ON HIS A NEW AWARENESS ALBUM RICHARD SHULMAN FOLLOWS SPECIAL “RAYS” MUSICALLY

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Renowned new age pianist and synthesist Richard Shulman has created an instrumental 12-song recording of meditative music, A New Awareness: Music of the Twelve Rays, through a close spiritual collaboration with Michael G. Love, author of the recent book The Reality of Your Greatness: A Personal Journey Through the Twelve Rays. The music is meant to help connect listeners to the power, energy and awareness levels of the Twelve Rays.

The Twelve Rays are a fresh, new spiritual metaphor that moves energetically upward in intensity as an individual works through the Rays to A New Awareness which contains a message of hope, healing, new potential, new experiences and more. As explained in the book and felt through the music, this is a journey of self-discovery, growth, empowerment, fulfillment and healing. The book includes guided meditations for each Ray, and Love's spoken-word renditions are available at the website (TheTwelveRays dot com). The music on the A New Awareness album can also be used by individuals doing their own meditations although the music can be enjoyed on its own as well. Further information is available about the album at Shulman's website (RichheartMusic dot com) and about the book and the Rays at RealityofYourGreatness dot com. The book is also available on Amazon. The music can be purchased at numerous online sales sites including CD Baby, Amazon, iTunes, Rhapsody and eMusic among others.

Shulman - who has dozens of albums in the genres of new age, ambient, neo-classical and jazz - has offered a service since 1986 in which he meets with a person or group, feels their energies and intuits music for their highest good, and on-the-spot sits at his keyboards and creates a "Musical Soul Portrait" which he records for them. For the A New Awareness album, Shulman used this procedure with Michael Love. According to Shulman, "Mike would tell me about a particular Ray and then, as he held space with the energy of that Ray, I would sit in a receptive state and invite music for that Ray and for the 'Highest Good' to come into my awareness. Once I began hearing the music internally, I would 'take note' of what I was hearing, turn on the recording system, and play the music as I heard it. From my experiences with Mike I feel that the Twelve Rays are emanations from God or Spirit meant to give us practical empowerment in life."

"What we are really talking about, " explains Love, "is the advancement of life on this planet. Life is all about change, so let's have a new mindset about change. The answers everyone is looking for are inside you, but you have to do the work to become self-empowered. It is time to replace the belief that spiritual progress is attained through pain and suffering with the understanding that spiritual growth is achieved through conscious creation, through the expansion of your understanding of who you really are and recognition that resources of the universe are at your disposal, yours to command.

"The Twelve Rays allow each of us to consciously become the creators of our own realities, and help us to prepare our physical bodies to exist at higher energetic levels. The energy of the Twelve Rays flows through us. Each Ray represents a certain energetic frequency. The music of the A New Awareness album helps listeners, consciously or sub-consciously, feel the energy of each Ray and 'tune in' to its particular benefits, " states Love, who produced the recording.

The 12 tracks on the album correspond in order to the Twelve Rays. The first three are considered "Rays of Aspect" ("aspects of the Creator"), the second group of four are "Rays of Attributes" (which "enable us to take on the multitude of human characteristics that provide us with our life experiences"), and the final five comprise the "Rays of Soul Integration" grouping (tools to achieve A New Awareness through higher states of consciousness).

The album begins with "1st Ray: Divine Will" (our "Divine Inheritance" and the ability to create), followed by "2nd Ray: Love and Wisdom" (higher mental concepts, and the source of "Divine Love"), and then "3rd Ray: Active Intelligence" (creating your own reality to manifest your desires). The music moves on in the second section with "4th Ray: Harmony Through Conflict" (duality is reality so synthesize experiences), "5th Ray: Concrete Knowledge" (special mental energy brings great new concepts), "6th Ray: Devotion and Idealism" (focus your attention, goals and religious beliefs), and "7th Ray: Gateway Into Awareness" (dissolve the past, unlearn difficulties and add joy).

In this two-CD set, the second disc starts with "8th Ray: The Cleansing Ray" (spiritualize matter, bring clarity and refresh your energy), "9th Ray: Contact with the Soul Level" (simultaneous expressions of self and consciousness), "10th Ray: The Body of Light" (the energy of higher self moves into your consciousness), "11th Ray: The Bridge to the New Awareness" (remove obstacles and add opportunities for personal change), and "12th Ray: The New Awareness" (recognize illusions, understand we are Spirit and step into your power).

Shulman's music on A New Awareness is made with a half-dozen electronic keyboards and synthesizers, but drifting through can be heard the occasional sounds of various instrumentation such as strings, horns, flute, plucked strings, drones and chimes. The music is gentle, soaring, uplifting, relaxing, meditative, healing and extremely spiritual.

Richard Shulman has become one of the leading musicians in the new age genre over the past several decades, and since 1984 he has dedicated his music to Divine connection and the awakening of inner joy. Shulman has more than two-dozen albums under his own name as well as another two-dozen recordings for which he has provided compositions, performances or production (such as Bliss of Being by his group The Pure Heart Ensemble). He studied at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, got his Masters Degree in musical composition from State University of New York at Buffalo, and was a composer-performer for a decade with Theatre of the Heart - a New York City-based performance group working to bring higher consciousness and environmental awareness to audiences. Shulman also was trained in the classical and jazz fields, and regularly performs and records original jazz.

Although Shulman's recordings are varied, he is especially known for creating music for healing, alignment and meditation including A Higher Dimension, Music for Magnified Healing, Sacred Music for Healing Hands Volumes 1 & 2, Light Music, First Rites, Light from Assisi, Keeper of the Holy Grail, Music of Peace and 11:11 Piano Meditations for Awakening. Shulman also has devoted considerable energy to a special project, Camelot Reawakened: A Vision Fulfilled which includes a CD, a DVD-video and a theatrical musical ("A Dream of Camelot"). Shulman wrote "May Peace Prevail on Earth" (for singers, symphony orchestra, three choirs, and jazz quartet) as a commission for the World Peace Prayer Society.

Michael G. Love, after spending over twenty years working in corporate America, opened a wellness center (Phoenix Rising), and began focusing on “alternative healing modalities and all sorts of New Age concepts.” He wrote his book The Reality of Your Greatness over the past ten years. He shares information about the Twelve Rays through live workshops, video workshops, online guided meditations, and webinars. “I am continually seeking new ways to make the power of the Rays relevant to people’s lives, ” says Love, “and I feel that the music on the album A New Awareness is something everyone can relate to and benefit by.”

“Working through the Rays is an on-going experience, ” states Shulman. “I have enjoyed listening to this music while doing various exercises on my own and as outlined in the book, paying attention to the Rays expressed, and receiving healing from both the exercises and the music. I have spent many years working to integrate a melding of spirituality and music into everyday living.”

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