Here are three posts I wrote during seclusion in 2010 during the time I directed the Ananda Seattle choir.

Within each of us is an angelic voice, waiting to sing out. I suspect we’ve all experienced glimpses of it – perhaps at a particularly inspired holiday performance or even during a rarely exquisite moment chanting alone. These times touch us with evidence of a higher reality, and which afterwards may leave us wondering which is more real: the heaviness of the body that we normally feel or the exquisiteness of that moment in singing?

I had an interesting experience years ago that suggested that this is universal, when I lived with a very dear friend who was Deaf. More than once she got up in the morning with a blissful look on her face and told me that she heard the angel choir again in her dreams. She was so suffused with bliss that I could only believe that her experience was real, even though she could not enjoy the experience of choirs singing in real life. She did have a tiny, tiny amount of hearing in one ear with a hearing aid and sometimes tried to listen to music, live or recorded, but always seemed frustrated to not duplicate her experience of the angel choir. I came to suspect that her experience of music was a transcendent one that was more real than mine, with my physical hearing intact, since she went straight for the heavenly music without the intervention of the body.

My own experience with Swami Kriyananda’s music over the years has taught me that we are each hanging in the balance between the music of the body and the music of the soul. This heavenly music is within each of us, pressing for our attention and urging us to learn to approach our bodies as energetic tools, not obstacles.

When we are in tune with this, we find our muscles automatically shaping themselves. Our throats open in the right places and singing suddenly becomes easy. I’m sure we all have experienced this – certainly I have heard this in our choir during occasions of high energy. This has taught me that indeed, when the energy is right, the body follows and the music comes through.

My vision for us is to discover the lightness of our bodies, and the nearness of the music of our souls through this music.

And the second post from the same time:

Overcoming Doubt

One of the biggest obstacles to singing freely is that pesky ego. So many of us have woven into our bundles of self-definitions a concept of “not being a singer”… simply because of a less-than-perfect first attempt. So many people approach singing, thinking from the outset that they are doomed to mediocrity.

The truth is, it is amazing how much anyone with the will can develop their voice. A secret that surprisingly few people seem to realize is that even great singers have to work on their voices. So if the initial sounds that come out of your mouth sound like awkward creaks and croaks, that just means that you have muscles that need toning. There’s nothing personal about it: our bodies are built that way.

It is natural to feel vulnerable when putting your voice forward for others to hear. As I’ve heard lamented by a music director, many people want to sing in the choir but few want to be heard! The task before us is to remember that we have offered our voices as instruments in order to serve and to inspire those who hear us. Both the desire to serve and the high vibration of the music itself give us powerful tools for transcending our egos. Combine that with sufficient preparation so that we are comfortable and you have a powerful formula for bringing ourselves and the people who hear us into attunement with our true nature in divine joy.

Above all, let the music speak to you. Since the mind has to focus on something let it be the song instead of the self! Become fully absorbed in the music so that you can discover the hidden gifts within. That is what this music is for: self-transcendence… if we only let it.

And one more…

On Raising Awareness

There is a natural temptation to feel that it is not necessary to put energy into songs that we are already familiar with. Sometimes choir members don’t want to come to practice when they know the songs already. At one time I agreed with this, since so many people had very good reasons for missing practice. But then one day I was struck with the realization that the more years the same singers do the same songs in the same way, the more we move towards greater unconsciousness. Instead of further increasing our awareness over time, many of us willingly coast on familiarity and habit; but in doing this we block the full experience of the music. After all, it takes energy to increase awareness.

This made me realize that every time we perform a song, we need to keep the experience fresh and stay challenged and inspired. There is always more we can be aware of, so many treasures to discover in this music.

The reason we do this music is because of its effect on our consciousness; imagine how much more our consciousness will be affected as our awareness is increased! Swamiji’s life is a testimony to greater awareness, and we are obliged to add as much consciousness as we can to the experience of his music if we are to carry on his legacy. Start laying the groundwork by developing habits that help you go deeper into the experience of the music and eliminating habits that hinder. Then as we sing, consciously watch the fruit of our habits unfold, aware that we are free to respond physically and energetically in ever new ways.