'The Silver Pool', a meditation for soothing a headache with peaceful harp

There is lots of beautiful harp music out there which I love listening to. I often set my morning alarm to play music from Spotify by Lies Joosten or Danielle Uriel, which gently coax me awake and set me up for the day in a good mood. For virtuosic brilliance and expression Eleanor Turner has always been my favourite and for magical atmospheres I love the improviations of Ludwig Conistabile, which somehow help me concentrate as well as relax. If you don't know them, please do check them out!

I've put off recording anything for a long time for various reasons but I've finally addressed them all and have posted my first youtube video.  It's called The Silver Pool, a meditation for soothing a headache.

One of the principles of harp therapy is mentally meeting people where they are, and acknowledging their state of being before leading them anywhere else. If someone is depressed, immediately playing happy music is not going to go down well, for example.

This is the starting point for a new set of guided imagery meditations that I'm working on. Soon there there will be one for anxiety, one for insomnia and one for feeling like you can't stop because you have too much to do. I'm taking suggestions for others! 

I've started with the headache one as, maybe selfishly, it's the one that I personally need the most. It is specifically for people with headaches, starting off by acknowledging that the headache is there, and that there is no point in trying to battle through when what you need is rest. The meditation then leads you on a walk to a place where your head can be completely soothed.

Being able to use both words and the harp together is a beautifully creative practice, as the harp both supports and is inspired by the words. Usually at the end of a guided meditation there would be a section towards the end of  bringing the person back to full consciousness but with this recording the intention is to encourage a healing sleep so it ends very quietly.

I recommend that you don't listen to it straight away, but save it for when you need it. I also recommend that you use good headphones if you can as I've added an immersive stereo effect towards the end. It took me a lot time and patience to work out how to do it but I'm really pleased with the result.

The ideas for the recording were in my head for a long time but I kept procrastinating. The catalyst to finally do it was a gift from the artist Felix Garcia, from Nicaragua. After I had played at his wedding last year (he married my friend Teddie and they're such a wonderful couple, living sometimes in the UK and sometimes in Nicuagua), he sent me a beautiful painting of me playing my harp against a jungle backdrop. His style has a wonderful dreamlike feel and I realised that if I had some art in this style then the video could be of this instead of of me. So for the first time in my life I commissioned a piece of art, and here it is as the image for my first recording.  Thank you, Felix, and thank you Teddie, for introducing us.  It's beautiful, and knowing the person who painted it and the work that went into it makes it all the more special. 

You can see more of Felix and his work on instagram @__felixgarcia__ 

I hope you enjoy The Silver Pool, and that it helps you when you need it.

https://youtu.be/Ew91tdzDQN0

Recently I was invited to the Staff Awards for the Lister Hospital, where I play harp at bedside every Monday morning.  It's a very very long time since I've been to a formal dinner at a lovely venue so I didn't need any pursuading. 

I was there as part of the Dementia Team, and the picture shows our nomination slide, saying 'The dementia team's efforts have improved patient experience, reduced length of stay, and enhanced staff morale'

The team is led by Admiral nurse Ruth Bradford and Molly Baldini, the Forget-me-not Dementia service manager. Molly is my main contact at the hospital and the person who  provides my list of people to play for. Her support and appreciation of what I do has been invaluable to me.

So of course I was delighted that we won in our category - it's definitely nice to win. But really what made the evening special was the fact that we were celebrating such important work by so many people across the hospital who don't usually have any fuss made about them. All sorts of people, doing very different jobs, really, really well. Some of them leaders, some nurses, midwives, porters, doctors, administrators, housekeepers, the play team, the therapy dog team, and so many others. Some awards were about specific moments of wonderful care, others covered projects or long term outstanding work resulting in improvements for staff or patients.

So much of our culture focusses on people who are famous for fame's sake or who are deliberately controversial or divisive. It felt so refreshing to be celebrating people doing genuinely important work with kindness, care and professionalism.  

Of course the only downside to awards like this is the people also doing great work who don't happen to have been nominated this time, and I'm sure there will have been many. 

I don't know how common it is for hospitals to have events like this, but it would be wonderful if it's possible everywhere. This one was supported by the East and North Herts Hospitals' charity and sponsors. I feel really lucky to have been included and glad that the service I'm a part of was recognised so heartily! I think life is largely about doing important things well and this evening was absolutely full of exactly that. 

Thank you to all the organisers in the charity and the Lister communications team for such a good night. 

What's the point of Drift Aways?

There's just so much noise. 

Noisy loud opinions, bombs and explosions which may be too far away for our ears to hear but which we know are killing, maiming and destroying. There's shouting and fighting and minds caught up in arguments and vitriol. Strangers in comments sections online laying into each other with threats and violent words, somehow thinking that this will help. Then there's the noise of daily life and its demands of attention, time and not messing things up.

All this noise seems to have got louder since I ran my first online Drift Away session in 2020. This month (on the 26th September) will be my 94th, having been running them roughly fortnightly since then. And to me they've become more and more important as my little bit of resistance to the noise. Not with more noise but by providing a space of quietness and peace, with no demands and very few words. 

The lovely thing about zoom is that I have people joining from down my road and people joining from across the Atlantic. Numbers vary - sometimes there may just be three or four of us, and sometimes over 20. There are regulars who come every time and people who pop by now and then.

The live element is important to me. Lots of wonderful harpists (e.g. Christina Tourin, Lies Joosten, Danielle Uriel, Ludwig Conistabile, Alix Colin) have recorded relaxing music that people can play whenever is convenient for them, and I highly recommend all of them! I like seeing the names or pictures on the zoom squares (cameras are always off) and knowing that each of these people, wherever they are and whatever they do in their lives, at that moment are escaping the noise, and giving themselves the chance to feel peace. I'm playing for them, particularly, which gives a feeling of connection, intention and purpose.

Drift Aways are on Friday evenings at 8.30 UK time. Everyone is welcome and there are plenty of free tickets.  If you think this would be helpful for you too, then please sign up.  You can click on the image above  or search eventbrite for 'Peaceful Strings Drift Away'.