Are you by any chance the type of person who works with clients? And if not you, maybe you know someone who does?

Or perhaps you sometimes spend one-on-one time with a counselor or a coach or a therapist or a body worker or a healer of some sort?

Regardless of which side of the service equation you might be on, you can easily understand the idea that atmosphere matters a great deal.

Some people burn sage, others may have crystals or candles artfully arranged. A calm, quiet, and soothing environment is essential.

The key to any sort of transformational modality is that the participants feel safe, comfortable, and grounded. So after you consider every other detail of lighting, decor, and interior design, have you given any consideration to your audio environment?

You may be sold on the convenience of your Spotify playlists or enamored by the sleek and tidy appearance and portability of your wireless Bluetooth speaker. And to be fair, there is a time and a place for such solutions.

However, there is one pure element that you can put into the air that has no substitute. The electromagnetic essence of  analog audio vibrating directly from the grooves in a vinyl record sends a sublime signal straight to the soul.

A carefully chosen LP played either as background music during a session or as punctuation afterwards brings an ineffable authenticity to the experience that defies description.

For real, if you’re in the feelings business, then dial up the feels. An average turntable, a small stereo, and a modest stack of records might seem like an odd investment, but there’s more upside to it than you can imagine.

I’d go so far as to say that even if you don’t turn it on, the presence of a turntable and vinyl records in your environment is a huge plus. Just the sight of it is grounding!

This comes to mind on the heels of some really great live streaming shows lately. You may have heard me talking about playing records online, started due to covid and have kept it up once a week or more since spring of ’20.

What started as an attempt to provide a continuation of our Dance Jam event has morphed into something quite different. It turns out folks are willing to join me in a genre-surfing tour of my music collection so I’ve been collecting and playing a lot more Blues and Folk and Jazz and Rock and Soul and even Americana.

I still get into the mix of Disco and House and Electronica, but that seems to fit better early in the day with a fresh cup of coffee. My Saturday night show is more like musical decompression from the events of the week.

And while a few of my longtime Dance Jam friends tune in you’ll find folks from all over listening in (or watching) on Saturday nights. It feels great to share every facet of my music and have folks who like to go along for the ride instead of trying to play for a specific dance floor.

Maybe you can join us sometime soon? If you follow me on Mixlr (or chip in on Patreon) you’ll get an email notification when I fire up the turntables, I do at least one or two ‘pop-ups’ during the week. You can listen through your browser, on your phone, or in the app. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow the thread as I post photos of the LP covers. I love for you to listen in, and please say hello when you do!

Making the most of your music and community is a crucial key to keeping your soul at play!

Much love and musical mojo till next week!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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mark@consciousdancer.com!