I have fond memories of black and white photographs taken by my dad in his old box camera. The three pictures that I can quickly recollect are a representation of my world back in the era of black and white. Be it watching the swaying coconut trees and the shimmering water on moonlit nights, or the artistry of those antique time pieces collected by my grandfather and of course those lively evenings in my childhood years, where the old gramophone would play so invitingly that we would all be waltzing and jiving away to evergreen hits. Yes nostalgia filled me in those verses, but with happy memories.
Author Douglas Adams describes the three stalwarts of music… “Beethoven tells you what it is like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe.”
Interesting quote with so much said in just a line on the three gifted geniuses and their world of music.
Although considered to be a revolutionary its always beautiful to enjoy the music of Beethoven and his magical Moonlight Sonata and Symphony no 5.
The melodious music of Mozart is remarkable for his amazing pace and harmony and balance of light and dark tones of life with a humanistic touch in musical themes.
The spiritually profound music of Bach reflects his deep faith in God and his inate intellectuality. Known to have deeply influenced Mozart, Bach was a prolific musician having composed more than thousands of musical pieces in his lifetime.
Inculcating a habit of listening to music regularly, or even practicing music by learning to sing or playing an instrument, can improve your creativity.
Learning anything new can spark new neural pathways and bridge old learnings in associations to ignite unique creative expressions.
As far as music it is a holistic experience with benefits much beyond its entertainment factor. The right music can heal and regenerate cells in our body.
Music can be a healing medicine for the body, mind and spirit. Personally, like for many of you, I love many art forms, like music, dance and painting, writing and singing because they have an immensely positive effect on me. It makes me whole again, ready to face a new day… For instance, I am fond of different types of music at different times of the day…often I sense how refreshed I feel after listening or singing to them.
At home every once in a while my daughter and I find singing mashups of old and new songs together on the Karaoke very rejuvenating…One thing leads to another, humming or singing some melodies while going through the day, makes the moments feel light. I also find listening to gentle, soft instrumental music while painting very enjoyable.
What are your experiences with music?
When was the last time you heard your favorite songs?
When did you do something creative while listening to music?
Where there are no rules that bound Where the music leads and you follow Where there is no end and no beginning All is in the flow as you sense you are the flow.
When you are exhausted and tired and you want to revive your mood play on
Music is therapeutic and the healing nature of sound energy can be tuned into to change your mood & manage emotions and lift your spirits.
Take some time to create an upbeat playlist that perks you up and engerizes you and get up from your chair to move arounda bit.
Take a short walk every once in a while. with some great music for company..It will bring a spring in your step and smile in your heart.
In fact for every part of the day, you can have a playlist of your own choice. Take time to create yours… if you haven’t already and do listen… The right music makes a powerful difference.
Allowing the art to speak and acknowledging its flow is of essence, to sense and enjoy the art itself.
Learning to dance & dancing socially comes along with many lessons and learnings…
In any partner dancing its important to respond than simply react to the movement direction from the partner in the flow.
The cultivation of the ability of any dancers acknowledgement & appreciation of their dance partner or other dancers, differences in movement speed or artistry not merely as tolerable, brings on the required humility and grace in the dance.
This is in itself the essence of a rich and rewarding social dancing experience.
Sharing another from my mother’s writing today… it happens to be one of my favorite pieces from her.
Nataraja The Lord of Dance , represents the never ending cycle of evolution and dissolution. The Master who has conquered the five elements , dancing to his tunes. An Alphabetical tribute to the The Divine Dancer condensing the essence of cosmic energy in his form n action.
Nataraja – The Cosmic Dancer
Absolute and ultimate dance of ‘Being in the Now’, where Celestial Creation & Destruction Dance hand in hand in Energetic, enigmatic endless flow. Formless blending into The Form. Gift to Cosmos. Unfathomed Happiness undermines the In-depth, concealed caring of Justice to prevail, in the Knowing of the Unknown all. Lasya ( dance of creation) and thandava (dance of destruction) both Merging in and emerging from Nataraja,The Cosmic Dancer. Oneness personified in essence. Purity and Power as its source. Quietude emerging in the motion. Rare culmination of creative Subtlety of concealed infinity. ‘Thath thwam asi,’ , that’s the Truth. Unknown, Unsaid and Unseen Visions of Ultimate Reality. Worlds far and beyond knowledge Xceeds the human excellence. Yearning _’To be with IT ‘ is all one can wish with the Zeal of unwavering Faith
Life reflects itself through the things you do, the people you meet as well as in your passions and perseverances, in so many intriguing yet enthralling ways.
One such beautiful reflection I experienced in my travels earlier in France.
A sense of deja vu, a throwback to the fond memories of teaching dances to people in the different places, all thanks to the Dance & the magic of movements.
While visiting France I met my colleague from the world of dance, Celine Maheo who resides in Rennes Celine is a practicing clinical psychologist and an Argentine tango dancer. What’s beautiful is that she is a dedicated professional who uses the dance therapy for helping Parkinson’s patients with their movements through Tango dance sessions.
My interest was piqued, as earlier I had been conducting very similar dance sessions as well, especially remembered our Seniors Dance for Wellness workshops back in India.
So over a beautiful meet and greet sipping cups of hot herbal tea at the Les Grands Gamin at the heart of Rennes, ensued a free flowing conversation where we exchanged notes on each others life. Our passion for dancing was the visible to see as we hardly knew how moments passed by.
To dance is to sense connections beyond the dancing bodies.
To dance is to honour life and its unique expressions in the movements.
Savvy Raj
And when Celine invited me to her next Tango Therapy Workshop, it was an offer I could not refuse. I was actually keen to understand whether and how the cultural differences change the way of conducting and experiencing workshops here.
Dancing can improve the mobility and balance in senior adults. Adapting the dance to suit the requirements of the group, like simplifying the steps, the placement of the feet, improves their coordination, mobility and balance.
The dance session was deeply engrossing & truly inspiring to witness and participate as well. The music played that day stayed with me well after the session.
So the next step turned out to be me conducting a Chacha session for them. The challenges of language barriers were surrmounted easily as Celine offered to translate my teaching from English to French.
Everything fell in place beautifully and voila time flew again.We danced a bit of Chacha that day and also some more in the next few sessions as well. I was told later by the learners how much they enjoyed it!
It was an amazing experience sharing the joys of movements and I thank Celine for her inclusivity in requesting me to conduct the dance sessions as well. And I deeply appreciate all her beautiful learners that I met,connected and danced with. It was a truly warm and wonderful time spent with them all.
After the sessions we would gather together and discuss opening many facets of the learning and imbibing. It was a beautiful way of empathising and understanding each other.
Some of the beautiful souls I got to interact with in the few months I was there.
Dance has a way of soothing your entire being and bringing forth and connecting you with the depth of who you are. That is when dance begins to feel meaningful and transforms life. The dance connects established, in those sessions is a beautiful memory etched in my heart, that I will cherish forever.
I chanced on these beautiful moments again as I found the photos I clicked back then and I decided to give them a little artistic effect.
All across the world April 29th every year is celebrated as International Dance Day, although every day is a great day to dance!
I dedicate this post to all my dance friends and colleagues and all the dance educators in the world who are making the world a better place, with every step in time.
Cymatics is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena.A form of sound therapy that is not applied through hearing, but by instruments that send audible sound waves directly into the body through the skin.
The term was coined by Hans Jenny, a Swiss follower of the philosophical school known as anthroposophy. Jenny published a book about the structure, dynamics, and effects of sound vibrations in 1967. Present-day cymatic therapy was largely developed by Sir Peter Guy Manners, an English medical doctor and osteopath, starting in the 1960s.Wikipedia
Here is a little more information on this positively inspiring vibrations in resonance
“We human beings are tuned such that we crave great melody and great lyrics. And if somebody writes a great song, it’s timeless that we as humans are going to feel something for that and there’s going to be a real appreciation.” -Art Garunkel
What is great music to you?
Is it the song how it sounds to you ?
Do you pay attention to the lyrics?
Sometimes great lyrics alone don’t make a great song,
And often great song has hardly any depth to its lyrics
So what are your favorite or evergreensongs the ones you listen to always?
Savvy Raj 
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