First: Record your introduction to your meditations and teachings:*

Record a 5-10 min introduction that gives people a sense of your Feast series content. You can record it on your phone (Ideally with a microphone for better quality) and create an MP3 file.

Upload your files to Dropbox at this URL: https://www.dropbox.com/request/1WFsE59BjaXba0wVGnOz

Next: Provide the rest of the recordings:*

Please provide ten 20-40 minute meditation and/or spiritual guidance sessions.  Keep in mind that the intention for the Feast is for people to establish a 40-minute a day practice. You can record 20- or 40-minute meditations. Children’s meditations can be shorter in length.

Please do send 2-3 of them as soon as possible so they can be uploaded on the site. You can send the others as you create them, ideally before the 15th of January, the first day the Feast is launched. We host these meditations on SoundCloud. See some of the other faculty’s meditations here: https://soundcloud.com/feastforthesoul/albums

How to record the ten 20-40-minute sessions:*

 Be sure you quality test the recordings before you send them.

  • First, imagine someone sitting in stillness with their eyes closed, and they are listening to you.
  • Introduce yourself and the title of the meditation. You do not have to refer to the Feast unless you want to. It might be easier to repurpose your recordings if you do not. Do not use this opportunity to sell your services or give out your email address.  Instead, this information can be offered on the Feast for the Soul website with your listing which will include your photo, bio, and contact information.
  • Only use about 5-10 minutes of the 20-40 minutes for initial teaching and guidance.
  • If you move into silence for more than 10 minutes, ring a bell at 10-minute intervals to allow participants to leave the meditation early if they need to. Let them know you are doing it.
  • End the meditation with a few words of encouragement or teaching. Please do not use this opportunity to sell your services or give out your email address. Imagine someone sitting in stillness with their eyes closed slowly coming out of meditation.

Sending your Meditations:

 When you upload the files name, please include the following:

  1. Your last name.
  2. The number in the series (01, 02, 03).
  3. Title of the meditation, abbreviated if necessary. (This makes it easier for listeners to go back and repeat parts that they may wish to refresh later.) Be as specific as you can be.
  4. Year of the recording.
  • Example: McLean02HamSah2016.mp3

Each recording will be uploaded to SoundCloud. This will help us to index your meditations so it is easily searchable. It will be accessible to the public.

*Tips to record your Meditations:

Professional recording studios usually use isolation booths for vocal recordings. These “silent spaces” are ideal for recording. If you aren’t in in alent space, you can still capture a good quality recording at home provided that you take every reasonable measure to eliminate ambient noises.

Microphones can be very sensitive and can pick up all the ambient sounds around you, not just your voice! Be sure to silence the extraneous noise in your environment, and avoid these common mistakes:

  1. Creaking chairs.
  2. Dogs panting, cats meowing. (Put your pets in another room.)
  3. Papers ruffling while you flip through your script.
  4. Phones ringing. (Silence all phones.)
  5. Jewelry jingling.
  6. The humming sounds of a computer or air conditioning system.
  7. Airplane, road, and traffic noises.

If external noises are a problem, find a more quiet location, or record late at night when the world around you is quieter. You can also eliminate problems by:

  • Moving as far away from your computer as possible,
  • Use pillows or furniture as baffles to muffle the sound your computer emits (Don’t block all the air vents in your computer’s case for too long. Without airflow your computer can overheat.)
  • Remove any jingly jewelry and/or “swishy” clothing. Either that or you’ll have to master the art of sitting VERY still.

If you are using music, you must be sure you have permission to use it. You can Google music for meditations and buy a few tracks online.

Please contact Sarah McLean if you have questions.