Streaming only:
Click for stream RSVP to Andrew Barnes Jamieson (AndrewBarnesJam@gmail.com) or Tom Bickley if you plan to attend!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82617957199
Our guest artist this month is Katie Down, offering a sound meditation, conversation about musical drone and somatic listening, and an induction to guide the listeners into full-body listening.
At 6:30 PST, you are welcome to stay on the Zoom call, and join whatever informal conversation might unfold afterwards.
Katie Down, (LCAT, MT-BC, MMT, MM) is a licensed creative arts therapist, Reiki practitioner, meditation teacher, performer, and composer. She has been teaching and facilitating sound meditations and deep listening workshops for over 10 years offering classes, and training programs in music therapy and sound healing as well as providing clinical supervision for LCATs, LCSWs, MDs, and other creative arts therapists.
Katie received her master's degree in Music Psychotherapy at New York University and went on to post-graduate training at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and with Laurel Parnell for certification in EMDR and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction with Paulette Graf.
Incorporating MBSR, EMDR, and creative visualization for trauma and trauma-related symptoms, Katie provides a nurturing, grounded, and open environment for opening the heart and letting go of blockages and negative patterns that hold us back from feeling connected to our higher selves and each other.
Katie teaches for the SUNY New Paltz music therapy department and is the clinical coordinator.
She developed the Brooklyn Music School's music therapy program and continues to offer sound meditations and continuing education for music therapists through their professional development program.
Katie offers continuing education for clinicians, bodyworkers, and sound practitioners interested in learning more about sound, music, vibration, and the healing arts and has designed courses such as "Music and Mindfulness in Clinical Applications" for The Spiegel Academy, "The Art of Listening "at NYU, and The School of Visual Arts, "Deep Listening Through Sound Meditation" at Cal State Fullerton, "Sound and Mindfulness in Contemplative Care" at the Art of Healing conference at The Jewish Theological Seminary, The Expressive Arts Therapy Summit, and The International Conference on Deep Listening, and has presented at grand rounds presentations for local NY hospitals.
Katie has worked internationally in the Balkans, South Africa, and Ecuador, offering workshops in improvisation and songwriting for children and teens, and has trained with Musicians Without Borders in the Netherlands to work towards social justice for refugees and marginalized populations.
This is the February 2021 gathering of the All Ears Interfaith Sangha, where we join to perform sound meditations and connecting with one another, ourselves, and with Spirit through creation and awareness of sound. We hope to cultivate a spiritual community of musicians—with the understanding that anyone can be a musician, regardless of training, background, and profession, if they choose to interact with sound in critical and creative ways. Rather than attempting to create a space that is strictly neutral with respect to faith/nonfaith beliefs and traditions, we intend to celebrate any faith/secular traditions that are meaningful to participants, with an emphasis on healing, meditation, self-exploration and community-building. We strive to elevate traditions and voices that are marginalized in our unjust society, and do our best to challenge racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism and European secular/Christian cultural dominance, while acknowledging these as the context that surrounds our community and has shaped traditions and institutions of faith themselves, and believing that Spirit can transform us in spite of the presence of unjust forces.
Each month, we will gather to perform Sonic Meditations of Pauline Oliveros, and guest artists will lead us into new sonic and meditative experiences. Afterwards, we will gather for a community conversation (usually a meal, but there's no need to bring food when we meet virtually), with space for both formal and informal conversation to discuss the experience of listening, and connect with fellow Sangha participants.