Pauline Oliveros spoke of deep listening as “a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing.” Listening to all, in all the ways possible.

Attuning to a place through the senses opens space for a deeper listening, which allows me to more deeply listen to myself. It is in this space that I begin, again and again, to make peace not only with a narrative of the past, but with the narratives unfolding in the present. Who I am now, and what I carry now. Working this way, I often experience a sense of belonging to myself and the world. I hope for my work to offer a glimpse of that experience for others as well.

The narrative of the present begins in the senses: the cool air brushing nostrils as you exhale, the itch of a mosquito bite, a hunger pang, a bird song, a lingering taste of coffee or the salt of a tear, the smell of jasmine on a nearby ledge. Each of these is simple, yet they are a gateway to complexity: stories, experiences, all the associations we might have with coffee or jasmine or tears sprout up. The practice of unfolding with myself will be one I carry for the rest of my life. I’ve had much support, from my meditation teacher Dr. Sean Feit Oakes, my first cello instructor Richard Fenner, and many others, from human or animal to plant or place, to material or moment.