Voyage LA: Meet Helane Marie Anderson of Sacral Sounds

Written By Helane Anderson

Voyage LA’s Original Article here.

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Helane Marie Anderson.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Healing and music have always been intertwined in my life, though not always professionally.

A classical musician by trade, my degrees were in Piano Performance (Bachelor of Music from Salem College) and Arts Administration (M.A. from Indiana University), and I spent a year in-between studying classical piano performance at the Music Conservatory in Amsterdam. I made an active decision at that time to take the conventional music administration route and began a career in New York City. Eventually, I took a job as Artistic Administrator of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which was what originally brought me to LA.

Apart from my music career, my own personal life journey was more centered around the healing arts, and anyone who knew me well knew of my interest in yoga, meditation, and receiving any and all healing modalities I had access to. I learned to do Shiatsu when I was 12 from a Japanese family friend who lived with us in North Carolina and always had a knack for knowing where people held tension in their bodies. On my free time, I loved exploring different healing practices and even completed yoga teacher training when I lived in New York.

I also took advantage of the travel connected with my job at that time and found myself fascinated by all types of music throughout the world. Finally, all of these parts of myself began coming together when my personal healing journey shifted, and I realized the job I was in wasn’t where I was supposed to be anymore. Life circumstances began pushing me to create music again and to explore my latent healing and creative abilities. Up until this shifting point, I went three years without singing at all and my heart was out of alignment.

Coming out of this place took time, effort and a deep commitment to myself. Through it all, I was given the space to develop the tools, study many different modalities, and figure out my personal approach to how my journey could help others. During this time of changing gears, I was taking advanced CranioSacral Therapy and Polarity Therapy classes with Gary Strauss and Tracy Griffiths and through that process realized that my deepest calling was working with music and sound.

I took trainings with both Jamie Bechtold and John Beaulieu and then headed to San Francisco to the Globe Institute to receive a certificate in Sound Healing & Sound Therapy. It was after this time that I began bringing music into the healing space. Once I added my voice into the mix, it was clear that I arrived where I was meant to be: in the space where healing and music intersect.

Has it been a smooth road?
Definitely not. Switching from an established career in the classical music industry to a complete unknown in the healing arts was completely terrifying at first. I had no idea what was on the other side and still worked as a consultant as I was shifting gears, taking classes and moving into a new career space. However, the biggest catalyst for my shift was the death of my father to pancreatic cancer in 2007. It was the major life event that helped place me on a deeper path of healing, to find myself, and as in the work I do, to find my own voice.

It has taken many years to see how much every part of my journey helped me get to where I am today. Every step and challenge has been a gift through providing an insight to grow, expand, create, and find peace within. Everyday I am grateful that the difficulties along my path brought me to this place where all of my work feels connected to my heart. I love that I get to work with people so intimately and use music, singing, and sound to help others with their healing process.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Sacral Sounds – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.Thank you so much for your kind words and support. My biggest mission is to help people find their true voice and learn how to bring it out into its full expression and life purpose fulfillment. Leading by example in sharing my own voice in multiple forums, I do this through my public and private sound baths, recordings, workshops, CranioSacral therapy sessions, teaching and voice coaching as part of my You Are Meant to Sing! Program.

In the sound bath arena, my background as a classical singer and pianist, along with spending many years working with classical music composers, brings a different element of sound and music creation into the space of sound healing. Every time I facilitate a sound bath, it’s different and comes from working with the energy of the space and the people in the room at that present moment.

The phrase I use most often for the experience is “Energetic Music Composed in Real Time.” My own healing journey through learning many different energy healing modalities including CranioSacral therapy, Reiki and Shamanism informs the way I work with sound and how I approach the overall experience for the participants.

I also use my voice in that space in many different ways with the singing bowls, gong, and other instruments to create a myriad of musical textures and experiences that range from deep physical healing to profound internal release to out of body experiences. I also teach sound bath/sound healer trainings in Malibu and love teaching and passing along this work to others.

The direct work I do with people through my voice coaching is based on the program and book I developed/wrote called YOU ARE MEANT TO SING! 10 Steps to Unlock Your Inner Voice. This program is based on my own journey of learning to heal myself through singing, working with mantras, identifying and clearing any blocks towards full self-expression and stepping into your power.

I work with both professional and amateur singers, actors, speakers and anyone ready to step into the full expression of their voice. Through private CranioSacral Therapy sessions to bringing my musical background into the sound healing space to bringing my YOU ARE MEANT TO SING! Program to life, I am proud of how Sacral Sounds has developed over the past five years and continues to grow and expand through the power of sound and singing.
But most especially, I’m proud and grateful to be able to help and work with so many amazing people. Holding space for the transformation and expansion of others is truly a gift.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?I love the creative openness and commitment to healing and personal growth I find in people that live in Los Angeles.

There is an energetic opening here that is conducive to creating whatever you want to create, as long as you’re willing to put the time and effort into bringing your creation to life.

I also love the proximity to nature and the amount of beautiful, varying environments that are easily accessible within a couple of hours by car. The least favorite – I’d have to go with traffic!

Contact Info:

Helane Anderson
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SHOUTOUT LA: Meet Helane Marie Anderson | Vocal Empowerment Activator, Singing Sound Vibrational Healer & Leadership Coach