This to me is the essence and proof of our larger existence.

Visit Jill’s story here.

” I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian,

a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew… Love has befriended Hafiz so completely

it has turned to ash and freed me of every concept and

image my mind has ever known.”

~ Hafiz

“She heard a voice in her ears: ‘Be careful,

lest you want Me to fulfill your material desires,

and take away your desire for Me. Material desires

and the desire for Me cannot exist within the same heart.”

-Attar, “Rabi’a”

Rejuvenate your heart, your creative soul and heal, while you super charge your Creative Force.  I will be hosting a very special weekend May 1-3, 2009 at a very special retreat center in it’s grand opening months.  We all need time to release our fears and pump up our inner knowing while someone else cares for us, reminds us of all that is great about us and you don’t need to cook!  What a Bargain!

Please read more about

Song of the Soul Weekend Retreat.

See you in May!

Freedom Now Part II

March 23-April 13

8:30-9:30pm

Only $65 for Four Weeks

Continue the journey of healing.  Understand the nafs, the ego and the outer nature, use tools to purify this and begin to understand the elements of creating freedom in your life right now.

We will be using the teachings of sufisism. Must have completed Part I to continue with this class.

Class Size is Limited to 10 participants.

Please Join me!

” Some say after we have mastered the wind,

the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall

harness for God the energies of love. Then

for the second time in history of the world,

man will have discovered fire.”

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin- French Jesuit Philosopher

Quick update for all my music fans.  I will begin recording my 5th release in March 2009.  I will be working with producer Jason Rubal founder of Seventh Wave Studios.  Latifah Shay and I are making plans for her to design the cover for the album.  AND we may release some singles for early release.

Exciting news to note about this project:

1.  Different than previous albums, this is a concept album.  It’s like a story from the beginning to the end and my intention is to bring the listener into and through a journey of sounds and emotion.

2.  On the previous albums:  Eve, Call to the Soul & Food for the Traveler, I made the music then designed the cover, decided the title, ordered the songs and booked the shows.  This time, I’m doing it in the opposite direction.  I have the song order planned first, title next, then cover art and already booking shows as well as writing press releases BEFORE I even set foot into the studio!

3.  Eve & Call to the Soul are almost SOLD OUT.  Reprints will not happen in the near future.  If you want to purchase them with autographs on them, contact me now.

4.  Fans on the mailing list will get the first updates about FREE Music Downloads, monthly fan only deals and special discounts.

Leave your comments and tell us your favorite parts of the albums you already own or why you love listening to Widad’s music.  Stay Tuned for Album updates!

Be Well ~

Want a FREE tool that can change your life?

I’m not kidding.

Reduce Stress, lower cholesterol, reset the clock, alkalize your body and more.

AND the best part is the deep inner connection that you build while you relax.

So what is this FREE tool?

The Remembrance.

Before I describe how to do the Remembrance let me share the study that shows some amazing results with this tool.  The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital calls it “the relaxation response training”.   In the study, “Stress management versus lifestyle modification on systolic hypertension and medication elimination: a randomized trial”, they found this tool to reduces  both high blood pressure and systolic blood pressure and some were able to stop using antihypertensive medication while maintaining good blood pressure levels.

Research from Dr. Benson at MBMI:  “The necessary two basic steps, which he found to be present in practices in almost every culture, are: the repetition of a sound, word, phrase prayer, or movement, and the passive setting aside of intruding thoughts and returning to the repetition. From the earliest studies to the present, the BHI’s work shows that by using your mind in a certain way - to elicit the relaxation response - measurable, predictable, and reproducible physiological changes occur that can be useful in countering the unhealthy fight-or-flight or stress response.”

WOW!  FREE medicine.  Can’t beat that.  So how do you do the remembrance?

In addition to the physical benefits the study shares, the Remembrance is a practice that deeply purifies the heart and aligns your inner being and your outward self with the ONE.  Sufis have used it for centuries to remember God.  Here’s what the sufi’s say about the Remembrance:

“I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assemble better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” Hadith Qudsi 15 sayings of the Prophet (SAWS) as direct transmition from God

What you do is find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted, calm your mind and relax.  Close your eyes and bring all of your awareness into your heart center.  Then you begin to repeat the Name of God, outloud (any name is fine, Allah, Elohim, Yaweh) and allow your heart to become softer and softer as you remember.  As thoughts arise, gently disregard them and let them fall away as you return to the remembrance.  VOILA!

Enjoy.  If you have questons or need support with your remembrance you may contact me anytime.

Ever been to a coffeehouse while a folk artist was performing? Or maybe you’ve been to the symphony?  Five day outdoor festival with camping?  Or what about the local fundraiser with your religious group providing entertainment for the day?  In each of these situations, we all have a stereotype that comes up about the quality, value and experience we will have from the artists performing or exhibiting at these events.

Art is all about the Context. When I was starting out I played 3 hour gigs at the “local” coffeehouse, playing all of my material, covers and lots of stories to fill in that time frame, got paid $25 bucks and had maybe 3 out 10 people stopped talking to listen to at least 20 minutes of my sets!  Then playing a large festival for a 45 minute set and people blown away wondering;  “Where have I been and why haven’t I heard of you yet?”

Value is all in the Context. It’s our brains.  We put things into boxes to categorize what they are and how they relate to us in about 3 seconds.  Example.  Picture a musician without lights, no stage standing in the corner of the local coffeehouse with the espresso machine screaming in the background frothing some yummy milk for that latte you’re about to absorb while said musician is in the middle of a “Free Bird” cover and what do you think?  (Maybe what I’m thinking, NO ONE plays Free Bird anymore the joke is old!)  But you get the idea.

It’s the Context. Now picture a duo you may not have heard of on a 60 foot wide stage, you’re in the natural ampitheatre lawn seats under the stars, the lights onstage are blue and pink as a spotlight warms up on the first of the duo at stage right on a grand piano playing a song you don’t recognize yet.  Then the next spotlight warms up on the second at stage left beginning to strum “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley on the guitar.  They begin the vocals, crowds whooping as they recognize the amazing cover that’s about to dance into their hearts, then quiet, all eyes on the stage while now the rest of the band comes in as the song is rolling.  What do you think now?

About a year ago I read an article about this subject. Washington Post writers decided to do an experiment with a world class violinist, said by some to be the best in the world, Joshua Bell.  He plays the largest venues at sometimes a $100 a ticket and was the violinist for the film “The Red Violin”.  They put him in the entry to the Metro during morning rush hour to see how people would react.  Would they recognize the beauty given in a different context.  “It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by.”

So what happened?

“In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.”

No quick answer here. Although, I may venture to offer advise as a personal development coach and say this:  Keep going.  Find out who you are so well that your confidence gets you through all the stereotypes, bad venues, crappy art shows, or any pitfalls in your work.  You may be the best in all the west, but you were presented in a “bad” context!

We all have our perceptions. Sometimes we give the benefit of the doubt trying to heave ourselves over our stereotypes.  As an artist, one must remember these stereotypes to run a successful business.  Not so that we can “sell out”, but so we can know our market, know how we may be perceived and how to serve our clients given the natural tendency to put it all in a box in 3 minutes.  It’s all in the Context.

Washington Post Magazine Article: “Pearls Before Breakfast” by Gene Weingarten

“Like the Night into Day,

Becoming Sweet Illumination.

But only through our mistakes,

Can we come to Know.” from Call to the Soul 2001 by Camela Widad Kraemer

Parents, including me, are notorious for “telling” our kids what to do.  “Oh, if you touch that hot stove, you will, burn yourself!”  Sometimes children just have to touch it to see for themselves what that means, and if they do, they will never forget the reasons why one doesn’t touch a hot burner.  Which as painful as it may be, becomes a deeper wisdom, full of certainty.

Not to say that we should never take good advice and trust those around us who may have deep wisdom and guidance.  But, I think sometimes we all could use a little more mercy on ourselves for our mistakes.  If we find ourselves in a the thick of a mistake, chances are we will know more deeply why that mistake didn’t work.  This is one way to look at our mistakes:  a form of building wisdom, experience and maturity.