International Blues Competition (the mouth of the beast)

Back From Memphis and what a trip that was!!! Growth on so many levels and true teachings from all realms. I have never been a true believer in competition...it is great for some but not for others because the sensitive souls can be punished into thinking the level of their creativity is not good enough to share....So There I was.....put in the mouth of the beast that is competition.....up against some of the most talented bands in all of the U.S.A....95% male......And I have to say it was a spiritually, emotionally, mentally, vulnerable experience for me. Which is amazing because it caused me to look at myself and my craft from all angles. The eye of judgement sitting there in the front row....singing like my life depended on it....leveling up with myself and giving the best performance I could....and it has taken me 36 years of life to get to the point where I know I can do it.....no problem at all....but the aftermath for this little sensitive is still a struggle.....after the competition was over I had a serious two day hangover....no not from drinking but from the sheer weight of the music that exited my physical form.....I sang from the depths of my being and was so overly aware and unaware at the same time......aware of each mistake I made....but yet so unaware, as my body takes a compleatly different form and spirit to what I know to be Arley.......someone else, and something else, comes in and takes over....I see this with so many woman singers......we are not who you know us to be when we sing......there is a transcendence.......as I watched Verlinda Zeno on stage at the Women in Blues Showcase....the crowd in the palm of her hand.....a true goddess of the art.....I stood there in awe of how much medicine she gives out to her audience when she performs.....she sang a song that was quite funny and flirty.....and I watched with tears in my eyes....yes for real tears in my eyes because I was receiving just what I needed from her in that moment.......confirmation of being a strong woman force....being unapologetic in sound......singing from a place of raw human emotion.....it was then that I realized that music is not solely about competition or being the best.......it is about healing, and magic, and sprit, and medicine, true true medicine.....the kind you can't get in a pill....and for that moment I am forever thankful and grateful.......that I allowed myself to sing with abandon....become breathless and let that other Arley take control....if only for a moment.....and to sing my medicine for anyone who wanted to listen.....Thank You Michele Seidman, Verlinda Zeno, 
Sami Chong and so many other fantastic women I met for sharing your amazingness and your medicine in music....Forever in My Heart