Manaka Studios - Dance of Spirit Art

Stepping Into the Vastness of
Your Own Power

(Continued from previous page)
Art is about the energies of the artist

When you learn to connect with the vibratory essence that is at the core of every human being, you will find that energy to be conscious and divinely creative.

The secret is in getting the energy to move, and oftentimes it is just a matter of getting out of our own way!

Begin by beginning! Get the energy moving by doing something simple, such as doodling or scribbling. Or it could be a matter of getting off the chair and going for a walk; not just any walk, but a walk of awareness and observation, watching the energy as it moves through the body.

Keep it simple! Once the energy moves, it gains momentum and begins to move of itself!

As you begin to allow and feel the movement of energy within, you begin to understand that it is a conscious force in the sense that it gains creative momentum of itself the more you allow it space to move and dance. You then feel yourself not so much as a limited ego, but as a force of Nature, inherently creative and powerful. You will then find yourself creating in ways you never could have imagined or thought possible!

Creativity is very much related to healing

As we learn to move with the creative flow of the river of energy within, we make contact with the force and Consciousness that is the Source of all healing. We get healthier...and we learn to use energy to help others connect with their own healing powers.

When you open up even a little bit of space to let the energy move within, you will uncover the gifts that you were uniquely born to manifest in life. This energy wants to express its power and beauty through the instrument that is uniquely yours to manifest!

Do you know what you want?

Can you hear what your heart is calling you to create and manifest through the precious life that you have? Can you hear your Life's Song? It wishes to be played and heard through the divine uniqueness of who you truly are!

This site will help you uncover the powerful, creative force that can explode all difficulties and give voice to the Artist and Healer within yourselves.

This “voice” is accessible to anyone, and vastly wide in the scope of possibilities because…

You Are All Artists and Healers! You are already connected with the River of Creativity...

Now before you say, "But I don't know how to draw or play music, and I surely do not know how to tap into any kind of healing energy," allow for just one minute the possibility that the spectrum of art and healing are vastly wider than what we can imagine, and that our very nature is rooted in the creative and healing power of the Universe. We have unique gifts of creativity waiting to be born through us.

Perhaps not in the narrow sense that we usually assign to these words, but in the sense that as we learn to reconnect with our own beauty and healing power, we become the artistic “canvas” upon which the Great Spirit is able to paint and express, in ways that we cannot now imagine.

As we give ourselves permission to just “come out and play” in childlike freedom, we set into motion creative streams of energetic thought forms that give power and velocity to our intentions. And as we embrace and give voice to this power, the “scripts” of our lives unfold in such a way that we marvel at the “Great Author” behind it all.

Meet your “Inner Shaman.”
Learn the language of subtle mysteries
This site is for those who are awakening into the dance and dialog of their creative Selves—the Inner Shaman. It is for those who are learning the language of the subtle mysteries all around in nature and in the open heart. It is also about the play of energies that show up in ways that inspire as well as confound us.

Whether you are an artist, musician, writer, or perhaps a banker, homemaker, student, or accountant, this site will help you reconnect with your “Inner Shaman,” the creative source of all beauty, whether in music, painting, writing, or in the uniquely expressive way that you are as yet to discover for yourself.

My name is Bruce Manaka, author of “Flights of a Runaway Monk.” I lived for 19 years in a monastery seeking truth through meditation and inner seeking. In July of 2001, shortly before the horrors of 9/11, I left the “safety” of the monastery, driving out into a world I had little understanding of. The book describes the difficult process of leaving behind a lifestyle and belief system that I was a part of for almost two decades. It also describes how I learned to connect and dialog with the guidance (the Inner Shaman) that lovingly and powerfully made its presence known.

As I learned to trust what I was being shown, I came to understand the importance of the energy component in creativity as well as in my own health issues. When I gave myself permission to deeply feel and connect with the flow of energy within that seemed to want to express outwardly, I found myself creating artistically in ways I never dreamed possible. Some of my art and designs are on this website, created after leaving the monastery, during some of the most tumultuous moments of that time period.

Since leaving the monastery, I have married and relocated to Northern California, where my wife, Patty, and I have been putting on special sound healing events for groups. We use quartz crystal singing bowls combined with my overtone chanting to create dynamic vibratory environments that uplifts everyone present. I also meet individually with those who request private sessions (please see the testimonials).

Learning to move energy for healing
As I allowed myself to express and give outward form to what wished to be created, I also found my innate healing abilities magnified. First of all, I was healed of chronic and debilitating bronchitis that was getting worse and worse with each bout as the years flew by. When I started to connect and dialog with the energy of bronchitis, the amount of information and understanding that came to me was astounding, allowing me to finally release compassionately the stored-up energy blockages that kept me in a repeating loop of frustration and illness. Here is an excerpt from my book that describes a dialog that I had with the energy of “Bronchitis”:

“I am your body’s way of getting you to give voice to who you are. You have suppressed yourself to such a degree that I am coughing you up bit by bit. The cough is a metaphor for making yourself heard and taken note of. You even try to stifle your cough. Have you noticed that you cough more during those times you want most to be silent. You cough more during times when those around you are more likely to be disturbed. You disturb their peaceful sleep. You may not agree but I am a great blessing to you. I will frustrate all your plans and bring you to a point of such exhaustion that all you know will be your unending cough, a constant reminder that will drive you to the point of deep inner seeking. It is 3 a.m. and your body is racked with cough. You cannot breathe because breathing means coughing, and so you try not to breathe. I am a spitting dragon of fire that is awake within. You hold back even in your coughing and so you miss out in experiencing my serpent breath.

“But I don’t wish to disturb my neighbors! Please explain serpent breath.

“The coughing is a violent reflex to expel something that is irritating to the lungs. On a deeper level, there are irritations or emotional issues to be resolved, mainly the issue of learning to love and accept yourself and living the purpose of your life. Your life purpose is not so much in doing as it is in being. It is not about perfecting a craft, but rather an allowing of yourself to just simply be. And who you are is infinite depth. You are a submarine seeking to follow the deepest currents of the most subtle thoughts and feelings.Why do you think it has always been so difficult for you to figure out what you want to do with your life? You have focused so much on an external job description that you lost the opportunity and gift of just being your true Self, which is infinite.” (page 38)

Uncover your unique gifts
It still seems quite strange and wonderful to me that even as the healing of my throat and lung issues were being resolved, and as I was learning to give voice and expression to what wished to be born in my life, I found myself acquiring almost overnight an unusual gift and ability to sing in overtones. Overtone singing is an other-wordly way of singing two, three, four and more notes at the same time! I have since used it to access deep levels of meditation and also to move energy in my healing practice.

Awaken the Artist/Healer within!
I want to share with you an incredibly simple and yet powerful technique that propelled me along the path that my Inner Shaman wished me to travel. My book is pretty much a product of having used this technique, and one which I would recommend to anyone, especially if they are feeling “stuck” in any aspect of their lives. I will use an excerpt from my book that describes this simple technique:

“The process is quite simple and something that anyone can do. It just requires an openness to the possibility that we hold within ourselves a magnificence of light and love, that these energies can manifest to us in ways beyond what we are now able to believe or dream.

“Throughout my time in the monastery, I would write in my journal. It was an “on-again, off-again” practice and I found it to be therapeutic in the sense that it helped me gain some insights into my life. It wasn’t until I learned about dominant/non-dominant writing that I started to get what seemed to be very important and crucial information. I would write out questions to myself with my dominant, left-brain controlled right hand and answer with my non-dominant, right brain controlled left hand. I began this practice after hearing about this technique from some outside friends. It was also right about the time I was considering the option of leaving the monastery. I desperately needed some answers and adapted to this technique with startling ease. It offered a way to get outside the habitual stream of the logical, linear mind that wanted to keep me safe and secure in an ordered environment. Through this technique I was able to access aspects of my nature that up until then had very little opportunity to express.” (page viii)

What you can learn for yourself and from this site is that it doesn’t require living in a monastery to access the deepest and most profound sources of wisdom and love. All that is required is an openness of heart to the possibilities that there are worlds upon worlds of creativity and inspiration floating within us and that we have it within ourselves to experience and express the beauty and wisdom that wishes to be born.

Embrace the Universe of Infinite Creation!
Excerpts from “Flights of a Runaway Monk”

“Do not allow the illusion of time to discourage you. Our help can be instantaneous.We create changes in the blink of an eye. The continuity of your present troubles exists because it is the ongoing hypnosis you have chosen to remain in. You feel stuck only when you allow yourself to dwell upon the nightmare of unsolvable life riddles. The mind gets stuck in its own loop of repeating patterns of fear and doubts. Energy is meant to be free, to move and expand. How can energy be contained and not cause harm of stagnation and rot? Your Source is infinite energy. You were meant to be free and powerful. The bars you have placed yourself behind are mere toothpicks. You only dream they are made of unbreakable steel. You are meant to expand in all directions. There are no boundaries! There is no “stuckness” save in your own self-limiting thoughts. It is time to step outside, spread your wings, expand your large Self and embrace the Universe of infinite creation! (page 105)

“I’d like to create something that is beyond the conventional ways of seeing and experiencing.

“Wake up to what is with you now! Do you think you are limited or held back by lack of time or money, or distance between what you believe to be your present mode of existence and your dreams? If you believe you only have limited options then your choices will reflect a life that expresses limitation. Broaden the palette of your choices and watch the vibrant colors of multiple dimensions open up to you. You are pushing on the doors to the wide range of possibilities and will find infinite subtleties of consciousness available to you. No need to live only in the world of the physical senses. There is so much more available to you. Can you feel on the inside what each position or posture of the body conveys? Or what the environment is conveying from the inside? Can you feel that the body is connected to a larger range than what you are now able to feel? When you understand this experientially, then you will see that the body and all its seemingly different parts are energetic doorways to wider ranges of consciousness. You will learn to create in ways far beyond what you are now able to imagine. Breathe and be open to the forces that are there right now.

“Recognize those old friends that are making their presence known to you. Can you feel that there are doors all around, that many paths to learning can be taken everyday? Do not think yourself limited. Follow the infinite number of trails to Beauty and Wisdom. The time of learning is with you now; learning that comes to you from deep within.

“Life will bring more of the same when the mind remains in one narrow avenue of thinking. Open up and fall to the core of your Being. You are creating every moment of your existence by what you do and don’t do. Not doing creates stagnation and overall breakdown of the bodily instrument. Believe and act according to the powers that you feel bubbling up from within. The time is now! Do not wait for a better day! Do now what you know in your heart you must do and manifest. Use the power of your thoughts. Make use of what you already know. The intensity of each moment can explode you forward in new and vibrant realms of knowledge and adventure. It is all with you now. Ride upon the crest of the wave that is building up within. It gains momentum when you learn to focus and inwardly generate what wants to create. The power within is ready to be unleashed. Do not let the opportunity pass through your grasp. It intensifies the more you allow it life and energy. It is power born through your prayers and inward knocking. It is banging on the doors of your hard beliefs of limitation and wishes to be let loose. Do not worry! Keep your heart free of debilitating fear and allow your “beast” to roam the spheres of your life. The beast is your own power that is being guided to create and smash walls of limited thinking and narrow beliefs. Do not hinder your own power!” (page 113)

If you have read thus far, thank you for your interest. My intention for this site is to help individuals:

• Create their Souls’ Masterpiece, in whatever areas the Universe has gifted them with
• Connect energetically with the very source of their creativity and innate healing abilities
• Meet their own “Inner Shaman” of infinite wisdom
• Develop intuition and clarity of life direction
• Learn to sense non-physical “realities”
• Discover that we are all Artists/Healers
• Learn about the healing powers of harmonics (overtones)

My book, “Flights of a Runaway Monk” is an outpouring of my “Inner Shaman” or “Higher Self.” Reading the book will give you a feel or insight into how you are already connected with your own source of wisdom. Reading the book may also give you glimpses into your own sphere of life experiences, calling you to listen and create from the infinite storehouse of your soul’s longing.

Purchase “Flights of a Runaway Monk” now at:
Amazon.com

There are infinite ways and multiple dimensions of creativity that we can access. Using breath and vocal overtones is a powerful way to do this. You already produce vocal overtones! It's just a matter of deep listening and focusing attention to magnify their power.

Listen to Sample of Overtone Singing
Click Here
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Click here

There are infinite ways and multiple dimensions of creativity that we can access. Using breath and vocal overtones is a powerful way to do this. You already produce vocal overtones! It's just a matter of deep listening and focusing attention to magnify their power.

Listen to Sample of Overtone Singing
Om-Ah-Hum
Overtone Singing with Crystal Singing Bowl
Download mp3 file

Overtone Singing (short clip)
Click Here
Please allow about 1 minute to load
(AIF file, Quicktime Player required)
Free Quicktime Player download for Mac or Windows, Click here