One of my FAVORITE quarterly gigs is providing drum circles for Camp R.O.B.I.N., of old Bridge, New Jersey. There is not a time that I present there were I don’t look forward to it, and there is not a time when I don’t feel incredibly uplifted after presenting. I simply love this organization and this group.
Read More“Several years running I was asked to facilitate a drum circle for Salisbury Behavioral Health out of the Philadelphia area.
Over the years, I have become familiar with and friends with many of the participants, most of whom are adults with various developmental disabilities…”
Read MoreWhile working at Trenton psychiatric, I have met all manner of interesting people. Many of the people that reside at the facility, be it long term or short term, often have some incredible skills, expansive minds, and innate creativity, and it’s rather inspiring to spend time with them.
Ne such fella I met there I will dub, The Spiritualist. This man was SO deeply aware of spiritual practices, pagan theologies, and really, considerably high level spiritual practice understandings. He and I would talk at length about astrology, lunar cycles, the pros and cons of organized religion, and a lot about how Paganism fits into the modern world. He was always someone that I was excited to see at the Self Help Center.
Read MoreI Had been practicing Reiki For Years, I Just Didn’t Know It
In the midst of my double yoga certifications I also began attending Reiki shares, and finding myself in the company of many practitioners. I had been familiar with the word Reiki, but not so much the formal practice, sigils, or the history behind it all. Once I became aware of it all, I found myself intrigued to learn and to practice more.
In short form: Reiki is an energy healing practice where the life force of a person or thing is able to be healed, modified, or shifted to a place of greater love, functionality, and positivity. Reiki does not have to be a touch based practice (the laying of hands) but it also can be an effective way to deliver the healing. It’s origins are japanese, and though such healing practices are ancient, the actual establishment of Reiki as a noted healing modality is still fairly new in the Western World.
Read MoreAn Unexpected Journey..
It’s been just about 5 years that I’ve been working with various special needs communities. I didn’t set out to do this intentionally, it kind of just happened one day, and the fulfillment that it brought me was almost staggering. There were some experiences earlier in my career that would hint at things to come, but those experiences didn’t initially fully blossom, instead they took root, and slowly developed, and as I would realize later, they would set the stage in many ways for my future endeavors.
The Story Of Rick
One day I was walking through New Brunswick, New Jersey doing promotion for my band Amber Blues. While cutting across a Rutgers Campus field I stumbled upon a man sitting on the steps of a building playing a guitar.
Read More…One of the major changes that I decided to pursue was to become a certified yoga instructor. I didn’t choose to do this as a way to become a full-time yoga teacher, nor did I do it with the intention of opening my own studio; I wanted to be able to apply yogic principles and practices to everything I did in life, and primarily, with my services and offerings as a music teacher. Systematic breathing, body awareness, mind-body-spirit balancing practices; . . . all of these appealed to me as a teacher of music, so I made the choice to take the plunge. Teacher training isn’t exactly cheap, and it’s a huge time commitment, and so I didn’t take it lightly.
Read MoreThe next day after I was settled in, I had my classes and this is where the magick of this story comes in. I was delivering sound healings using the crystal bowls, tuning forks, and mostly, my didgeridoo. I fell into a trance-like groove while working with the bodies and the sounds. I was scanning people’s bodies, using the didj essentially as a dowsing rod for injuries and areas in need of healing. To my surprise, I was discovering all kinds of energetics intuitively, and with my tools.
I recall scanning someone's body, and stopping at their shoulder and asking, “What’s going on here in your body?”, and I was blown away when I was told that there had recently been a surgery in that spot and that it was in recovery.
Read MoreWhen I think of this person, it reminds me that you can’t kill the imagination sometimes, even in a place where medicated living is the norm, where the energy is heavy as a result of so many people struggling in life, and where one is confined to a limited space (though of course not like a 1 x 1 prison cell. The grounds of the hospital are fairly large, and there are trees, and other soft features, but… the place is still surrounded by a fence. It’s an interesting contrast; barbed wire and gardens, but not to keep the animals out of the veggies, but to keep the people inside the walls where they are. Just remember that art can find root ANYWHERE. In an abandoned alleyway, a grim war torn landscape, a garden, or even a psychiatric hospital. Never cease to use the imagination, and let it run free no matter where you are.
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