Episode Ninety: The Byte: Rev. Julie Hoplamazian

Rev. Julie is the leader of a flock, yes. But it was in her former life as a music teacher that she had moments which reminded her that it is only when we find our groove together, will everyone else be lifted up. In this shorter episode hear her byte-sized miracle.

Transcript

Greetings and welcome to another episode of Bite-sized Blessings. This is episode 90 in fact, And in this episode I interview Reverend Julie Popelamazian. And I really hope I pronounced her name correctly. We did have a discussion in the podcast about how to pronounce it. There are several different variations, And so I hope that I didn't butcher it too profoundly. Reverend Julie is such an intriguing human being. At the ripe old age of three, She began taking ballet and piano lessons. And she has a wonderful website called Faith on Point, Where she offers classes and workshops, And where she has her Faith on Point blog. And she talks about when she started teaching adults how to dance ballet. And she says on her website that as she dove deeper into teaching ballet to adults, The strangest thing happened. I started noticing that the language I used to teach ballet was often, And unintentionally, Spiritual in nature. And so, You know, That's one of the themes of this podcast over and over again. Finding God, Finding spirit, Finding that energy in the most unlikely of places. And in this podcast today, We do talk about that idea that the whole can sometimes become greater than the sum of its parts. And that's kind of the miracle wrapped up in today's podcast. And you can find this idea in many, Many places. For example, I went looking on the internet, And one of the examples that was presented to me was rogue waves. So in the ocean, You have all these smaller waves, Obviously, But sometimes, Sometimes these smaller waves somehow mysteriously find each other. They become synchronized, And they join together to create these crazy, Sometimes 100-foot rogue waves that you can see videos of crashing over the bow of ships. They're really quite astonishing. Also, In string theory and physics, Because everyone knows I love physics, There is this idea, And physicists, Scientists are so desperately trying to prove it. They're attempting to prove that these little vibrating pieces of string, For want of a better word, They vibrate, And this is what creates the reality, The universe as we see it. So another example of small things coming together to resonate together to create something bigger than themselves. And so Jolie's Miracle this week, From magical experiences, They engage with this idea that all of these smaller pieces can come together to create something beautiful, Something more powerful than when they were individual pieces. And that's kind of one of the ideas of this podcast, Is that if we form connection, If we form community, If we come together with others, We can create a more beautiful world. We can create something more powerful than our individual acts of service in the world. And so yeah, So that's this week's podcast, And I hope you enjoy it. And so now, Without further ado, Reverend Jolie. So I had this group of sixth graders from the South Bronx who did not care about anything, Right? Because they had to be the coolest kids, But they don't know how to be cool yet. So the only way they know how to do that is to be like sarcastic and weird and awkward around each other. Well, What happens in a drum circle, If you do it correctly, Is they start to not just focus on their particular rhythm, But they suddenly feel that rhythm in the context of the whole. And all of a sudden, You have this whole group of kids who I realized it was working when I could drop out. I didn't have to conduct or lead because they all of a sudden were completely tuned into each other. And they had all figured out how one was part of the whole, And all of that synchronicity just kind of hung in the air and flowed out of every. . . It was like the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts, One of those moments. And all the kids. . . I mean, I said nothing. The kids went, That was amazing. There are a couple of things that come to mind. One is very individual, Personal, Like moments where I have just been so smacked across the face with the presence of God. Like all of a sudden, It's like you realize you're living in a different world. It's almost like in Wizard of Oz, Where all of a sudden you're seeing everything in color and you realize you've been living in black and white. It's one of those sort of moments. And I've had two of those in my life, Both when I was alone in nature. It's funny. I mean, Here I am, I'm a priest. So much of my life is about church and the way we worship together. I don't think that I've personally had as strong of a personal experience in church as I have just being on a mountain lake by myself. That nature is God's cathedral. So that's sort of one thing that comes to mind because I think the idea behind magic or miracles to me is something that completely defies human understanding and in no way, Shape or form could be created or replicated by a person. Like there's something transcendent and otherworldly that has intervened somehow. So I think of those solitary moments, But also honestly, What comes to mind are profound experiences creating art with other people. And I don't mean that in like a performance way. There were two things that came to mind almost immediately when you asked that question. One was when I was taking this workout class that was sort of cardio, Dance, Yoga, Life coaching, Like everything rolled into one. It was really life changing for me in a lot of ways. Anyway, There was a, The instructor of this class would have like a monthly theme and different ways we would sort of close out the class with some sort of meditation. So there was this one month where instead of closing the workout with like a traditional OM, Like chanted OM, We did an AH, We'd like an AH chant to close it out, Which is a very bright open. It just sounds very different. The energy in the room is really different. And I was also in a room full, I'm in New York City. It was a room full of like actors and musicians. So there's sort of like this implicit ability for this, But we were chanting on just, You know, Chanting AH, Chanting on this one vowel. And of course, Like within probably one and a half to two seconds, The room is breaking out into like four part harmony, Which was really amazing and beautiful in its own way. And the way you do this chant too is like you just, You, You in tone until you run out of breath and then you just breathe and you can, You can, It's like a rolling sound until there's just this sense, Like usually it kind of peters out on its own. Everybody sort of intuitively knows, Okay, We've been doing this long enough. It's time to stop now. But this one, I think it was like the third week we were doing this, We start chanting, There's like all this beautiful harmony and all of a sudden like the, The, The energy behind the voices just kind of grows. It's almost like we were all in a choir and we were just, We just locked in and it was like, It got like louder in not a, Like we're going to outperform each other sort of way, But in a holy crap, The energy is just all like, And all of a sudden our eyes closed, But there was this chant and it grew and it grew in intensity and beauty. And all of a sudden we all stopped at the exact same time. Like we just, The spirit in the room was so, 30 people in the room. We all just, We were so locked into each other. We chanted, We chanted, We chanted. And it just, We all stopped at the exact same time. And there was this moment of suspension in the air where I think all of us were collectively like, Holy shit. It was, It was miraculous. It was magic. It was, You know, In many ways, A very mundane moment, But I will never forget that experience because you can't force it. You can't conduct it. You can't teach it. You can't replicate it. It just was the spirit at work in this room of random people together. Oh, It was incredible. Cause I can still hear the sound and I can still hear the reverberation of that sound in the silence that followed it when we all stopped at the exact same time. It was amazing. And then another experience was really similar. So my first career was in music education. My undergrad degree was in music. And so I was a music teacher in schools for several years before I went to seminary. So one of my jobs was I taught here in New York city. I taught in East Harlem and the South Bronx. So like in underserved schools that were like music programs had been cut and I was working for a nonprofit that brought arts education into schools. And so I was, I was teaching middle school music. And when you teach middle school, They're very special, Especially the sixth graders because the sixth graders are like still sort of like, There's this bridge year where like you've come out of elementary school. So now you're too old and too cool for the little kid stuff. Like no more recorders. We're not playing those stupid little 2d instruments, But they're not really adept enough to do some of the older kids stuff. So the sixth graders, You really had to, It was a very unique age to teach. So I decided, You know, I think some drum circle stuff would be really good for these kids because you can do more complex rhythms with kids that are that age with different like sounds and timbres of different percussion instruments without necessarily needing more, Some of the more skilled stuff. Cause this is a way to really get them listening to each other, Communicating with each other. And it's really fun. It's a lot of fun. So I had this group of sixth graders from the South Bronx who did not care about anything, Because they had to be the coolest kids, But they don't know how to be cool yet. So the only way they know how to do that is to be like sarcastic and weird and awkward around each other. And you put a whole bunch of different kinds of percussion instruments in their hands and they start to just bang on them. And then you have to really go methodically and teach these different complex rhythms that interlock with each other. Well what happens in a drum circle, If you do it correctly, Is they start to not just focus on their particular rhythm, But they suddenly feel that rhythm in the context of the whole. And so you've got five or six different poly rhythms happening at the same time. And I remember it was just like a random Tuesday and we were rehearsing cause I was going to have them perform this in the year end concert, Which all school music programs have to do. We're just rehearsing and they couldn't, You know, It was a series of weeks where we couldn't get it quite right, But they were having fun banging on drums. And this week it just locked in. And all of a sudden you have this whole group of kids who I realized it was working when I could drop out. I didn't have to conduct or lead cause they all of a sudden were completely tuned into each other and they had all figured out how one was part of the whole and it was just this harmonious, Amazing moment. And again, Sort of similar to the class that I took, We could just cut off at the same time and all of that synchronicity just kind of hung in the air and flowed out of every. . . It was like the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts, One of those moments. And all the kids, I mean, I said nothing, The kids went, That was amazing. All of a sudden this group of like really awkward preteens were like little children again and it was this transcendent, Beautiful, Amazing moment. I'll never forget that. Thanks for listening to another episode of Bite-Sized Blessings. And please, Please, If you think of it, We're always looking for subscribers, For ratings and reviews. Those ratings and reviews that you take the time to do help others find us. I need to thank my really talented guest today, Reverend Julie, For sharing her stories on synchronicity and resonance. And I need to thank the creators of the music used for this episode, Alexander Nagurada, Chilled Music, Music L Files, John Bartman, Winnie the Moog, And Kevin MacLeod. For complete attribution, Please see the Bite-Sized Blessings website at bitesizedblessings. Com. On the website, You'll find links to books, Music, Change makers, And blogs I think will lift and inspire you. Thank you for listening. And here's my one request. Be like Reverend Julie. Find out where you can channel the smaller parts to create a greater whole. Where can you create resonance in your life, Create the synchronicity, And bring something powerful and beautiful into the world, Something that might possibly change it? And when you bring those moments into the world, Know, Just know, That you're making this world a better and more beautiful place.