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Singing together is an act of communal prayer. The world needs all our voices harmonizing together.
Sarah S. Bentley
Community Singing Circles
What is community singing?
Community singing is an ancient tradition in every culture.
It is a deeply important, and often neglected, part of our humanity.
Singing in community harmonizes our hearts and helps us feel present,
connected, and at peace.
Community Singing Circles
Singing in community harmonizes our hearts and helps us feel empowered, joyful, connected, and at peace. In the winter and spring of 2023 we will be singing in the Texas state capitol rotunda. We sing heart songs and chants, traditional and original songs, in the call and repeat oral tradition. We sing as salve for the souls of all sentient beings (particularly for our state representatives!) and as a blessing for our Mother Earth.
Community Grief Ritual
We are meant to grieve in community, to be witnessed and supported by others. A grief ritual is an intentional ceremony in which we honor the tender places, allow our grief to metabolize and move through our emotional body through processing, tears, and sometimes even rage, in a safe space.
There are many kinds of grief, including loss (ie, death of a loved one), change and transitions (ie, divorce), and existential grief (environmental, political, racial, cultural loss).
Photo Gallery
Free your voice!
Sisters in Harmony - Spring Series
APRIL 18 - MAY 23 | 7-8:30PM
@ Be Well Yoga House on Koenig Lane
FULL - Join my mailing list for future offerings
This series welcomes all women (including cis and trans women) and will serve as a communal support system where we will explore joy, grief, gratitude, sisterhood, authentic expression, and more through singing. During the series, each week will build upon the previous, as we learn lyrics, harmonies, layers, and parts. As we deepen our relationships with the songs, so too will our heart connections deepen with one another.
What will you get out of the series:
- Learn how embodied singing can be a sanctuary in these uncertain times
- Develop a personal practice of singing as a spiritual practice and prayer
- Learn beautiful heart songs with layers, parts, and harmonies
- Deepen connections with other women on the path of freeing our voices
Classes will include:
- Vocal warm-ups
- Breathing Practices
- Vocal Meditation
- Mind/Body Practices
- Embodied Singing
- Singing as Prayer
- Intention Setting
The series will include:
- Six 90 minute in-person sessions
- A playlist of songs we will learn
Cost & accessibility: To make Heart Body Song events accessible to people of varying income levels, cost is based on a sliding scale depending your income and generational wealth. Please contact Sarah directly if a payment plan would be helpful or if you are not able to pay any of these amounts, as no one will be turned away due to lack of ability to pay.
BIPOC sponsorship - $20 off for people who identify as Black, indigenous, or person of color. Contact me for promo code.
Contact the organizer if you would like to donate to a scholarship fund to ensure that people of color and other marginalized people may attend.
Praise
"I love singing with Sarah! She has a beautiful way of creating a space where everyone feels safe expressing their voices. I look forward to the joy and connection each week."
- Rakefet Laviolette
"When I signed up for Sisters in Harmony Song Circle I joined to find an outlet for expressing my voice. As I entered my first meetup the group was already singing. As I began to join the group in song, I felt the vocalizations connect to deep emotion within me that released without my effort. I knew I had arrived in the right place and that I’d signed up for more than I bargained for. Sarah makes learning the songs accessible in a way that feels connective with self and other and holds space for members of the group to feel heard and held by the group and the song." - Kim Olivier
"I overcame fear of singing with love acceptance and encouragement from Sarah and my new sisters. My experience was both invigorating and relaxing while inspiring closeness and warmth. I tuned in by connecting inside myself and with others in sharing, meditating, journaling and singing. Felt like swimming is a deep, warm spring."
- Patty Stephens
Statement of Solidarity
Heart Body Song strives to create a safe space for all and in order to do this must acknowledge the harm that people of color have experienced and in some cases still endure. For community singing to be fully inclusive and safe for marginalized people, Heart Body Song is committed to standing/singing in solidarity by taking an anti-racist stance in organizing and facilitating all of our events. Community singing is a form of collective healing and without intentional action, the white supremacist inertia of our society will continue to perpetuate harm to those who are most oppressed. Without this stance, the community singing movement's aspirations for a peaceful, loving, and sustainable world will only remain a reality for the people living in white skin.
About the facilitator
Sarah S. Bentley
Sarah is a song catcher, song carrier, and song leader based in Austin, Texas. She gracefully weaves the art of embodied singing, mindful movement, ritual, and communal prayer into her circles. Sarah started singing as a child and has performed as a singer/songwriter. She draws on her studies in integrative medicine (qigong, yoga, meditation), health promotion, behavioral science, and community resilience to provide a rich and healing experience for her participants. Sarah is a certified Sisters in Harmony song leader and offers regular women's and inclusive singing experiences around Austin and online. Sarah is also a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation practitioner and is a devoted ally and activist of diversity and inclusion. Her experience leading intentionally diverse groups in circle processes has prepared her to recognize and facilitate discussions around race/microaggressions should they arise in the course of singing circles.
Sarah is available to co-facilitate at workshops & retreats. Contact me to discuss details.
Support Sarah by becoming a patron on Patreon.
Heart Body Song - Sacred Community singing
Austin, Texas, United States
Copyright © 2023 Heart Body Song - All Rights Reserved.
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