Our Score: Wayfinder 2020 Behind the Scenes No. 1 — Tuning No. 2 — Ensembling No. 3 — Playing No. 4 — Magic Artist-Composers Supporters
Wayfinder Istanbul 2018 Wayfinder London 2017
shaping social innovation in urgent times
 
 
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Eily Aurora

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Eily is a singer/songwriter, harpist, Harp Faery Clown, and social innovation facilitator based in Calgary, Canada.  Performing across stages in North America for over a decade, Eily Aurora’s second CD, A Journey of the Heart, was released in 2018. With a passion to support mental health, she founded the Home Shall Be Here project in 2019, which toured concerts and music workshops to 14 communities across western Canada. In 2020, she designed creative and participatory methods for mental wellness at cSPACE King Edward Arts Hub in Calgary as a member of Alberta Social Innovation Connect’s Community Catalyst Program. 

The Harp Faery character sparks spontaneous joy and wonder as she invites audience participation, authentic creative expression and presence. Arriving from the ether realm with a small golden harp, sparkling smile and bells on her ankles, the Harp Faery shares smiles and songs on her instagram page and through the recently released I Am Here With You video. 

Currently, she is an Artist Composer in Residence with SIX Wayfinder, an international social innovation organization in London, UK. Her project, Listen to the Song of Nature, inspires reconnection with the natural world through meditations with live plant music. Alongside fellow Artist Composers, she is co-creating the symphony, Sounding Together: From Chaos to Catharsis, to support a global audience during the pandemic. 

 
 
 
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COMPOSITIONS

Listen to the Song of Nature

Meditations to Reconnect & Co-create

 
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INTRODUCTION

  1. What is Plant Music? An introduction with Eily Aurora

  2. The Wisdom of Plants with Woodland Cree Elder Leonard Cardinal

3. Can plants sing? An interview between Artist-Composers Eily Aurora and Fié Neo

MEDITATIONS TO RECONNECT (NON-GUIDED)

  1. Feeling Nature's Pulse Meditation - 11.20 minutes

  2. Playing with Nature Meditation - 12.20 minutes

MEDITATIONS TO CO-CREATE (GUIDED) 

  1. Opening Centering Meditation - 6.48 minutes 

  2. Creative Inquiry Meditation - 11.56 minutes 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 
 
 
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Introduction

Are we listening? In this world of constant changes, where do we turn to find inspiration and hope? When our inner voice of awareness is subdued from stress and overwhelm, what resources can help us wayfind?  

I grew up near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, learning from a young age from local Indigenous people how to listen, learn from and communicate with the natural world. Today most of us live in cities and don't spend time with nature on a daily basis.  

Plant music makes listening to nature's song easily accessible to all of us. Developed in Damanhur, Italy, The Music of the Plants Machine is able to perceive the electromagnetic variations emitted from the surface of plant leaves and the root system and translates them into sound. Plants are not only alive, but aware and responding to their surroundings, which includes us! In fact, trees have up to 20 senses to take in their environment. 

I invite you to use these meditations to help you reconnect with your heart and creative expression. Use them to facilitate a space for co-creation with nature's voice at the center. Wherever you are, may these meditations help you tune out the noise, and tune-in to the endless wisdom of nature. From this place of grounded connection, find your way through the chaos with renewed creative ideas and resources.

How to get the most out of these meditations

Before you press play, I invite you to create the time to fully listen. Put down your devices. Pause any distractions. Close your eyes. Breathe and listen. Allow the music to guide you on a journey of discovery: What do you hear? How do you feel? What are you called to create?  

Each meditation offers an “In Practice" section where you can bring the song of nature into your daily life. May we all move, create, act from this profound interconnectedness!

What is plant music? 

In these videos, I'll show you how to recognize the sound of the plant music. You'll learn about the Music of the Plants Device, how it works and what I've learned from working with it for 3 years.

An Introduction

The Music of the Plants Machine

Learn more

 
 
 

The Wisdom of Plants with Woodland Cree Elder, Leonard Cardinal

About Leonard Cardinal

Leonard of Thunderbird Inc. brings forth land-based teachings to enhance and empower communities. He is an accomplished facilitator who offers various workshops and hands-on learning experiences. He lives in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada, with his wife Amanda and their children.  

https://www.facebook.com/thunderbirdinclandbaseteachings

 

Can plants sing? An interview between Artist-Composers Eily Aurora and Fié Neo

Artistic-Composers Eily Aurora and Fié Neo talk about Eily’s passion for improvising with nature and how to make the song of nature audible, using The Music of the Plants device.

Eily Aurora shares her passion for improvising with nature. Growing up in the countryside, she learned from a young age from local Canadian indigenous people how to listen, learn and communicate with the natural world. To make the song of nature audible, she uses The Music of the Plants device.

 
 
 

Meditations to Reconnect (non-guided)

Feeling Nature's Pulse Meditation 

11.20 minutes

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When you walk into nature, do you take the time to stop and listen? This music meditation brings nature's pulse back into your veins. My feet crunch on the snow as I descend into the ravine at Fish Creek Park near my home in Calgary, Canada. I step onto a rock in the bubbling creek to say a silent prayer. The meditation ends with an intuitive song of gratitude.

In Practice 

Find Your Sit Spot 

A Sit Spot helps us learn about nature first-hand through finding a regular spot to sit in nature. Over the years I've learned so much about the growth of prairie plants, animal corridors and sensing the changes in weather in this way. More than that, it has helped me build a life-long relationship and respect for the wonder of nature. 

Sit Spot Practices for Kids by the Wilderness Awareness School 

Begin Feeling Nature's Pulse Meditation 

 
 
 

Playing with Nature Meditation 

12.2 minutes

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This music meditation offers a glimpse into the magic of improvisation, on both Chinese and Celtic harps, with a giant Golden Pothos plant in a sacred temple in Calgary. In order for us to improvise together, I must make a conscious effort to actively listen and respond moment to moment.

Plants are unpredictable, wild and mysterious! Playing music with plants means letting go of the myth that they are less dynamic life forms. In order to co-create music with plants, it requires me to be present in the body--embracing the senses, listening with empathy and having a genuine interest to learn.

In Practice 

What is Biomimicry?

As the natural caretakers of this Earth, we can help nature grow, heal and regenerate. The fields of permaculture, biomimicry and regenerative design are showing us the way! 

Biomimicry is the practice of looking deeply into nature for solutions to engineering, design and other challenges. In this short film, learn more about this innovative practice as researched by Janine Benyus. 

Begin Playing with Nature Meditation 

 
 
 

Meditations to Co-create (guided) 

Opening Centering Meditation 

6.48 minutes 

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This guided meditation helps energize, connect and orient attendees to the online meeting space. Designed over the course of a year of facilitating online activities, it offers a land acknowledgment, opens a circle of connection beyond the screen, and invites a sense of embodied awareness and creative tools to help explore, problem solve and stay present.

Saying “all are my relations" is a way of honouring our place and responsibilities in the web of kinship to all life--human, animal and nature. Where I live, it is a worldview upheld amongst many First Nation, Métis and Inuit communities.

Note: To play this meditation via ZOOM (share screen > advanced settings > share computer audio)

In Practice

Create Your Own Land Acknowledgement  

I encourage you to create your own way of opening your circles by acknowledging the land where you live, work and play. In my context in North America, it is powerful and necessary to learn about the Indigenous Nations and communities whose territories I live on and find my own words to express gratitude.

Resources for people in North America

To begin: Enter your address on Native Land

“Once you click, a number of links will appear with different nation names. By clicking on those links, you will be taken to a page specifically about that nation, language, or treaty, where you can view some sources, give feedback, and learn a little more. We are always trying to expand our resources on these pages.”

— Native Land

Also read: Creating an Indigenous Land Acknowledgment by the Native Governance Center

Begin Opening Centering Meditation 

 

Creative Inquiry Meditation 

11.58 minutes

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This guided meditation invites you to step away from the computer to explore a burning question. We can discover creative ideas and intuitive insights into complex problems through a clear question for inquiry. 

Without effective facilitation, it's easy to drift into cycles of talking heads--meeting time vanishes without exploring what really matters. When invited, our spaces can become creative playgrounds to experiment through art and movement. Make the most of your time together online by opening a space for creative inquiry.

Note: To play this meditation via ZOOM (share screen > advanced settings > share computer audio)

In Practice

Nature Meditation 

Bring this meditation outside. Instead of your living room or office, your space for creative inquiry becomes rich with the ecosystem of animals, plants and natural elements around you. 

For years I have been using this practice to help me tune more deeply into personal or professional questions arising in my life. Be prepared to be surprised by the wisdom and insight this practice can offer! 

Begin Creative Inquiry Meditation 

THE FINAL SYMPHONY

‘Sounding Together’

 

This 25-minute piece ‘Sounding Together’ from chaos to catharsis, was created by six Artist Composers in response to the stories, pain, hope, and actions from around the world, collected during SIX Wayfinder 2020. Their collaboration spanned four months across time-zones, only ever meeting over Zoom, using a collage of iphone recordings and makeshift studio set ups during lockdown, from Singapore, Poland, Greece, UK and Canada. The piece is a collective inquiry into the question: "What is the shape of social innovation in urgent times and what sounds can help us reimagine our way forward together?".

 

 

 
 

Acknowledgements

Listen to the Song of Nature Acknowledgments

I want to sincerely thank each of these people for helping me bring this project into reality.

  • Alla Guelber, copy editing, co-producing and photography 

  • Serge Levin and Olga Arsenyuk, providing their temple space for recording and composing 

  • Heather Marchand, co-producing December 14th online meditation and live recording 

  • Leonard Cardinal, for your amazing land based wisdom and friendship 

  • Robert Nizinski and Evan Freeman, for collaborative support and recording feedback 

  • Tony and Rein at Long and Mcquade Instruments, for helping me learn how to record all of this! 

And for my houseplants for offering their voice to this project!