Sense of Soul - The Magic in Music

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Today on Sense of Soul we have the talented Mark Pinkus. He has been composing at the piano and performing for 57 years, his music is a reflection of his love for nature, love and relationships, moods, travel and his quest for peace and tranquillity. Mark practices and teaches Qi Gong daily and has been a student of prior guest on Sense of Soul Lee Holden internationally celebrated Qi Gong master. Mark's music plays around the world on new age radio stations, online internet programs, and satellite programs. Mark's CDs were distributed by the label Avalon/Solitudes in 45 countries and by Polygram and Universal Music, Canada.  His album Feeling Right At Home won the award for Best Original Solo Piano Album at the EPR music awards held in September 2017 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Mark also writes books and composes music for documentaries. Last year he released his 17th solo piano album Walls I Left Behind which is now available on the international market and is working on the next album to be released this year. You can hear his music at www.soundcloud.com/markpinkus Visit his website at www.markpinkus.com  

Hello, my soul-seeking friends. It's Shanna. Thank you so much for listening to Sense of Soul Podcast. Enlightening conversations with like-minded souls from around the world. Sharing their journey of finding their light within, turning pain into purpose, and awakening to their true sense of soul. If you like what you hear, show me some love and rate, like, and subscribe. And consider becoming a Sense of Soul, I have the very talented Mark Pincus.

Mark began composing solo piano music from the moment he sat at a piano at the age of seven. Mark's music reflects his love for nature, love, relationships, mood, travel, and his quest for peace and tranquility. Mark's music plays around the world and his album Feeling Right at Home won an award for Best Original Solo Piano Album at the EPR Music Awards held in September 2017 at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville. Mark also writes books and composes music for documentaries. He loves to perform his music in Canada and abroad. I have so much gratitude that Mark sent me several of his CDs, which his

music is truly uplifting, peaceful, and connected directly with my soul. And he's currently working on his 18th album. Mark also is a lover and a teacher of Qigong and has been a student of Lee Holden, a prior guest, which is how I was lucky to be connected with him. So please welcome this very creative soul, Mark Pincus. I'm trying to find my way. think so. You'll have to go back and see if you can find it or I'll resend it. But I figured you would appreciate this. So my daughter has a performance tonight. She plays the violin. Beautiful. And my dog likes to sing with her every time she plays. That's so lovely. I love it. So cute. Oh my gosh, it's so adorable. And when she stops, he like pause at her like, come on, girl, keep going.

I know there's a bunch of videos in the internet world where you can see cats actually playing the piano. And it's called the cat certo. Is it really? They have a name. There's a cat that plays with his paws or her paws. And then there was a symphony orchestra that arranged an orchestra, orchestral score to go along with what the cat was playing. It's a really magical to see. Yeah. What type of dog do you have? I have two dogs and they're both Labradoodles. Oh boy. Okay, I will definitely check it out for sure.

Yeah, it's fun. Well, I used to be a broadcaster in France, a host like yourself. I had a radio show, but it was in three languages. Wow. I was working for the Italian radio network in Paris. So I did a show, a classical music show with interviews in English, French and Italian. So then can you also speak Italian? Yes, I get the Italian newspaper. I'm not Italian, but I get the newspaper every week. And I have my dictionary and I study. I learn new words every week. I also noticed your website, which is really so beautiful.

Thank you. And touching in so many ways. But if you ever want to go down, you know, the dark night of the soul with me, I can go there too. Because as you notice, as a producer of your show, that's the side of all human beings that have that darkness. And I've experienced a lot of it. But because I've experienced so much darkness in my life, I feel the light stronger and stronger and stronger within. And because of those experiences, I've turned them around into very positive mental, emotional

and physical places in my own life. And thanks to those dark spaces, I'm now doing better than I ever have in my life. Amen. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I reached out to you. Aside with Lee Holden, because I study Lee Holden Qigong every day. And I'm planning eventually on being a teacher as well. Very nice. I love that. And thank you so much for sending me your CDs, your beautiful music. I give almost every day some type of gift. Either it's a I love you to my mother who's 94 or to friends and little gifts.

I don't follow the traditional gift-giving phenomenon. I give gifts all year round. I love that. There was a YouTube that I found of this 85-year-old man doing Tai Chi. No, not Tai Chi. Yeah, Tai Chi. Qigong or maybe maybe tai chi yeah to one of your beautiful pieces and it was oh yes no that was actually tai chi oh it was tai chi yeah this is a man who lives not far down the street from me he's a musician and a painter and an artist and a writer.

And he learned Tai Chi and he knows all of the 108 movements and he practices daily. But he's having some issues with some arthritis coming in and he plays the ukulele and he sings and he plays the guitar. And I'm trying to help him with get his hands back and his fingers to move again to play the ukulele because he's giving up. But I won't give up on him. Oh, my gosh. I really that was really touching. I really like. Yeah, I was like, that's so cool.

My youngest daughter, she's just one of those natural musicians. And she just kind of knew what she was doing. But you know, she's always been a kid that used to like to listen to classical music. Like we're talking like three, and I would sit there and watch her and just think, where's this from? We're not playing classical music. I mean, you know, it was all her. On some level, Shanna, you don't need to know where it's coming from. I started composing when I was turning seven. I had never played the piano in my life before. I sat down having no knowledge whatsoever of the instrument, and I composed immediately my first piece without having any knowledge of music.

So what your daughter has, it's a gift. I call it a gift from, you know, the wherever you want to call it, the heavens, from God, from the higher powers. We can't label it. It's coming from you and the father of your daughter, and even probably back into ancestors. you know I have roots in Poland and Lithuania and Russia and England the United States and on my mom's side everyone's in the arts wow film dance music you name it painting um and my mother's 94 and she's still painting watercolors. Wow. And I think the gift of my father, who was a businessman and traveled the world as an accountant, I got the business side from my father and the sensitivity and colors and harmonies and shapes and forms from my mom. Nice. So we don't need to analyze it. Your daughter has this gift and it's installed in her

and she'll never lose it. She'll never lose it. And it's such a gift for the parents to hear your child singing and playing music. And I always think that people that play music, their instrument is a friend. It's their closest friend i have a friend right now who was a former student who i taught him how to compose and i planted the seed in his heart and in his spirit and now he's composing music and you know it's such a beautiful experience to hear someone that you taught who has this creation spirit and seed inside their being and in their soul and the joy comes right back to the teacher it's so beautiful you know and i told him the piano is your eternal friend yeah anytime you need to express some deep feelings or superficial feelings, whatever

emotions, the piano was there as your friend and will never judge you. And you'll have that friend for the entire life to express yourself and to feel comfortable. It's like a little baby holding on to a little bunny rabbit, stuffed bunny rabbit, or even I have a kids. My kids are also different, but she by far is more inward. And being my fourth child and never having a child that was inward, I was like, what's the matter with her? And I'm not an inward. Well, I am, but mine had to be a practice. You know, hers, that is her world, is inward. And she's extremely creative. I love that, what you just said, because I can see that now.

That that is a friend of hers. It's a palette of color and a place to express her entire inner being, no matter what she's experiencing. I won't get into the details, but I've been trying to understand the difference between emotion and feelings. It's pretty complex. But whatever they are are emotions or feelings your daughter who's very inward needs that place of sacred space that is in her own little universe and bubble that is only sacred to her and that's where she can go and find that inner expression and and share it with the universe, you know.

It's such a beautiful thing. And now it reminds me of my oldest son who had a heck of a time when he was graduating. And he lost my dad that day on his graduation. His healing was in writing songs and writing. And it was so beautiful because you could see it was like he needed a place to put his emotions, his feelings. Right. Yes. Yes. And that was such a very healthy way, you know, to do that, because there's so many different ways we can do that. There's infinite ways to express yourself. And you know, I believe that light of self-expression is in every human being, every plant, every tree on this beautiful sacred planet, Mother Earth, every star. And it's

all there for all of us. I believe that there's an artist in every human being. We're spirits. You call your program Sense of Soul. That's who we are. We are senses of beings. We all have that in common. And what I love to do more than anything is to spark that unknown awareness that's inside of people that they can connect to that place they never knew about. So every student that I used to have, I don't teach at the moment, but every student be two years old, 75, 80 years old, I'm going to teach them how to self-express themselves. And there was one lady from India.

She said, Mark, I don't want to know anything about the vocabulary of music. I don't want to know the names of the notes. I don't want to know what the chords are. I want to know how to compose music. So I said, let's do it. She's never played the piano before. I turned out the lights, lit a candle. She was in the dark. And I said, now put your fingers on the piano and move your fingers in any way you want. You can use your fists, you can use your elbows. You can use your forearm. Just follow the light of the candle and express yourself. After two lessons, she started composing.

Wow. And she said, Mark, I don't need you anymore. And we didn't need to touch any of the vocabulary or intellectual side of music. She just wanted to express herself. And you don't need knowledge to express yourself. You need the spark and the flame of inspiration and natural authenticity and to dare to take the risk to just send it out, do it. She connected with her inner composer. With her inner being. And everybody says that. Everybody, sorry, has that within them. Everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. It's so beautiful. So one of the things that I learned over the past few years in my study was about the lyre

and the vibration. So it was all about, I had come across the story of King David when he was a child, he would play the liar. Before he was a king or even known and King Saul had called on him to play for him. And when he would play the liar, it would summon out demons and it would clear him, cleanse him, protect him and all these things. Yes. And I thought, wow, so divine. I mean, it's those frequencies, it's that vibration that was healing. And when you're playing the piano, or actually when I was listening to you play, you can feel this vibration sent from your soul through this instrument. And it was reaching my soul.

I mean, it truly is beautiful. I mean, what you do. Well, aren't we all here on this planet to connect soul to soul? Yeah. Right. And thank you so much for your experience and sharing that with me about you feeling the vibration because, I mean, I would say in a very broad sense that almost everything is vibration yes our voice the energy that we're sharing even though we're on a zoom podcast on your show we still can feel certain feelings and vibrations and when you walk outside you know whatever season it is right now,

I go for nature walks. And I've had discussions with my friends about is every snowflake a different design? Who up there or wherever they're coming from is drawing all of these snowflakes? I mean, the geometry and yeah, the miracle I say to my mom, who's very elderly, I say, mom, every day is a miracle. And you can even break it down into every micro nanosecond is a miracle. To be alive, to share that soul to soul and however it is connected. And it's all about vibration. I remember a biology teacher in high school said to the class, I'm going to light a candle and I want you to write down 60 different things's a whole universe in that candle and in every snowflake, in every leaf. And we are alive in this life to take the inspiration and spark of our own existence

and turn it into some type of creative expression. And don't keep it to yourself. Share it with others. Share that vibration with others. And I don't have any children of my own, but I used to be a preschool teacher. It was my favorite job. And living in the world of being with children from two to five,

to me, it was the most beautiful, loving journey I've ever had in my life almost as much or even more as playing music the connection with children holding their hand experiencing the moment in the world and from their perspective i'm getting goosebumps even talking about they're so present yeah the vibration of the universe of children and i have have to tell you, and not in a vain way, but I have this inner child in me that is there for the rest of my life. I feel that inner child inside of me and that pure sense of expression and wonder. And that's how I live. To me, I'm like a little child walking around going, wow, look at that sunset. Wow, look at that flower.

It's all there just to experience. Yeah, I'm like that too now. In fact, what's so interesting you mentioned about the snowflakes is that this is a very strong memory of years ago when I first was practicing mindfulness. And a snowflake landed on my black jacket so I could see it very good. And it was like, I had never seen a snowflake in my life ever. I mean, I was flipped out. I even took a video, but I mean, I I've been living in Colorado since I was seven years old. It's not like I've never experienced snow, but I had never, ever sat with snowflakes before. And I sat with each one of them and I was just

amazed. I mean, it was a huge moment. Well, I guess if you want to take it from a scientific, mystical perspective, each snowflake, like a drop of water, is a universe in itself. You could spend, this sounds a bit crazy, but you could spend the rest of your life taking that snowflake, if it didn't melt on your jacket, and study that one snowflake and go deeper and deeper, like studying the atom. And we don't know very much about this universe, you know. And that's why life is so precious, because we all don't really know what's going on. And I think in some funny way, we need to share this sense of not knowing what's going on with each other. You don't, you don't have to know what's going on. I was in Mexico. I was staying in a tent by the ocean with a coconut tree above me. And I was reading the book called The Pursuit or The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. one sentence. He wrote, you don't have to solve all of your problems in this lifetime.

And I went, wow, thank you. Because I, you know, we all go in, we all go in an introspective way to try and understand so much within. But he said, you don't have to try and figure it all out. So the not knowing is just as important as knowing. I like that. Good reminder. You know, we don't have to know everything. And by surrendering to the not knowing everything or how this snowflake was formed, it can be very beautiful. And we can feel happy to not know what actually is going on and how something is created in this universe you know it's interesting i was just saying this the other day i mean i i did not have much of a

mindfulness practice and you know just for the really the past decade yeah and i i was very busy before very busy i mean you know like i said i'd never even stopped to look at a snowflake until i was in my 40s. It's never too late. And I just thought it was a miracle. I was like, everyone's like, yeah, it's a snowflake. And I'm like, yeah, but like, look at this. Was this normal? But, you know, there's been many, many things like that.

And one of the things that I started to do, it was in my 30s, I started to crochet. Beautiful. Love it. And I would go inward in those moments. It was like, I've even described it as I would feel like I was in the eye of a hurricane where the rest of the world was just spinning around me. And I was just in this space. and I was just in this space and there was nothing in this space there was no trying to figure out anything you know Eckhart Tolle the writer and philosopher he talks about the space between the words that we use I did therapy for many years and I remember

going to see a psychoanalysis. Saw him for eight years, you know, lying on the couch, you know, the old tradition. And I had issues around dealing with silence. I was uncomfortable with silence. I would be with friends and I would feel in the space because I was not comfortable with the silence. And even in my music, I used to play a lot of pieces quickly, thinking that the listening audience doesn't want to hear the gaps. So it took me a long, long time. And I've been composing for almost 60 years now. I'm going to be composing for the next 60 years too, Shanna.

Awesome. I'm learning now to create more space. Let that vibration that we were talking about. And in Qigong, let the movement move you rather than you moving the movement, which Lee Holden taught us. So now I'm learning to be tamed by silence now. Like in the Little Prince, you know, the book, Le Petit Prince, he talked when he's meeting the fox, learning to tame, be tamed, get to know each other slowly, create space. And this sounds very interesting,

but there's even music in the silence between the notes. That's why there are things called rests in music. And so the rests need the music and the music needs the rests. So now, after so long, many, many years of composing, I'm like an eternal student and I'm learning now, thanks to my spiritual practice, practices, is to now let the space have its own space. Oh, wow. That's deep.

Yeah, that's really deep. You know, yesterday I was playing in a church and I was talking to a man who had a spiritual awakening. He was into drugs. He was into all the drinking and he was sharing a lot of the darkness that he went through and how, you know, for him, the Bible opened up a new world for him. And now he's feeling so much better in his soul. But when we were talking, again, I was feeling that silence between us. He was looking really into my eyes. And I was a little distracted listening to someone else talking, the pastor talking to someone else. But his eyes looking at me were so focused, so in the moment, so zenned in. And I felt a little uncomfortable that I was aware

that I wasn't really paying 100% attention to him. So I said, Mark, come back, look into his eyes. He was so present. And that's what these monks and these gurus and spiritual teachers are trying to teach us or we're hoping to learn from them is to be present. And Thich Nhat Hanh, who I miss so much. I love that man. I love his books. I'm sharing that book he wrote on anger. There's a lot of people telling me, Mark, I'm so angry. I said, here, read this book by Thich Nhat Hanh.

It won't resolve all your issues, but it might diminish some of the anger. I've had anger in my life for so many years, and I'm still working on it, but it's becoming more free and letting go, working on some forgiveness. I wrote a piece of music called The Time to Forgive. And so being present and looking right into your eyes, because your program's called The Sense of Soul, it all begins with looking into the eyes because your program's called the sense of soul it all begins with looking into the eyes and i have to learn to be more present with another person who's more present than i am tick that hand would say i am here for you yeah i am here to listen to you. So simple, but so profound and so real. And in this day and age, I can't speak about, you know, 20,000 years ago, the medieval Renaissance faster than ever, ever before. But people are more lonely than ever before.

Isn't it a paradox? It's such a paradox. We can reach out to somebody in Australia within two seconds. We can connect to the satellites in outer space. And yet people are dying to be listened to, to be heard, to be seen, people from all over the world, musicians from all over the world, teachers from all over the world, spiritual teachers. It was a festival of soleness, of togetherness. And there, people connected. So there are many people on this earth that we can really connect with. And there's nothing more beautiful than that. Back to the sharing of the vibration inside of us and the vibration that is shared between us.

Yeah. And you know what else I've discovered over the past few years is that language. Sometimes you don't even have to speak the same language, right? To connect with somebody. No, you don't need to know the language or understand what you're hearing in order to, you know, when someone's hungry, they show that they're hungry. When someone is maybe cold, we have ways of using our body language to express what we need without words. And a lot of composers have music that they wrote called music without words. Music doesn't have words.

Right. Songs do, of course. Opera, we have the words. But in my world, I express my feelings and emotions through sound. There's no words. When I played in Sweden a couple of years ago, I gave like a two and a half hour solo piano concert. And there was a woman that came up to me and said,

my daughter plays the piano and I hate the piano. I can't stand listening to it. And she said, after listening to your concert, I now like the piano. Oh, now with being here in Sweden, now it's everything's worth it. Because I just helped somebody like something that she hated. So I had this guy on his name, Sean Johnson in the Wild Lotus Band. It's yoga music, but it's jazzy. Love it. But he does all kinds of different languages. So he had told me, I believe it was him, that to listen to something that is not in your own language,

because our brains are so conditioned, there may be some rejection. But if it's not in your foreign language, then your soul's just receiving it and there's no rejection. I thought that was so beautiful. That's really beautiful in the sense that take away the language, again, that your mind knows. Remove that from the consciousness of the experience in the present moment. And then you're going to hear the mantra in Hindu and in Sanskrit, and you take away the monkey mind of knowing the words, which are connected to past thoughts, future thoughts, present thoughts, emotions, all that stuff. And you just feel more the

entrance of purity coming within. Just the vibration of it. It's just music. This comes back to what I said earlier about not knowing something can help you connect also on a deeper level. There you go. Full circle with that one. So true. We don't need to understand someone who's speaking another language. Sooner or later, somehow we can understand their language without really even knowing what she's saying. I'm envious of you that you're a musician.

You don't have to be envious on any level because we all are filled with infinite gifts. I'm going to show you one. Let's just share them. When I was little, I played the flute. And so I decided to get this flute. It's actually made out of cedar. It smells real good. Can you give me one?

Can you give me 10 seconds? I'll surprise you with something. Can you give me 10 seconds? Yeah. Check it out, Shanna. I bought this in Colorado. No way. Yes.

There was the New Age Festival. People from North America and Europe got together and there was a man selling these flutes. Oh, my God. It was gorgeous. I play these for the birds. I mean, you want to see? Yes. You know what?

I have ancestry in Canada because I'm Cajun. You know, part of my ancestry is Acadian. I had a great shaman named Etienne Picaroche. He was known as a great medicine man. He was known as a tent shaker from the 1600s. And I bought this and as well as a drum. And I took journeying classes to learn how to meet him because I was on this ancestral journey and he was a huge part of it. So you have that in your in your spirit and in your blood, a connection to the Akanean.

Yeah. You can feel the connection from your ancestors going way back. You're the children of the children and the fathers and all the grandparents. And that's what I like about certain cultures. The elderly are so beautifully respected. They have the wisdom. You know, sometimes I see an elderly person walking in a snowstorm with a cane and I'm going, wow. You know, this life of being around 85, 90 years. Sometimes little ladies that are like four foot, tiny little

ladies walking, they take half an hour to get onto the sidewalk from the road, you know, and so I do what I can to help. They've seen everything. The fragility of some of these people is their strength. We have to learn that being vulnerable and fragile and expressing it and sharing it with others and with ourselves is actually a strength, not a weakness. So that's always been like, I'm just that person. I love old people. I love children and I love old people. And my kids actually have a hundred year old grandmother. She just turned a hundred. Whose side is that? It's on their dad's side. And they are so close to Thirstell, you know, and I've always taught them to listen, listen to her, you know, listen to her stories, ask her about her stories. Because you'll never ever you know be able to have you know true experience of history

and wisdom and strength like you will be able to get from from her you know in a way i look at i played in uh hospitals and geriatric centers and i played for palliative care yeah people i know that i come back and play the piano and they would it wouldn't be there anymore they had passed away so I did that for like 15 years playing for the elderly after being with the children so I got like yourself both spectrums yes to me the elderly are so precious and they have so many stories and to help you and guide you and their wisdom. And I mean, people sometimes are struggling with getting older, including myself, you know, I go, wow, life is just zipping by. I have a tree that I hug almost every day. And I talked to it. And I have this really deep

connection with trees. Me too. I have a piece, I have a piece of music called the tree of prayer oh and i have another piece called just trees and i have these trees i pray for people with i with these trees and the tree hears me oh yeah i have a tree that i sit with every single morning yeah the wisdom think of a of a tree going through like here in canada we have four or five seasons they go through all the storms all the ice all the hail all the the wind and the cold and the sunshine and extreme heat and they're standing there like emperors you know just in their throne they're strong their roots are deep right they know it's it's time to like my limbs are heavy you know it's time to and be within it's time to grow i mean they

just they're my greatest teachers i absolutely agree with you trees are trees and birds are my thing bird lady as well in the space that i am outside with the trees. I sometimes feel like, I am not even joking. I feel like I hear music. You hear music when you're with a tree? Yeah, sometimes in the wind. Yes. In the wind, with the leaves.

Sure. It's almost like a beat happens, and then there's this space and this silence. Right. It all is part of it. But yeah, nature, nature sings, too. Yeah. I mean, when the wind caresses the leaves of the trees and the branches and the twigs, it's like you're saying beautifully said that the trees are sharing something with you their their inner song so true you know and when a tree is chopped down it's sad you know before i moved in there was a gigantic tree but i never saw it because it was chopped down before i moved here but there's a brand new tree that they planted the city planted a year ago. And that's my new little sacred friend, you know, that tree.

Years ago. So I there was two and I have like the two tallest trees in the neighborhood. So I get the big birds, you know, which I love. Yeah. And one day I'm laying in bed and usually I would wake up to hearing the birds. And this morning I woke up to a chainsaw. And I panicked. I mean, I run to the window and I'm like, what is going on? And my neighbors were chopping down. So one of the big trees are in my yard and they would touch each other because the other was right next but on their yard and i mean even now like oh yeah i just was so devastated but there are these pieces of that tree that grew into my yard

and is now growing and has gotten really. Because it's been a few years. And I'm sure my neighbor is kind of pissed. Do you have a favorite tree? I do. And actually. So those are my backyard trees. My front tree is a gnarled tree. And it goes in every single direction.

It makes no sense. In fact. Anybody would chop the shit out of it. And make it look, make it sensible to look at. The chaos of the trees is its actual beauty, right? When it dances in the wind, it's magical. I have goosebumps even telling you this. I mean, every day I'm in that tree. My kids love that tree.

It's just, yeah. Have you thought of building a little tree house for your young ones yeah I did but I don't really have any young ones anymore oh but I have a swing so my my youngest my my little violinist she's uh is that what you call it violinist yeah she has a swing in the tree. And actually, I should show you, someone just painted her soul. And they've never seen this tree, but they drew this spirit hugging what almost looks identical to my tree. But it's abstract art.

And she never saw the tree before. And she never saw the tree before. She just saw a picture of my daughter and I was I have so many pictures of my daughter just sitting in this crocheted swing and she just like gets in it and she just closes her eyes and swings I mean she connects with that tree I'm having this image of your daughter who plays the violin going back and forth up and down on the swing and playing her violin at the same time. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

When I go to a park, I go on the swing too. You do. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Me too. And the teeter-totter. Oh, that's my favorite.

Yeah. No, the tire swing is pretty fun too. Spin me around. Yeah. No, the tire swing is pretty fun too. Spin me around. Yeah. We were just talking about moving into our older, you know, selves here on earth and still yet connecting to that younger version of ourselves. And I think that when you're present in life, you know, that's something that is so beautiful because, you know, why should I be stuck in this mom phase all the time?

Like, I'm still playful and I can't wait to grow into my crone. I mean, I think it's an honor to gain wisdom and to be a grandmother. Well, you know, we can compare that to, you know, I don't drink, but wine, old wine has the best taste, you know. There you go. The old trees. I remember going to a photography exhibition. Each country, there was about 60 different countries that had one photo representing their country. And the one that won, that I was mostly touched by, was a photograph in black and white this is the one that won the prize of an

a woman in her at least her 90s in Italy with wrinkles all over her face which just means all of the the lines of life and her journey on her face and she was stunning i know why are we trying to run from that and i gotta tell you something interesting i was hired many years ago to play at a party for people who were only 100 years of age and older what that's amazing i was the only one invited in the room because i was entertaining them. There were 12 people over a hundred, 11 women and one man, and they were full of life. I got to tell you. Yeah. You know, it's those things though. I mean, one of the most strongest memories I have of my mom, because, you know, in Louisiana, we have mom was, was her hands. And I look down and I have of my momoa, because, you know, in Louisiana, we have momoas, was her hands. And I look down and I have her hands. But I mean, I just remember actually pulling up her skin.

Right? Because it was like really stretchy. I remember, you know, playing with it like, whoa. A book that a lot of elderly people read and young people read is called Age is Just a Number. It is. To me, getting back to the spirit, there are people in their 80s and 90s that are bubbling with that life, you know, that fire, you know, within them. And, you know, when they're eating lunch, they're eating lunch. When they're sleeping, they're sleeping. When they're watching a movie when they're watching a movie they're watching a movie me sometimes I could be

in the bath and I don't even know I'm in the bath my mind is somewhere else you know so I think that aging if you're in the present moment I don't think you age there's no time when you're in the moment and I can tell you the magic of composing music and this is something i love to share with you when i compose shanna i don't exist my mind is not there i'm creating in that moment something from i don't know where it's i don't even know where it's coming from but when i'm composing i don't know that i'm actually consciously awake or aware you're not aging i'm just not there's no there's no time and space none so that's another dimension that's a lot bigger yeah lee holden used to used to say during his classes we're living in 99% of empty space. I remember in therapy once, I was actually in a day hospital.

I was going through the worst depression of my life. It's not easy to share this, but about two and a half years ago, Shanna, I was so depressed that I cried 13 hours a day for one year, every day. I don't know how I got out of it. And I just remember the teacher, the therapist there, gave all of us in the group a little raisin. And she said, smell the raisin first. Then put it in your mouth.

What's the sensation? What does it feel like physically for the raisin to be in your mouth. What's the sensation? What does it feel like physically for the raisin to be in your mouth? Now, slowly swallow it. What does that feel? You know, to like be in the present moment. You know, it's hard for people that are dealing with depression or any type of mental illness. And boy, do I have compassion for people who are struggling with mental illness because I've been there and and I still go there and everybody does at times we're all so much alike aren't we you know so that's when we have to come back and go I'm here for you I'm listening to you right I can't necessarily solve things for you the scary

part is that you have to come through it somehow on your own. But at least as being there can help even a little bit. And the goal is to get to the place of feeling okay. Not great, but okay. And the strength that's inside of all of human beings, there's a strength in there that keeps you going. We don't know how sometimes, but I can't explain how I came out of that depression, but so grateful. And the depression gave me more life. It sounds like you had like this great release,

like in a very positive way. You know, I mean, it took you that long. Like whatever you were releasing, you were letting it all out. It's when we hold it in, we are not doing that, which is dangerous. Yeah. Yeah. Great. We have to find our own way somehow. People say, oh, it gets dark so early here in Montreal.

It gets dark around quarter after four. Yeah. People say sometimes, oh, I don't like the darkness. And it gives me a bit of an awkward feeling. I'm a little bit afraid. I tell people, bring on the darkness because the more dark, the more light I feel inside. It's the same about that quiet, you know, when people are afraid of in that space. When you said that, I actually could relate with that because I remember you get in trouble, you get put in your room, you can't have nothing on, and you almost look at this space,

this solitude, this quiet as a punishment. So, you know, to rewire that in your mind and see it as as actually a gift the gifts are all around us you know with all the craziness and all the wars and the suffering going along along the world when i get into bed every night i thank i thank the universe for the blankets I have heat here I have water I can take a bath and a shower I have something to drink I can go

every day when I go shopping for food I'm so grateful I have food you know these essentials in life I learned that from my father don't ever take anything for granted Yeah. You know, these these essentials in life. I learned that from my father. Don't ever take anything for granted because it can be taken away from you like that. Yeah. And gratitude is part of the healing process.

You know, I remember my dad told me in his 80s, every night before he went to bed, he would write down a whole list of things he was grateful for. Gratitude is so important. I'm grateful for my eyes. I'm grateful that I can hear. I'm grateful that I can breathe. I'm grateful for my lungs. I'm grateful. It goes on and on and on and on. I have a piece of music I wrote called Gratitude.

I mean, I try to express what I feel and what I experience in life into music. It's very, very simple. Right. It's really, for me, composing music is the easiest thing in the world. Right. Yeah. But I do not take anything for granted. Nothing.

I love that. And it seems like you've healed a lot through your music, too. You know, it seems like you've had forgiveness within your music, you know, as well. Well, there's an irony in my music because people say your music is so peaceful. You must be so peaceful inside. I go, no, not very often. I write peaceful music to try and connect to the peace inside because I'm not feeling peace, you know.

And there was one piece of music, Shanna, which has got the word in your podcast. Actually, my soul completely disappeared. And the piece is called The Soulless Soul. I was living without any type of soul. I didn't even feel I existed. Soulless soul I was living without any type of soul I didn't even feel I existed soulless soul without a soul take away your soul what do you have and I felt that I didn't have one so I wrote a piece of music about it and what do you think and how do you feel when you like go back and listen to stuff like that or do you ever well when I'm recording in the recording studio and I have to complete the music production and

product I listen to it thousands of times because before I put it out into the world same with my podcast but I don't like listening to my own music because I'm always in the process of creating more music like Like I've got, I've got the music already ready for my 18th album. I just put out a walls I left behind and I've been doing all the promo for around the world. So I don't want to put out another album right away. You know, it's got to breathe. I got to leave time and space. I don't want to use these words

but sometimes I'm overly creative there's an overdose flow inside of me I can't stop composing it's so difficult I gotta slow it I gotta slow it down it's really hard to be creative like that I am like that too so I am a hundred. I've always been like that. So I understand. Yeah. I mean, I got like five different projects in my mind at one time. Yeah, that's right. That's why we need to do the meditation and the mantras and the prayers and the connecting with nature and helping people. And, you know, these things help. I also think that when people are feeling depressed and very down and struggling a lot, doing some type of volunteer work, helping somebody else out takes the pain away from yourself somewhat.

And then by giving energy to somebody else and taking care of them on some level actually comes back and taking care of them on some level, actually comes back and takes care of yourself. Absolutely. I asked my father once, I said, Dad, how do you stay in a relationship for 65 years? What's the secret of love? He said, Mark, two things is what you need in a loving relationship. Number one is to be yourself with that person, with your partner. And number two, you've got to have a sense of humor. Otherwise, you go crazy. That's good.

And my dad was a funny. He made my mom laugh, you know, all the time. A sense of humor, that's where it's at. Got to have it. There's a lot of laughing going on in my house. That's for sure. We're all pretty funny. There you go.

You're making me laugh. Thank you. My 20 year old is actually on the spectrum. So when it comes to music with him, it's a relationship. He has a relationship with music. So when he was in high school, he's at a high school now, but he would listen to, to be able to even study, you know, he would put

on, um, usually there's like this Pandora channel or something where it's classical music, but like with real popular songs, like trending songs for today. Sure. I love that too. And he's always in his room. He's got the most widest variety of music. He'll be in there listening to like Queen or something. I mean, just like real wide variety. I love it.

I love it. That shows he has a very opened mind, you know, to listening to all different types of music and different styles. His spirit has so many different sort of vibrations to it and so many different colors. We always laugh because we have a very musical household. And me, I'm always singing. I used to wake up, Ethan, every morning with the songs. But I'm always singing. And nobody wants to hear singing in the morning, right? But it's a joke.

I wish I could whistle. I've never, I don't know how to whistle. It's very unfortunate for someone who composes music. I just don't know how to whistle it's a very unfortunate for someone like who composes music I like I I just don't know how to do it but I wanted to say that uh one of my uh favorite gurus he said that when you sing you're happy true most of the time well I'm not going to be going around singing if I going la la la la la la la la. It's hard to be unhappy when you're going. It's just, we're happy.

My youngest with, you know, the one who plays violin, she's always humming always. Yeah. You know, I used to get in trouble for whistling by the way, because it was like this old wise tale that if you whistled in the house, it brought bad spirits. So I remember my great grandma, you know, fussing at me about that. And my mom would too. But I was I'm always we always have a song going on in the house. Have you seen the video about I think it's in Turkey. These people live in a tiny village with mountains and they every one of them has a specific type of whistle oh and they communicate they have no phones no cell phones nothing in their society

so they're like indigenous that's right and they whistle 15 kilometers away and the person they'll know who they're whistling to when they whistle back because they have their own specific whistle they communicate by whistling my ex-husband's mother has a whistle and she'll whistle and everyone is to come home with that whistle had a an american songwriter contact me he wanted to go into the recording studio and sing the American National Anthem by Whistling for the Super Bowl. Wow. So we went into a studio.

I put the piano music behind the whistling, and it was released as a single. Wow. So you've done some amazing things. I find everybody's amazing in their own way, you know? True. Yeah. I mean, I find you amazing.

Thank you. You know, I did have Andrea Menard on my podcast, like, over the summer. Do you know who she is? Andrea menard no she's there she's a singer there and she's also an actress okay does she sing with her throat um the indigenous do throat singing yeah yeah i know that's it's amazing i could never i tried she's really good. You need to look her up. I think she was Woman of the Year last year.

Beautiful voice. And she's also an actress. So she does that a lot. But she does have a new CD. And she recently created these beautiful cards. I really love you Canada people. So I need to come and visit. Yeah, we're very welcoming people.

Our country is very, very large in all directions. We have all different types of cultures. Yeah, and we're not many people. We're only around 40 million. Mexico City is around 40 million. Right. So our country, which is one of the top three or four largest countries in the world, we have as many people as they do in Mexico City in our entire country.

Well, thank you so much, Mark. Tell everybody where they could find you, where they can find your amazing music. I mean, I was able to find it everywhere. It is everywhere. You know, everybody has heard of Spotify and Apple iTunes and Amazon and SoundCloud. You can go to www.soundcloud.com slash Mark Pincus, or you go to my website, Mark Pincus, that's spelled M-A-R-K-P-I-N-K-U-S dot com. Lots of free materials.

And you can even contact me there at MarkPinkus.com. And just for fun, if I go and tour again in the United States, because my name is Pinkus, my tour is called Pink U.S. I like it. Yeah, perfect. Thank you so much, Shanna, for giving me this opportunity to be on your beautiful, beautiful show. I like it. Yeah. So thank you so much. It was such a wonderful journey talking with you and we'll be in touch. You are just a beautiful person and your music is beautiful and it's been an honor to have you.

Thank you. It's an honor to be here with you as well. Thanks for listening to sense of soul podcast. And thanks to our special guests for joining me. If you want more of Sense of Soul, check out my website at www.mysenseofsoul.com, where you can work with me one-on-one or help support Sense of Soul Podcast by donating to my coffee fund. Thanks for listening.