Music's healing power is theme of hospital's annual conference

In recent years, says Tom Jacobs, the medical community has looked more and more toward practices like meditation and yoga to benefit not just patients, but healthcare providers as well.

His experience as a spiritual composer, speaker, and yoga and meditation instructor puts him in good stead, therefore, to lead the eighth annual Complementary Therapies Conference, April 7 in Albany.

The conference, titled "Healings and Blessings through Meditation, Music and Movement," is sponsored by the Center for Complementary Therapies of St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam. The center offers alternative therapies like healing touch, reiki and t'ai chi chih.

Touching moments

Mr. Jacobs, whose retreat ministry is based in Kansas City, Missouri, believes "there are many ways to touch people," from the way we live our lives to how we offer others new perspectives and ideas.

That's exactly what he plans to show his audience during the day-long conference, which will be broken into segments on meditation, "stories and songs for the soul," a question-and-answer session on spirituality, and yoga.

"I have so many themes," Mr. Jacobs chuckled, looking at the day's varied activities. He noted that the Church has a long history of using meditation and contemplative prayer, and that yoga is "like a prayer of the body."

Sounds of health

As for the musical part of the day, Mr. Jacobs will bring out his guitar to play what he noted is "not toe-tapping music. It's reflective, with poignant lyrics."

He will cover some of the themes featured on his six CDs of spiritual songs and stories: optimism, balance, forgiveness, feeding faith rather than fear, finding life's purpose, seeing the good in the world -- and, of course, humor.

"I'm usually very funny when I talk!" he promised.

Overall, the speaker hopes to "bring people into mindfulness" about how to change negative thought-patterns. He said that circular thinking often puts people into ruts, but "you have the power to change or move your thoughts in a way that gets you somewhere."

Q&A time

Mr. Jacobs compared the question-and-answer portion of the conference to "group spiritual direction."

He hopes that participants will ask about troubling situations in their lives and hear different perspectives that may lead to change.

Having given similar conferences, retreats and parish missions across the country for many years, Mr. Jacobs told The Evangelist that he believes his own life's purpose is to help people "align themselves with divine energy" to help them face life's challenges.

He called the conference "a day to catch your breath, receive some inspiration and a boost to your spiritual path."

(Mr. Jacobs noted that his background -- a Jewish father and Catholic mother -- gave him an appreciation for many faith traditions and spiritual practices. Also a yoga instructor, massage therapist and former Benedictine monk, he and his wife, Beth, are planning to open a retreat center in Missouri in 2009. Learn more at www.timbercreekretreat.org or www.tomjacobs.com. The Complementary Therapies Conference will be held April 7, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at the Holiday Inn in Albany. The cost, including lunch and refreshments, is $100 ($50 for St. Mary's Hospital associates, volunteers and auxilians). Call 841-7146.

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