A stop further on from Moissac with its delightful cathedral, stands out powerfully in my memory. It was at the top of a very steep climb, very close to a huge statue of the Virgin Mary.\u00a0 A small sign\u00a0 La petite lumi<\/em>\u00e9<\/em>re<\/em> had beckoned to me somewhere lower down the path and I had left the principal GR65 route and taken this climb, intrigued as to what it might lead me to.<\/p>\n Reaching the top and looking around at the magnificent panoramic view, the river snaking its way through French farmlands, I was more than delighted to find that La petite lumi<\/em>\u00e9<\/em>re<\/em> was in fact a small gite <\/em>with a couple of rooms containing 4 to 6 beds.\u00a0 I was immediately drawn to the vine-covered terrace with two long tables with cheerful provencal table cloths.\u00a0 It was festive, light and welcoming.<\/p>\n Two attractive women welcomed me warmly.\u00a0 I saw the small notice indicating massages on offer! and glancing into the therapy room, I saw the piano.\u00a0 At a later stage I would ask if I could play.\u00a0 In the meantime \u2013 it was late afternoon, still very hot \u2013I took a shower and a short refreshing siesta.<\/p>\n When I went outside half an hour or so later, I found an agitated grey-haired woman talking to Anne, one of my hosts and an even more agitated youngster, perhaps sixteen.\u00a0 He looked Moroccan, perhaps adopted.\u00a0 He had left his sweatshirt somewhere earlier and they\u2019d retraced their steps back up to the statue looking for it.\u00a0 Other details offered by his mother were that he was \u2018out of the institution\u2019 for the holiday break, and she was clearly struggling to cope.<\/p>\n Actually, it seemed to me that he was close to spinning out and about to go into a tantrum.\u00a0 I overheard his mother refer to him as Bertrand.<\/p>\n I was guided to approach the small emotional group.\u00a0 I was aware of my calm presence and the impact of my unexpected entry into their drama.\u00a0 I looked into this boy\u2019s eyes and placed one hand on my heart, and with the other on his I greeted him softly.<\/p>\n \u2018Bonjour, Bertrand\u2019 and then said something like\u2026<\/p>\n \u2018Please come with me, the music wants to come through for you\u2019.<\/p>\n He came quietly, holding my hand. I led him into the therapy room and lifted the lid of the piano, seated him next to me and allowed the first note to fill the small room.\u00a0 He sat hunched forward, rolling slightly backwards and forwards, his head in his hands as the music started to come through to him, for him.<\/p>\n It was filled with love.\u00a0 He became still and calm and the music continued filling us both with its balm.<\/p>\n All of a sudden he jumped up and rushed out of the room.\u00a0 I was startled, thinking I\u2019d gone too far..\u00a0 a small doubt.<\/p>\n But No.<\/p>\n Bertrand reappeared holding the hand of his small grey-haired, frazzled mother, bringing her in to the space he\u2019d just experienced.\u00a0 And the music continued for both of them, she with tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n Later, I was on the massage table feeling deep gratitude both for the much-needed massage, for the music and for the way in which this piano had appeared on my path and what had transpired with Bertrand.<\/p>\n A real bond was established with these two women, Anne and Sylvie, and over a wonderfully wholesome dinner on the terrace we shared stories and felt a deep complicity.\u00a0 So much so, that when I set off the next morning and completed my walk, arriving at the address of a friend of theirs, they were both there having driven over to meet me.<\/p>\n Again, we shared a wonderful evening, this time including another extraordinary woman.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another profound experience of the healing power of music as it used me to reach and touch a troubled soul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":568,"template":"","categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","episode_posts","type-episode_posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-part-4-aftermath-and-afterlife"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/episode_posts"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}