Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann Sensing. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Ann, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I feel like I am always on the journey of “finding” my purpose. I don’t really believe purpose is found at all, though. It feels more like it’s uncovered in time. Through the development of deep listening skills, honing intuition, creating internal space, and believing in and freeing my voice, I continue paving a path forward that aligns with what matters most to me.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I wear many hats. Currently, I own a for-profit healing arts studio called Sound Mind & Body located in East Nashville with a focus in sound healing and community gathering. Here, we have several events per week open to the public that focus on nervous system regulation, deep listening, and mental/emotional/spiritual/somatic health and wellness. I also host sound practitioner trainings for individuals and groups through this business, empowering others to follow this path of leadership in the healing arts.
Alongside my business, I am also the co-founder of a sound-based non-profit called 12moons, whose mission is to foster connection in underserved communities through sound and listening via ancient teachings and modalities, also located in Nashville. We serve individuals, institutions, and groups like women survivors of Thistle Farms, other nonprofits and caregivers, inmates in the TN Womens’ Prison, and those experiencing homelessness of Room in the Inn just to name a few.
What feels most exciting about this work is the accessibility or capacity of reach of therapeutic sound to literally anyone and everyone. When facilitated with care, wisdom, and knowledge, healing sound has the capacity to provide healing experiences at the drop of a hat. The stories we hear on a daily basis of how this work directly and immediately positively impacts peoples’ lives is astounding. It has the power to shift the energy in a body, in a room, and in any space. It can regulate a person or group of people within minutes. Think of how this could affect communities on a much larger scale! It’s thrilling to me to imagine the healing that could happen the more we get this work out there.
Beyond these businesses, though, I consider myself a Sound Artist, for this is the most essential and basic makeup of every fiber in my being. It feels most aligned with who I am, and I feel endless joy from creating and collaborating from this space within myself. I facilitate sound baths, witness, listen to and tend others’ journeys and experiences, as well as create music, collaborate, and inspire in the arts scene. One thing I am very excited about currently is the creation of my new album (or a few!) that are being captured using immersive audio recording techniques for release in both stereo and Dolby Atmos, providing for the most immersive sound experience. What makes that extra special is that lots of records are being mixed in immersive formats like Dolby Atmos or Sony 360, but very few are being recorded / captured specifically for those formats. I have one album out, simply called Sound, and with this added intention / boost in recording and capturing my sounds for the new material, it takes the listener’s experience to the next level, feeling as though you’re actually in the room with me. It’s very exciting to think about how this could create even greater healing benefits to listeners through highly accessible formats. The new album, called Sound 2, will be out in October, with a couple others possibly right behind it 🙂
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
When I think about what was most impactful for me up to this point in my journey, the three things that come to mind are 1. Curiosity / Tendency to Question
2. Self-Trust
3. Willingness to Grow / Change
When I was out of college and working a 9-5 business job and knew deep down there was more for me in this lifetime but wasn’t sure what it was, I had to make a choice. I could either keep living the same habits and ways, or I could choose a different path and explore the unknown. The unknown felt scary, challenging, and insecure. But the “known,” or the life I was currently living, might as well have been the death of me. So I got to a point where I chose to take a leap of faith and trust that I would land on my feet. When I looked at what my life could be through lens of curiosity, a whole new world opened to me. I started following my desires, acting on what came naturally to me like moving my body and learning the practice of yoga, developing a meditation practice, and allowing the truth of who I am to be realized at that stage. I could not have done that without trusting in myself, in my intuition, in what my gut and my heart knew to be true, but my mind didn’t. Since I happened to be at rock-bottom, I was very willing to try just about anything to get me out of that 9-5 life. So I got curious about what my passions were, I chose to blindly leap and leave my job because I knew how to listen to and trust myself, and I was eager to learn with a willingness to get out of the comfort zone that was my whole life up to that point in time. It was a rebirth process, and it didn’t come without its challenges and setbacks. But through resilience, creativity, support of loved ones, and a desire to seek, I continue living a life I never thought possible 9 years ago when I was sitting behind that desk. In my opinion, to live the life that is meant for you, one must be willing to constantly question what you really desire, and continually be putting yourself in a place where you can create the life that will get you those results as you go. There is no finish line.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of growth over the past 12 months I’d say has been in the realm of both business expansion as well as personal expansion. I co-founded my new nonprofit, 12moons, this past February, and it has really taken off. Between the impact it’s been having on our community and the work of my for-profit business at Sound Mind & Body, I am beyond grateful and honored to say I am showing up every day the way I only dreamed of spending my life. I get to help others for a living in a very direct way. My creative career is also feeling very expansive with these new albums coming out this year, and that addition is certainly a point of growth to what I have to offer. But aside from career, I have also been expanding on a personal level. Taking up space has always been a challenge for me, learning early on that it’s not a positive thing to have needs and a voice as a female identifying person. I was raised in the south, and I don’t know about other women raised here, but my experience was that it wasn’t exactly encouraged to be anything but prim, proper, pretty, and quiet. So the unlearning I’ve had to do along with the confidence I’ve had to develop and embody, has proven to expand my sense of happiness and contentment in this life. The more time I spend using my voice and speaking up to reclaim truth and do what’s right with the intention of empowering other women and folks struggling to do the same, the greater impact I feel like I am having in the world. If that’s not growth or even success, I don’t know what is.
Contact Info:
- Website: annsensingsound.com
- Instagram: @annsensingsound
Image Credits
Andrea Behrends
