Gratitude and Dr. Sha

We are all aware of the horrible catastrophes happening on the earth right now. The flip-side of that coin is there are also huge blessings being given to us as well. There are gifts being offered to us, such as the teachings of Dr. Sha and other Masters that are truly rare in the history of our planet. I, for one, am profoundly grateful for these gifts!

My teacher Delphi Amritam introduced me to a Chinese Master named Dr. Sha. He and his teacher are responsible for containing the Sars epidemic in China. They are Master healers in both Chinese medicine and Western Medicine. In fact, Dr. Sha is also a Western MD. Because of his incredible service to the world Dr. Sha was given many gifts to help in his work by the Divine. He teaches Soul medicine. “Heal the Soul first, then the mind and body will follow,” is his motto. He teaches profound respect for all souls, and he teaches that EVERYTHING has a soul. More information on him can be found at: www.drsha.com, and a great movie about his work can be seen at: http://www.soulmastersmovie.com/

I have experienced a profound connection to the purity of the Divine with him that I was previously unaware of. This purity has a peace in it that makes the bliss I was previously addicted to seem painful. Really! There really are no words to describe it, but I have changed since meeting him and studying with him.

The group I have studied with for over 15 years in Boulder CO is now caretaking a divine temple initiated by Dr. Sha in Boulder. This temple houses the Divine in a way that I simply cannot put words to, and to be honest am nervous even talking about. I would have had no understanding of what I myself am talking about prior to actually going there. One story of the temple is by my friend Susan:

“I was in an auto accident in August 2007 that left me with ringing in the ears and severe migraine headaches 3 to 5 days a week. I tried a variety of treatments but nothing really helped me. I was struggling to figure out how to support myself and live my life when I could only function half of my days.  When I came to the Divine Healing Temple on March 15^th I asked for a blessing for my head. I started feeling bright, sparkly, high-intensity light energy pouring into the back of my head. Then it felt like it was filling up my whole body, and my whole body was vibrating with it by the time I left. The rest of the day, I felt this pleasant uplifted feeling. Then the weather began to shift and I could feel a migraine coming on. However, it never really happened.
I woke up in the middle of the night with fluid coming out of my ears. At first, I was hesitant to think this meant that my migraines were gone. Even one week without them was such a gift. Now it has been four weeks, and I have not had another migraine. Since that extra fluid trapped in my head was released, I seem cured. It is quite an amazing experience. I feel very grateful to Master Sha for the transformation of Baba’s Barn into the Love Peace Harmony Center.”

The ability to truly appreciate this kind of miracle energy has been a process in my life. After visiting the Pyramids of Egypt in my 20s I started feeling vibrations around my body. Later, through the teachings of Delphi (my teacher in Boulder, CO) I learned how to focus on those vibrations and go into various states of bliss. Though warned, I grew rather attached to feeling the bliss, and got arrogant thinking I was the one creating it.

Later during my illness when all the bliss went away, I rather abruptly learned that the bliss did not belong to me. Rather, I experienced it through open channels to Divine Energy I had un-knowingly opened.

I now know that, that like everything, the Divine likes to be respected and appreciated for its gifts. I now humbly acknowledge that it is the Divine that gives the gift of bliss, peace, and contentment. It is not there for me to falsely own like a thief, but there for me to receive like a present.

All people like to be appreciated. All people deserve to be appreciated. And when appreciated they are more likely to respond in kind. The Divine is no different. The Divine likes to be appreciated and likes to respond in kind. It is a law of the universe. And I thank Dr. Sha for bringing my attention ever more firmly on this truth.

The Power of Sound

    Sound has a large and powerful affect on the human mood. The phrase ‘music tames the savage beast’ is, I believe, an accurate one. We use music to tame our wild emotions as well as lift our spirits. We play music:

• At parties to lift the mood and create a fun atmosphere.
  
• At sports events to charge the event with excitement.
  
• At work to create a pleasant and work-inspiring environment.
  
• During entertainment such as movies, plays, etc. The music heightens the drama.
  
• During pregnancy and a child’s development years to promote the child’s healthy mind and body.
  
• To relax and center ourselves from our busy lives.
  
• To help create a personal sacred space.
  
• To set the mood for romance. Oooo la la!
  

    In India a song (Raga) is made to express a particular mood (Rasa). This is true of Persian Dastga Music as well. While Western music creates similar effects we have not officially categorized our music in terms of the mood it promotes, yet.

    Years ago I attended a retreat led by a Native American Shaman named Beautiful Painted Arrow. The retreat was held out in an amazing forest. One day while I was playing the flute for some of the members of the retreat, Beautiful Painted Arrow came up to me and shared some wisdom that has impacted my life ever since. He told me that when I, or anyone, plays music, their inner experience is transmitted to the listeners. Music is a great service to the world because the musician can help create a beautiful world simply by playing beautiful music. Whatever state of being, or mood, the musician is in, is transmitted to the audience.

    An easy way for me to understand this is to think of the impact the tone of my voice has during a conversation. If I use an accusing or angry tone while conversing with someone, the impulsive response I get is usually one of defensiveness and/or anger. If I bring a peaceful disposition to communication, the conversation is usually quite peaceful and effective, even on many difficult topics.

    In a similar way, by playing music from an inspired internal place, the musician inspires his or her listeners to experience that same place inside them-selves.

Hence the musician is impacting his audience with his or her music in two primary ways:

1. The actual music (including notes and silences) that he or she is playing impacts the audience. Rowdy music, disconnected sounds, etc. will have a very different affect on the audience than melodious music. Please note: I do not hold one as superior to the other, they simply support different purposes.
   
2. The mood, or space, the musician is in while playing. The musician’s mood is amplified and holds the space for the audience to join them there.
   

I build saxophone mouthpieces with four intentions:

1. To inspire and support musician’s in expressing their inner voice.
   
   1. This means making mouthpieces the musician doesn’t have to fight in order to express themselves.
      
   2. To make mouthpieces that can translate the musician’s authentic inner voice into audible sound-waves.
      
2. To bring specific types of sound, that only certain mouthpiece configurations like the True-Large Chamber can create, out into the musical world. Not only does the musician playing experience the beauty inherent in these mouthpiece configurations, but their audiences do as well.
   
3. To create a piece of art. Even physical beauty inspires!
   
4. To create a domino effect of beauty. By helping the musician have a wonderful experience playing, the musician then shares their beautiful experience with their audience. Then the audience shares that experience with friends and family, and so on.
   

       The domino effect can start anywhere….I simply want to be part of it! For example, about two weeks ago we ordered way too many shipping boxes. These arrived in a tiny shipping station for pick-up. I couldn’t figure out how transport all the boxes in my small car so they sat there until I arranged the use of another car to come pick them up. When I arrived to load the boxes I noticed the boxes had taken a good quarter of the station attendant’s already tiny working area for the last week. I felt horrible! But the man, with a big kind smile on his face, started helping me load and carry all the boxes. He was not upset at me. In fact he showed great compassion. He even arranged for me to have half the boxes returned too. Wow! This guy was like a saint. He inspired me! I went home inspired to put as much care in my work as this man did in his. Hopefully my inspiration is evident in our products, and so on.
   

    If even in a small way, I believe it is possible for Theo Wanne Classic Mouthpieces to be part of creating a more beautiful world. It is my hope and prayer that our products will inspire and assist musicians to experience and express their inner beauty and share that beauty with their fans and audiences.

    It may not be the same as creating a peace agreement between the world powers. But because I believe in the power of sound, it is my belief that promoting beautiful music helps, to some degree, in the formation of a more beautiful world.

The New ‘Double’ Mouthpiece Case

I just got the final prototype for our new ‘Double Mouthpiece’ case in, and it is truly beautiful, both in esthetics and function. It took awhile to locate the right clipping mechanism so it would mount both on a belt and clip onto pants without a belt too, but we finally did it, and it really works well. It is all leather with our logo embossed in gold! Very nice.

The design is a more versatile version of the leather case we are shipping the new Wanne mouthpieces in.