🍂 Both Sides Now: A Michaelmas Reflection
“Balancing the peacock feather—listening for stillness between gravity and grace.”
This summer marked a new beginning for me. I entered professional training with the Mind Body Music School in the Alexander Technique Process. It’s not easy to define, but in simple words: the Alexander Technique is a process that helps us consciously cooperate with our own design — body, mind, and spirit — so we can do what we are doing naturally. It’s not a mechanical technique as some think. It’s a way of remembering our wholeness.
When I first discovered Werbeck’s School of Uncovering the Voice, I thought: “Oh! This is what Alexander work does too.” Now I see these two paths — Werbeck and Alexander — as aligned streams of the same river. Both invite us into deeper self-knowledge, into the mystery of the old maxim: “Oh human soul, know thyself.”
Rudolf Steiner reinterpreted that phrase for our time. The Greeks sought to know the soul; today, we are called to know our connection with Spirit. This kind of self-knowledge doesn’t isolate us. It transforms the inner life, enabling us to truly understand others. Isn’t that what the world needs most right now? Understanding instead of division. Connection instead of collapse. Wholeness instead of fragmentation.
Michaelmas, too, reminds us of this. It is the season for shining light into our shadows. For finding courage to protect our intentions from doubt. For finding calmness to meet our self-judgments. For finding clarity to bring order to our thoughts. This is how we face our dragons.
But courage doesn’t mean hardening and powering through fighting with sword and shield. For me, it often looks like this:
“ Courage is when I allow myself to lengthen and widen into balance, meeting the moment with quiet poise and trust instead of collapse.”
In my Alexander training, my mentor said something I return to daily: “Rather than striving for accomplishment or control, we can soften. In that softening, our focus widens from narrow achievement to a wide field of receptivity.”
This is how we remember wholeness. So many people live in separation — from themselves and from others. But wholeness is never gone. Singing, breathing, and even balancing a feather on your finger can return us to that unified field of awareness.
✨ I’d love for you to keep going with me. Read on and or Scroll down to explore the free seasonal practices I’ve prepared and to join me in singing this season’s song.
Improvisation and Trust
I’ve also been reflecting on improvisation. I’m reading The Art of Is: Improvisation as a Way of Life. Jazz musicians don’t rehearse to perfect every note — they practice small riffs, little motifs, so that when they improvise, they can draw on them freely.
This has changed how I teach. I’m doing less imitating, less trying to “get it right,” and more trusting myself. It’s freeing. It feels like the birth of A Supple Voice as something new — not me regurgitating what I’ve learned, but me integrating it, living it, offering it as a path for others.
Singing is the same. We might begin by copying. But eventually, we must trust our own voice. Trust that the song is already in us. That’s what both Werbeck’s work and the Alexander process have been teaching me. And it’s what I hope to pass on to you: a way of singing and living that is not about perfection, but about presence, trust, and freedom.
“A gentle reminder from nature: balance isn’t holding still—it’s staying supple in motion.”
Practices for the Season
Here are some simple practices you can try to meet this Michaelmas season with balance and wholeness.
Song for Reflection
For this season, I’ve chosen Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. It has been echoing through my own life, and even my daughter chose it as the song that best expresses who she is for her college application essay.
The lyrics invite us into the mystery of opposites: clouds that are both castles and storms, love that is both magic and loss, life that is both winning and losing. “Something’s lost, but something’s gained in living every day.”
Isn’t that the work of Michaelmas too? To hold both sides. To meet endings and beginnings together. To grieve what is dying and celebrate the seeds of what will come.
I invite you to listen to Joni’s recording. Then, try singing just a phrase or two yourself, with the lightness of that falsetto voice. Not to perfect it. Just to taste the freedom of singing without grasping. If you want to sing the whole song, I’ve included a Karaoke version. And don’t miss the bonus section with Joni Mitchell singing it live at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 2022. It was a surprise performance - her first in 20 years. A tear-jerker for sure. Scroll down for that video
[Verse 1]
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
[Verse 2]
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
[Chorus]
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
[Verse 3]
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
[Verse 4]
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
[Chorus]
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all
[Verse 5]
Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
[Verse 6]
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well, something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day
[Chorus]
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
Bonus - Joni Mitchell’s surprise performance Summer 2022
🌟 Join Me Live Online this November
Mini Pop-Up Online Practice Retreat
Two Sundays of shared practice, listening, and renewal.
This fall, I’m taking time to realign and listen deeply — to reflect on how I can best serve those of you who long to bring more freedom, beauty, and meaning into your voice and your life.
While I’m not offering a new course this season, I am opening a short live opportunity to gather in community, breathe together, and rediscover balance through song.
✨ November 16 & 23, 2025
🕑 Two time options each day: 2:00–5:00 PM ET or 7:30–10:30 PM ET
💻 Live on Zoom
This Mini Pop-Up Practice Retreat will be gentle, experiential, and renewing — a blend of Werbeck practices, Alexander awareness, and soul-centered reflection.
Across our two Sundays, we’ll explore how softening control and awakening receptivity can bring both voice and self into harmony.
You’ll leave with a refreshed sense of trust — in your voice, your body, and the quiet wisdom that sings through you.
I’m also developing new offerings for 2026 — for beginners and for those wishing to go deeper. Stay tuned for more ways to explore A Supple Voice in the months ahead.
As this season turns toward stillness, may you find moments to pause and listen to the quiet voice within, to the song of the earth, and to the courage that rises softly in your chest.
May you feel the warmth of connection, the clarity of calmness, and the strength of knowing: you are whole.
