

Do you remember finger painting as a little kid? Or spontaneously making up songs, games, or stories you acted out with your toys?
Did you gather with your friends on hot summer nights and play softball, Red Rover, or Capture the Flag... or suddenly burst into a dance break — feeling carefree, silly, and unburdened? Even if our younger lives weren’t always fun and games, it’s likely that most of us often enjoyed exploring realms of freedom and creativity.
The personal concerns and difficult real-world issues we have to address as adults have the tendency to make us forget the need for fun and inspiration — which is crucial for connecting with our higher purpose. Instead, our nervous system flies into stress mode and we’re unable to access a state of flow.
So, how do you reignite a sense of abandon and vitality and allow yourself to be just... completely YOU... and present from one moment to the next?
Enter the world of musical improvisation!
More specifically, welcome to the realm of improvisational Native American-style flute playing with author and music therapist Christine Stevens.
Playing by improvisation can turn off your brain’s center of self-judgment and inner critic — liberating your imagination and shifting you into the “experiencing network.” Explore the harmony that’s been locked away within you and peel away layers of self-limitation to uncover your higher purpose.
Join Christine on a 7-week journey into the vast possibilities hidden in the wisdom of this ancient instrument — used for millennia to move stuck emotions, offer blessings, and feel uplifted, relaxed, liberated, and connected. As you’ll discover, playing the flute on the fly is a powerful vehicle for deep soul-expression and the understanding of your higher purpose...
... especially when you realize that there are NO WRONG NOTES in the pentatonic 5-note scale of the Native American-style flute and every note has its own purpose and energetic gift. In fact, anyone can actually pick up the flute and play!
Christine shares that improvisation — the idea of “winging it” or playing in the moment — is a path of courage and self-discovery. It’s a process of stepping outside your comfort zone, expanding your creative skills, finding your soul expression, and being in tune with nature.
This course is designed as a kind of soul retrieval for your personal evolution, and a blessing to All Our Relations in a cosmic journey.
Whether you’re new to the Native American-style flute or you’ve been playing for a while, focusing on improvisation will help you enter a powerful flow state... enabling you to respond more spontaneously to emotional cues as you feel called to in each moment. You’ll find yourself playing more freely and naturally, expressing who you truly are and what you feel.
Christine will provide guidance on seven tools, and engaging practices with poetic prompts in every session, to develop your ability to play from your soul. You’ll explore seven principles of improvisation, from being in the moment, to playing new rhythms, to using prompts to inspire creativity.
In each session, you’ll be invited to embody the enriching qualities of specific animal medicine to honor and remind you of your inextricable connection with nature, which is always improvising through all forms of weather and challenges.
For brand-new students of the flute, Christine will hold an introductory session — Module 0 — to provide basic tools for playing the Native American-style flute. You’ll learn how to care for your flute, the three keys to creating a good sound, the 5-note pentatonic scale, and more... empowering you to start improvising right away.
Modern neuroscience has shown that playing an instrument with improvisation shifts your brain into the “experiencing network,” — similar to meditation, a state of flow. This simultaneously turns off the brain areas pertaining to self-rumination, self-monitoring, past-future thinking, and planning.
In this eagerly awaited course, you’ll not only transform the way you play the flute... you’ll evolve the way you live and feel in the world, while unearthing your higher purpose. If you’ve never played the flute before, you’ll discover joyous, fun, and accessible ways to start playing.
You’ll become more confident and spontaneous, with an understanding of the enormous breadth of possibilities contained within your flute — and in your life. You’ll learn to use the flute as a healing tool for yourself and you’ll develop the heart and skills needed to offer profound relaxation and peace of mind to others in need.
Playing extemporaneously is a deeply cathartic approach to healing and deep soul-expression. And it’s your birthright. Whether or not you believe you do it well is not the point. It’s about changing your heart and brain, and awakening to the uncharted songlines in your soul.
Because experience is the best teacher of improvisational playing, Christine will bring in guest artist musicians to support your playing and demonstrate the harmony created when jamming with others.
You’re sure to walk away from these seven weeks with lifelong tools for liberation, healing, living in the present moment, being aware of the music of the natural world, and becoming a better flute player.
Adopted into a Native American family in a Making of a Relative Ceremony, Christine spent more than a decade learning to sing Lakota prayer songs in sweat lodge ceremonies and participating in vision quests with Descendants of the Earth and Oceti Wakan. With the permission of her elders and great respect for the Red Road traditions of music medicine, she continues to play in such sacred sites as a Sedona vortex and the Grand Tetons. Her commitment to beauty, love, and harmony and the reciprocity of music as an offering to nature continue to guide her sound-healing practice and teachings.
You won’t want to miss this opportunity to be in Christine’s (virtual) presence and experience her authentic transmissions.
In this 7-week transformational course, Christine will guide you through the practices you’ll need to learn the depth and breadth of improvisational flute playing to release inhibitions and connect with your higher purpose through the spirits of the natural world.
You’ll connect with Christine and experience her teachings through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Christine’s transmissions. Can’t make it live? After each class, you can stream the video and audio recordings to enjoy anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
This course will feature LIVE teachings, interactive sessions, experiential practices, and Q&A with Christine. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to use improvisational flute playing as a means to release inhibitions caused by self-criticism, shift into flow states, find your creative expression, and access your soul wisdom.

Dear Great Spirit,
You are inside of me, within my very breath,
within each bird, each mighty mountain.
Your sweet touch reaches everything and I am well protected.
Thank you for this beautiful day before me.
May joy, love, peace, and compassion be part of my life
and all those around me on this day.
I am healing and I am healed.
— Anonymous Prayer
We call upon the young bear cub medicine with this special module as Christine supports new players gathering to learn the basic tools of playing the Native American-style flute. Just as bear cubs are great explorers and always having fun, you’re invited to bring a playful, explorational attitude to this session. You’ll be empowered on a variety of components — from how to care for your flute to techniques for avoiding squeaking while playing — and receive guidance on the five-note scale so you can move swiftly into improvisation. You’ll also learn about the sacred lineage of the Native American-style flute as a gift from the Creator, Great Mystery.
During this pre-course module for first-time players, you’ll:

Beat the drums, sing the songs
Beat them loud, it’s where your heart belongs
For in the vision, is the goodness of tomorrows
Dance the rhythm, the rhythm of the earth
For life to begin again, as the first birth
— “Beat the Drums” from Realities Within by Peter V. Catches (Zintkala Oyate), Oglala Lakota (Sioux)
In this first session, you’ll call upon hummingbird medicine as a reminder of enjoyment. The hummingbird — playful, resilient, and optimistic — will guide you into enough flexibility to move in all directions.
As you explore the five principles of improvisation, you’ll be empowered to find the joy and freedom of creating your own music. Authentic expression is an anecdote for depression and repression. Each note in the pentatonic scale has an energy to be explored, with infinite combinations and melodies, to fit every mood and situation.
Improvisation is more than a musical tool. It’s a way of living in the moment, within the sacred music of life. Come discover who you really are and allow the flute to feed your soul. Experience is the best teacher.
During this opening module, you’ll:

From the beginning there were drums, beating out world rhythm.
The booming, never failing tide on the beach.
The four seasons gliding smoothly, one from the other.
When the birds come, when they go.
The bear hibernating, awakening from winter sleep.
All in perfect time.
— “Life’s Drum” by Jimalee Chitwood Burton (Cherokee) from In Beauty May I Walk
Call upon deer medicine, which stands at the gateway to other realms — the spirit of deer energy guiding you into gentleness, innocence, and intuition.
Receive inspiration via prompts for improvising on the flute — playing through transitional points of day and night in the “golden hour,” and reflecting on “golden moments” of your day. You’ll learn the two modes of every flute — solar and lunar, or major and minor — and journey through the transition points in the interchange of night and day that is the rhythm of life.
Experience a demonstration of this powerful polarity through a method of meditation for the morning golden hour with guitar accompaniment,
In this module, you’ll:

Shout from deep within your soul that which is good
Echo what the Giver of Creation has given you
Let the wonder of yourself spread forth from your heart
In the new wind, laugh for you have understood
— “Dawn Rises” from Realities Within by Peter V. Catches (Zintkala Oyate), Oglala Lakota (Sioux)
Call upon the song of the Meadowlark, who stands on a tall perch with head lifted high, and sings a gorgeous melody originating from its DNA. This session is dedicated to all the songbirds and all the melodies that fill the sky with music. Like birds in flight, you’ll learn to “wing-it” — and may be surprised by what comes through.
When you listen for the good, rather than fear the mistakes, you can create a “hook,” — a short repeated phrase — that, like an acorn, contains a whole composition inside of itself. Get ready to spread your wings and find the notes within.
In this module, you’ll:

I hear the Golden Meadowlark saying we are loved
I hear the gushing stream laughing gently along
I think of you in the daydream of loving eternity
And in my heart there is this lovely song.
— “Daydream” from Realities Within by Peter V. Catches (Zintkala Oyate), Oglala Lakota (Sioux)
Call upon the guidance of rivers, streams, creeks, and all that flows freely on the Earth. Rivers teach how to “ribbon” through nature, finding the easy path and traveling to the Source.
As you step into the field of nature, you’ll improvise with the most powerful forces in a duet of organic expression. When you play with the flourish embellishment of a stream, the natural world sings with you in a duet of existence. Just as we give tobacco before harvesting plants, music is an offering of reciprocity, giving gratitude and beauty to nature, people, and yourself.
During this module, you’ll:

Wise dark gaze, voice of quiet or roar.
From earth’s beginnings and before,
he rises from sleep, shaking self, awakening to purpose.
Powerful body, mind, deceptively mellow
roamer, loner, exiting dark den to walk the forest floor
through dense growth that parts before him.
Shambling, steps from cliff overhung with vine to walk
among the stars and through dreams guiding his children
round dangers seen and unseen.
Walk as animal, stand as man, remain eternal.
— “Bear God Spirit” by D.S. Red Haircrow (Chiricahua Apache/Cherokee)
Invite the spirit of bear medicine — the teacher of hibernation and rebirth — to bring us healing and show us the importance of solitude, as we connect deeply to the earth.
Focusing on the healing capabilities of musical improvisation Christine played the flute for people during the first year of the Covid pandemic and established the COVID-19 Sound Clinic Project. Learn the tools of improvisation for the higher purpose of healing, including the contour of melodic expression, the rubato style, and the accompanying sonic prompts that create soothing, spaciousness, and self-love.
In this module, you’ll:

For all we know, we could already be crystal motes,
shattered by swift and quick surging light.
We would never be certain if we had a chance at all,
only settled a vast moment later into dim shadow,
gradually blending into the prairie, the low hills, the horizon, ours now.
The moment before, always too late.
— “After Lightning” by Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) from Native American Songs & Poems
Invoke the trickster energy of coyote medicine — to cultivate a sense of humor, bring balance between wisdom and playfulness, and learn not to take things too seriously.
“Losing our mind” is a good thing! This class will offer you the opportunity to build on your skills and learn tools of improvisation that go beyond the mind, using the field of “unknown” as your guide.
Just as the coyote sniffs its trail, curving through trees and plants without breaking stride, you, too, can find your way into the field of “no mistakes” through different rhythmical meters, always being gentle with yourself. So many of us come from critical music backgrounds, having survived piano lessons, or having been told that we don’t have rhythm or a good voice. It’s time to move beyond such notions into the center, the dancing ground, the place between good or bad.
In this module, you’ll:

Like eagle that Sunday morning over Salt River.
Circled in blue sky.
In wind, swept our hearts clean with sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care and kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of all this and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion, like eagle rounding out the morning inside us.
We pray that it will be done in beauty.
In beauty.
— “Eagle Poem” (excerpt) by Joy Harjo (Muscogee) from Native American Songs & Poems
Bring together the medicine of the condor and the eagle — two powerful symbols of North and South America — in a reunion prophecy of earth-connected, receptive, intuitive energy, with far-seeing, rational, structured energy.
With guest teacher Guillermo Martinez, you’ll join in a ceremony of calling in the directions and creating your own ceremonial playing — to honor the ancestors and participate in a flute prayer. Guillermo will accompany you with a hand-carved powwow drum he crafted.
You’ll gather together in the beauty way to make offerings to All Our Relations in four rounds — the Tree Nation, the Bird Nation, the People of All Races, and the Star Nation.
For the Spotted Eagle of the Oglala Lakota, music is an essential tool of communication with nature and the spiritual world. Prayer songs accompany ceremony, dance, and the sacred way of life.
In this final module, you’ll:
In addition to Christine’s transformative 7-week online course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.

These tracks were recorded on the sacred land of Shambhala Mountain Retreat Center in Colorado for Christine’s upcoming CD, Native Flute Meditation CD — LIVE at Shambhala. They’re great to use as background music to accompany your flute playing. You’ll hear the branch flute in the key of E and the Himalayan singing bowl. Feel the breath of an open spacious heart as you activate the core of your soul with this beautiful reverberating meditation.
Register by August 6 to claim this bonus before it expires.

Covering five different keys — E, F#, G, A, D — Christine plays call-and-response phrases that repeat often. These are designed to help you learn to use your ear and copy her playing. You can also riff off her phrases and make your own music. These were all recorded in sacred beautiful places in nature.
Register by August 18 to claim this bonus before it expires.

Everywhere in nature there is music. And everything in music is a part of nature. This video offers a doorway, a portal, a channel for enhancing that connection, as you breathe life into your Native American-style flute. Play along with nature to inspire songs to flow from your spirit — through the timeless harmony of earth, water, space, and wind. Cinematography by Peter Pilafian of Horizon Pictures in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Featuring drums and rattles, you’ll fill in the flute piece, creating a full-sounding trilogy. This welcoming and friendly audio track is designed to help you practice improvisation and will fit with flutes in any key.
Israel
Asheville, North Carolina
Puerto Rico
Boston, Massachusetts
Syracuse, New York
Improvisational Flute for a Higher Purpose offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Christine Stevens will share in this powerful program.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from speaker, author, and music therapist Christine Stevens — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a livestreaming video option and will guide you to learn the depth and breadth of improvisational flute playing — technically and soulfully — to release inhibitions, shift into creative flow states, deeply express your soul, and connect with the spirits of the natural world. Class sessions are on Wednesdays at 1:00pm Pacific.
After each class, the video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
With live class attendance, there will be a 30-minute optional interactive practice session directly following each class. You’ll be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the Zoom call to interact, share, and do additional practices to help you further integrate the weekly lessons. Practice sessions are not recorded for playback; if you’re unable to attend the live sessions, the Facebook online community group allows you to connect with each other and find alternative times to interact.
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
We feel honored that Christine Stevens has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online course. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with a speaker, author, and music therapist whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about learning improvisational flute playing to release self-criticism, shift into flow states, and access your soul wisdom and higher purpose, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind program.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.

Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE Improvisational Flute for a Higher Purpose — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before September 11, 2024 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
Author of 13 books, including The Book of Ceremony
Author of Spiritual Liberation and founder of Agape International Spiritual Center
Founder of the Morter Institute for BioEnergetics and author of The Energy Codes
Grammy award-winning drummer for the Grateful Dead and author of Drumming at the Edge of Magic
Author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

Author and music therapist Christine Stevens was adopted into a Native American family after spending more than a decade singing Lakota prayer songs, undertaking Hanbleceya (“Crying for a Vision,” one of the seven Lakota Sacred Rites), and becoming a pipe carrier for Women’s Way Long Dance, founded by Connor Sauer.
With the permission of her elders and respect for the Red Road ways of music medicine, she has played the Native American-style flute for more than 25 years, as well as percussion for sound healing, honoring Nature in sacred sites, from a Sedona vortex to the Grand Tetons.
Christine is the author of The Nature Sutras, Music Medicine, and The Healing Drum Kit, and the founder of UpBeat Drum Circles, which brings drumming and sound healing to organizations and events dedicated to uplifting humanity. As an advocate of music and wellness, her media appearances include NBC, PBS, Discovery Health, and Living Better TV.
Christine, who has worked with Fortune 500 companies, survivors of disasters, and refugee women, serves as a Musical Ambassador of Peace. She led the first drum circle training for peace in northern Iraq and toured Japan with a music medicine approach to the Native American-style flute.
The host of Global Rhythm Sangha Online, she teaches a variety of online training programs, including Awaken Your Rhythm, which has served hundreds of people from over 35 countries. Most recently, her pilot study, the Global Tele-Music Therapy program, published in Music and Medicine, helped reduce pain, discomfort, and stress with enduring effects during COVID-19.
Christine’s commitment to love, beauty, and harmony, and the reciprocity of offering music to Nature continues to guide her sound-healing practice and courses with The Shift Network.