Songs and Samples

The Opening
Wilderness Voice
Thunder-beings Council
Visions

Some Nice Things People Have Said

I had my first opportunity to use your CD for meditation last night – wow! It was perfect. Your CD helped facilitate a peaceful state of relaxation and allow my restless mind to calm down. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and plan to make it a regular part of my meditation experience.
- Dr. Sally Diane
La Quinta, CA

I received the CD’s today – I am going to give them as gifts. Thank you! It is really great to meditate to. Let me know when you produce the next CD. That’s great news about Betty Ford Center using your CD too!
- Polly P.
Iowa City, IA

I'm still thinking about the concert last Wednesday night. I enjoyed your music so much. You provided such a variety of music, and the way you related each piece to the 12 steps was masterful. Your music is so full of feeling, you clearly enjoy performing, and your comments as the concert proceeded were insightful, personal and relevant to the recovery process. The families from our Continuing Care program enjoyed the concert as well, and even the youngest of the children were engaged and entertained. It was a great blessing to me to have been able to hear this concert.
- Wendy Wade, MFT.
Santa Cruz, CA

About Desert Spirit

Patrick Haggerson and his trio, Desert Spirit, created Peaceful Sounds For Meditation, a CD containing 4 (12-minute) original pieces of meditation music on Native American flute with guitar, natural sounds and keyboard backing. Patrick uses music in his work in the field of recovery for meditation, exploring feelings, inspiration and joy. He have been playing music and using it as an expression of recovery for over twenty-one years.

Patrick is an Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He received his M.A. from the University of Iowa in Substance Abuse Counseling with a Bi-lingual, Multicultural Counseling Certificate in 1988. He has been an employee of the Betty Ford Center for the past ten years as a Family Program Counselor and currently works in the Training Department.

Raised in New Mexico and Arizona, Patrick has a lifetime history of experience in Native America and amongst Mexican Americans and he is fluent in Spanish, a student of Sxoxomic language (Alkali Lake, B.C.) and Lakota language (Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota).

He has been playing Native American flute, Inca pan flute and Inca recorder since 1980.

In 1982, Patrick founded the music group, Alma Iowana (Soul of Iowa). Patrick and Alma Iowana performed Andes Mountain music for 15 years at arts and music festivals, schools, universities, special events in and around the state of Iowa.

His recordings include Chaskis (Inca runner/messengers) (1984), Recuerdos (Memories) (1990) traditional Andes folk music, Recovery Spirit (2002), a musical journey through the 12 Steps, and Desert Spirit (2006).

Currently, he is working with Ruff Jazz records, recording Recovery Spirit 2, which is a remake of the 2002 version with 5 new/replaced pieces. This is “a musical ascent through the 12 steps."

Patrick performs locally in the Coachella Valley in California with a trio, Desert Spirit.

He also offers Recovery Spirit Concerts to patients at the Betty Ford Center and other local treatment centers. The concerts include 12 musical pieces on Native American flutes, Inca flutes, percussion, guitar and bass. The use of power point pictures of Nature, metaphor and story telling help in exploring each step.

Patrick has initiated a school music program at the Sxoxomic School in Alkali Lake, British Columbia, where he works one week of each month for the Betty Ford Institute. The students are learning to play the Native American flutes and will begin performing in 2008.

A Note From Desert Spirit:

The music on this CD has been composed and recorded for the purpose of helping individuals experience meditation. Each piece is approximately 12 minutes in length. This makes it possible for one to sit for anywhere from 12 to 48 minutes of meditation with music support.

To begin each session we suggest wearing loose clothing and sitting in a comfortable position where the body can relax. Care should be taken not to get so comfortable that one sleeps. Meditation and sleep are two different brain waves and the purpose of this music is support meditation.

Once the relaxed position is realized, take four very slow and very deep breaths using the diaphragm. Then just relax further and allow normal breathing to take place. Remain conscious of each breath as you listen quietly to the melodies.

Allow a few minutes of recovery after the meditation ends and return to normal activities. Meditation can be very helpful in reducing stress if practiced two to three times each day from 12 to 24 minutes each time.

Meditations of longer than 24 minutes can be achieved by advanced practitioners of meditation but shorter periods seem to be the most practical and useful.