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    70. As I Relax with guest Lyndsey Scott

    2:2 Be Present Celebrate Change Empower Flex Flow Generosity Grow Hope Open Release Scale: Minor Song Form: Layer Songwriter Conversation Trust
    Song: As I Relax
    Words & Music: Lyndsey Scott
    Lyrics
    ​As I relax, I know my needs are met, And I live my life in joyous anticipation
    This draws in what I most desire, So I can live my life in full-on participation

    I'm alive to the life in me; I'm alive to the Mystery; ready ready ready ready; Grow!

    I let it happen to me; I let it happen through me; I'm molting -- unfolding -- Open

    I can feel the future calling, drawing, dreaming, pulling me towards it.  I'm letting this Be
    Picture
    Notes: I've shared this song with my pocket song singers online group, meaning I was live-looping it... and the layers are intricate! The different lines interweave closely, creating a dense, beautiful texture. Lyndsey and I enjoy our conversation -- hear her talk about dropping root to choose what to do in the morning and set an intention, about how grief can be a healer, and wealth of teachers and mentors she draws on. Learn which voices still niggle at her, even with all the wisdom she has steeped herself in, and how she includes and cares for those parts, too. When we recorded this, I was in a particularly fragile place, feeling a little unmoored -- I felt better after this time spent talking and singing... more connected, more hopeful. As usual, I left with more questions than I started with... but it feels like a big door has opened and is welcoming me through. Following the links will keep me learning for a good long time!

    Songwriter Info: Lyndsey Scott is an artist-goofball-yintennae devoted to priestesSing the Heartland, (literal and figurative).  She weaves community singing to empower earth-based spiritual consciousness, and gathers soul circles that, through Song and sacred listening, decompose oppressive scripts that get in the way of freely living the Love we are. With jams that get you skipping easily between the sacred, sexy, and sssssilly : your inner child, exiled banshee, and wise elder are all very invited to the circle. 

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:06:40
    Start time of reprise: 01:14:35​​

    Links: Are you ready??? Lyndsey had so many resources to share, so this is the longest set of links yet!

    Let's start with links for Lyndsey and As I Relax:
    The song is free to share but Lyndsey always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.
    ​    Lyndsey's website: lyndseyscott.earth
    Everything Lyndsey! https://linktr.ee/lila.gaia
    We Belong Community of Song: https://www.facebook.com/webelongcommunityofsong
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lyndseyscott
    Lyndsey's album on Bandcamp: https://lyndseyscott.bandcamp.com/album/well-held

    And now links to things that came up during the conversation -- starting with some of the quotations.

    “He who sings, prays twice.” ― St. Augustine
    “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” ― E. B. White
    “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman

    Orland Bishop: Orland Bishop (presswarehouse.com)
    adrienne maree brown: adrienne maree brown – 'The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.' – camus…documenting my liberation
    San Francisco mural by Susan O’Malley: SusanOMalley_Mural_2009-2048x1536.jpg (2048×1536) (rootdivision.org)
    ​Starhawk, “The Fifth Sacred Thing” The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk « Starhawk's Website
    Marianne Williamson: Marianne Williamson – #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author
    A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume: Foundation For Inner Peace: 8601421955508: Amazon.com: Books
    Shireen Amini: Shireen Amini Music Medicine and Shireen Amini
    Shelley Tochluk: Living in the Tension & Workshop Series (shellytochluk.com)
    Emerald Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/jm/podcast/how-trance-states-shape-the-world/id1465445746?i=1000512752303
    Chubby Cree: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbTonaZJL2d/
    Laurence Cole: Can’t Do It Wrong / My Life Is So Cuckoo — Laurence Cole
    Love Poems from God, translated by Daniel Ladinsky: Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (Compass) - Stillness Speaks
    Grace Lee Boggs: Grace Lee Boggs - Wikipedia
    Malidoma Somé and grief ritual: Dr. Malidoma Somé, Phd. | The Legacy of Elder Malidoma Somé
    Sibomfu Somé and grief ritual: http://www.sobonfu.com/  Embracing Grief | Sobonfu Somé
    Enneagrams – here’s one summary set: Integrative Enneagram Solutions (integrative9.com)
    Aretha movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkKOIQwTiKE
    Characteristics of White Supremacy by Tema Okun: Microsoft Word - Okun - white sup culture.doc (whitesupremacyculture.info)
    Francis Weller/ five gates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBfagOEkMi4   Home (francisweller.net)
    Liz Rog/Center for Belonging:  https://www.centerforbelonging.earth/
    Earthkeeper Wisdom School: https://www.earthkeeperwisdomschool.com/
    Grief to Action: https://www.holisticresistance.com/grief
    Influential album: MC HAMMER - Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em - Amazon.com Music
    Lynn O'Brien: https://www.lynnobrien.love/
    Artist Lyndsey wishes more people listened to: Briony Greenhill. Album: https://www.brionygreenhill.com/crossing-the-ocean

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, Minor; 4 layers, one echoed/harmonized
    ​
    Join the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

    Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    68. Share the Journey

    4:4 Accept Be Present Change Dawn Empower Friendship Gather Grieve Hope Journey Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Trust
    Song: Share the Journey
    Words & Music: Katie Sontag
    Lyrics
    As the dark fades away, here it comes, a brand-new, new day.
    As it leaves, we watch it go, all we learned, all we need to know.
    I believe we will survive. I believe this is our time.
    ​I believe we are alive to share the journey, to share the journey.
    Picture
    Notes: For most of these episodes, I pick the song many months in advance, because what with artwork & permissions, not to mention my own anxiety levels(!), it helps to have things lined up before.... which sometimes means I haven't listened to the song much until I'm ready to record. Then I wonder -- will I still love it? Will I still want to learn and spend time with it, or was it a temporary infatuation? I can tell you unequivocally, I loved coming back to this song! Katie Sontag's "Share the Journey" felt like reconnecting with a wise, deeply beloved friend who loves me back.., you know that feeling of mutual warmth and trust that you can relax into, and at the same time feel empowered and energized by? Ahhhh.

    Songwriter Info: Katie Sontag writes songs that are honest and vulnerable for her own healing and transformation and seeks to inspire the same in others. Based in Eugene, OR, but working on touring the world, Katie's songs will touch your heart and leave you feeling better then when you came. Listening to her music has been described as receiving "a big hug". She is also the lead vocalist and songwriter for her band, "Katie Sontag and the Love Notes" and half of the duo, "smalltime". She is a group song leader and aspiring choral director. Her songs have been adapted for choirs in Portland, Boulder, Austin, and Big Sur.

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:52
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:39

    Links: 
    Website: katiesontag.com
    email for contact: katharine.sontag@gmail.com
    Patreon: patreon.com/katiesontag
    Facebook: facebook.com/katiesontagmusickatiesontag.com
    Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/katiesontag
    Bandcamp:     https://katiesontag.bandcamp.com/
    Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KatieSontag
    Spotify    : https://open.spotify.com/artist/17B4xx4loeNl48GXD6oyBB?si=9p7YgO6FQQ6s-WjBS1VhOg&nd=1

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major, 3-part harmony
    ​
    Join the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

    Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    67. Gandalf's Blessing

    4:4 Empower Farewell Flow Friendship Journey Moon Scale: Dorian Song Form: Layer Sun Trust
    Song: Gandalf's Blessing
    Words: J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings)
    Music​: Joshua Blaine
    Lyrics
    May the wind, may the wind, may the wind under your wings
    Bear you where, bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.

    Not all who wander are lost.
    Picture
    Notes: Ever feel stuck in a really bad place? The hobbits got stuck, and Gandalf blesses the eagles who rescue them. I chose to start this episode with a quote by Cynewulf (9?th century), one of the four Old English poets whose works survive today, because that was a time period J.R.R. Tolkien, (20th century) was deeply influenced by -- and here's Joshua Blaine setting this blessing in the 21st century. This makes for a great "setting-off" song -- and also a song of trust in that wind carrying. As I sing this, I love to feel a connection with something ancient in my own bones. I played with it as I shared it with you, making up extra parts at the end -- please, explore -- let the wind bear you! -- as you sing with me.

    Songwriter Info: Joshua Blaine (he/him) is a community songleader, Jewish ritualist & storyteller, and resonant healing facilitator & coach. His work as a songleader began as an inquiry into the state of protest songs after the 2016 election, which sent him out on the road to interview dozens of musicians and song leaders for a project called “Finding Our Voice.” Since then, he’s been a humble servant of song, singing in capitol rotundas, at meetings & marches and around dinner tables across the country. Whether as a songleader, organizer, or resonant healing facilitator, he draws upon the rich tradition of both his recent and ancient Jewish ancestors of seeding resistance and resilience through song. After spending eight years in the heart of Texas, Joshua now resides in Providence on the oceanic lands of the Narragansett and Wampanoag, also known as Rhode Island.

    Links: 
    The song is free to share but Josh always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.
    http://linktr.ee/joshuahblaine
    Joshua's live recording with a group (and his own Gandalf voice!)

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor (Dorian implied), 3 layers
    ​
    Join the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

    Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    66. We're Not Walking Alone

    4:4 Earth Empower Friendship Heal Journey Scale: Mixolydian Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song: We're Not Walking Alone
    Words & Music​ by Ríomas Amini (formerly Shireen Amini)
    Lyrics
    We're not walking alone, we're just walking upon our home.
    ​This is where we belong -- nature sing us a healing song.
    Picture
    Notes: This is the determined, comforting chorus of Ríomas Amini's song, "We're Not Walking Alone". I love 'walking music' -- and this is one of my go-to's when I'm looking for an up-tempo walk. I'll sing the different parts consecutively, and if I can rope a co-walker into singing one of the parts, even better! Ríomas says nature is the "enwrapping companion" that lets their own answers arise. The first verse of this song is, "When we stop trying to force all the answers -- 'cause they never will come from the mind -- they will come from a place that is peaceful; take a walk on the land, they will arise." I love the sense that the land itself is willing to care and tend us, and is, in the deepest sense, our home.
    ​
    Songwriter Info: Ríomas Amini (non-binary human using they/them pronouns) is a queer, Puerto Rican-Iranian, Earth-loving singer-songwriter, performer, percussionist and teaching artist. With a BA in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and a certificate in Sound, Voice, and Music Healing from CIIS in San Francisco, Ríomas has also come to believe strongly in music as a tool for personal and collective transformation. As a songleader, Ríomas loves to share medicine songs with healing and empowering messages, infectious grooves, and soulful melodies, often engaging their participants in rhythmic play and movement while singing. They also offers music classes, facilitation, and coaching for their local and virtual communities through their project Shireen Amini Music Medicine.

    Links: 
    Listen to Ríomas's recording of the whole song from their album, "Break Myself Free": https://youtu.be/UWlLZ_36iVI
    Ríomas website
    Ríomas's community singing website
    Ríomas on facebook
    Ríomas on Instagram (@shireenaminimusic)

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, 3 layers

    Join the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

    Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    56. Acceptance Sing

    Accept Acceptance Sing Be Present Empower Grow Play Release Trust
    Picture
    Notes: This is different than most episodes, where I share a song with you that's already been captured, delineated, and made repeatable. Those songs are chosen because they help me navigate life -- heal, adapt, and grow. Today's episode is another kind of singing that helps me uncover wellness and light-heartedness... what I call for myself, "acceptance-singing" (which runs together into "acceptancing"...) It's an active practice of listening to one's own voice and finding it to be enough, right this moment, exactly as it is. Listening with curiosity to whatever appears. So when I created this episode, I made up something in the moment, imagining that you were joining me, and we were singing a duet -- and the purpose of that duet is to hear your voice play and explore and cavort around doing whatever feels good! If it sounds chaotic or uncertain or repetitive -- so be it -- love it wild and crazy!!! If it sounds constrained or pushed, love it all the more sweetly, all the more extravagantly. If it sounds absolutely fabulous and inventive and skillful -- love it peaceably without needing it to hold on to it. And when you've done it once, do it another time, with or without me -- because listening to your own voice and loving what shows up is a gift to yourself and the world.

    Songwriter Info: Um... that would be you!

    Links:  to find more of what I'm up to...
    juneberrymusic.com

    Nuts & Bolts: improvisational, acceptance singing
    ​
    Join the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

    Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    54. Surrender

    3:4 Accept Be Present Empower Flex Flow Gratitude & Trust Grief & Fear Grieve Pain Power & Change Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song: Surrender
    Words & Music:​ Kaitie Ty Warren
    Lyrics
    What if I just stop struggling?
    What if I just stop struggling?
    ​What if I let it go?
    Can I surrender?
    Picture
    ​Notes: When choosing the searchable categories for this song, "Surrender," I found myself surprised by the juxtapositions -- I picked "Empower" and "Grieve", "Pain" and "Trust", "Accept" and "Flex". I realized how I find the most strength and power and freedom in myself at the moments when I surrender to how I feel, how my body is in the moment, my limitations. I love this series of questions that help me remember the possibility of surrender. Don't miss the back story to this song, told in Kaitie's own words at https://thelivingroomchoir.com/surrender/. Next week, Kaitie and I dive into a songwriter conversation, and Kaitie shares a delightful new song about the awkwardness of change and growth... and we talk about finding both continuity and fluidity in music and life, the Ubuntu philosophy, and much, much more.

    Songwriter Info: Kaitie Ty Warren (she) is a Bay Area-based songleader, teacher, writer, cartoonist and performer. Passionate about creating joyful experiences through music, Kaitie uses simple yet luscious harmonies to build bridges within communities and bring people together in song. In early 2020, Kaitie's Living Room Choir moved online, and that fall her first child was born. Living Room Choir continued online, and in 2021 Kaitie added Simple Harmonies: Songs for Babies & Their Grown-Ups. Nowadays, Kaitie is still leading online but also exploring pandemic-conscious opportunities to sing together in person. Her dream, pandemic-willing, is to host a vibrant, in-person, intergenerational choir for babies, children and adults of all ages to sing together. ​

    Links: 
    To contact Kaitie directly: kaitietywarren@gmail.com
    To learn more of Kaitie's songs: https://thelivingroomchoir.com/original-music/
    To sing with Kaitie: thelivingroomchoir.com
    Kaitie's cartoons: https://www.instagram.com/kaitietywarren/
    For cartoons & things for sale: https://society6.com/kaitietywarren
    For more about "Surrender":     https://thelivingroomchoir.com/surrender/

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Minor. Layer song.
    ​
    Join the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

    Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!