Perspectives on Healing, Scored with Music

Gary Malkin was slated to serve as the centerpiece of Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care’s (VNHC) 5th annual PHorum: Perspectives in Healthcare long before the Thomas Fire ignited in Santa Paula Canyon in early December, chewing up houses in Ventura and elsewhere as it snaked its way north in the foothills along the coast. The program for Malkin’s events March 14-16 were planned before the Montecito hillside where vegetation had been destroyed gave way to the devastating debris flow on January 9 in the face of a torrential downpour. But things change, which is sort of a theme for the event, anyway.

Malkin is the multiple Emmy, Clio, and ASCAP award-winning composer and film scorer whose credits include 15 years with Unsolved Mysteries and thousands of commercials, but who developed a new perspective about his life’s purpose following a life-changing event, resulting in a shift in focus to embracing music as a catalyst for healing, mindfulness, and a more meaningful life. His Graceful Passages: Companion for Living and Dying – which combines messages spoken by spiritual teachers and counselors including Ram Dass, Thich Naht Hanh, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and many others with Malkin’s specifically composed music – has proven to be highly effective in reducing anxiety around major transitions, becoming a leading audio for individuals and in hospice and clinics to support people on their spiritual path. VNHCSB, whose services include end-of-life and bereavement care, incorporates music therapy and similar modalities into its offerings, while the PHorum aims to create a community-wide experience to deepen people’s appreciation for the nuances and distinctions of aiding people in the various challenging stages of life.

Following the twin tragedies the program has been altered a little to accommodate the sense of loss that is triggered by the unfortunate circumstances in our community, which also presents a unique opportunity for growth along the spiritual path of acceptance and healing.

Malkin will be the keynote performer in “Music is Medicine: Comfort & Renewal After Loss” at the Lobero Theatre on Wednesday, March 14, before leading the workshops “Graceful Passages: Facing Our Fragility, Cultivating Gratefulness” and “Turning Lead into Gold: Transmuting the Sorrow of Loss into the Grace of Gratitude”, on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

He talked about his work and the events over the phone earlier this week.

Q. How did the shift in your life lead you to the work you now do?

A. I had a fall from grace, a major accident in 1998, which made me reconsider whether all I wanted to do was reinforce my ego, my commercial career and the GNP, or whether I wanted to truly make a difference in people’s lives. After I was shattered by the accident, when I didn’t even know if I could play the piano again, I had what I call my anticipatory grief experience, my awakening to the fragility of life – that I could really die in any moment – and I started to hone in on what I really want to do. That led to the Graceful Passages project, where we distilled the core of the thought leaders’ responses to truly facing end of life which I scored with an 80-piece orchestra.

This modality, alchemical wisdom dropped people into a deeper place of hearts and souls, the spoken words with music actually enabling people to talk about these things that nobody wants to talk about, a level of compassion and surrender that isn’t normally found in the daily discourse of life. That made me realize that music strategically designed could be used as the WD40 of the places and subjects that we don’t want to talk about, multiple health challenges that can be dealt with through music.

Nobody had thought of applying the art of film scoring to absorbing, accepting, and ingesting life, which can be so stressful that you don’t even know how to make sense of it. But with strategically created music, you can assimilate what’s happening with greater perspective, and realize you’re part of the cycle of life.

How did the fire and mudslide alter the approach?

It’s a rare moment, like a local 9/11, which was when the whole country softened and tenderized. There’s more compassion in the world because of our awareness of our own fragility, a thinning of the wall between people who are fully functioning and looking at life as consumers rather than as citizens and those people who are engaged in a struggle just to stick around. So, I wanted to open it up to address the feeling of fragility, and the grief and loss and trauma that comes from these acts of nature., those who feel shaken by the reality that they’re not in control of all of their reality. The very foundation of a life based on awakened gratitude can come from an awareness of being ephemeral, and we become much more grateful, compassionate, and interdependent.

How are you bringing these concepts to what you will be doing here in Santa Barbara?

So many people deny the reality that we’re all going to die, that the body is not immortal. But it’s really amazing what happens in a room when everyone lets the cat out of the bag, when you’re in the room together, and everyone admits that they’re not going to be here one day. What it can do especially in a community that is experiencing grief and loss is to deepen the sense of belonging to one another, shifting from feeling separate and isolated to one of being part of a community in healing, and in the circle of life. The objective in Wednesday’s keynote is to create an experience where the simplest things – breathing, sound, music, and connection – remind us who we really are and what matters most. I’ll be talking and performing, sharing images and music, and there will be Music Therapy specialists from VNHCSB as well, and we’ll have time for a Q&A.

The first workshop (which features guest presenter Dr. Karen Wyatt, a hospice physician, author, and speaker) is about helping people inquire more intimately into where and how they have navigated their loss. Have they denied it or stored it? How can they let go? How do we understand our reaction to loss? How can we transmute loss into gratitude? “Lead into Gold” is more about the local culture: What happens when these acts of nature happen? How can we play a role in altering our mood, get past the anger and fear of losing things that are out of our control? How do we engage behavior and ways that can bring us into the present moment, rather than obsess about the loss of the past or the fear of the future?

You recently composed the music for Evolution of Organic, which features Frances McDormand, who just won an Academy Award. Do you ever miss the excitement of the entertainment business, the Grammys, and Oscars?

The truth is I do, because I always dreamed of being a part of the Oscars ever since I was 8 years old and doing my own version of film scoring. But I realized I have a dharmic path that’s different than my early dreams. Mine is more about service. I’m committed to opening the global heart one heart as a time. So now, my mastery as a composer has to do with connecting people in the heart around music. You have to accept the gift you’ve been given and love what is to be happy in life…. I’m making a fraction of the money I did when I was in TV and film, but the reward or helping people connect in a deeper way is inestimable. I’m so much more fulfilled.

(Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care’s 5^th Annual Phorum takes place at 6 pm Wednesday, March 14, at the Lobero, with a reception starting at 5 pm. Admission is free. The Graceful Passages workshop is slated for 1 to 5:30 on March 15, while Turning Lead into Gold takes place 8:30 am to 1 pm on March 16, both in the Board Room at VNHC Foundation, 509 East Montecito Street. A $5 donation is requested to reserve space. For more information, visit www.vnhcsb.org or call 690-6218.)

Hippocratic Karma: First Do No Harm

Hot on the heels of winding up a three-week course on Discovering Joyful Mind, Santa Barbara Bodhi Path resident Dharma teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips – the rare spiritual teacher who combines perspectives of Western scholarship and neuro-scientific research with the traditional training of an authentic Buddhist Lama – now tackles a four-week offering “Reducing Harm”. Subtitled “10 ways to act like a Buddha until you become one”, the course, which runs March 8-29, focuses on the Buddha’s teachings on reducing harm and benefiting oneself and others, considered among the most precious, powerful, and practical guidelines for modern life and for times when discord, confusion, and violence pervade our culture. Which sounds a lot like these days, right? The 7 to 9 pm sessions include meditation and teaching, and are by donation.

New to Bodhi Path this month is a Reflective Writing Group, which has its first meeting on Wednesday, March 21, from 7 to 8:30 pm, and continues every third Wednesday of the month. The group is geared toward those who want to deepen their practice through the written word. The sessions will be interactive in that writers will be gently guided to reflect on topics based on, but not limited to, the teachings of the Buddha, incorporating themes from Dawa’s ongoing talks, with time for sharing and discussion. Bring writings and writing materials. All are welcome regardless of experience.

Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Buddhist Center is located at 102 W. Mission St. Call 284-2704 or visit www.bodhipath.org/sb..

Words of Wisdom

B. Alan Wallace, the president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies whose background includes years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries and who has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976, makes a rare public local appearance at Unity of Santa Barbara on Saturday night. Wallace – who has edited, translated, authored, or contributed to more than 40 books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture – will talk about and sign his latest book, An Open Mind, which explore the benefits that emerge from cultivating an open mind in conjunction with taking a radically empirical approach to the study of consciousness. Admission to the 6:30 pm event is $15. Visit www.sbinstitute.com.

Neuroscientist, MacArthur Fellow, and bestselling author Robert Sapolsky delivers a public lecture discussing “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst” on Tuesday, March 13, at UCSB Campbell Hall. At the 7:30 pm presentation, Sapolsky, who has focused his research on issues of stress and neuron degeneration, will talk about the cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines that provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do, for good and for ill. Admission is $20 to $35. Call 893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.