The Singing Therapist
Newsletter
We are all meant to awaken and express our unique passions!
That is life, love and creativity.
"What I do is me, for that I came."
--Wisdom from
the poet
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Issue No. 2 Sep 2013
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Bites On The Run
Put fish in TIGHTLY wrapped aluminum foil with a little lemon juice, a touch of olive oil, a twist of pepper, set inside a pan. Full on oven, 10-20 minutes depending on the size and kind of fish. Not much clean up and doesn't smell up the house either. Meanwhile steam vegetables!
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Wisdom Nuggets
Find ecstasy in life.
The mere sense
Of living is joy enough.
--Emily Dickinson
Inspiring Movie
I saw the 2008 movie
Dean Spanley last night and it instantly became one of my top 25 movies ever. It's a comic, deeply moving, amazingly intelligent father-and-son story set in Edwardian England--with an astonishing twist! Superb cast, consummate acting: Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Jeremy Northam. You will LOVE it! Also a comment on the waste of war.
KD'S Photos:
  
 
 
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About Kathleen
I call my therapy practice River of Life Healing Arts. I call it this because the river, like the soul, has its own wisdom in finding its path. In our healing work together, I invite you to join me in the flow of life, and fully experience the wise currents of your own being. In indigenous traditions there is a sacred process people go through when they are ready to let go of their old, hurting stories and to embrace their new story. This is the practice of transformation.
When we take the leap to be our true selves, the road rises to support us in ways that we couldn't have imagined. I'll help you learn to hear, trust and follow your wisdom, and tap into your heartfelt and gut-sense knowing. Together we will find your new and beautiful story.
I've learned transformation, respect and love from the inside-out. What I know in my bones and heart I offer to you: I'm a Certified Hakomi Therapist; I use Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to resolve trauma; our palette includes movement, Continuum, imagery, creative expression, sandtray, dreamwork, indigenous perspectives, energy work and biodynamic cranial-sacral work. I love working with both individuals and couples.
 As a performer and singer-song writer with four CDs, I know the thrill of expression and also what we must face in ourselves in order to truly express. I am dedicated to helping my clients find, support and be alive in whatever they are passionate about bringing forth in their lives. Find me at www.kathleendunbar.net
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Welcome to my second Newsletter! Happy Autumn!
In this Issue:
- Book Review
- Inspirational CD Review
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Featured Article:
Visualization Exercise to Blow Your Mind!
- Poem by Kathleen Dunbar
- Bites On The Run
- Wisdom Nuggets--Emily Dickinson
- Inspiring Movie Review
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 Book Review:
The mother-son writing team Charles Todd has an amazing series of detective stories set in post WWI England. The hero, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, struggles to cover up his "shell shock" in the form of the presence of a dead Scots soldier giving him advice and bitterness from over his shoulder and from the back seat of his motor car as Rutledge goes about solving crimes. What we now know as PTSD was at the time considered "cowardice" and if discovered would lead to great social stigma. This is a moving expression of the suffering of veterans. G
reat plots, wonderful writing, moving and memorable stories--and an eloquent protest against all wars. Begin with
A Test of Wills.
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 Music Review
I'm delighted to announce the release of my latest music CD! Hey, did you know that I've got two really different musical projects going on? In addition to my Americana-Blues self, you can now hear my New Age-Ambient-Trance music offering. A bit about it: Journey in the dream language of a medicine woman, with luscious percussion, backwards guitar, a whale's voice, a thunderstorm--and that's just the first song! Your invitation is awaiting . . . join me in an adventure in the wild world of Blue Lilah. The new cd is called Medicine Songs: Enchanting, entrancing new age-ambient-trance-journey music. Please listen in at
bluelilah.com You can purchase it via download or order a physical cd!
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Transformational Inquiry
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Big Thanks to the Dinee People!-A Visualization to Blow Your Mind!
I came upon this extraordinary piece of "medicine" in Joseph Campbell's
Hero With A Thousand Faces
. This "poem" is an utter gem from a longer healing work of the Dinee (Navajo) People. I began to use it as part of my spiritual practice. I'd do my usual going inside into a meditative state while listening to music (I am, after all, a musician, and music is a main vehicle for me to meditate). And then I'd ever-so-slowly inwardly repeat the medicine poem. From the first time I've done this, I've always had extraordinary experiences--profound expansion, groundedness, peace, awe at life, delight, love.
I began applying my experience to an offering for the clients in my practice. When a client expresses a longing for a greater experience of Self, a transpersonal thirst, an awakening of personal and universal truth, I suggest an experiment: "I have an idea! How about a visualization! It's based on a poem from the Dinee people. First I'll introduce you to one of the words they use, so you can bring your own experience to it. Then I'll recite the poem several times and you can see where it takes you!" With the client's agreement, I send them inside to their best poem-listening-to place. First I invoke their response to the word "pollen" as the Dinee use it:
I begin, "In this poem the Dinee use the word 'pollen.' For them, pollen isn't the make-you-sneeze stuff. For them, pollen is the life source, and the pollen path is the path to the center. Pollen for them is corn pollen, and it has a very sacred story. Let yourself imagine a field of corn, tended by the people of the village. The story of corn is amazing--Corn is one plant that needs human hands to help it grow. In fact, corn will die without humans to help it. If a corn cob falls into a field the kernels cannot make it through the husk to resprout--they need to be taken by human hands and planted. The Dinee people see the growing of corn as a pact between the human and the divine. The source of life shows up in the corn, but it must b
e tended to by human hands in order to be used . . .
. . . So it's this amazing real meeting place between divine and human, oneness and diversity, the sublime extraordinary and the magnificent ordinary. It's the story of the
connection of infinite and finite. It's the sacred dance of oneness and duality. For the Dinee, the life source gives the people the food to feed them, and the people receive it and use their hands and wisdom to plant and harvest. But it's much more than that--it's the story of the
creation and
life of all things, and the partnership that makes it possible. The symbol of this partnership is the pollen of the corn, where it all happens. T
he Dinee always save the corn pollen and use it in ceremony . . .
. . . Let yourself see the people of the village gathering the corn pollen, and how in their hands they are gathering the meeting of the divine and the human. They are celebrating a sacred event where life force manifests its connection with the earthly. The divine and the human come together, not only to feed the people of the village, but to nourish their spirits with the great sacred story of life.
So that is a little of what the word pollen signifies in this medicine poem. And now let yourself feel into that word
pollen, and feel into the experiences from your own life that resonate--how you are longing for that sacred dance, or the times in your life that you have experienced the meeting of the two, and the sacred story. And like all good stories, let it be beyond your mind to understand, let the understanding come from your heart."
Then I invite the client to take a few deep breaths, settle into their chair, and give me a nod when they are ready. I then, really slowly, recite the poem several times . . . and wait.
Put your feet down with pollen.
Put your hands down with pollen.
Put your head down with pollen.
Then your feet are pollen;
your hands are pollen;
your body is pollen;
your mind is pollen;
your voice is pollen.
The trail is beautiful.
Be still.
I am always astonished at the response this poem evokes! Clients experience a profound, grounding,
uplifting, expanding access to the Self connected to the Web of Life. It is always extraordinary and lasting--something we often refer to in future sessions. For one client it was a deep turning point in the therapy.
As a variation, after I speak about the pollen, I put on some trippy music, let the client listen for a while, and begin to repeat the poem several times, letting the effects of the poem and the music take the listener on a journey.
Of course I am giving only a very abbreviated version of what pollen holds for the Dinee, and their great sacred story. You can go online to find out more resources. I thank the Dinee and their medicine people for their wisdom and generosity in gifting us with these sacred words.
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Poem by Kathleen
a little bit of yum
a little bit of yum
a crumb
a crunch, a bite
and then we're done.
tidbit, morsel, taste, a drop
a soupçon, nosh
and then we'll stop.
ambrosia, nectar, we adore
if only just . . .
one mouthful more!
a delectable, a relished heat
to finish off that spicy treat
the midnight hankering for flavor
the craving for the thing we savor
chocolate rapture, rich delight
upon the palette erudite
we nibble, lead by inward urge
oh just this once
no harm to splurge!
the dazed give-in
to appetite.
the moment best
when we can let
the nectar linger,
longing met. . .
it's not the taste
though that does please
it's the yearning of
the heart for ease--
and scary! to admit the ache
much easier to reach for--
cake!
we're vulnerable when we believe
that we could let ourselves
receive
the sustenance to mend our hurt--
that kindness is our just dessert
and hunger is a thing to show, so
take the meal,
and eat it--slow--
in the savoring
the heart will know. . .
. . . the honey, goody, nibble of
the sweet we really want
is love.
© Kathleen Dunbar 2013
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Kathleen Dunbar, LMFT39880, Certified Hakomi Therapist
PHONE: 415/668-5130
OFFICE: 16 Blake Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
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Featured article and any poetry by Kathleen Dunbar
are copyrighted by Kathleen Dunbar © 2013. All Rights Reserved.
This is a newsletter folks! The content of this newsletter and services advertised in it should not replace formal medical, psychological, nutritional, legal, or any other professional advice.
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