Jessica Browning is a professional harpist, composer and harp teacher. She tells us about her experience of crossing the ocean with her family, which inspired her in her creative process and which she used as strength to heal from her traumas.
How did you arrive on the island?
“I crossed the ocean with my husband in 2021. We had decided on our first date to one day sail around the world sharing my music. On our first boat we built a brace in front of the mast so my classical harp would fit inside her and installed a hefty sound system to be able to amplify concerts from our boat. We sailed from France to Spain, the Canary Islands, Cap Verde and then Martinique. I was pregnant and we arrived in Martinique 20 days before our son was born in the middle of the global Covid shutdown. I wrote an album called “Into Me Sea” about the experience of crossing the ocean while being pregnant. We crossed the ocean a second time with a new boat when our son was 2 and immediately fell in love with the cultural diversity of the magical Oualichi.”
What is the place of the ocean in your music?
“When you sail for long distances, life develops a certain rhythm which is slower, deeply in connection with the elements around you, and it creates an inner calm. After every ocean crossing I’ve written albums. Somehow each travel created the type of inner landscape for the music to come pouring out. The song “Whale” is about healing from my own childhood trauma of sexual abuse. It was inspired by a whale who followed our boat for several hours when we were leaving the Portuguese Azores. The whale was like a shaman who was with me guiding me into healing. In the recording of the song my producer Ross Owen and I added binaural beats and harmonies to my voice. We octave downed my voice several times to make it sound like a whale.”
How can music be used to heal traumas?
“For me creativity and embodiment practices have been the most healing. Survival in itself is a creative act. When we survive trauma it’s registered and stored in the parts of our brain that are more primal and nonverbal, so ironically actually talking about trauma is sometimes really triggering for people if it’s not done with grounding techniques and ways to access your own inner calm. Music can be that bridge of creating a safety net when going into painful memories. Music also can provide a mirror for our emotions. When we survive trauma, a huge part of the damage is feeling isolated and alone; when we hear music we can hear the emotion we may have felt and it’s mirrored back to us. More and more I believe that music, art and dance therapy are becoming important in our world which is so desperate for healing. I also created Harp and Soul which is a yoga class accompanied by harp music every month at Joga. ”
So you have decided to use your own experience to help others…
“After writing my latest album, I felt a deep need to become more public about my trauma and share my story with other survivors. This March and April I am doing a speaking tour in the States called “Healing Through Music”. I’ll be speaking at several universities and at various women’s shelters and counseling centers. I feel so honored to be able to share this journey and I want for survivors to know that they are never alone. We each have a special medicine inside our being for the world which is our deep passion, our creativity. I invite you dear readers to go into your heart and find that childlike part of you that wants to create, to sing, to dance, to paint, to draw, let it come out and let it heal you.”
Instagram : @odysseyatsea
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