Category Archives: community

WHOLE-NESS of Being

Hey All,

Nasiri, 2017

I thought I’d take a minute today to let you in on a little secret.  Sounds Like Health is NOT just about sound instruments and tools for health and well-being.

 

I believe in the WHOLE-ness of a person.  That includes body, spirit, energy, mental status and well-being in general.  It also includes being attuned to your physical environment and how that might be affecting you on a personal level.

 

Because this is my philosophy, you will see posts from me that include everything from sound instruments and healing techniques to poetry.  I include some astrological and numerology information to include the cosmos as that definitely effects our day to day lives.

 

Think for a minute about the moon cycles and the tides.  Everyone knows that on the full moon the tides are higher than other times of the month.  Why is that?  Because the moon is closer and the electromagnetic effect is pulling the water out in a bulge towards the direction of the moon.

 

How does this relate to you?  Seriously??

 

Women get monthly menstrual periods and the full moon can and will affect that.  You might notice a heavier flow.  You might notice that ‘bulge’ in your lower abdomen in the form on water weight gain.  You might notice a rhythm to your cramping.

 

You can suffer in silence.  Ya right!  We ARE women correct?  Or you can do some things to help yourself.  You might take a pain reliever for the cramping and bloating.  You might use a heating pad on your belly.  You might lay down.  You could take an Epsom Salt bath with some essential oils to help you relax and de-stress.

 

And contrary to popular belief, the moon cycles affect the men and children in our lives too.  It affects your mood.  Have you noticed people acting crazy at the full moon?  Have you noticed shorter tempers or more acting out?

 

So what can we do with sound to help?

 

You can HUM!  Do you remember as children we were always making sounds?  Listen to your own children and you will see that they are rarely quiet.  They are laughing, chattering away, singing or humming.

 

When you were a child you hummed.  It is one of the easiest ways to balance your entire system and you can do it anywhere without tools.  Your voice is your tool.  Your body is your speaker or resonator.  Take a minute with me right now and hum.  You can hum with your mood – happy or sad.

 

The benefits of humming are HUGE!  It helps to balance and align the bodies (all of them).  It helps you to feel good.  It vibrates your internal bodies (big and small) and releases stagnation.  It can change your mood.

 

You can do it in public.  Others might join you in humming.  You can go incognito with humming and do it softly so no one notices.  Or you can loudly hum to invite others to join you.  You can hum a known tune or make one up.  You can be creative with your humming!

 

I will always try to include something that relates what I’m sharing back to sound and well-being or WHOLE-ness of being.  But that might not always be the case.  Sometimes I might just put a poem that I wrote up for you to share in that experience with me.

 

I will definitely continue to share and hopefully some of that will be helpful to you.

 

Maybe it might even invite you to share some of the things that you don’t often share with others too.

 

Thanks for being with me today.  I’ll post a humming video shortly.

 

Blessings on your head…

Nasiri

 

 

If I Were Happy …

If I were happy …

 

My wild peals of laughter would bring a smile to the face of all within hearing distance …

… unhindered teeth … flashing smiles.

 

My heart would and will wake with a song …

No matter the weather –

The location –

the economic climate –

who is beside me …

 

My eyes will magically be drawn to smiles – like magnets –

 

My ears will magically attune to GIGGLES, CHUCKLES, GUFFAWS, and HEE HEEs and HAA HAAs.

 

Is that sound waves crashing on a shore??

 

NO WONDER!

Happy New Year

I for one am not sorry to see 2016 fall away!  It was NOT a good year for me in so many ways.  And it was an AMAZING year for me in so many other ways.  Most people I’ve talked to feel the same way.

 

I connected with a friend recently who said she was having the absolute worst time of her life!

 

I’m sure a statement like that is not easy for someone to make.  It wasn’t easy for me to say what I said either.

 

I think that is a subsconscious cry for help.  I’m excited when I think about that.  I know you might think I’m crazy right now… but stick with me for a minute.

 

Doesn’t that mean that we are coming out of our silos of individuality and asking for help when we need it?

 

How long have we kept our challenges and difficulties a secret from our families or those that we love and love us?  It might have come from a desire to ‘save’ them from worrying about us.  It might have come from the place that they can’t do anything to help us and they’ll want to.

 

(although I don’t think that is really it.)  If we know anything it is that our loved ones really DO love us and will help us if they can.  Too often our own judgments about what that might look like stop us from asking for help.

 

OUR OWN JUDGMENTS!!

 

When people ask me how I am, I’m going to tell them the ‘uncanned, unedited version’ of how I’m doing.  (HA, HA)  They might get more than what they asked for, but if anyone wants to offer a hand, they will be able to do so.

 

I read an article about resolutions vs. intentions or themes for the coming year.  I made a .pdf of mine and it is attached here for you to witness.

2017 book

 

It feels good to me.  I’ve already started to focus on being happy for a time every day.  I like journaling with colored markers so I’m doing that.  I’m a poet and I’ve posted a poem that I wrote New Year’s Day.  I’ll be posting more of them.  I also like the audio of my poems as then you get the rhythm and sound of the energy of the poem.  You’ll have to let me know what you think.

 

For folks who don’t know numerology, a 1 universal year is arrived at like this…

2017 = 2+0+1+7=10=1

Some of my favorite websites for numerology and astrology are:

www.numerologist.com and www.karisamuels.com

 

Let me know what you think?

Nasiri

Bringing 2016 to a Close and Celebrating New Moon, 12-28-16

As we are in the final days of 2016, I invite you to create some space to review the past year, if you haven’t already done so.

 

Typically, I do this by creating some time and space to honor:
– who I was this past year,
– the lessons I learned,
– to honor the things I willingly or grudgingly released,
– and to celebrate the magic and successes!

 

You might be wondering why? Because it is the best way I know to move forward for the next year. If I’m still stuck on something in 2016, how can I creatively move forward in 2017?

 

The new moon in Capricorn (today) is about business and finance! I think that is perfect timing to think about 2017. If you have your own business, what do you want to manifest this coming year? 2017 is a universal 1 year, new beginnings and also the first year of the next 9 year cycle.

 

If you work for someone else, you can still set your goals for this coming year at your job. Where do you want to be by the end of the year? What kind of things do you want to be recognized for this year? What do you want to remember as your greatest accomplishment or success?

 

In my life coaching business, I would be asking you for specific information about what you want to manifest … a timeline, as many details as you can imagine. I prefer to do this by using my imagination and visualizing an amazing year for myself and what that looks like for me.  I would usually start at the end of the year and what was I reflecting on as my successes.

 

Then, I’ll pick up a pen and put it into form by writing it out. Then I might add it on my calendar with ‘to do’ dates to accomplish the things that I ‘saw’.

 

This will help to keep you on track and moving forward. Do yourself a favor… pick 3 things to accomplish. If you do a whole list, you might get overwhelmed. If you pick three things and give yourself a reasonable amount of time to accomplish them you have a much better chance of success.

 

The other thing I want to ask you to do is to take time to relax.  Right now, before the end of the year.  Slow down physically, mentally and energetically.  Mercury is still retrograde, so double check your work.  Take a break.  Take a nap.  Review written communication.  Finish old projects.  Say goodbye to those people, places, and things that have completed their cycle with you.

 

An amethyst will help your mental and emotional clarity.

 

Wishing you a successful year in review and an amazing New Moon Intention Manifesting Moment!!!

The Gong Show!!

The Gong Show

Have you ever driven by a store and had the thought, “I need to stop in there.”?

 

Well, there is this one place, EurAsian Interiors on Broadway in Denver, CO that I happened to drive by frequently over the last 3 years.  Every time I saw it, I had the thought I’d like to go in there and look around.

 

Never happened.

 

Three days ago, I was driving past it again headed home.  I heard the voice in my head (you KNOW the one I’m talking about!) say quite loudly…Time to STOP and check it out.

 

I tend to pay attention to that voice.  So I turned around and went back.  When I tried to go in the door stuck.  I thought it might not be open, but pushed harder and it did.

 

It was like stepping back in time to Europe/Asia or transporting there immediately.  The shop was filled with treasures.

 

I walked around for a bit and spotted this gong.  It’s from Beijing China.  I asked a salesperson, who was present but not pushy, if I could play it.  She said sure.

 

When I picked up the mallet to see what kind of sound we could make together, I heard a male voice in the background (behind a screen) say, “Sure, go ahead and bang on it.  I do.”  I replied that I was a sound healer and it might be a different experience.

 

As I began tapping the gong with the mallet there was a multitude of tones that started to make themselves known.  The sound was enticing and inviting and captivating.  My breath became easier and I immediately knew that I was there for this gong.

 

I asked if they had others…  NO …

 

I checked the price and had the thought, “anything is possible.”

 

So I went in search of the male voice behind the screen and found the owner, Rusty.  He agreed that no one had played the gong quite the way I had before and was intrigued by what I do.

 

We talked for a bit and I asked the question, “What is the lowest price you’ll take for the gong?”  He said he had to think about it a bit and crunch some numbers.

 

I went looking around the rest of the shop and thought to myself, “What is the highest price I will pay for the gong?”  An immediate number came to mind.

 

About 10 minutes later the owner came over and named his price.   You probably guessed it by now.  It was the exact number that came to my mind before.

 

I couldn’t have planned this stuff!  The Universe definitely had a hand in this gong coming to live with me and be a part of my sound tool family.

 

I made arrangements to pick it up the next day.  When I got home I grabbed someone walking by to help me get it in the house.  I did a clearing on the gong and moved other sound tools around it to energetically attune them before making and sounds.

 

Here is the gong in HER new home.  Definitely feminine!  Definitely happy!  Unbelievable full spectrum sounds.

 

Stay tuned for a gong bath sound healing video for the holidays ….

 

 

How to support ‘traditional health issues” with sound.

After my recent post about rotator cuff surgery, I received a question from a reader.  The question was, “Why would I post a traditional article on a common surgical procedure?”

 

Now it’s time to relate it to sound.  So, how did sound and energetic medicine help with traditional surgery and recovery?

 

One of the first things I did was with OM Unison (or two C forks that can be placed on the body).  Because I could not use my right arm, I put one fork in my right hand.  I hit the other fork to get it vibrating and put that on different points on my body.  One point was to support liver function.  The other point was to support the kidneys.  Another point was to support the spleen.

 

These alone helped to remove the effects of anesthesia and medication from the surgery.  Most folks have no idea how deeply anesthesia effects the physical, emotional and energetic bodies.

 

First, you’ll notice you might get cold.  Knowing that might happen is important.  Think about when you wake up from surgery.  They want you to breathe and re-oxygenate the body.  You are cold!  They pile warm blankets on you to help you recover and wake up.

 

When you start to release side effects, it makes sense that you might get cold.  You might get nauseous as well (depending on the surgery).  If that is the case, stop and let things calm down.  Then try again.  Don’t worry that you are hurting anything.  It will pass.  Just be gentle with yourself in the process.

 

To promote healing for rotator cuff specifically, you can use OM unison forks (balancing and calming energy) to start.  I put one in my right hand and the other in my left hand and just held them after I hit them to get them vibrating.

 

As the healing progresses you can use other forks to support your process.  These forks can be placed on other points and meridians that will assist in the healing.  For instance to “open” will help release blocked or stagnant energy in those meridians and organs.  A 6th interval is good for this.

 

As always, pay attention to what and how your body responds.  If you have side effects becoming apparent (nausea, cold, spasming) then adjust as necessary.  By that I mean, move further away from the area that is responding on the body.  Or give yourself more time between vibrating the forks for things to be gentler.

 

To support respiratory function, I put OM unison forks on the LU1 points (located about 3″ above the nipple on the chest/each side).  This will help your breathing to regulate.  That will also help with other side effects.

 

I hope you found this helpful?  If you have any specific questions, please take the time to send a comment and I’ll get back to you quickly.

Twelve Tips to Make Rotator Cuff Surgery Easier – Before, During and After

Before

 

  • Practice using your non-dominant hand for more things:  such as brushing your teeth, opening doors, brushing your hair.  You get the picture.  The more things you can start doing with your other hand the better off you will be after your surgery. 

 

  • If you’re a woman, get a sports bra, a front hook bra or plan on not wearing a bra for a couple of months. The bottom line is you just can’t reach behind you to hook the bra.  Also, the straps land right on your shoulder and it is too painful.  If you are large busted, it can be a real problem.

 

  • Get your support team together. Who is going to help you?  Who is going to take you to the hospital for surgery?  Who is getting your prescriptions filled?  Who is taking you to your follow up appointments?  Who is going to drive you around?  Who is going to do your food shopping?  Who is going to clean your house, take care of your dogs, laundry, etc?

 

  • Make sure you have pull on pants and slip on shoes. You need both hands to tie bows, pull up zippers, button buttons. 

During

 

  • The day of your surgery: have someone take you to the hospital and stay with you (advocate).  The doctor will talk to you afterwards and you won’t remember any of it because of the drugs.  Your advocate will take notes and make sure to tell you what the doctor says after you are lucid again.  Plan on someone staying with you (or you staying with them) for the first week.  You will be on some serious pain medication.  It’s a good idea to have your advocate give you your medication as prescribed for the first 48 hours and to keep a log of it.  I was given Oxycodone and OxyContin simultaneously for pain.  If you are like me and don’t take drugs, then you’ll be pretty much out of it and not cognizant enough to track what you took and when.

 

  • When you wake up after your surgery, you will be in a hospital gown with an immobilizing sling on your arm. It has a big pillow part that leans against your waist/side and keeps your arm at an angle slightly away from your body.  The sling wraps around your waist, neck and back and can be fit to your body.  Make sure your advocate helps you to adjust all of that after the first 48 hours to make sure it fits you correctly.  You won’t care the first few days.

 

  • You’ll need a coat or jacket that you can wear without putting your arm in the sleeve. I borrowed a cape from my advocate.  That way it could just go over my shoulders and sling and keep me warm from the wheelchair into the car.  You’ll probably sleep in and out of things until you get home and right into bed.  Plan on sleeping most of that day and the next.

 

After 

 

  • You will basically be sleeping sitting up! If you have a recliner, GREAT!  That is where you’ll be sleeping and spending most of your time. However, know that it is hard to get out of a recliner with one arm/shoulder.  If you don’t have one (like me) then you can do a few things:
    • Get one of those big sitting up pillows for your bed with the armrests.
    • Use large yoga pillows. I had two huge meditation pillows and they went on my bed with 6 others to basically make me sit up while sleeping.  If you lay down, it might feel okay for about 5 minutes and then it will start throbbing.  If you put pressure on your shoulder or arm once, you won’t do it again!

 

  • The first 48 hours you need a caretaker. You need someone to cook for you and make sure you are drinking lots of water and fluids.  They need to check your temperature and help you to stay on top of the pain.  DON’T let it get away from you!!  Take your prescribed medications. Your caretaker will be available to hang out with you when you are awake.

 

  • After the first 48 hours, you’re going to want to bathe. They won’t let you before this.  There is no way you can do this alone.  My dearest friend and advocate got in the shower behind me and washed my hair because there was no way I could do it.  She helped me with my balance and washed my back.  The good thing is you can take off the sling to shower.  The bad thing is you are in a LOT of pain and can’t use that arm at all.  It throws off your balance.  Everything takes twice as long to do and is exhausting.  I think I slept for 4 hours after my shower! 

 

  • Don’t be discouraged by this. If you have ever had surgery, it is all normal for the first few days to be like this and the first week to be rough.  It gets better after that.  You can expect to feel more like yourself by the 3rd or 4th day as you aren’t taking the combined heavy duty medications anymore.  You should be down to one prescription by the later part of the first week.

 

  • By the end of the first week you’ll be feeling better, except for not having the use of the surgical arm. You might even think you can drive.  I suggest you don’t do it.  Your reflexes are slower.  You are still on medication.  All you need is to grab the wheel the wrong way and you will hurt yourself.  Your doctor will probably tell you not to drive.  They are correct.  Don’t expect to drive until you have been released from wearing the sling by your doctor.

 

WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE SLING?

 

Usually about one week after your surgery, you will start physical therapy.  Don’t let them tell you it doesn’t hurt.  It hurts like hell.  They want to check range of motion and to make sure your shoulder doesn’t freeze up.  Take your medication before you go!!  If you don’t, you’ll get muscle spasms that will inhibit your therapy.  I did.

 

OKAY, HOW LONG?

 

By now, you might be wondering how long before you get your arm back?  Or will you get your arm back?  I think if you have a good surgeon and depending on what was wrong with your shoulder in the first place, you can get your full range and strength (or close to it) back.  It WILL take time.  At the very least 6-9 months after your surgery; and up to 12-18 months in some cases.

 

I loved to play golf, fly fishing, swimming, sailing, canoeing.  You need your dominant arm for all those things and that overhead swing motion.  That’s the hardest for me.  I’m getting a membership to get in the pool.  I think that will help a lot to get that range of motion back.  Your insurance won’t give you physical therapy or massage for the whole time.  This is how you can continue your recovery.

 

Do yourself a favor…be your best and strongest cheerleader!!  Make a commitment to your recovery and full healing and you will!!

 

I took an online class while I was laid up.  It helped to keep my mind occupied.  Find something you are interested in and plan to do it while you aren’t able to do much else.  If you can find something you are interested in, it will help with depression. 

 

The sooner you can stop taking medication, the better off you will be in spirit.  As soon as you can stop taking narcotics and change to an anti-inflammatory or Ibuprofen the better off you will be.  Doctors don’t talk about the side effects of narcotics.  They do affect you much more than you think, energetically, emotionally and physically.  It takes a while to work out of your system too.  When you add the effects of anesthesia in on top of that, it makes a big difference. 

 

If you do energy work with someone, it can help to release some of these side effects.  If you want to know more about how that can work, please contact me.  That is something I can help you with the work I do.

 

This post, comments and/or suggestions are based on my personal experience over this past year.  I hope you found it helpful in some way.

 

If you have any questions or comments, please leave me a post and I’ll get back to you. 

Rotator Cuff Surgery – What They Don’t Tell You!!

I was talking to a friend the other day who was told she had to have rotator cuff surgery.  Some folks say, “Don’t do it” and others say, “Go for it”.  She asked me what do I say?  She knows I had it done this past year.

 

I say, “Are you in pain?  Is it affecting your quality of life?  Can you still do the things that make you happy without pain?”  If you say yes to pain, quality of life being affected and not being able to do things you love, then I believe it is worth doing.  No matter how old you are. 

 

The reason for my response is because of the quality of your life.  If you can’t do things you love and could easily do before, the question then becomes are you going to limit yourself for the rest of your life?  Are you going to deny yourself those things that give you pleasure? 

 

It is NOT easy.  I’ll tell you that up front.  Doctors or someone else might tell you it is.  NO, it is not.  Realistically, depending on the severity of the damage in your shoulder and your age, you can PLAN on not having the use of that arm at all for 6-8 weeks.  After that, you will have minimal range of motion and no strength for 4-6 months.  These factors depend on what the surgeon did and your age.  Why?  Because it will affect how quickly you recover. 

 

I’m not trying to worry you; but I wish someone had honestly told me what to expect.  I might not have gotten as depressed over the length of my recovery time if they had.  I might have had more patience with the time it was taking to get my strength back.  I might have had more patience with myself and the inability to do things I could do easily beforehand.  I might have been better prepared for the pain.

 

So what can I tell you that will help?  This too will pass! 

 

You are about to learn how to receive…how to receive help from friends and family; how to receive some ‘downtime’ and R&R; how to receive the blessings of something to occupy your mind while your body is recuperating; how to learn patience with yourself and others.

 

PLAN AHEAD

 

If this is your dominant hand/arm, as it was in my case, you need to plan ahead.  If it is your other arm/shoulder, it is easier but some of these tips are still applicable for you. 

 

Okay, what can you do?              

See the next post …

 

Community

Align yourself with the right people … your community … your tribe.

 

“You want to go fast- go alone!  You want to go far, go together.”  African Proverb

 

So many of us know who our people/tribe are and already have extended agreements and sharing that occurs with them on a regular basis.

 

There are others of course (many others) who don’t think ‘outside the box’ of family.  When someone mentions people or tribe to them, they immediately think of family, maybe childhood friends or schoolmates.  And I’m not saying these people are not part of your tribe or community.  They certainly can be.

 

Community can mean much more than that though.

 

I’m not saying those people are not important, of course they are if you think so.  Although, we were placed in those groupings. Whether we were born into them or assigned them in sports, school, church or other organized social groups.

 

What I’m talking about here is more about your ‘chosen’ tribe or community.  For instance, on my spiritual or transformational journey, I have met and aligned with people from all over the world.  Do you know what I’m referring to?

 

Sure you do.  You know the ones I’m talking about!  When you meet them, you know them.  Your thought is my sister!  My brother!  You might even express, “I know we’ve met before.”  At some point, you might even say, “it must be past life” when neither of you can figure out the details.

 

I’m inviting us to talk about community today.  Do you have an extended community?  Tribe?

Are there people you share information with and healing work?

Do they consist of family members?  Or are they people you’ve met on your journey?

 

If you have an active community in your life, embrace them more deeply.  If you don’t have one that reflects your passion, then it is time to find them!

 

When we have a tribe that reflects or shares our passion for living or our dream, then it’s an invitation to move forward with the manifestation of that in our life.  It’s a chance to have support of our dream, vs. the naysayers who don’t believe in it.  The ones who are trying to tell us what a waste of time it is.  That we are not being responsible.

 

Responsible – the ability to respond.  I find I’m much more able to respond in alignment with who I am when I have support from my tribe to do so.  When I’m conflicted or unsure or just need prayers, I can contact them and say that is what I need.  They step up and offer it freely.

 

The cosmos is supporting those kinds of relationships in our lives now to move forward in the manifestation of more happiness.  I don’t know about you, but I can use all the happiness I can think of … and more … to infinity and beyond.  I believe part of the struggle comes from being separate or put into silos of aloneness.

 

Our ancestors had the right idea.  They were organized into communities and tribes.  It took a village to raise a child.  Entire tribes migrated with the seasons based on the availability of physical support for their health, happiness and well-being in the environments where they lived.  Decisions were made based on agreement and conversation.  Each community had a healer and a leader who shared wisdom and listened to the rest of the tribe.

 

When did we become so isolated?  Do you feel that way sometimes?  I know I do.  Sometimes aloneness is stifling and other times necessary.  How do you balance individuality with community?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.