Cloud Magic with Dvorak's New World Symphony
This past fall, we took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading South. As we were looking for a place to pull over, an amazing spectacle began to unfold before our eyes. At the edge of the road, over to our left – against a backdrop of majestic mountains – waves of mist began pouring softly out of the sky like a waterfall down into the valley below. From our right, a cloud of mist was gently sailing across our line of sight.
We set up our iPhone and tripod across the street and started filming. We couldn’t decide which side to film first and ended up switching back and forth from left to right. So this video is a weaving together of several clips showing different aspects of what was unfolding.
Don created an arrangement of the theme from Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” to accompany this majestic play of mist and sunlight.
There are several ways you can “play” with how you interact with the video. Any of them can potentially have beneficial effects on your brain and nervous system:
The simplest way is to just quietly take in the music and images without making any effort to focus your attention. Just allow yourself to let go of tension in your body . . . let go of tension in your mind . . . release tension in your heart . . . and just allow whatever you’re experiencing to flow gently through your awareness.
If your mind is overly active, you may find that “allowing” a few words to ride the waves of your breath can be both calming and uplifting. Just silently hear the word “calm” with your inhalation, and silently hear the word “peace” with your exhalation.
Here’s one more thing you can try – it is more directly evocative of a state we call “open, heartful awareness.” This state has two aspects. One is an experience of open, boundless awareness that brings with it a pervasive sense of stillness and peace.
The other is an experience of the heart that carries with it an all-embracing sense of softness, vibrancy, and love that enfolds all that is being experienced.
In this video, if you let your attention rest on the majestic stillness of the mountains in the background and the breadth of sky above, it may evoke in you a taste of that sense of stillness and peace.
If, at the same time, you let your attention take in the gentle aliveness of the mist, you may also get a taste of the heart’s sweetness.
For thousands of years, in cultures around the world, this co-existence of stillness and movement has been contemplated as a means of evoking the state of open, heartful awareness.
If all that sounds like too much effort or “doing,” then simply enjoy “being” with the music and images. The rest may just sneak through of its own.
Throughout our online course, we offer a variety of ways to help cultivate a greater receptivity to open, heartful awareness. The intention of our blogs and videos is to use words, music, and imagery to help you discover what will be your own unique “portal” to this spacious, heartful state of being.