Scott Sheerin is the musician and musical visionary behind the music on Healing Music Now. My deep interest in healing and the spiritual dimensions of music have led me to a long apprenticeship in learning the ways of music as prayer and music as medicine.
This music is an expression of a lifetime of uncovering what spirit is wanting to express in any given moment through the voices that are available. This is music not anchored in any specific ethnic or geographical tradition. It speaks of the energy of fire and heart, the transformational and connective force in the world. This is music that invites the listener out of the dream of separation and into the dream of nature. Music that slows down the mind and connects us to heart.
Whatever capacities I have to bring this presence into music come from a long and steady learning relationship with the Gods or Divine forces in the world. I have been a musician since early childhood and had a normal arc of studies through school and college. I played a wide range of styles in my 20’s and 30’s including free jazz, folk, rock and world. As a flute and saxophone player I often was a “sideman”, accompanying singers or adding texture and melody to bands. At this time I had no conscious relationship with the Divine but I loved to improvise and spontaneously create with others. I think it was my favorite way to be in the world.
In my late 30’s I began to study Traditional Chinese Medicine and became an acupuncturist. This was my first foray into holistic healing concepts and practices as well as exposure to the philosophical depths of Taoism from which that medicine is drawn. I began to study Plant Spirit Medicine my introduction to some basic elements of shamanic perspective. I found that I could journey to the spirits of the plants and later deliver the healing the plant was offering to my patients through the songs of my flute.
Years later life circumstances introduced me to the elemental God of Fire known to the Huichols as Tatewari or Grandfather Fire. Grandfather began to work with me to learn how to listen to him and to the living world. As I would listen and then play, the music became a prayer. The music that I began to play and record took on more spaciousness and healing qualities. My music grew along with my capacities to listen to the song of the world and be a vessel for Divine.
Early in my apprentice years I was taken to see Gurumayi, known as Swami Chidvilasananda. She is a great being, a meditation teacher and Master Musician. I had the great fortune to be drawn close to her and learn some of the ways of the profound spiritual practice of chanting and the devotional music of India. For 5 years I offered my seva as a musician in ashrams and public programs around the world in the core ensemble of Siddha Yoga Music. This training was invaluable to my growth and practice of knowing the Divine through music, for which I am forever grateful.
Over the past 20 years I have been making healing music recordings as an independent recording artist. These recordings are in use around the globe in a variety of therapeutic settings. For 19 years I served on staff at shamanic healing retreats as a healing musician around the US. I currently live and work on music at home outside of Asheville NC surrounded by these exquisite old mountains.
