"As the first notes entered the quiet stillness, I just knew that something very different was about to happen. The sound was incredibly alive with energy, conveying a manner of beauty beyond anything I encountered before. It seemed as if the melodies and harmonies were speaking directly to my soul, revealing unexplainable truths with what seemed like the voice of compassion itself. As I closed my eyes, trying desperately to absorb every bit of the music, I felt streams of loving energy beginning to well up from deep within. Time seemed to stand still, as each note opened further and further the tightness of my shielded heart. I felt I was becoming, what can only be described as one with the music — music so hauntingly beautiful that it awakened a realm of experience I didn't even know was possible. Instantly, the distress that had been lodged deep in my bones began to subside, and was replaced by the most ecstatic state of compassionate joy. Even after the music had faded gently away, I lay in silence half the night, dwelling in such a profound awareness of my inherent wholeness.

"Looking back, that night was my first peak experience inspired by music — one of many to come. As a musician and a music teacher, I had a long been familiar with the joys of music, but until that day I never fully understood its true evocative power. What a thrill to discover that simply opening oneself to the vibrations of musical sound could bring about such a transcendent experience! Ever since that time, I never considered music in the same way again. A new dimension opened in my life. Having had a taste of what music could evoke, I felt a keen desire to explore the breadth of its transformational potential."