Welcome to Guided Harmonies, a podcast where I put words to the music from my Music Therapy Albums. My name is Margaret Dahlberg and today’s episode, Evocation, is the very first piece of therapeutic music I created. It is designed to create a sense of curiosity about that which we tend to avoid within ourselves. Before we begin I’d like to tell you a little about how this works. Sound is created through vibrations of different frequencies. Our bodies, made up mostly of water, also vibrate. When my musical vibrations combine with your physiological vibrations, your body will respond. This creates a healing atmosphere.
Let’s get started.
Find a quiet place. Sit back and close your eyes. Lie down if you are able. Let the music do its thing!
As you sink into the music, take a moment to notice your breathing. Is it deep or shallow? Do not change anything, just notice. What part of your torso is receiving your breath? Your chest, belly, ribcage – perhaps even toward your shoulders? See if you can gently fill more and more of your torso as you breath, like a delicate breeze. Winding through the trees.
As you consider these words, allow your thoughts to float around you effortlessly. Do not search for thoughts, just let them come as they may.
Do you ever notice that despite your greatest efforts to create more balance in your life, you end up in the same patterns? You may do new things, spend time with different people or change up your location and yet you still notice that familiar sense deep down. Something is lurking that feels unsettled, restless or unhappy. Be curious about this feeling - you do not have to feel it – you may simply notice it.
No matter how wonderful peoples’ lives around you look, know that everyone struggles with some degree of inner negativity. Often people respond by ignoring it, others run from it or deny it, some force it away. But it remains. It is part of the human condition. No matter how many successes we experience externally, there exists an internal struggle. With self-awareness, we can discover it, acknowledge it and explore it to have a better understanding of our own unique dimensions of the essence of our being.
Evocation is defined as “the act of bringing or recalling a feeling, memory, or image to the conscious mind.”
Consider your world. As your hear these words, allow your feelings, memories or images to float around you effortlessly. Simply continue to breathe and be curious:
Think about your home. What comes up? Whatever response you discover, allow it to float away by focusing on the gentle breaths that fill your torso. If the thoughts begin to take over, go back to picturing your breath entering your chest and moving down to your pelvis & out toward your ribs and shoulders.
Think about your loved ones. . . whatever comes up, breathe gently and float it away.
Think about your career and finances. . . imagine those thoughts floating away while you breathe
Consider your health. . . and gently breathe those thoughts into floating away.
You can live here, in a peaceful place with both your thoughts and struggles. You don’t need to solve anything, you simply need to breathe. You may be curious, kind and gentle by breathing. The secret to a balanced life is not fixing your struggles, 8:33 it is learning to co-exist with them.
Just breathe.
Take a moment and begin to increase the energy you use to inhale as you to bring yourself back into the present. Open your eyes when you are ready.
Thank you for joining me today.