Uncategorized – calmingharp

Health in Spirit

by Steve Rees | Aug 19, 2022 | Uncategorized

I wanted to share my recent article I wrote for Masters of Health Magazine. I think it is important.

In this issue, I would like to present a topic that is not usually considered when we talk about health. In my nurse training, we were taught that the person must be considered holistically in our approach to healing. We are not just physical bodies with all our various anatomical features, but we are psychological and spiritual beings as well. It is to this third component that I would like to speak in this article. Don’t worry, I am not going to get preachy or religious. Actually, “Religion” has presented a major obstacle to understanding the importance of our spiritual health in the cycle of life.

Our spiritual life is what takes place in our minds and is many times difficult to separate from our psychological health. If we are focused on ourselves and ignoring those around us; being happy or upset about what is happening to us personally, we become neurotic and petulant. Our observations continue to narrow down and we see only what is taking place within our little bubble. Many people in that condition are also expressing many health pathologies and are seeking medical attention and pharmaceuticals to help alleviate their physical conditions.

If we lose sight of the idea that we are not just here by accident; if we foster the idea that we just happen to be here by chance and there is no real purpose in life but to ‘’eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” then we are missing one of the greatest health conditioners that life has to offer. If we think that life is all about, “what do I get out of it for MY pleasure,” then we truly are in a state of ill health, and pharmaceuticals have poor answers to that.

A wise king once wrote in an ancient manuscript that has been preserved for us to be able to read:

“I give thanks to You, For I am awesomely and wondrously made! Wondrous are Your works, and my being knows it well. My bones were not concealed from You, When I was shaped in a hidden place, Knit together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. And in Your book, all of them were written, the days they were formed, while none was among them. And how precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great has been the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more than the sand; When I wake up, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:14-18

How different it is to realize that we are not just an accident but rather we were planned with a purpose. We were actually “knit together” by an intelligent designer who knew what He wanted to produce in us to be able to have a full and fulfilling life. In another part of that ancient manuscript, we are told by this designer:

“For I know the plans I am planning for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and an expectancy.” Jerimiah 29:11

What a difference it makes to know and understand that you have a future and that plans have been made for you by your designer to have a full life with peace. In the language of the writer of these words, Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom. Shalom has the pictographic meaning of, “the authority that destroys the one who is trying to bring chaos into your life.” That is an awesome understanding of what my designer has for my life. It is my choice as to whether I want to walk it out.

Another part of this understanding of a design and a plan for our lives is how we relate to our fellow travelers. I was invited by a friend of mine to share with my readers a program he has developed for assisting widows and orphans with their extra challenges in life. Charlie started his interest at the age of 48 and decided to start training to run in the Boston Marathon to help raise support for his newly formed non-profit “Fatherless and Widows.”

WEBSITE: www.FatherlessAndWidows.org

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/fatherlessandwidows/

When he turned 50, he qualified for the race and has run in it several times since. Two things contributed to Charlie’s health. First, he is much healthier since he began running regularly. Second, his mental, spiritual, and psychological health has improved as he has put more of his attention on other people’s needs, especially those who have few resources to deal with their daily lives. There is also the satisfaction of knowing he has made a difference in the world, leaving a positive legacy.

I know for myself, that becoming involved in other people’s lives that have specific needs has been a very fulfilling and joyful endeavor. I was approached by a young man in India to help him deal with a surgery that was badly needed for an orphan he was taking care of. After several investigative questions for him, I was convinced that he was legitimate and sent the money to help. I was amazed at how far my currency would go in his economy.

One thing led to another, and I discovered that he had 21 orphans that he was supporting in a bamboo hut with a plastic tarp over it to keep out the rain. I started sending him modest monthly support and he started sending me pictures of what he was doing with the money. I was amazed at his thrift and resourcefulness. As I started sharing what he was doing with some of my friends, one of them asked if it might be possible to purchase a piece of land so they could grow food. Shortly after, we had a piece of land purchased, and more people were involved in the project.

A few months later, Prabu sent me a picture of a larger piece of land that had a house on it and asked if we might be able to sell the first piece of land and help purchase the house and land for better living space than the current bamboo structure they were using. We all put together the USD 10,000 needed to purchase the house and land and told him to use the sale of the first piece of land to do the needed improvements on the house.

Today, the orphan family keeps growing in a nice home environment, and the whole village is becoming more involved in the care of these orphans. The village headmaster even participated in the ribbon cutting and opening ceremonies when the home was completed.

The importance of reaching out to those around us can not be overstated. I believe we are each placed on this planet to accomplish amazing acts of kindness – “random acts of kindness” – as it has been termed by better authors than myself. As we reach out, we broaden our focus and see our interconnectedness to each of our fellow travelers. As we fulfill our destinies, our spirits soar, and we begin to reach a place of health that we could never achieve on our own.

There is a plan for Hope and a Future!

Introducing Doorkeeper Ministries

by Steve Rees | Jul 20, 2017 | Uncategorized

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce another good friend – Kelly Ferrari-Mills – and her website DoorkeeperMinistries. My wife and I met Kelly years ago before she was married to John Mills, who now joins her wholeheartedly in ministry. Kelly has spent her entire adult life in music ministry both here at home and internationally. Her time on the keyboard leading worship is always an anointed experience!

I’ve been encouraging Kelly for some time now to take a look at the frequencies and learn what they are all about. Our last visit with her and John was a real blessing to me as I saw and heard what she is doing with the music of the Psalms. She played a very inspiring version of Psalm 56. My encouragement about the frequencies found in Scripture is bearing beautiful fruit!

Kelly’s passion for worship is evident in the music she writes and plays. As we talked about “soaking frequency music” and her skill on the keyboard combined with the sounds of the harp in sustained worshipful music, the Tabernacle Frequencies are destined to offer times of refreshing and restoration for many. Kelly, like myself, have done many YouTube videos and she also has DVDs on various topics of interest including a video comparing she and John’s wedding to the coming wedding of Jesus/Yashua and His bride.

Kelly is in the process of sprucing up her website and within a short time it should be more optimized to display her work. I am recommending her website as another resource that helps bring glory to the Kingdom of YHVH through worship.

http://www.doorkeeperministries.com/

Introducing My Friends Don & Maureen

by Steve Rees | Mar 14, 2017 | Uncategorized

I am pleased to announce the addition of the music CD’s of my friends Don and Maureen Clarke to our website. Don and Maureen and my wife Shirley and I met under providential circumstances back in 2008 and became fast friends immediately. We have been on similar paths and providence brings our paths together frequently. Don and I built Maureen a Voyager harp like mine several years back and over the time since, Maureen has become very accomplished on the harp, along with her classical piano training from university days.

One evening as we were visiting them up in their home in Canada, I was explaining my understanding of the 528 Hz frequency and the other 5 frequencies that accompanied them. Maureen went into a back room and brought out a set of tuning forks that were tuned into the 6 Solfeggio frequencies (I prefer to call them Tabernacle Frequencies) and we started to experiment with them. The first thing we discovered was that any music we tried to play with just these 6 notes did not make any sense.

We soon learned that each frequency/note had a harmonic scale that accompanied it. For example, we discovered that the frequency of 528 Hz harmonized nicely with the notes played in the key of C major or A minor and the key of F major also worked well with it. As we worked through the 6 frequencies, we found harmonic scales for each one of the frequencies and started to experiment with playing music in each of those scales. The results were amazing.

Don plays several instruments and so does Maureen, but she has concentrated on the harp. They both compose and record music and since the discovery of the Tabernacle Frequencies have recorded 3 CD’s using their understanding of these frequencies to offer delightful music. I believe their music adds a wonderful addition to the collection of music we offer here on this website and I am excited to share them with you. I would also like to add that Don is an incredible artist and most of the illustrations on their covers and website are painted by him.

You can reach Don and Maureen on their website: www.avadim.ca.

I am proud to call them my friends and pleased to share them and their music with you. Enjoy!

Brain Damaged Violinist Makes Music for First Time in 27 Years with Mind-Reading Technology

by Steve Rees | Feb 8, 2016 | Music Therapy, Uncategorized

I came across this story that I wanted to share with my readers about the power of music. I was very touched by this woman’s ability to finally be able to express herself with music after so many years of being trapped inside her mind and body from such a devastating brain injury. I hope you are blessed by this story and gain a new appreciation of how much we need the expression of music in our lives.

Rosemary Johnson had made music for the first time since suffering a devastating car crash in her 20s.

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor – The Telegraph

Violinist Rosemary Johnson at approximately aged 17; Photo: Paul Grover/The Telegraph

Violinist Rosemary Johnson has spent the last 27 years coming to terms with the reality she would never make music again, following a devastating car crash. A member of the Welsh National Opera Orchestra she was destined to become a world class musician before the road accident in 1988, which left her in a coma for seven months.

Violinist Rosemary Johnson at approximately aged 19; Photo: Paul Grover/The Telegraph

Miss Johnson suffered a devastating head injury, robbing her of speech and movement and meaning she could only pick out a few chords on the piano with the help of her mother Mary.

“The first time we tried with Rosemary we were in tears. We could feel the joy coming from her at being able to make music” Professor Eduardo Miranda, Plymouth University

But now, thanks to cutting edge technology, she is creating music again, using just the power of her mind.

In an extraordinary 10-year project led by the Plymouth University and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London, her brain has been wired up to a computer using Brain Computer Music Interfacing software.

Photo: Plymouth University

By focusing on different colored lights on a computer screen she can select notes and phrases to be played and alter a composition as it is performed by live musicians. The intensity of her mental focus can even change the volume and speed of the piece.

It is the first time Miss Johnson, 50, has been able to create music in decades and has been an emotional experience for the her, and the scientists involved in the program.

Photo: Plymouth University

“It was really very moving,” said Professor Eduardo Miranda, Composer and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research at Plymouth University.

“The first time we tried with Rosemary we were in tears. We could feel the joy coming from her at being able to make music. It was perfect because she can read music very well and make a very informed choice.

Violinist Rosemary Johnson at approximately aged 25 after the accident; Photo: Paul Grover/The Telegraph

“The great achievement of this project is that it is possible to perform music without being able to actually move. She is essentially controlling another musician to play it for her.

“It’s not yet possible to read thoughts but we can train people to use brain signals to control things.”

Photo: Plymouth University

Three other disabled patients who live at the hospital have also been trained to use the technology, and have been working alongside four able-bodied musicians from the Bergersen String quartet who play the music in real time as it is selected.

They are called The Paramusical Ensemble, and they have already recorded a piece of music entitled Activating Memory which will be heard for the first time at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival in Plymouth later this month.

Miss Johnson’s mother Mary, 80, of Hounslow, West London said the project had given her daughter new hope.

Violinist Rosemary Johnson at approximately aged 17; Photo: Paul Grover/The Telegraph

“Music is really her only motivation,” she said. “I take her to the grand piano in the hospital and she can only really play a few chords, but that was the only time she shows any interest. She doesn’t really enjoy anything else.

“But this has been so good for her. I can tell she has really enjoyed it. When she performed I went to the hospital and that is the first time I have heard her make music, other than the piano chords for a long, long time.”

The technology works like a ‘musical game’ where the players select pieces of melody at certain times of the performance to augment the overall work, which was composed by Prof Miranda.

Each patient wears an EEG cap furnished with electrodes which can read electrical information from their brain. They are paired with a member of the string quartet who views the musical phrases on a screen as they are selected in real-time.

Photo: Plymouth University

Julian O’Kelly, Research Fellow at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability added: “This is a great means of transcending disability to offer individuals a unique experience of creating music with each other, and interacting with skilled musicians to create original compositions.

“In the case of Rosemary, the project illustrated the great potential this innovation could have for participants who may have once been gifted musicians, but now lack the physical abilities to engage in music making.

“You could clearly see in her broad smile during the performance how much she enjoyed the experience.”

The patient quartet are made of Miss Johnson, Clive Wells, Richard Bennett and Steve Thomas.

Photo: Plymouth University

Speaking through an automated voice machine, Mr Thomas said: “I like music and I am very interested in the Brain Computer Music Interface. It’s more interactive with people actually getting my instructions.

“It was great to hear the musician play the phrase I selected. I tried to select music that was harmonious with the others. It’s very cool.”

The team are hoping that the technology could be used one day to improve mood and help them to express their feelings.

“If our patients were able to compose music to reflect their state of mind, that would be an amazing way for them to be able to express themselves and music therapists could then use that to work with the patients,” added Dr Sophie Duport, of Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability

Photo: Plymouth University

Joel Eaton, PhD Research Student at Plymouth University’s said: “One of the key things about this system is that not only does it give a user the interaction and control of an instrument, it allows them to interact with each other.

“If this idea was developed it could have ramifications in all areas of someone’s life. Potentially I can see the ability for someone to express musically how they are feeling again without their ability to move their fingers, to communicate with words.