Outstanding and Real Results for Creatives

   For many years I wasn't able to play the piano. For me, it was always an instrument that I could play only set pieces. I couldn't improvise with the piano. I couldn't accompany myself while singing. And suddenly, I was very surprised to discover this inner urge to return to the instrument, to try and improvise, to sing with it! My first reconnection with it was pure joy and delight. This happens because you are constantly in the Circle, in the creative community that helps you to loosen those knots very naturally and effortlessly so you don't have to push yourself. At some point, the miracle happens! And I believe that it happens because you live as part of the community and you and your creative life are not separated.   

   I began the lever Harp in 2019, but I'd already been a professional singer for many, many years and was looking for a bit of a change in my musical life. I have found the Bright Way Circle to be very, very welcoming, and I am just completing my first full circle moment.

When I began the Harp Circle in 2019, I began composing a series of music to go with an art exhibit, and our exhibit is finally being put on this year after many years wait! The Harp Circle was immensely important in this for me, as I was able to send my compositions to other members, ask for feedback from Diana, and work on a practice plan that worked for me.

And this is all coming at it as someone who had been in university for music. I found that university trained me to understand music theory and harmony, to sing well. But it didn't give me the community I was looking for or the continuity of how to continue to practice, how to continue to perform, and how to be confident and happy while you're doing it, as well as a community to collaborate with. And that's what the Harp Circle has given me. It's been really nice to have friends to bounce ideas off of, as well as to offer insights of my own. Diana's trainings just keep me going, as I need a little push every now and then. So I wish you well, and happy harping!   

   Diana makes you feel special. She makes you feel like you really count. She listens to what you have to say, and she remembers it and she'll bring something back. When you need reminding of something that you did or that was really good. And that really made a difference. She remembers those things and brings them up and helps you to see and move forward with your creativity.

If you're looking to unblock the creative, I think I would've given up on those cards a long time ago if I hadn't been really working with her through that. Because I felt like maybe I'm too old, maybe it's too long, ah, you know, it's not gonna work... But, you know, our little weekly get-togethers and just speaking with her and with the group as well, and also in the Bright Way Harp Circle, she's always so encouraging. It doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, or what you want to create. She's there to help you do it.   

   Although in other areas of my life, I have always been very clear about my purpose and connection to my heart, for some reason, that was missing with my harp. In working with Diana through the Bright Way Circle, as well as some one-on-one sessions and the material in her book, I was able to connect my heart and center to my harp playing in a way that had been missing. It is the key for me now, and coming to the harp with the same sense of presence that I move in all other areas of my life with this is a tremendous gift. When we can connect our heart and our center to any area of our life, then our own essence and energy flow into that endeavor in ways that our ego could never orchestrate on its own.

I find that Diana continues to bring a fresh approach to how to move with things that could become very mundane and monotonous. Practicing her system, connecting your practice to your values and to your intentions and to your purpose shifts the relationship so that instead of it being a 'should' or a 'must' do, it becomes a WANT to.   

   Diana has been able to see things in me that I couldn't see in myself. So for instance, she told me several years ago that she could really see me composing, and I didn't see that at all. And several years later, that's exactly what I've dabbled in doing. I've created some arrangements and now I'm sort of thinking about writing my own song from scratch.

And if she hadn't encouraged me in that, I'm not sure that I would have gone there. As my journey with her gets deeper, we're honing in more and more on what's really my, what's really my purpose, my vision for using this music that I can make, and how to make that work in my life. And again, she's able to help me to envision where I can put my skills best.

And the whole process is fascinating and fun!   

   The spiraling nature of the learning, coming back to the same step, but from a new perspective, is pure gold. There's always a new insight to be gleaned. I have found that Module trainings are so inspiring for my journey. So not only am I inspired to be creating as I am now, I also know that new growth is going to happen in the future.

And I'm not sure exactly what that will look like right now, but I know it's going to be interesting and rewarding. I know that I will have community with me that will inspire me and encourage me and pique my interest in ways I cannot imagine right now. And even though it sounds like ever new ideas, the feeling is always, oh yes, this has been waiting for me all along.

The new ideas are always in reality, homecomings.   

  I now compose some music in my own style and it's a surprising thing for me. Diana asked me one day to make an eight-second composition for Virtual Harp Summit...I didn't even know how to begin, but I did something! So that was the beginning of all. I'm making music of my own and, and I record and I put it up on YouTube, and that's a fun process.

And another thing is that it gave me assurance that I can talk, videotape myself and talk on video. This is something I have never thought of doing several years ago!

BWHC gave me the freedom to do this and say whatever I want. So through this, the music, I'm much more fulfilled and I think because of it I'm a much happier person.   

   I joined Bright Way Harp Circle and things started to flourish. I started to have a different appreciation for my harp. It wasn't so much that it was just to play music, but it was to connect with people and also to feel it in my spirit and to feel it in my soul...That's our sacred reciprocity that we talk about.

Also, that the act of creation comes from within, and I really believe that. The spirit that the Bright Way Harp Circle and Diana Rowan give to us that's very, very important. She motivates us to find joy in building our skills, the courage to share those skills with others, which now I have.   

   I loved my harp, I loved my work, but I was finding that my motivation to sit down and practice was flagging. And along with it, my creative energy. I Googled “practice your instrument, creative energy”, and fortunately for me, a link to Diana Rowan’s Bright Way Harp Circle popped up.

The Bright Way System as practiced in the Circle and also as outlined in Dr. Rowan’s book The Bright Way is so beautifully organized - and forgive my using this word - SENSIBLE, that I find there’s very little that I can do at my harp that I can’t explain using the 5 Steps and 5 Essential Elements that are central to the system. In addition, it’s so organically structured that I can use these 5 Steps and 5 Elements if I’m practicing for 10 minutes or practicing for hours.   

   I've had my harp for over a decade and had not really played it. I bought it years ago when I was in school for voice, thinking that I would pick it up as an accompaniment for myself, and I just got sidetracked. And I realized a few months ago that it was time I was feeling drawn. And so I've begun working with Diana. We've been working together for just over maybe three months now. It feels like it's been so much longer because just in that short period of time, I feel like I've always played the harp! I knew Diana was the perfect teacher for me and that this was the right timing in arriving at the harp in a way of its sacredness, the expansive quality of the simplicity of being with the harp.