I’m starting out my crystal therapy experiment with Turquoise. If you’re curious about how I got into this in the first place, here is my initial post and interview about crystal healing for vocalists!
Before we get started, I know there are a lot of strong opinions about crystals, both positive and negative (as is the case for any alternative therapy, to be honest). I went into this with a totally open mind, with an even amount of curiosity, skepticism and optimism. My goal is to be completely impartial and give you honest results as I encountered them. I hope you will keep an open mind as you read this! Regardless of your opinions on crystals, hopefully this will at least be interesting/entertaining and provide you an insight into my typical work week.
Turquoise Therapy for Singers
To start my project, I did some research on Turquoise. It is one of the oldest stones in man’s history with beads found dating back to 5,000 B.C. Turquoise jewelry is known in America for its frequent use in Native American jewelry and design. I want to avoid cultural appropriation regarding this because a Navajo silversmith stated, “We have four sacred stones, and the number 1 is turquoise. It’s your connection to Mother Earth and Father Sky and living in harmony with everything that exists in between.”
The article says that wearing Turquoise jewelry is okay as long as it isn’t a blatant ripoff with no meaning. So, I think/hope I’m okay here. I’m wearing a simple stone in a cage for singing purposes. The stone is just a stone and not part of any kind of design.
It’s also important to note that while Native American culture is big on Turquoise in America, Turquoise is also a part of Turkish, Egyptian and Chinese cultures. Many people have used and loved this stone for centuries, so it’s important to reflect on why so many people have loved it.
For my purposes, I’m trying to form a connection with this particular stone to see if it will help me sing better. If this sounds weird, just consider that many cultures have used it for many years to do many different things, so why not try it out?
Using my prior knowledge and information from Melissa, I know that the goal for this stone is to open and heal my throat chakra. I have a whole post about the throat chakra for musicians as well as every other chakra, so I won’t go into too much detail here.
Day 1
I got up late and totally forgot I was doing this project today, so I didn’t start wearing it until 11:30. Not off to a great start, but I’m trying to stay positive and optimistic about this! I’m starting out wrong in several areas. I didn’t start right away like I wanted, and my throat is sore from poor singing technique last night. I have projects to work on today, so I need to rest and go into repair mode before tonight. I’m hoping rest and tea will help my singing.
Coincidentally, I bought this tea last year in Nebraska from a Native American tea company. It’s a huge jolt of caffeine, but given the morning I’ve had, I think it’s a good way to start this project.
I drink all liquids through a straw, including hot ones. I’m weird, I know.
Day One Update: Okay so today was just a REALLY TERRIBLE day, you guys. My car broke down, and although my dad was thankfully able to fix it, it was a frustrating and scary situation that took up hours of my day. I’m also very sick with a cold or something and I injured my leg so badly I can barely walk. Sooooo not a great day in general. I was wondering if maybe today was a bad day to start my crystal work, but I don’t think it matters. Crystals are not designed to prevent you from having a bad day.
It did not, however, help me sing at all tonight. Being sick didn’t help, but overall I did fine. I got through it. I’m just ready to go to bed and hit ‘restart’ on my life right now.
Day 2
Last night was terrible. I was so sick and sore that I woke up several times and could not get back to sleep. I was planning on today being a wash and staying in bed all day, but I woke up surprisingly energetic and ready to start my day.
Last night I had four music projects and my voice seems to be fine this morning, which is surprising given how little I slept.
Tonight, I had a character song, where I sing in a voice that is not my own. Normally this can cause voice pain, but I was okay tonight. I sang it twice to make sure I got all of the character nuances right, and my throat felt fine after. I slept hard.
Day 3
My voice felt fine this morning, but overall I have not been feeling well. I have a general sense of being unwell, both physically and mentally. I can’t specify what it is or where it comes from. It would be ridiculous to blame it on this stone, but since it’s here with me and I’m experiencing this issue, I decided to do more research. I was surprised to find several meditations specifically for and about Turquoise on YouTube. I decided to try one, and wow, meditation works, you guys. In six short minutes, I felt a lot more balanced about my life. All of the minor issues swirling around in my head were frivolous and a waste of a good day.
The meditation used Turquoise as its focal point, but also focused on letting go of daily worries and past hurts. Maybe that was what I was doing. I’m sure I’ll need more work on this, but there are other Turquoise meditations and I plan on doing all of them.
The cage kept getting caught on this sweater
Tonight I have to write a song for a client. She presented me with lyrics and wants a sassy country song written to it. I need to gather some sass and get ready for work, so I’m glad I brought myself out of this funk, if only temporarily.
Day 4
I’m really proud of myself for remembering to wear this crystal every day. I am not a jewelry person, so I thought for sure I’d have forgotten it at least once by now.
I also painted my nails to match
Last night I worked on the country song and did two edits for previous songs. Everything went fine. I need to do a lot of work today on my marketing. Turquoise is supposed to assist with communication, so I’m hoping it will do that for me today.
I also did another Turquoise meditation. I really love these and I hope there are meditations for my other crystals. More than anything else, it’s just nice to have a quick 10 minutes of centering myself in the midst of my day. It’s helping my mood stay balanced and strong.
I have one gig tonight, doing one background vocal for a rock song. I’ve worked with these people before so it should be a pretty straightforward gig, but I’ll find out when I get to work.
A bird was trapped in my laundry room today. This has happened once before, and I feel it’s a sign of some kind. Lucille Ball notoriously hated birds so she would probably say this is a bad sign, but I disagree because I love birds. He got out and was fine, by the way, I just have no idea how they get in.
I got a song back that I co-wrote and sang for a publishing deal and I’m delighted with how it came out. I’m always nervous to hear finished songs (What if I hate the production? What if I notice mistakes I can’t fix now?) but it’s a fun, energetic pop song and I’m so happy to have been a part of it.
Day 5
What started out as a good morning turned south pretty quickly. I know every industry has competition. If I quit music today and became a lawyer, I’d have plenty of lawyer competitors. However, there’s this one person. I am not providing any details, other than to say that they should not be in this career field. They are tone-deaf, unprofessional, and lazy. I’ve had the displeasure of working with them several times on projects and it was dreadful.
I submitted for a new session job, and they announced the new hire today. Guess who it was.
Normally, I would not be bitter. I would congratulate anyone who got the job, even if it wasn’t me. But you guys. This person should not even be in this industry, and I’m blown away that they keep getting work at all.
I realize how petty and awful I sound. I get it. This person’s success does not affect me, and I should be happy, blah blah blah. They’re just so objectively bad and I don’t understand what I’m missing, or what others are seeing.
Anyway, on a better note, it’s almost 60 degrees and sunny in Michigan, which is rare and I’m going to make the most of it today.
Day 6
I’m determined to have a good day today. I spent a lot of time this morning thinking about why I was so upset about yesterday. I believe things happen to teach us lessons, and there are many lessons here. Talent and hard work are not necessarily guarantors of success, and I am not entitled to more success than someone else just because I put in more work. I also need to look at my pitch and my reels and find out how to improve them for the next time around.
Anyway, today I am going to clean my house. I’ve been neglecting it and this morning I noticed a film of dog hair on the stairs. It’s another beautiful sunny day, so I’m going to open the windows and clean the energy in my space.
I have no gigs tonight, but I’m not going to treat it as a “night off.” I’m going to do a full warmup anyway and probably sing my own songs or work on writing some new ones. I’m preparing for an upcoming show so I need to keep my voice in top working condition.
Day 6 Update: I did a warmup and felt my voice cracking and wearing out, so I cut the rest of my practice short. Since I don’t have any projects tonight, there’s no need to stress my voice out.
Day 7
My last day with Turquoise! We are having an epic snowstorm today in Michigan (8 to 12 inches expected by tonight) so I have no plans to go anywhere. I’m going to spend the day watching movies, then tonight I’m finishing up a song for a client. I got hired onto another song today, but it won’t be ready to sing tonight.
I filmed my recap of Turquoise today. I’m not 100% sure what to say about it because I don’t have anything else to compare it to. I’ve never done this with a stone before, but I will say I’ve enjoyed learning about it, meditating with it and keeping my thoughts on it throughout each day. It’s been very interesting and I’m excited to try out my next stone to compare.
I’m going to take tomorrow off, to give myself a ‘reset’ before starting a new stone.
Next week, I’ll be working with Blue Topaz. At the end of my therapies, I will do a recap of each one which will appear here!
Here is the video for this week’s recap:
Have you tried crystal therapy? What are your thoughts on it? I’d love to know in the comments!