Hi Emerelle,

My name is Peter and I live in the USA.  Thanks for sharing about your journey and the importance of the mind for singing and for life.   When I was young, I also struggled with accepting and knowing who I am.  Then when I was 18, I had a spiritual encounter with God and became a follower of Jesus Christ in the Bible and that's when I learned to accept who I am.  I believe you can best know yourself through relationships and especially in a personal, loving relationship with the one who created you. 

I still have battles sometimes in my mind but I when I remember the sayings of Jesus in the Bible and learn to lean on his divine help instead of my own ability, well that helps me a lot.

I did see your video 12 Years of Spiritual Search and I especially liked the part about the difference between the material/physical and the "Absolute".  I agree that the Absolute, non-physical world is the most important. 

For my class project, today in my choir practice at my church and I worked on having the balance of my head on my neck and spine.  It felt good and helped me in singing.

I also read a book on singing that I really liked a lot and your course confirmed many of the things in the book.  The book is Freeing the Natural Voice by Kristin Linklater.  Like you, she focuses a lot on the mind (and the body too) and exercises that remove as much tension as possible.  I hope you check out that book.

Also, I watched some of your videos like Always with Me Spirited Away, Terus Song, and some others.  They are all beautiful and I enjoyed your calm, soothing singing in the videos.