No. 263: Always use a sharp knife.

We singers are best served 

by a technique

by a community

by a way of thinking

feeling

and being

that cuts straight and clean

to the HeArt of the Matter

of LIFE.

It's Our Fantastic Privilege

to choose between that 

which IS

WHO WE ARE

and that

which is not.

Opera Organically is All About the Truth:

and YOU are the One Who

gets to decide how deep the cuts go

Into the Place

the Space

the Way

Where the pain of the cutting shifts

almost imperceptibly

into BLISS.

THIS is Life.  THIS is Love.  THIS is Opera Organically.

No. 262: On Safety Nets and Things

Sometimes my body releases a little shudder

when I remember all the times I've fallen off a horse.

THUD.

I can still taste the salty dirt,

remember the shock,

the automatic tears I choked back.

For a long time, I bragged and counted my falls.

This earned me my famous nickname in school:

Bucky Farmhorse.

I secretly loved it.

Yet with the wisdom of time and years,

and with the understanding of the value of true safety--

created by Self and by Other in Community,

I become more and more passionate

about living and teaching an alternative

to the "brush yourself off and get back on the horse" paradigm.

One of the things I most love about Natural Horsemanship

is it teaches us hu/wo/mans to read the language of Horse

in order--probably 99.9% of the time--to keep ourselves 

and our horses 

safe.

From the Heart School

is all about teaching this heart connection

through mutual language

so all involved

whether singer

or rider

are mutually cared for.

*Come close and I will whisper a deep Truth*

HORSE CAN CARE FOR YOU!

VOICE CAN CARE FOR YOU!

We just have to learn how to let this happen.

It IS as mysterious as It seems,

and yet also 

incredibly

simple.

Our culture teaches us to leap without the safety net of Heart Connection:

"Sign up for American Idol before you know the language of Voice! Why not just give it a try??"

"Go out in the back yard and just saddle up that horse?  It's just a horse!!"

Our most sure and steady Safety Net is the knowledge of connection or the lack thereof 

between us and the One with whom we wish to fly:

It is extreme Bliss to be at One with Voice, to be at One with Horse.

But Bliss requires an investment of wisdom--whether intuitive or learned.

Most of us have to learn it.

Hopefully we do so before we've decided

We've had one too many falls

Or one too many shame-filled performances

to get back on the horse

or back

on the stage.

At any rate, even if we have come close or gone past
This "point of no return"
Where we've experienced the loss of our dreams to sing or ride
with the abandon of an Open Heart,
we can know there is a Way Back:
through the deep Love and Honoring
of Heart in the Safety of Natural Knowledge
which

*pssst--another secret*

WE ACTUALLY HAD WHEN WE WERE BORN.

*Heart Beat*

*Heart Beat*

THIS is Life.  THIS is Love.  THIS is Opera Organically.

No. 261: From the Heart School

Dear Friends of Opera Organically,

Those of us who put HeArt first 

start to see It everywhere:

in everything.

I see absolutely every reason

to bring this awareness 

to teaching all sorts of Arts.

There is now a Place dedicated

to HeArt Learning:

From the HeArt School!

Here is a video (8.5 mins) introducing the background of the Vision:

In Love, Light, and Music,

Becca

No. 260: Open-Heart Surgery

When We All Understand

to ask of ourselves

and of others

a "simple" song

Is often to ask 

the equivalent 

of Open-Heart Surgery

in public.

by the severely under-trained.

by the traumatized.

by the innocent.

by the ignorant.

by the precious, the infinitely valuable, the awesomely authentic...

When We All Finally Understand

the World is the operating table 

for our Collective Singing Heart

We will band together to co-create

a sterile, meticulously safe environment

for Heart and Voice to emerge,

to heal,

to grow,

to hemorrhage,

to flat-line,

to be shocked back to life

So we can hold HeArt in gentle hands

Bowing to the mystery of what it means

to be complete 

even

in pieces--

To be together, even as we are separate--

To sing, even as we are silent--

When We All Know the Deepest Way of Loving

Open-Heart Surgery 

is no big deal:

It's just what We Do.  It's just Who We Are.

THIS is Life.  THIS is Love.  THIS is Opera Organically.

No. 259: The Best Defense--or Re-introducing the Diva/o Warrior

Have you ever defended a voice?

Have you smiled and known differently when someone says "I can't sing?"

Have you listened to a young child sing "off key" and let the sound warm your heart 

instead of bring a cringe?

Have you known the voices in your head that tell you "be quiet" 

are--just maybe--not the ones to listen to?

When we do things like this, when we are, in the most open way concerning voices, 

we are creating a Revolution, a Paradigm Shift,

a Reality of Voice:

It is a place where Voice is something so large, so all-inclusive,

so beautiful and pure and true,

that It needs no offense.  It needs no defense.

THIS place is where magic happens.

THIS is Life.  THIS is Love.  THIS is Opera Organically.