Today is Music Monday and to celebrate it astronaut Chris Hadfield used video stream from the International Space Station to lead a singalong with musicians and students across Canada.From schools, science centres and concert halls singers joined together to perform ISS (Is Somebody Singing), the song Hadfield co-wrote with musician Ed Robertson of the Barenaked ladies.The song was co-commissioned by CBCMusic and the Coalition for Music Education.
Music is an amazing way to connect. I gather every month with a group of women to talk about spirituality. One month we each brought in a piece of music that moved us spiritually. What a rich and wonderful evening it was listening to the various selections. At the end of the night we all agreed it was very difficult to pick just one piece of music because there are so many songs that touch the soul. So I am all for having a day to celebrate music and having it on a Monday is the perfect way to kick off the week.
Meister Eckhart was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic. He said, “He who sings prays twice.” I am not quite sure what he meant but I think it means that singing moves us to a place of openness with God and the words and the song double the intent of spiritual longing and spiritual connection.
I can only imagine the thoughts that were going through Chris Hadfield’s mind as he bobbed about in space while singing with youth down here on earth. The very concept boggles my mind!
Did you know it was Music Monday? If you were to pick a song that moved your soul what would it be?
“He who sings prays twice.”
Perhaps Eckhert is referring to the combination of breath and thought…. two very powerful techniques for manifestation. What is song but a vocalization of a feeling, of an awareness, of a thought form? And how possibile is it to sing without breathing?
This combination of techniques can have wonderful practical ramifications. For instance, let us say you are hungry and you know intellectually that you really don’t need more food for optimum physical sustenance. Try this. Try laying down in a quiet place where you have confidence that you will not be interupted for this short mental experiment. Think of your hunger. Do not label it good or bad. Just think of the thought of hunger and how it seems to be affecting your body. How does it make you feel? Where does the feelings seem to originate in your body? Be with the thoughts and feelings. Vocalize them to the (empty) room. Breathe through them. Sing them if you like. Express gratitude to your God for your experience.
Notice how your relationship to your feelings seem to change as you practice your awareness, your vocalization, and your grattitude. As you progress, start to drift effortlessly towards thoughts and feelings that are more in line with what you would like to have happen in your song. Nothing forced. True well-being is your natural state. It is as if you are simply opening to what has been the real you all along. Feel the sense of empowerment that comes from breathing through your craving and inviting a higher, healthier way. Relinquish any attachment you might otherwise have to any outcome you might wish for….. acknowledge that what you want is not always what is best for you … not my will God but thine – this or something better.
Repeat as necessary in future episodes.
Be more respectful in general to the thoughts that you entertain and to the feelings that you assign to those thoughts.
There are countless applications in every aspect of your life. Proper eating is but one.
Enjoy your day.
Richard