Ride Your Thermals — Anne Woodward

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Our very own Sisters in Harmony Song Leader Training graduate Anne shares this song with us:

When anxious, I feel physical sensations of unrest coursing through my veins. It’s an unpleasant feeling – and, when it happens, I know the struggle my body is having is created by patterned ways of thinking (limiting beliefs). Recently, I felt that familiar sensation of anxiety in my body. I wanted to let go of the thoughts creating fear, so I decided to write a Medicine Song to help me shift my awareness. I remembered a powerful essay by DeWitt Jones that I’d read 20 years ago… It deeply impacted me at the time and I wanted to capture its wisdom in a song for myself. So, I re-read the essay, “Stop Flapping,” by DeWitt Jones… and this is the song that came through.

Lyrics:

Quit flapping, ride your thermals
Rise, baby, rise
Stop struggling, ride your thermals
Rise, baby, rise

Trust that they are there
No need to worry or be scared
Move to your edge
Let go and soar…
Soar!

© Anne Woodward 7/2021
All rights reserved

Simplify — Anne Woodward

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Our very own Sisters in Harmony Song Leader Training graduate Anne shares this song with us:

A medicine song for those times when we find ourselves on overwhelm. Simplify: breathe, let go, and create spaciousness.

Lyrics:

Breathe in, let go,
Embrace the flow,
Simplify.

Breathe in, let go,
Let Spirit flow,
Synchronize.

Sing my way home to love.
Sing my way home to peace.
Sing my way home to love.
Sing my way home to me.

© Anne Woodward  2/17/2021
All rights reserved

River of Kindness — Heather Houston

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Inspired by a Continuum Movement practice led by Beth Riley. Awakening the rivers of love and kindness within.

Lyrics:
A river of kindness flows through me
Undulating her way to the sea
Surrendering to love’s embrace
Held within the arms of grace

© Heather Houston
1/2021
All rights reserved

Wind – Heather Houston

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Wind By Heather Houston

This beautiful chant swept through me one magical Spring day in my little garden paradise. The melody captivated my spirit, and before I knew it I was in the house recording what I heard and eight different harmony parts emerged. It’s a super rough cut, but I’m delighted to share. My voice, in the raw, completely spontaneous, no edits, no re-dos… just the spirit of the wind singing through me…

You are welcome to sing and share, please do not record.

Lyrics:
Wind purify me
Help me to see
the way to my freedom

© Heather Houston
all rights reserved

Sa Amba Sahda Shiva — Sanskrit Chant

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Shiva is a Hindu God, a destroyer who ends the cycle of time which, in turn, begins a new Creation. At the highest level, Lord Shiva is regarded as limitless, formless, transcendent, and unchanging. This chant reminds us that Shiva (the energy of destruction and regeneration) is always accompanied by the eternal Mother of the Universe.

Lyrics:

Sa Amba Sada Shiva
Sa Amba Shiva Om
Sa Amba Sada Shiva
Sa Amba Shiva Om

Om Mata, Om Mata
Om shri Mata Jagadumba
Om Mata, Om Mata
Om shri Mata Jagadumba

Translation:

The ever auspicious Lord Shiva is one with the Divine Mother
Oh Mother, Oh Mother
Radiant Mother, Mother of the Universe

Music composer unknown
Arranged by Heather Houston

Chant to Yemaya — Traditional Yoruba Chant

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A traditional Yoruba chant to the Goddess of the sea, the Mother of all, often portrayed as a mermaid.  I like to invite my singers to call out the qualities of the ocean before we sing it, then invite them feel the flow of the water in their bodies as they move and sing. It is also meant to observe the qualities of female and male that merge and melt within us.

This chant can be sung in a round.

Possible Translation: 

Goddess of the sea
Female and male merge or melt. (They are one.)

 

A traditional chant in the public domain.

Lyrics:

Yemaya oh, ako, ako yo yemaya
Yemaya oh, ako, ako yo yemaya

Right Here Now – Heather Houston

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Honoring the SACRED PAUSE. This song came through shortly after we were sheltered in place in 2020. I was feeling afraid and confused and devastated by it all. In a state of panic, I remembered that the most powerful, calming thing I can do is to call myself into the present moment. And I just started singing, and this is what moved through me…

Lyrics

Right here now, in this present moment,
Right here now, I am singing
Right here now in this present moment,
Right here now, I am breathing

Pause with the exhale, let go surrender

All is well, I am held in the arms of Love
​​​​​​​All is well, I am held by the One

Right here now, this is holy ground
Right here now, this is sacred sound

© Heather Houston
04/2020
All rights reserved

 

The Monday Morning Song – Heather Houston

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This fun little ditty flowed through on a Monday morning (big surprise, I know) when I was pressuring myself to get the whole week’s worth of tasks completed on Monday morning. It also works well to sing “January” in the month of January. Enjoy!

I like to get everyone moving around and mixing their voices in the center.

© Heather Houston 2018
All rights reserved

Lyrics:

Part 1: You don’t have to get everything done on Monday morning, take a deep breath and tune in to your heart.

Part 2: Don’t take yourself so seriously, lighten the load, there’s beauty to see.

Part 3: Let it go, and learn to delegate.