Jane Lewis

KEYNOTE SPEECH

Mindful Songs of Change

In this fun, experiential session we will learn some simple harmony songs and notice what happens when we sing together as a community from an embodied place. Let’s experiment with using the body singing as a support to anchor us in the present moment. Can we engage with radical song in a mindful way, sing with the whole body and connect with words and music from the heart? In this way we may begin to allow our own unique voice to flow and flourish as an open and compassionate expression of who we are in this moment.

We will also explore how we can use song to achieve social change – as a gentle form of protest, a joyful act of solidarity, and a way of connecting deeply with the earth and all beings.

All welcome, whether you have any previous experience at singing or not, and whatever beliefs you may hold about your singing ability!

“I sing just to know that I’m alive”
Nina Simone

 

ABOUT JANE

Jane Lewis works at the intersection of the arts, mindfulness, nature and activism. She is a community song leader and has co-led Protest in Harmony, Edinburgh’s radical street choir, for over 20 years. She believes that song can be a positive powerful force in effecting change: outside the gates of Faslane or Dungavel, on a Reclaim the Streets, or an Extinction Rebellion vigil.  Singing together for social and ecological justice we can express joy and grief; we convey messages of peace, solidarity, hope and nonviolent resistance and we build human connections.

She also established and runs a local community choir and a charity, The Warblers, providing singing groups for people with lung conditions. Jane writes harmony songs for community singing groups and is currently working on a collection of songs based on The Lost Words. She loves leading singing workshops outdoors: on walks, on the beach and wassailing the trees in community orchards.

Jane attended her first mindfulness course at Samye Ling in 2012 during a challenging personal time and now teaches the MBLC course to people with long-term conditions and difficult life circumstances as a Thistle Foundation Wellbeing Practitioner based in GP practices. She is a trained social worker.

I live in Edinburgh with my partner Chris and friend Olga. Tending our vegetable garden and small orchard help me stay connected to the earth and seasons. I swim regularly at the local beach with a fabulous community of wild swimmers who support each other through life’s challenges and joys. I play the cello and find immense joy in crafting – I knit (vegetables, flowers and garments), make prints and books and write poetry – inspired by the natural world. I attend our local Quaker meeting, am a lifelong peace and environmental activist, and am mother to a 23-year-old film-making son.