for spiritual transformation and for contemplative meditation.  Like sitting meditation, walking invites you to enter into the experience with an open heart and open mind.  It asks you to be present while letting go of each moment and releasing what arises in the body and the mind.

There is no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth.  You may walk it at any pace, you may pause and stop in certain places, you can even dance if you’d like!  Some people walk labyrinths to reduce stress and some to inspire creativity and imagination.

One of the ways to approach a labyrinth walk is to pause before entering the labyrinth and allow yourself to focus on an intention for the walk, such as “what is the next step on my path?” or “ how can I deal with this difficult situation?”  Once an intention is made you can step onto the path of labyrinth and start walking, and in following the path towards the center you can release or let go of the distractions.  When you reach the center, pause for several minutes to receive clarity or illumination.  When ready, follow the path back out.  As you do so, this is a time for integrating what has been discovered about your intention, and gathering a renewed sense of direction.

If you are interested in finding a labyrinth in your area or when you travel you can go online to the world wide labyrinth locator on the web at www.labyrinthlocator.com

Share your stories about walking a labyrinth.

We invite you to share with a post… What would you like to develop compassion for?

Now we turn our attention to our blog.  We would love to connect with the larger community of people interested in the healing power of music, imagery and the healing arts.  We hope you will engage with us as we explore questions and ideas. To get started, here’s a question for all of you… How have you engaged when you have been reluctant?

The composer Edward Elgar stated “My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.”

How is music a part of your life?  your world?  and how do you get your daily requirement?