Monthly Archives: March 2012

Short Notes on Musical Treats in New York City

One of the most frequent ways that I nurture myself so that I can be of service to others in my private practice is by attending selected musical performances of mostly  classic jazz , classical and baroque orchestral and chamber music.

Last week I was musically blessed to not only experience the superb  live jazz of the Cedar Walton Quartet  (featuring Cedar Walton on piano, David Williams on bass, Vincent Herring on saxophone and contra saxophone, and Willie Jones III on the drums) at Birdland, http://www.birdland.com, but I also saw the NY Philharmonic  performing my very favorite Beethoven Symphony #7.

One of the factors that makes regular attendance at concerts of the NY Philharmonic so interesting and compelling for me is that so many of the very most talented performers and conductors from all parts of the world share their musical  passions in my home town.

What was really special for me about the  Beethoven and Stravinsky concert last week was my introduction to David Zinman the conductor who has been the director of the  Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich for the past seventeen years.

Here is part of what the program said about him.

David Zinman’s career has been distinguished by his programming of a broad repertoire, his strong commitment to the performance of contemporary music, and his introduction of historically informed performance practice. He is in his 17th season as music director of Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. He has conducted all of the leading North American orchestras, including the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, The Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. In Europe he performs with the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment. He also has relationships with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Philharmonia orchestras, as well as Orchestre de Paris, and Orchestre National de France. His most recent opera performance was a production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann at Geneva Opera in March 2010, to be revived in late 2011.

His complete musical bio, which includes a list of awards and honors given to the maestro, can be found  here http://nyphil.org/attend/season/index.cfm?page=eventDetail&eventNum=2352&seasonNum=11&mI=0&sI=0;effortcode=031212A

Since the 7th Symphony is one of my favorites I can hear the whole score in my head as the orchestra is performing the music. What was sheer delight for me in this instance was that although I knew the notes, the phrasing and complexion of the music was significantly different from any other version I have ever heard. It was so vibrant that I was entranced and exhilerated.

What is different about Zinman’s direction is that he apparently was one of the first conductors to use Beethoven’s own notations for the score rather than the common applications which have all interpreted what the conductors thought the composer might have been striving towards in the composition.

I found this U-tube commentary on  Zinman’s Beethoven by Alan Gilbert, musical director of the NY Philharmonic to be really interesting. I hope that it will be as enjoyable for you.

What Happened in Our First 2012 Practitioner Skills Development Group?

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Once again, you can see in the above photos how blessed Spring is starting to show with new growth and blooms in Central Park.  Even saying the word forsythia is musical and joyful to my heart and soul. ( The photo of the tiny little bright green leaves in the distance I believe are of a forsythia bush). Once again Central Park welcomes bridal parties for photo shoots. This bride and groom were married on Monday March 5th.

On Sunday,  March 4, 2012  we finally had Group. Present were Joie, Harriet, Merrill, Gladys, Paula, Lillian and Minh.

We had a large part of our time devoted to doing sessions with each other.

I shared with the Group some information about a new grounding/orienting process that I learned in a conversation with my friend Karine Bourcart.  The Repatterning Association in Mexico featured Ray Castellino as the keynote presenter in their recent annual conference.

Karine told me that the workshop he presented was the amongst the most impressive work that she has ever experienced. She taught me his grounding process and I have not only been using it personally and with my clients, but I shared it in Group.

Karine said that they used it frequently throughout the workshop to increase their being present and centered as practitioners.

It is very simple. It goes like this

  • Be aware of and bring the energy of Father Sky down into your heart.
  • Be aware of and bring the energy of Mother Earth up from the deepest core of the Earth into your heart
  • Be aware of your spine and the back of your body
  • Be aware of your front side of your body
  • Be aware of the left side of your body
  • Be aware of the right side of your body
  • Be aware  inside your body
  • Be aware of the outside of your body

This simple yet very effective process can be done with eyes open or closed, in an instant when you notice yourself to be off-center or when you are feeling unfocused and/or disoriented.

I personally have been aware of a deeper sense of safety and connectedness as I use this tool.

Thank you Karine and Ray Castellino!

Joie Jacobsen just completed an intensive Brain Gym workshop. As many of you can recall, Brain Gym is  the work of Paul and Gail Dennison. Chloe Wordsworth studied  with the Dennisons  and she acknowledges the tremendous influence it had upon her in creating the Resonance Repatterning .

What Joie shared with us is a sequence of Brain Gym activities named PACE. PACE is an acronym for Positive Action Clear Energetic States/Attitudes and the workbook that Joie got in the course said that PACE establishes familiar boundaries through movement nuclei.

This is how PACE goes. ( in Brain Gym Class all of the movements were done while standing)

  • Drink Water
  • Do Brain Buttons and intuitively determine which hand starts on the navel and which hand is positioned under the collar bones- switch hands intuitively
  • Do Cross Crawls
  • Do Cook’s Hook-ups Part 1
  • Do Cook’s part 2 but instead of doing a Katsugen, you can also do “spider push -ups” ( keeping the finger tips joined, move the fingers in an undulating manner,   in and out), and also you can touch each set of finger tips one at a time.. pinkies, then 4th finger, third fingers, second, thumbs and back the other way.

Here is a u-tube video demo. At the very end it is difficult to see the spider-finger movements but he is doing them.

Joie shared other dimensions she learned in the workshop to add to our use of of the Brain Gym exercise, Visualizing an X on the body by adding the five senses- make the X a color,what is its flavor?texture? aroma? and what sound does it make?

Because Brain Gym work involves the traditional straight arm muscle testing Joie shared with us a great way that their practitioners handle our “arm of steel”  muscle indicator response.

If we have this kind of muscle response with a client or the client shows other kinds of unclear responses so that we think the client might be holding on or trying to control the response, after having the client say the statement, ask them to tell you when to make the contact with their arm by their saying”push”.

When a person says “push” they have to exhale and can not hold their breath which results in a cleaner, clearer indication.

Isn’t that great????

Thank you Joie and Paul and Gail Dennison!!!!

We set up the proposed  dates for 2012 Group and 2012 Skills Development classes. Please look above and see my brand new, hot off the press page (just above the Newsletter header picture of Central Park trees and surrounding buildings)  SAVE THE DATE  for the so far final version of how and when Group and Classes for 2012 are organized.


Finally, we did a Group Repatterning. It was the beautiful The Loving Heart Repatterning; Entrainment with the Universal Heart, written by Joie, Gladys and Carol. It was the first time that Joie and Gladys had experienced receiving a session with their powerful creation.

That’s all for now everyone!

Sending you all love, light, laughter, gratitude and blessings,

Meryl

Reminder: Group is Meeting This Sunday March 4, 2012- Yay!

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Hi Everyone,

I took the  pictures above while on my walk in Central Park on Tuesday. As you can see here is life and transformation  in the form of lovely flowers  just beginning to emerge.

I am delighted to remind everyone that the NY City Practitioner Skills Development Group is having it’s first 2012 , four hour session on Sunday, March 4th, 2012 from new time 12:30- 4:30 pm.

Please bring

  • your class cards to have your CEU’s recorded
  • your own bottle of water
  • your books and supplies
  • your calendar

It will be great to have Group again.

For anyone who wants to jump in now, please call me directly by Saturday afternoon.

Sending you all much love, light, laughter and gratitude,