The world renown Sedona Yoga Festival was a great place to offer GROOVE INTO BLISS: MUSICAL MEDITATION & MORE, where I could debut my concept for STILL CHILL THRILL:
STILL- Music for meditation
CHILL- Music for activation
THRILL- Music for celebration
Using these varying tempos to correlate to different states of being, I used music as an experiential tool to connect with different layers of awareness. We began by using the ambient music as a focal point to connect with inner peace and oneness, centering and balancing ourselves, fully entering the present moment. We gradually raised the tempo to a more chill beat, and put our awareness on thoughts we want to activate; intentions, prayers, wishes, dreams…anything we want to empower. I enthusiastically believe that we create our future reality by the thoughts we think and the words we say. We can use our full intention to actively create the life we want. It is a practice and it TAKES practice, every day. One of my many tools for focusing is the use of affirmations: writing, drawing, speaking or singing them. (An affirmation is any statement or belief. Thank you, Louise Hay!) Toward that end I did a fun experiment…I played a funky little groove, and I sang some affirmations, and asked everyone to sing along with me, call and response, “Kirtan- style.” It was totally fun, playful and effective! I plan to do more of this in the future.
Lastly, we pumped up the music to move and groove and sing and dance (THRILL), sending out waves of positive energy to empower our prayers and to be in a state of joy and bliss… which, of course, actives MORE joy and bliss!
For this concert I had an amazing band: Rachel Ekroth (synth) drove in from L.A., and joined local Sedona musicians Jess Kalu (bamboo flutes), Renick Turley (sitar), Troy Perkins (bass), Adrial Zang (percussion), Avery Roberts (Didjeridoo). Other musicians.and singers that came into town for the yoga festival joined the group; Prem Vidu on percussion, Johanna Beekman and Kelly Love Ross on vocals. And me of course on electric guitar! We were joined for a special guest appearance by Shey (Sherab Shey Khandro) on a song that we wrote together along with dear friend Gedeon Luke McKinney, called “Lead With Love.” Styling by Willow Culver, hair and makeup by Patricia Vegas, photos by Ron Chilston
Here was the original description of the STILL, CHILL, THRILL concert…
“As we begin the event, we ring soft bells and create sounds with Crystal bowls, whose waves gently affect our minds, hearts and souls. Slowly we introduce rhythms and textures, adding melodies and layers of harmonies, and set the stage to go deeper and higher, enjoying the peace, finding their own rhythm in the stillness. As we progress, more elements are added and the tempo and timbre escalate, weaving energetic and uplifting sounds with the Intentional Soundscapes. World beats, exotic instruments, and intuitive musicians guide us through the journey of sound and life. We find our way to a peak of good feeling, rockin’ fun music, joyful and uplifting. No two concerts are identical, no audience has the same experience, every event is a unique occurrence. The performers are all creative masters, whose contribution is to blend their musicality with their intuition, bringing forth a new genre of sound-entertainment-experience, with an emphasis on feeling good! This is the world of STILL, CHILL, THRILL, and my concept of actively engaging in the “Music of Transformation.” Sounds good to me!”
