Musical Reflections

A few days after the George Floyd murder, I was practicing my harp when my phone rang. It was my dear friends in Kansas City checking in to see how I was doing through all the turmoil. I told them I was playing my harp, and as long as I was doing that, I felt OK.

I asked her if she’d like a harp song. I sat my phone down, played and after finishing the song, she said, “My dog was so agitated and as he listened on speaker to the harp, he curled up beside me and is now completely chilled out … we both calmed down!! Thank you.”

Do you have pets? Try some harp music!!

Tami Briggs lives in Minneapolis, MN and is now offering virtual hospital and hospice bedside vigils via Zoom. She is a therapeutic harpist and has her certification from the International Harp Therapy Program. Tami has played at the bedside of hundreds of hospital and hospice patients. Benefits and possible outcomes of harp therapy include:

• Creates a calming environment in homes and for hospital/hospice patients, families, visitors, and staff.
• Allows hospital patients and families to focus on something hopeful and beautiful to distract them from pain and suffering.
• Nurtures people in time of physical and/or emotional pain.
• Vibrates and penetrates body tissues and cells to facilitate healing.
• Provides positive sensory stimulation.
• Provides palliative care for hospital and hospice patients in transition.
• Improves physiological effects, such as relaxed muscle tension, increased oxygenation, slower heart rate, lowered blood pressure, etc.

If you are interested in this unique service offered by Tami, please contact her at tami@musicalreflections.com or 952-829-1919.

The video, “The Gift of Christmas Peace” is back by popular demand! We love sharing it with you to help bring peace and serenity throughout the upcoming month of holiday preparation. Featuring the beautiful song, “Pachelbel’s Canon/The First Noel,” serene winter scenes and an inspirational written message, it is our gift to you this special holiday season. To watch, click here or go to this YouTube link.

Also, feel free to share with your family and friends … our goal is to bring calm and comfort to you and yours during the upcoming month … enjoy!

I was recently on a Zoom call and someone asked the question, “What are the blessings you’ve received from the coronavirus?” Honestly, the question took me aback, because there’s been so much focus on the negative. Even though I don’t feel like I’ve personally lived in the negativity, I wasn’t prepared to list my blessings. After taking some time to reflect, here’s a few things I’m grateful for:

• Playing my pedal harp to “send out” peace and calm energetically every day.
• A deeper connection/relationship with my friends and support system.
• Easing up on Mother Earth (reduced pollution, cleaner waters, less frenetic busy-ness, etc.)
• Daily walks in nature and breathing in fresh air. (I’m also so glad the pandemic “hit” in mid-March vs. mid-January in Minnesota!)
• Connecting daily with people I had lost touch with or hadn’t connected with for a long time.
• Meditating daily to help fill “the field” with love and peace.
• Cleaning. Cleaning. Cleaning. My house feels lighter and more organized, and I love this feeling!
• Working with my harp therapy students. As we have connected each week, we spend the first few minutes of each lesson processing our CoVid experiences, as well as mutually supporting each other.
• Working on a couple exciting, new creative projects!
• Time to enhance and deepen my self-care practice.

I could go on … I’m amazed at how long the list already is! What’s on your list of CoVid blessings? As we “hold space” for the struggles and pain of CoVid, we can also be grateful. I invite you to reflect on your CoVid blessings (if you haven’t already done so)…

Once the calendar is flipped to November, it’s time to start thinking about the holidays, isn’t it?!

We are all about peace and calm – for either yourself or those on your holiday gift list. All of our offerings focus on helping you relax, experience calm, reduce stress and feel peace. Whether it’s harp CDs, downloads, books, and musical devices (Amazing Mini Music Machine, Angelic Vibrations MP3 player), we are happy to be of service to you. Musical Reflections is available to help with holiday gift ideas!

Yes, it is already time to begin prepping for the holidays! (They come around faster every year, don’t they?!) Do you need shopping assistance or gift ideas? Musical Reflections is available to help with several unique products – harp CDs, downloads, books, and musical devices (Amazing Mini Music Machine, Angelic Vibrations MP3 player). We’re all about bringing you (and those on your holiday gift list) relaxation, calm, stress reduction and peace. Let us know if we can be of service to you.

As soon as I posted the last blog about music and violence, I realized I had more to say about this important topic/issue.

Whenever violence “hits” us, we are left wondering why this continues to happen in our beloved country. Is it violent TV, movies and video games? Is it gun laws (or lack thereof)? Is it deep unrest in the depths of our souls? Is it a mental health issue? Is it geo-political? Is it stress-related? Or something else???

And as a harpist, I can’t help but ask, “How can my music help? How can I be a part of the solution? How can I assist and/or facilitate the healing process through music?” When the harp is played with a peaceful intention, it is music to soothe the soul, comfort our contemplative core, calm our jaggled nerves, and move us into deep rest.

After each violent episode, I reflect, “What is my intention with my music?” My answer – to bring peace. To nurture your heart. To relax you. To relieve stress. To facilitate healing. I am honored to help you with your journey. To receive the gifts I offer, click to watch videos, order CDs and/or music devices, and purchase downloads. Many continued blessings to you …

We are so blessed to have so many supporters of our work. We appreciate each of you! You motivate us to “keep on keepin’ on” providing peace and calm to the world (and the world needs it, doesn’t it?!). It is our honor to help as much as we can. We look forward to continued connections with you…

Didn’t I just write about holiday prep yesterday?! It has sure been a fast year … and now, ready or not, here come the holidays!

Need help with gift ideas and shopping? We can help with harp CDs, books and music devices (Amazing Mini Music Machines and MP3 Players). And perhaps downloads of relaxing music will help you feel some peace and calm throughout this holiday season.

“Take a day to heal from the lies you’ve told yourself and the ones that have been told to you.” ~Maya Angelou

I recently came across this powerful quote and it reminded me of something I’ve recently been exploring … tapping! (not toe tapping, but tapping on seven points on the head and upper body area).

The whole point of tapping is to “rid” our body/mind/spirit of any negative messages, just as the Angelou quote says. I have found tapping to be a profound healing experience! If you would like more information, here’s two resources:  Nick Ortner of the Tapping Solution and Margaret Lynch.

In a nutshell, tapping helps move us out of our Reptilian brain and into our executive brain (pre-frontal cortex). It also helps us relax and feel calm to make even better decisions. Doesn’t all of that sound awesome?!! Can you see why I’m enjoying this new experience of learning to tap?!!