Laurence Cole – Healing Through Song
Laurence Cole is a song elder and ritualist based in Port Townsend, Washington. An abiding thread throughout his life has been a longing to discover when, where, and how human beings have lived in respectful, sacred, equitable relationship with each other and the rest of Nature, and what arts, ethics, and practices enabled them to do so and pass such attitudes and behaviors on to the coming generations.
In these profoundly challenging times, characterized by separation, polarization, and the commodification of nearly everything (and the consequent damage such a culture is wreaking on the life support systems of this world), the capacity to stay together and work cooperatively as a people is crucial for effective healing and restorative action in all realms. The communal arts of group singing, ritual, and the collective crafting of beauty are primal “technologies” of connection and belonging, and have been the integral bedrock of all viable and regenerative cultures through the deep time of our presence here on Earth. When we take steps to reclaim that heritage, making use of nothing more than what we were born with (our bodies, our hearts, our voices, our spirits), we can once again experience the bonding recognition that our true wealth is each other and that all flourishing is mutual.
The songs Laurence writes and teaches in his song circles are inspired by both current and ancient teachers, poets, philosophers, and friends. They are easy to learn by folks of any level of confidence or singing experience , but also with enough rhythmic and harmonic interest and challenge to draw folks into the pleasure of crafting together a rich tapestry of shared beauty and meaning. Research has shown that such singing stimulates the release of oxytocin in the brain, sometimes referred to as the “chemistry of compassion.” Hearing our voices blend in such powerful beauty often leaves us standing in a moment of silent wonder and gratitude.
Laurence has led singing at gatherings all across the United States and Canada. After taking the Community Choir Leadership Training in Victoria, B.C., he founded PT Songlines choir in Port Townsend, Washington, and led workshops and circles at Singing Alive (Cascadia, Kauai, Appalachia), Village Fire, Song Village, RiverSong, Singing Rabbit, Network For New Culture, Imagine, Dance Camp Northwest, NW Permaculture Convergence, The Eco Institute, Esalen Institute, and many smaller groups of folks who enjoy sharing his songs with each other. He teaches workshops in song writing and the art of listening, songs for climate change and earth stewardship, songs about minding our natural manners, and often facilitates communal grief tending gatherings in which song is vital to building and sustaining the container to hold each other well.
Laurence has also been co-facilitating and offering community grief tending gatherings for over ten years. His primary teachers and influences have been Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé, Angeles Arrien, Michael Meade, James Hillman, Francis Weller, Joanna Macy, and Martín Prechtel. He is an advocate for this work not only for the ways it can bring release and healing for individuals, but also for the ways it can enable a renewed sense of respectful connection and belonging for groups of folks working together for restoration of mutually flourishing community for all our relations, both human and beyond.
Port Townsend, Washington
USA
Website: http://www.laurencecole.com
“Song is probably more ancient than speech.” It’s our “birthright” to sing together and this brings our individual experience back into community – to fall back in love with each other over and over again. Song “metabolizes” emotion and creates a cohesive sense of being one with others. Rituals of belonging help each other more deeply, to respect each other, to foster bonding. This, according to Laurence, is how we “pay the rent” as a human being, by fostering community and investing place with meaning. “We can’t fill the longing to belong with belongings.” When we get back into belonging with one another, we begin to act again as human beings. The story of culture and of modern civilization is one of billions of individuals of only so much worth whose best hope is to scrabble together some understanding for themselves, and enough material belongings, to be happy. This approach, of bringing humans together in song, is one of the most ancient bonding rituals known – and our western culture has mostly forgotten it. Blessings to this man for helping bring back the community we NEED to get the big work done – out of love for each other and the Earth we inhabit.
Workshop(s):
SINGING FOR HEALING A BROKEN CULTURE, A BREAKING WORLD
In this workshop, the medium is the message. True kindness springs from the sense of kinship within a diverse, interdependent wholeness. The words kindness and kin arise from the same root. Singing together in a no put down zone of mutual support for the crafting of a sonorous feast of beauty and meaning to feed the hungry Spirit of this world is to partake in a quality of kindness that feels as primal and necessary as our very bones.
I’ll be teaching songs for earth stewardship and climate change; songs about minding our natural manners; songs that speak to the issues and emotions of these times.
Singing together is a healing salve, even for those who think they can’t sing, that can enliven gatherings and workshops on just about any topic. Singing is particularly relevant in seeking to repair the earth, and our relationships with each other and the whole living world.
One of my community choir colleagues in Victoria, B.C. who speaks to students and others about nuclear disarmament has learned that participants in audiences who sing together stay after the presentation, sign up for action steps, and become involved, whereas participants in audiences who don’t sing together are numbed by the message, and for the most part leave without engaging with the material or with each other.
We’ll learn some songs together (reading music is not necessary), and I’ll provide some resources for learning and teaching songs that you can take with you to enhance your work in the world.
I’ve been listening to and making music all my life. I sing, I dance, I drum, and as a composer and song leader, my favorite instrument is a group of other people. I’ve had the immense privilege of playing with gatherings all across the United States and Canada. The Community Choir Leadership Training in Victoria, B.C., gave me the tools to found PT Songlines community choir in Port Townsend, Washington. Over the past 10 or12 years I’ve led workshops and circles at Singing Alive (Cascadia, Kauai, Appalachia), Village Fire, Song Village, RiverSong, Singing Rabbit, Network For New Culture, Imagine, Dance Camp Northwest, NW Permaculture Convergence, The Eco Institute, Esalen Institute, and many smaller groups of folks who enjoy sharing my songs with each other. I teach workshops in song writing and the art of listening, songs for climate change and earth stewardship, songs about minding our natural manners, and I often facilitate communal grief tending gatherings in which song is vital to building and sustaining the container to hold each other well.
Visit my website at www.laurencecole.com to listen to some of my songs or contact me.
