Spirit in Action
Soulscapes Revealed: Integrative Breath Work
[music] Let us sing this song for the healing of the world That we may hear as one With every voice, with every song We will move this world along And our lives will feel the echo of our healing [music] Welcome to Spirit in Action. My name is Mark helps me. Each week I'll be bringing you stories of people living lives Of fruitful service, of peace, community, compassion, Creative action, and progressive efforts. I'll be tracing the spiritual roots that support and nourish them in their service Hoping to inspire and encourage you to sink deep roots and produce sacred fruit in your own life. Let us sing this song for the dreaming of the world That we may dream as one With every voice, with every song We will move this world along Today for Spirit in Action, we're going down a different avenue of healing through spirit Than I usually visit. Often my guests are active in outer work The job of changing the structures and organizations of our world In the pursuit of peace, justice, and care for creation Today we're going to look at a process that prepares us For living better in the world by first dealing with the inner wounds and limitations we carry with us My guest is Poppy Molter and she's working to bring to Eau Claire something called Integral Breathwork. The program is SoulScapes Revealed Music journeys for self-discovery and spiritual healing Welcome Poppy to Spirit in Action Thanks Mark, it's good to be here We're here with an exciting topic Integrative Breathwork, also known as SoulScapes Revealed Inquiring minds want to know what is SoulScapes Revealed about SoulScapes are integrative breathwork, it's really inner journey work Primarily led by the process of music, meditation, or meditation to music And the breathwork name indicates that it's an amplification of breath that helps guide you into that deeper process But it's really the music bed and the evocative nature of the music that helps to spin a journey experience In a deeply altered state If it's a spiritual journey, does that imply some direction you're going? Or is this, you know, like you could take drugs and have some kind of a deep journey? What is the purpose? What's the goal? What are you moving toward as part of the spiritual journey? First, I would like to clarify that SoulScapes, our integrative breathwork, is very inclusive in terms of spiritual application Or spiritual direction for individuals We have folks that come to the breathwork experience from all walks of spiritual experience, from all religious bends So it really taps that ability to have deeper meaningful experience that helps guide your life within your understanding Of your God People are drawn to the breathwork experience for all kinds of reasons But namely, it's for that interest to move toward wholeness You know, we live in a very fast paced life where many times we're caught in that place of really feeling a lack of meaning We then can be driven to different kinds of experiences that really tap a deeper meaning for our life A lot of us have either old woundedness on any level, physical, emotional, psychological, it all translates as energy And sometimes that woundedness or lack of full healing can prevent us from really being fully available to our lives And finding the depth of meaning that we wish So the integrative breathwork process gives us that opportunity to deepen into a healing experience Or to just simply expand a new perspective In our ordinary state of being, we are often limited by the filters that have been ingrained And the boxes that have been carved out around us in our lives In an altered state, those barriers kind of can disappear So we can get really a fresh perspective or look at things that then translate as issues in our life that can be viewed in a new way And can you say anything about what you think the outcome would be in terms of, I guess, the outward aspect of people who've gone through breathwork Who've done the soulscapes revealed I'm just trying to clarify for myself, if you've done this kind of work, does that mean you live differently in some observable way? Most people who experience breathwork whether one time or many people keep coming back to it because they see that effect That can be on so many different levels, it can be dramatic, or it can be very subtle It's the nature of this kind of work, it's the nature of self-realization, if you will, or deepening into the spiritual aspect of ourselves Can you say some things you've observed? Of course, I'm not asking you to name names, except maybe if you want to talk about your own experience Of what you think you or others have done differently before and after as a result of this self-discovery It may be something as practical as someone in their life may have a particular addiction Or a repetitive behavior pattern that they're aware of, they know that it has negative impact in their life But they're really at loss for how to make changes to it And again, what we understand is that often that stems from something we may not even have conscious awareness of Some past ingrained attitude or wound So for instance, let's say somebody has a gambling problem or trouble with their finances And they're again just at odds about trying to deal with it, they've tried to meditate with it They've tried different avenues of trying to get to a different place of dealing with that In a breathwork process, they may in that altered state have an altered state image or a dream It may make sense on a cognitive level or it may never make sense on a cognitive level But there may be some kind of a clearing out, some people might experience what they would deem as a past life Where maybe they took a vow of poverty, and so, to some extent, there's still an energy that hangs around with that Where they then have the opportunity to sort of heal and integrate that peace as it pertains to this life So again, I use the hypothetical example of somebody with financial challenges They, after experiencing A or a series of breathworks, may have seen an incredible effect in their life In terms of their attitudes about money and about resource and about abundance And that kind of thing, that may be what's up for them You're going to be holding a training session, an experiential session in integrative breathwork here in Eau Claire You care to give my listeners some of the specifics of one where that's happening, it's coming up very soon And it's an exciting possibility for people in Eau Claire to have it locally Sure, I'd be happy to. The Soul Scapes, we'll just refer to it as a workshop, it's a musical journey workshop It is going to be held at Unity Christ Center, which is on Folsom Street, on Saturday November 3rd Coming up here in a couple of weeks If you wanted more information, you could contact me directly at phone #8348867 You could also email me at PoppyMolter, P-O-P-P-Y-M-O-E-L-T-E-R at Hotmail.com So this is coming up, it takes a Saturday, the entire day, from 830 until 630 for this journey You said it comes accompanying with music, can you describe how this music is supposed to make such a difference? I mean, for many of us, music is really a powerful entryway to spirit, to the things that are most central to us Why is this better than just sitting down listening to the Beatles? And that really becomes the primary focus, you know, this is probably the most important question The beauty of the music, and I'll say first that the meditation journey is about an hour and a half long, typically We actually do one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and in one of those, you are what we call the breather or the journey You're typically laid down on just comfortable mats on the floor, if the room is darkened You have your eyes closed and are led into the process both by your breathing and the music And there's another person that you're teamed up with who actually is there sort of as a helper So that if there's anything you need during the process, you know, there's one person totally there at your disposal And then in the afternoon you switch So the beauty of the music is that it tracks through the energy centers of the body What we know, fortunately we're living at a time now where a lot of those scientific folks are bringing and connecting into some of the wisdom of ancient spiritual practices So we have an understanding that everything does translate to a vibrational level or frequency unique to it Thus is the same case for the chakras or the energy centers of the body There are seven primary chakras or centers that are typically recognized, and each one resonates at a different level By using music that basically stirs or resonates with that frequency If there's something up there, then there's the strong possibility it will get stirred or activated as we're called So the lowest chakra level at the very base of our torso is sometimes referred to as the sacral Sometimes the basal chakra, it vibrates at a frequency that resonates with sort of that primal drumming Very ancient, it's very connected to sort of survival and that kind of most primitive aspect of us So it responds very well to the kinds of sounds I was a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and drumming is all of what they did indigenously Is that the kind of music you're talking about? Could you give us a sample of the kind of music that you'd play? Yeah, let's play a track. There's a couple of different ones. There's a recording artist, James Asher, who does a lot of this work One of these tracks is called "Feed in the Soil" And that will be preceded, we'll play a little bit of that I think, that'll be preceded by "Do Berndy" a track of music from that work That'll give you a good idea of the kind of sound [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] That music took me right back to Africa, particularly the first cut followed up by the one with James Asher How did that work out? I mean, why is that? What we attempt to do in compiling the tracks for a breathwork session is to create what we call seamless sound So that rather than there being that typical pause in between one song ending and another beginning As we're accustomed to it segues, one segues into the other And you know, it's a little bit of an art to get that effect, we almost can't tell where one ends and the next begins The function of that really is to when the music ends up pulling you into that deeper journey process If there were to be breaks in it, often it's much easier to allow that depth of state of being to rise a little bit to the surface Or to sort of come out of the deeper experience a little bit So by creating a seamless soundtrack, it allows for maintaining that depth of journey So if we're listening to this music, what are we just doing there, sitting there, snapping our fingers? What are we doing at the time that this music's going on and why is this affecting us so deeply? One of the things that this work honors is that our psyches, and my simplistic way of thinking about psyches Is to see it as really that bridging force between our ego state as we move through life most of the time in And our higher self, the beauty of psyche is that psyche will always take us where we need to go And will engage where it needs to in order to further our coming toward wholeness In early part of the breath work where we're playing a track like we just heard Some people may actually be finding their foot kind of tapping, they're laying down, they're maybe covered with a blanket And they've got a pillow under them and they're in a pretty relaxed state But they're just, they're allowing their body to kind of pace with the rhythm of the drums Somebody else might be totally motionless Somebody else might already feel an activation It might be that they have some kind of process that's right there at that level and those drums just activate it It can be extremely varied while we need people to sort of basically stay on their mats We really respect that the body is such an incredible tool for not only reception Almost like that antenna, but also as an expressive vehicle So we might experience where energy's just starting to move simply It doesn't even have emotion attached to it, it's just as those drums begin we feel a twitch of our hand Or our head wants to keep doing this little bob to one side or whatever So it really is just allowing this is sacred space that's created for this work And so within a safe container you're just really encouraged to let your body move with those energies You're listening to Spirit in Action This is a Northern Spirit radio production, I'm your host Mark Helps Meeting, we're visiting today with Poppy Multer Who is, I believe, the assistant in the upcoming breath work that's going to be held Called SoulScapes Revealed here in Eau Claire on November 3rd Poppy, can you say more about what your role is? In this you've talked about two people working together, one breathing and the other assisting What's your role? Yeah, both the breathers and the sitters are the participants who sign up to have this day-long workshop The primary facilitator of this work is Barbara Joy Barbara is a wisdom teacher and a healer, she lives north of the Chicago area And we do these breath work journeys down there, I've been assisting with that for almost four years, I think And Barbara is certified as a breath work practitioner Having studied with Jackie Small, who's out of Austin, Texas And Jackie's the one who really is the founder of the integrative breath work Many years ago she actually was working with Stan and Kristina Groff Who are the founders of holotropic breath work So some people out there may have heard that term and wondering how integrative differs Or, you know, we're wondering if it's the same thing Barbara Joy is gracing us with the opportunity to do the breath work up here As she will travel up here on that weekend She will also be accompanied by Bill Green, who worked with Euseikea, Jackie's Euseike Institute That Jackie has down in Texas And Bill Green is, well, we kind of refer to him as the music guru And he is the major compilation artist, I guess, for the music aspect of this work One of the beauties of having Bill actually present to do it as opposed to him mixing the sound ahead of time He sort of does live DJ, he gets to sort of choose tracks based on really feeling the energetics of the room And determining kind of when it feels like things are ready to move on Or when to revisit a particular type of sound or vibration It's an extra special treat to have that as an aspect of what we'll experience on the third And again, what is your role as the assistant? What are you doing, Poppy, while the two are working together on the mat? Barbara Joy and I will facilitate by simply staying attuned to the whole room We walk around, there's an aspect, while music is a huge component of this The breath, obviously, is important And the third element that really enters is energetic and body work As a massage therapist and someone who is trained in some forms of energetic work as well And Barbara Joy has that background, additionally We are able to see when it might be that one of the participants could use assistance And sometimes that simply means that we sort of amplify energetically What's happening for them to kind of help them move through A healing, especially if it feels, you know, sort of big, you know, or kind of crisis Or if they just seem really stuck Because you're working with organic energetics It is a process where you flow with it And you learn how to sort of read what's happening energetically Both with an individual as well as with the whole room And so you make yourself available to that process and help where you might Somebody else might be experiencing a situation where you can tell that there's something majorly stuck, say, with a foot And so sometimes you feel the call to kind of just put your hands around their ankle And without knowing for sure what they're experiencing in their breath work Sometimes you can tell that that was exactly what they needed to process further Because that goes into some kind of active state That first music we listen to is for the lower chakra, the sacral chakra If we're moving up, is it time for lunch? What's next? Time for lunch. As we describe the seven basic chakras We deal with that basal or sacral chakra Then there's what we often refer to as the belly chakra And that's located sort of around the navel, or just below the navel And then the solar plexus chakra And then it moves up into the heart space The heart space is sort of that connector between the lower three and the upper three chakras The lower three, as you mentioned, Mark, that first piece of music is very much based in the sacral Which is very physical And actually all three of those lower ones are very physically based It's really how we kind of project ourselves out in this world As we move up into kind of more belly and a little bit up into the solar plexus Then we get a little bit more of a sense of journey It's that place where the belly is very much about our passions Not just sexual passions, but our passions for living and life and creative expression It's also a place where deep-seated anger can reside And other emotional issues surrounding those kinds of things So a lot of times, again, if there's been past traumas, it can really house itself in that sort of fist in the gut I mean, there are reasons for those kind of metaphors that we use If you think about it in the world of Hollywood, in the making of film The music directors of those films know full well about the impact of sound and sound vibration And types of music at different levels So if they want to have you feel that kind of punch in the gut from a particular scene in a movie or whatever They're going to choose music that's very much along that line That will stir those kinds of vibrations If they have a real sweet kind of heartfelt scene in a movie Then they're going to go to music that really stirs us at the heart It might be a bittersweet sound, it's often kind of high strings Soft piano or violin, those kinds of sounds And then we can move on up from there So an example, I can play an example of a lot of times that if you've gone from the basal chakra And you're heading up into the solar plexus and the belly and those kinds of issues Often those are areas in the movies that are very much about journey It's that ship sort of crossing the ocean or it's a very intense active piece of a film If you would like, we could play a track I think this one Hans Zimmer was the music person on Gladiator, the movie And this would be a track or two or part of that that can give us a little bit of a taste of that kind of sound And the kind of images or energies that it might stir [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] That music was from Gladiator, but we're listening to it in terms of how it moves through our chakras Because we're talking today about the soul scapes revealed and integrative breath work Poppy that last song, it does have the sense of marching along or getting up speed going into the fray Can you say some more words about what fray they're going into? This is healing work that you're aiming at with integrative breath work But what is the fray? What are they actually doing? And I'm wondering if there's actually a crisis, is there a battle that goes on there? Once again, psyche will make it be what it needs to be for anyone individual It's a real good understanding to have about this work So one individual might be meditating that track comes on in their realm They don't have anything they're kind of getting stirred with there No past trauma or sort of incomplete issues that seem to get activated And they may well sort of feel almost a glory in it They may associate sort of a feeling of, yes, we're, you know, whatever Maybe they are connecting to some feeling of being in war and being victor You know, so it's just this sort of triumphant almost kind of thing And for somebody else, there may be no activation at all They just lay through that and they take it in but there's just nothing going on For someone else, they may have something that's not relative to a past war experience But perhaps they had an abuse by someone in their family Sexual, physical abuse, something like that in their childhood And they're still not fully recovered from the woundedness of that This may be an area where they feel that kind of terror And the potential trauma, that sound, that kind of ominous vibration That can be a part of hearing, that kind of sound So it may generate an activation for them based in that When we allow those energies to finally move through Energies that may have been bottled up from the time we came from our mother's womb The relief at the end of that can be astounding Now there's always an integration process of that But there are many, many, many stories of people Basically, finally moving through a healing process with old traumas or abuses like that So it's part of the issue that you have to recognize That there's a problem, that there's a wound there that has been underlying Before you can actually heal it, and why is it healed at this point? I'm not quite sure what changes, if people are just living in healthy, self-denial Why isn't that good enough? Well, for some it is, if we look around as we see all signs of that I'm not sure what healthy self-denial actually is, though, maybe that's a I think the thing to recognize is that many of us are highly functioning I mean, when I started breathwork, galley, ten plus years ago I felt like a well-integrated, well-adjusted human being But I had my issues that I would see crop up Might be anxiety in certain situations It might be attitudes that I just knew would be healthier for me to change To different attitudes, but it was really hard for me to get at it Through years of doing breathwork, there are times where the dots connect Again, on a cognitive level and I can go Oh, that's why, I mean, that piece has been in my way for so long And now that that's cleared, I can be so much more at ease in this particular situation Something like that Other times, the dots don't connect All I know, all I'm left with is just this knowing sense That what I just went through, what I just experienced, this huge energetic release Or shift, emotional release, or shift Has left me feeling more whole, has left me feeling cleaner somehow Or clearer, I think is a better term to use The degree to which that happens for any one individual is all dependent on what they're ready for In that moment, because healing isn't an event, it's a journey There's not too many of us walking around here that can't benefit From experiences like soulscapes where we take that journey And it may not even be anything that happens dramatically, maybe a subtle healing That we feel like something shifted molecularly Like something shifted in our body process that makes us feel healthier Even if we didn't know that we weren't particularly not healthy We're visiting with Pavi Multer, this is Spirit in Action I'm your host, Mark Helpsmeat, part of Northern Spirit Radio And we're talking about something that's coming up in Eau Claire on November 3rd, 2007 Soulscapes revealed music journeys for self-discovery and spiritual healing Which is of course the kind of thing that seems important to those of us who are interested in Spirit in Action Pavi, can you say that having done this breath work yourself I've been a recipient of it, say, for the past ten plus years Are you a better friend, a better worker, a better lover, a better massage therapist What has qualitatively changed or maybe quantitatively changed in you? As someone said, "Oh, you're not the pain in the ass who used to be" Well no, fortunately I'm not having anyone say that, I don't know if that means they think I still am But I think there are very concrete items that I could point to And I'll make mention of one, and that is issues that I have had around performance anxiety There was a time some years ago when I wouldn't be sitting here with you Because the prospect of talking into a microphone would have been whoa, way too intense I do play some, I'm a songwriter as well, and I play some live music And there was a time when that would never have been in the spectrum of things Now, what I feel like is that there are a number of things that led to my integrating more that anxiety level So that I can actually do those kinds of activities and breath work is among them without question So, am I a better friend, a better mom, a better lover, a better massage therapist? All those things, I have to say yes Because whenever we have any experiences that invite a deeper integration of who we are It always brings forth the better of what we have to offer It's kind of like we've become more and more the being that we always have been And it's not clouded by all of the past that tends to get in the way of our purest expression As you've talked about the music, we're moving up our chakras going vertically from the lower part of our bodies up And we're getting somewhere in the vicinity of the heart Can you give us an example of music that gets us closer to the heart chakra? Yeah, definitely the things, as I mentioned when I was talking about the soundtracks for movies And how those music directors really know what ends up connecting with and stirring people at certain levels We see something that's either romantic, obviously that's heart, I mean anything where there's a sort of love factor Heart is also in the same way that the belly is our creative source, but it's also where anger can be harbored energetically In the heart space, obviously grief or loss, a sense of loss So a lot of us are walking around with unresolved issues of loss and grief So largely, like in the movie realm, you will hear a lot of sometimes that sort of bittersweet quality That brings tears to your eyes So again, they can largely be strings, pianos, those kind of vibrational sounds that stir the heart This is actually from a compilation CD, it's called Myth, A Chorus of Tribes Give it a listen and feel how it may stir things, issues or sensations at that heart level It also bridges a little bit up into our vocal chakra as well, which we'll talk a little bit about later [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] That was from a compilation called Myth, A Chorus of Tribes You're listening to a visit with Poppy Multer, who is assisting in something called SoulScapes Revealed It's integrative breath work, music journeys for self discovery and spiritual healing It's coming up November 3, 2007 here in Eau Claire If you want to be involved in that, it's a day long, ten hour event You can call Poppy Multer at 834-8867 Or you can email her at Poppy Multer at hotmail.com You'll have a link for it on my website, which may be easier to spell NorthernSpiritRadio.org Than it is to spell Poppy Multer This is integrative breath work we're talking about as an avenue for healing and holding of people We've been working our way up to Shakras with the music that is used as part of this journey One thing I was aware of, Poppy, I'm generally a person who prefers lyrics And I had some trouble picking out the lyrics in that one, are there any lyrics at all to this music that's being used? It's actually very interesting to me that you would pick up on that Because we intentionally avoid English lyrics Now, granted, there might be folks who speak a different language that show up at a breath work So that may seem a little, what, counterintuitive or something for those folks But a lot of these tracks that have any kind of vocal aspect to them, it's usually other language One of the ways at the end of the breath work process, at the end of that hour and a half or so That the breather is triggered to know that the journey has come to closure And that they can start to come back more fully into the room in the present moment Is that we actually play some tracks with English lyric You mentioned, Poppy, that some people go through, they touch wounds And they might experience some kind of internal crisis, some kind of major change in their body Is there a danger that someone's going to flip out during this? Is this the kind of thing where you better have some certified therapists on hand To handle people who are experiencing some kind of trauma that way? Well, certainly because of the potential for something to get stirred that deeply And a person not ready in that moment to move right on through it This isn't something you want to just go, "Oh, well I have some of that kind of music I'm going to put it together and I'm going to invite over, you know, Joe who's grieving the loss of his dad And you know, I mean, it's the kind of thing you would want to be careful of doing just on your own, frankly Especially to facilitate other people's journey with that So part of the training that Barbara has as a certified breathwork practitioner Is that kind of experience and knowledge of how to work with people And it's not unheard of for someone to at least get moved enough into a healing process But not moved all the way through because once again healing is not an event, it's a journey So it's always the case that both Barbara and I make ourselves available for people to tap later We would never let anyone leave who seemed to be still deeply in process In a way that we didn't feel like they could really function to go home And oftentimes if people have that kind of process going on And it's most often the case that they already work with a therapist Or someone else in their life that serves as an integrating tool And so we encourage continued use of those kinds of things to help integrate the process But once again we are, you know, available to the degree that they may need us Typically people, even if they've had pretty profound healing process in the breathwork Because the music also helps guide us all the way up through It doesn't leave us just hanging and stuck in one area Usually by the time you've ended the breathwork you're feeling at least largely integrated You know, and largely functional One of the things I haven't mentioned that's part of the breathwork process is a group sharing at the end Just the term scares some people After the breathwork process everyone is guided to an art table And you sit down and create what we call a mandala It's simply a concrete representation through color and various media that's available to you there To put on paper some representation of what your journey was like And then at the end of the day we gather in circle and by using our mandalas as kind of a focal point We have an integrating process Which both allows for that person to begin to put words to that experience that they had And it also allows for other people sometimes to notice things within somebody else's mandala That gives a little aha to the person who's mandala that is That they wouldn't have even picked up on and it becomes very facilitating for them I'm glad you talked about that, Poppy, because my next question was going to be You said that basically there's two one and a half hour sessions of music where you're working with a partner That's three hours out of ten hours that you're going to be there I know there's some meals and breaks and you talked about what you're doing at the end I assume you have to do a significant amount of preparation The kind of thing we're talking about right now to get people ready This isn't talk therapy, it isn't a replacement for talk therapy at all No, Mark, and that's a really good point As I mentioned there are a lot of people who may come to a breathwork who already have a therapist that they use for talk therapy Breathwork in conjunction with many other forms or models of modalities even for healing and integration But this is a piece which because it takes us to such an altered state It really can be a phenomenal tool to kind of advance even processes that have already been begun in talk therapy or other modalities The whole day, as you mentioned, you've got the hour and a half blocks of the breathing time And we do break for lunch And in the beginning there is a lot of preparation by just informing people of how the day will look And what the breathwork process looks like Because sometimes people come and they have never done it before and they don't really have an idea And always our mental fears or concerns will come up And so they want at least a little placating before we can really then soften in and just be there So it's almost like we give you enough information, we almost try to exhaust the cranial output so that you can really deepen in to the experience Another thing that I want to mention is regarding the volume of the music The music has played pretty loudly, not enough to do your damage But loud enough that we encourage people who might have hearing sensitivity to use any number of tools Including where they position themselves in the room, obviously not right in front of one of the speakers Also some people may want a little bit of ear buffer or filter The music is played at that volume because we don't just want people to hear it It's actually again energetically it's all about that vibrational aspect And so we actually want to be able to feel that on some level in our body And so for best effect it's really played at a fairly loud volume The second major role of the music and partly the volume helps this Is once again we live in such fast moving pace in our life And we are filled with monkey chatter I mean those of us who attempt any kind or with any regularity or even just periodically meditate Often we know that there are times where the monkey chatter is just so rampant In the walls of our cranium that we can hardly get to that place of just being So the music really helps to quiet that chatter At any point in the breath work you may feel that come up again All of a sudden you're thinking about some situation in your life or your grocery list or whatever It might be and then you go back to the breathing And the breath takes you back into the role of the music and then your journey again We've been working our way through the chakras going up It's kind of interesting we identify the heart as the middle Although I think of it as pretty near the top of our bodies What are the chakras above that? In spite of the fact that I'm married to a yogini I don't really have a solid feel of what the chakras are going up from there And what music accompanies them The fifth chakra right above the heart space which is the fourth is our vocal chakra It's at our throat and it becomes that piece that expresses basically outwardly who we are and below So with the heart it really becomes a very integrating area And oftentimes those of us who are having trouble Basically balancing our head and our bodies or our heart Will often feel issues with our throat or with our vocal quality or with our voice People who felt like they have been blocked from full expression in this life or another They may have real issues So when we get into that level which often includes some kind of vocal aspect or toning And there was some of that in that last track It can really stir and promote healing aspect in that chakra And then as we move up there's the third eye sort of situated above our nose in the lower part of our forehead That and the crown chakra are both really take us much more into ethereal plane It's more about our souls life not our earth life here And so it can be a very connecting piece through the whole blueprint of our soul's journey The crown chakra is really that highest level where we just connect and feel as one with all And of course that's the place that we all aspire to in terms of having the experience through meditation and other spiritual practices Of being just so here now in the moment and connected to all So the music tracks of course would go from the vocal or throat chakra being very vocalized up into that very high It might be high flute, it might be sort of synthesized sound that's very much more about ethereal feel and sound And you'll hear that we could actually play these last two tracks back to back And you'll feel that take you up kind of into higher realms What are the two tracks that you'd like me to put in here? The first of these two is kataro from his dream CD And then the second one is Richard Warner and the name of that CD is Spirit Wind [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) - That last music you just heard was by Richard Warner, called Spirit Wind, it was preceded by a piece by Kataro called Dream. We've been working up the chakras as part of a discussion of something that's coming up in Eau Claire on November 3rd. It's called Soul Scapes Revealed, Music Journeys for Self Discovery and Spiritual Healing. We've been visiting with Poppy Malta, who's gonna be assisting at that. November 3rd from 830 until 630. Poppy's going to be there assisting Barbara Joy at Unity Christ Center here in Eau Claire. You can contact Poppy at 834-8867 or email her at poppymolter@hotmail.com or just come to northernspirtradio.org and I always have those links on my site. So you can contact Poppy and be involved in this November 3rd experience and journey. Is this the kind of thing that would be helpful therapeutically with troubled people of various sorts and I don't know, I mean, maybe it's just completely inappropriate to even think of it. But if you had a lot of criminals who are doing integrative breath work, would we expect to see some kind of a change? What we societally would define as for the better? If we had the current administration of this country, if they were all doing breath work, would it lead to some kind of change from them? Yes, when do we start this legislative process? You know, truly the applications of this, if you take it back to the very beginning roots of holotropic breath work, back in the 70s, I want to say, 60s into 70s when Stan Groff and Christina, whose strength was more in the art field from what I understand. When they were first doing this work, Stan was doing studies on actually, at that time, using very controlled amounts of LSD with psychotic patients in order to stir the healing process. And over time, they discovered that the LSD sometimes, of course, created bad trips and uncontrollable aspects. You couldn't just pull out of process if you needed to, so people were sort of trapped once they were altered chemically. And so they dropped the using of that and began to use breath and music. This is used extensively for all kinds of folks. And while I can sit here and believe fully that the whole world would be a better place if everyone did this periodically, certainly politicians, certainly criminals or people with just really very, very difficult psycho-emotional history. The reality is that once you get into people who have been in or are in a state of more extreme crisis, if you will, the more important it is to have people who are part of that process who understand those specifics. So I would love, I would shout for joy on a day when I learned that prisons or a prison was beginning to use this and that they had both the folks who really understand the breath work process, as well as the counselors, therapists, and folks who are working directly with and kind of know how that process in that kind of a situation would be different. - Back when we were at the beginning of this journey, back when we were in those lower sounds, lower chakras, the more drum beat and stuff like that, I definitely had the inclination to get up and start dancing. Are people free to get up and dance on their mats when they're doing this kind of thing? - Obviously we have to be concerned about safety within the space when people are that altered and you're working within the spatial limitations that you may have. There are some of us who are much more kinesthetically geared or at least much more integrated at that physical and kinesthetic level than other folks. Those of us, and I certainly include myself, really feel that call to allow the body to be more expressive. There's a lot that you can express with your body. I mean, there are people in the breath work process who go into yoga postures or subtle movements with their hands, gestures or making symbols kind of with their hands, or there might be people who kind of roll back and forth or shake a leg or didn't mean that figuratively. But I have also had an interest in movement or dance that is not associated with technique that really is all about a person being self-guided by that wise inner dance teacher. And I have been developing a series of classes that I believe I'll be calling soul moves. That's the current working title. And this winter at some point, I will make some kind of offering of a series of classes of soul moves. The logistics are still being squared away in terms of where and when and all of that that will happen. But people in particular who feel drawn somewhat at least to the breath work process, they may very much find themselves compelled or drawn by the prospect of the soul moves as well. It really taps the music on a similar level and it allows for the body to be that tool, to be stirred energetically and to actually move through when we allow the body to actually help move the energies, it can so amplify the speed of a process. And there's also just that end of it of the joy of movement. - Sounds like some exciting prospects ahead. November 3rd though, people can first experience integrative breath work, soul scapes revealed. They just have to look at my website to find links and information about what you're going to be doing. They can also contact Poppy Multer at hotmail.com and she'll tell them what's up and allow them to register for November 3rd. I wish you a very successful healing and journey on the 3rd of November. And thank you for your work, all your kind of blessed work. I'm including in that your work as a massage therapist, as a musician and as a soul dance person here in town. Thanks Poppy. - Thank you Mark, this has been a great opportunity. Appreciate what you do as well. - My guest for today's Spirit and Action program has been Poppy Multer of SoulScapes Revealed. Music journeys for self discovery and spiritual healing. - The theme music for this program is Turning of the World, performed by Sarah Thompson. This Spirit and Action program is an effort of Northern Spirit Radio. You can listen to our programs and find links and information about us and our guests on our website. NorthernSpiritRadio.org. Thank you for listening. I am your host, Mark Helpsmeet, and I welcome your comments and stories of those leading lives of spiritual fruit. May you find deep roots to support you and grow steadily toward the light. This is Spirit in Action. (upbeat music) ♪ With every voice, with every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world home ♪ ♪ With every voice, with every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world home ♪ ♪ And our lives will feel the echo of our healing ♪ [MUSIC PLAYING]