We have formed a band and had our first concert 2 weeks ago, it was such a pleasure to be singing again after a break and the audiences response was so incredible that I know we are offering something unique and deeply touching.

Our music is co-created with Colleen de Winton on vocals, John Sutherland on Piano and  violin and Paddy Morton on Guitar. We bring a presence to our performance that enables the audience to relax into a deep space of listening and heart opening. We present original songs about the journey into love, relationship and exploring the unique connection we share with the divine. We also perform sacred chants in Aramaic, this is a beautifully poetic language spoken in the time of Jesus. We have found that the sounds of this language bring a rich and healing quality to the listener. With carefully chosen cover songs sprinkled throughout our performance we offer a wide experience of the known and unknown, familiar and extraordinary, sweet and sublime. Colleen also shares some wonderful stories of her travels and how the songs where born, this offers the audience a unique window into a songwriters experience. Our desire is to enjoy the beauty that arises as we gather together and share what arises within the in-between of harmony.

We have recently r in Salsbury at the Hazelwood retreat, and in Crook at a good friends birthday party. Last weekend we performed for the Interfaith Forum at Brookhole. We are receiving a very positive response, here are just a few of the comments:

“Huge congratulations once again on the wonderful and delicious Saturday
night concert.  I know you know (!) but you are so obviously ‘in your
power’, and its so inspiring for one woman (person actually!)  to hear the
voice of a goddess – a Diva in the true sense of the word!  I was
incredibly connected by your voice – the singing and the chat and the
lightness and the love”.

“I felt the energy moving so sweetly through my solar plexus and then wow my heart exploded, it felt so god, thank you”.

“Every hair on my body stood up as you sang, I was deeply touched.”

“That was the most beautiful experience I have had in years, amazing”

“your voice was so pure and powerful, it reached in and grabbed my heart, a blessing.”

“I feel as if I have been so gifted to be here tonight, the warmth and love you exude is astounding”

“every song felt like a new and incredible experience, you are so expressive and honest”

“I found the stories that you told inbetween the songs where as important as the songs themselves, so inspiring, natural and funny”
“Colleen’s voice – the whole universe that she seems to express in that voice – will captivate you.  Simple. Forget what your taste is or even what mood
you are in.  Simultaneously, she manages to combine sweetness and gravitas, soulfulness and fun, joy and a kind of sweet grief.  Its like a spectacular sunset
manifest in a voice.”

I am so grateful for the opportunity to gather with wonderful souls and share our love of music.

I am releasing my fourth cd in 4 weeks time called
Inana: Journey into the divine feminine.
here is a little taster of what is to come.
thanks for visiting
warm smiles
Colleen de Winton
www.sacredchants.com.au

About Inana:

A gorgeous voice, rich and assured seamlessly blends with refreshing melodic arrangements. These songs and sacred chants offer a sensually powerful experience, evoking feelings of yearning, celebration of life, love and wonder for the divine world.

This CD reveals the healing balance that comes through honest connection with the divine feminine self – a unique collection, Inana is a thought-provoking, sensitive and energizing album.

Colleen has selected key words and phrases to convey the feeling essence and beauty of life through these rich languages. We invite you to have your own meaning making experience and allow the beauty of these ancient sounds to unfold within you.

“After a rich gestation period, Inana was birthed in a closet filled with soft wall coverings and sweet velvet darkness. The wind was storming around our home and the only quiet place to record the vocals was in a wardrobe. The space, only just big enough for me to stand with the microphone, became the largest space I have ever experienced. As I sang, the cosmos seemed to open and hold me in her tender arms.

While co-creating these chants we have enjoyed delicate and profound moments of opening, reverential recognition of personal authority, the ongoing recovery of our natural wisdom and divinity and many belly laughs. This extraordinary journey continues to be transformative, challenging and richly rewarding and one that we are deeply grateful for”.

Colleen de Winton: Vocalist

Colleen’s voice embodies the sensuality, clarity and power of the feminine. Her unique talent as a singer/songwriter and workshop facilitator is informed by her experience and study in sound healing, intentional breath work, radical inquiry, sacred sexuality, chant and the ancient language of Aramaic. Colleen’s studies and concerts have taken her around the world. She was the first non-national to win the coveted “Blue Messenger” award in France for excellence in voice and performance. In the past four years she journeyed to many sacred sights in Israel, Egypt, France and Bali, finding a way to unite her love of music and spiritual unfolding. During her travels she found her loving husband John Sutherland and began co-creating a life filled with music, passion, participatory spirituality, growth and laughter.

She now lives in the heart of the beautiful English Lake District and performs in the UK and Europe. Previous CD’s by Colleen include, Sweet Indulgence by Ionnah; The Prayer and Love’s Breath by Aramaeus.

As a retreat facilitator and therapist, Colleen focuses on supporting women, men and couples in embodying their deepest longing for intimate fulfilment and personal spiritual authority. For more information visit; www.sacredchants.com.au

George Christie: Music Producer

George’s raison d’être in music is to capture the soul of an artist and the spirit of a composition. George is a music producer, composer and multi instrumentalist. He has worked with artists from around the world on projects ranging from the commercial to the avant-garde. As a musician and producer he is self-taught and, from a very young age, learned his trade in at the deep end: on the road and in the recording studio. His compositional and production roots lie in almost every genre of music from electronica and ambient world music to rock, pop and acoustic. Through various record, publishing and production deals he has had a successful career as both producer and artist.

Sitting with a girlfriend having coffee is a wonderful way to touch into the reality of life. We come together like chattering birds, warm hugs and laughter spread out to touch those that watch the happy reunion. Our camouflage is the pretense of ‘catching up’ and of course our need is much deeper. As we happily devour dessert the conversation twist and turns following the experiences that make us us. Our tones grow deeper and our hearts come to the surface as we begin to speak of our inner conflicts. Inevitably we come to the place most people find difficult to navagate, yes we turn to the question of “good sex” and what does that term really mean. She said she was having “good sex” with her partner but that it was not really satisfying a deeper need within her, a need that she could not name and yet felt so strongly. She was beginning to think that there was something wrong with her. As she shared her cunundrum,  I felt a shiver run from the tip of my toes to the top of my head, perhaps  I had found another woman willing to risk it all to follow her intuitive nature. She said “there has to be more to lovemaking than just “good sex”. I smiled and remembered a time when I had said the very same thing. I believe many women are struggling with this same realisation but perhaps have not had the opportunity to talk about it.

How often have you felt as if there was something not fully connecting between you and your partner, not only during lovemaking but in every day living? In my past relationships I have experienced this feeling often but put it aside as my own stuff, telling myself that it must be me or life circumstance or the weather or I am being to sensitive or demanding and a hundred other crazy reasons. Of course sometimes there is some truth in these ideas and sometimes there is not. I decided to find ways to inquire into this unseen but subtle feeling to see if this niggling inner voice had any validity. This soon showed to be no easy task and I found myself full of doubt and a little afraid to bring these questions and realisations to my partner. Fortunately after many stumbling attempts at honest communication and some deep breath work I began to understand my body and my feelings more directly. I could express the sensations I felt and deepen my ability to communicate what I was sensing arising within myself and between my partner and myself. At times this would open a wonderful exploration into our relating and at others it would spark defensiveness and projection.

I now understand that those little niggling sensations that pop up during the course of my day are often the first murmurings of something much deeper. An opportunity to move more fully into intimacy with myself first and then with my partner or friends. Sometimes it feels really difficult to find the courage to express what I am feeling, I stumble to find the words that will honour the subtle movement of my awarness. It often doesn’t make much sense at first but as I persist, and with the patience of my partner the untangling begins and I find that I am lead by my bodies inner wisdom to the place that has birthed the realisation of what is coming in between my partner and myself. Learning to utilise this skill has opened the doors to intimacey in such a profound way, my relationship has become a true sanctuary, a place where my womanhood is fully honoured and nutured.

It starts with me, if I don’t have the courage to speak even the seeminly unrational, insignificant ideas then I fail myself and become small and doubtful. I have to be willing to be wrong and keep exposing all the vulnerable parts of myself, otherwise there is no depth to my life and love. At no time is my partner the enemy, we are explorers discovering the magic of our own life’s compositions, we know when we hit a wrong note and the resonance of this exposes the deeper beliefs that limit our aliveness. My husband once said “oh I see it really is all about the women” I beleive women hold a key to love and our bodies are a container for this key. If we learn to open our bodies and hearts it is possible to go beyond “good sex” and play in the valley of total ecstacy, honesty and delight. I wonder how many women are willing to journey inward to find the power of their inate wisdom and then bring that to the men in their lives, risking it all, speaking it all, making mistakes, braving the waters of rejection and judgement, facing the past and finding their own authority? Sitting with my friend I know I have found one other and I believe we are many, so I look forward to meeting you all sometime, someplace, and dancing the dance of life and love.

]]> http://sacredchants.com.au/blog/?feed=rss2&p=11 0 http://sacredchants.com.au/blog/?p=3 http://sacredchants.com.au/blog/?p=3#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:15:13 +0000 Colleen http://sacredchants.com.au/blog/?p=3 Joining the blogging scene is rather fun. I have not come across this form of communicating much, but my web guy thought it would be a good idea as I am enjoying writing and sharing ideas.

So my life in Ambleside, the Lake District, UK is so very different from Byron Bay Australia, yes colder, and the culture is very different, and yet I find a wonderful softness in the people and the misty weather. The English are famous for there reserve and I have found at times this reserve rather puzzling and as a friendly Kiwi I have experienced some tricky moments. Happily once behind the polite filter there seems to be a world of curiosity and interest. Laughter comes easy with the sharp humour of the English and I find myself relaxing into a gentle embrace.

This year is a time for me to embark on a new framework for retreats and I am jumping in the deep end. If Retreats are for women who desire a deep and fulfilling experience in intimate relationships. The desire to open and be vulnerable is strong in many women and we often need support to make this journey a little easier. The support I would like to offer is in looking at the obstacles that stop our deepest desires coming to fruition.

Our sexual life is one of the most challenging places to begin this exploration and I for one are game. I have spent a great deal of my time in relationships learning about myself and what makes me tick. This has been at times very painful and always rewarding. I have been blessed to have had partners that have been brave souls and willing to explore these mysterious realms with me.

As a “spiritual” woman, I feel a little odd using this title as it doesn’t quiet cover what I mean and has all sorts of new age connotations attached to it, I desire an embodied spiritual experience of the wonders of life and myself as a spiritual being. I am not interested in transcending my body or getting out of it. My body is not a punishment or evil distraction from God, it is a wonderful vehicle to express the unique qualities that I hold and it also has the most wonderful sensual potential that brings deep insight. I believe women have been indoctrinated into a masculine world view and many are struggling to find a way to view their feminine intuition and experience as valid.

So what better way to break this deadening curse but to get together and share the wisdom that we embody as women. Through conscious choice I have entered a deep and fulfilling intimate relationship with my husband John. We have made our relating a priority and focus quality time to open to each other in all areas. Our lovemaking practice is a wonderful foundation supporting all we do and makes available the most profound intelligence. It is not a technique, it is a letting go of ideas about what and how it should be and letting the body’s own intelligence teach us. Honest and compassionate communication is another foundation and this takes the courage and willingness to say our most difficult feelings and thoughts. We practice this every day and again and again are amazed at the insights and healing that take place.

If you are interested in what you have read then let me know. I am currently writing an article about this and will put it up when it is finished.

happy relating to you
warm smiles
Colleen