Author: Vickie & Peter

MUSIC & MEDITATION IN THE MEETINGHOUSE (MMM) featuring meditation leader Janet Green with guitarist & balladeer Gerry Ryan, November 30th, 2014 in the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse

BASICS:

Meditation and Music combined in a candle-lit setting
November 30th, 2014 at 7:30pm in Gloucester’s 1806 Meetinghouse, home of the
Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church
Corner of Middle and Church Street, on the green
Free-will Offering ($10 suggested), disability accessible, all are welcome
Social gathering afterwards with light refreshments
Web site: www.gloucesteruu.org Email: info@gloucesteruu.org, Phone: (978-283-3410)

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

The Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church is pleased to announce the next event of its monthly series called Music & Meditation in the Meetinghouse (MMM) that offers Cape Ann residents and visitors a unique combination of beautiful music and relaxing meditation. Each MMM event offers the participants an opportunity to enjoy a different combination of peaceful self-awareness through various kinds of meditation enhanced by the musical offerings.

The MMM experience is intended to be comforting, entertaining and spiritual but it is emphatically not a church service. It is held in the candle-lit sanctuary of the grand Meetinghouse, a place of gathering and welcoming for the entire Gloucester community for over 200 years. The Meetinghouse, whose lantern tower with a Paul Revere bell has guided generations of mariners safely into our harbor, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the oldest, largest and last surviving historic Meetinghouse in Gloucester.

The October event will feature meditation leader Janet Green with guitarist & balladeer Gerry Ryan. There will be a collation with light refreshments afterwards in the Entrance House, giving participants the opportunity to meet the leaders and each other in a convivial atmosphere.

Parking is allowed on the church green at the corner of Middle and Church Street, entering between the granite pillars but please be aware of the newly-installed granite benches. A free-will offering of $10 is requested but everyone is welcome regardless of financial capability. The Sanctuary is accessible with facilities for persons with disabilities via the side entrance at 10 Church Street.

MEDITATION LEADER:

Janet Green Garrison, M. Ed., R.Y.T., CADAC, Founder and Director of Yoga for Health

Janet began teaching Hatha Yoga forty years ago and named her practice Yoga for Health because of her personal experience with the healing powers of yoga. Within six months of regularly practicing the yoga asanas, or postures, Janet stopped smoking, lost weight, changed her diet from junk food to health food and felt as though she had found a path that could guide her through whatever challenges life had to offer. The positive changes in her body, mental attitude and spiritual beliefs were undeniable and inspired her to pursue further training and become a yoga instructor.

Janet completed the 6 week Teacher Training Program with Swami Vishnudevananda in 1973 and the White Lotus Teacher Certification Program in Santa Barbara in 1994. Each year she continues her studies with various renowned Iyengar, Bikram, Kripalu and Sivananda instructors and maintains a personal practice that feeds the wealth of experience that her teaching comes from. Her classes are an eclectic blend of Hatha Yoga styles reflecting her continued study with instructors such as Rodney Yee, Angela Farmer, Erich Schiffmann, and Gayna Uransky.

Janet is also a Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor and has led therapeutic groups at local substance abuse clinics for two decades. She is a popular speaker on the benefits and pleasures of yoga, and hosts ” Yoga For Health ” on Cape Ann Cable Access Television, Channel 12, Thursdays, 8:30 to 9:00 pm. She maintains her practice as a teacher and guide from her Lanesville studio.

MUSICIAN:

MUSIC & MEDITATION IN THE MEETINGHOUSE “Gerry Ryan – an acoustic guitar player from Massachusetts who is well known throughout coffeehouses, clubs and festivals throughout New England.” – Boston.com

For most of his adult life, Gerry Ryan has been chasing the musical muse, learning and writing songs in a wide range of styles… folk, country blues, western swing, rock, ballads … songs that explore topics snatched from the ledger of life. He has performed his songs wherever lovers of acoustic music gather — coffeehouses, clubs, and camps, festivals — and any place good songs are welcome.

Based on the North Shore, Ryan is a singer/songwriter who performs solo as well as in the popular trio, Ryan, Ortolani & Fleming. In performances, you will hear catchy original tunes, American classics, country blues, and songs from the Celtic traditions. Ryan has issued two CD’s of original music, Halfway Home and Today in Yesteryear both of which

have received airplay on WUMB-FM in Boston and on other popular folk and acoustic programs on radio and the internet stations across the country.

As a solo act and with Ryan, Ortolani & Fleming, he has featured several times at Geoff Bartley’s singer/songwriter nights at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge and performed at the Nameless Coffee House in Cambridge, the Me & Thee Coffee House in Marblehead, the Linden Tree Coffee House in Wakefield, the Amazing Things Coffee House in Framingham and the Parish Center for the Arts in Westford, the Beal House in Kingston and many other venues.