BOOKS, MUSIC, PODCASTS
Mark your calendars! Join me in celebrating the release of TWO CDs of solo piano music, "Winter Wonder" and "Outside the Lines."
There will be two nights of celebration and concertizing, with a mix of music from both CDs shared each night.
Concert Tickets available now!
https://bit.ly/LEHshop and go to Events.
**Seating is limited.
When: Fri., Oct. 18th and Sat., Oct. 19th, 2024
Time: 7:00pm, doors open at 6:30pm
Where: Hulbert Piano-Recital Hall, 12555 W Wirth Ave, Brookfield, WI 53005
Admission: $15
*Merchandise will be available at the concert.
Get a sneak peek of the music with Topaz's support on my YouTube page: www.YouTube.com/@annruane
Outside the Lines--Original Music for Solo Piano by Ann Ruane
Release Date: October 1, 2024
“Outside the Lines” reflects the different ways of connecting to life around and within us, breaking from the mundane or what might be labeled ‘normal.’ It’s easy to fall into a routine and miss out on the profound ways in which we are supported and coexist with life around us. This collection reflects union with various aspects of nature, from the moon and stars to majestic scenery. It also points to listening to dreams, giving voice to our own soul, and sharing connection with other souls.
Although I feel a personal connection to all of the music I write, this particular collection feels like my personal journal set to music. “Outside the Lines” is permission to allow my inner light to shine more brightly, outside the lines of any perceived limitations. Living outside the lines is bigger than thinking outside the box.
Nuggets & Nudges for Knowing Your Enoughness
I am excited to announce the launch of my new membership page on Patreon:
Nuggets & Nudges for Knowing Your Enoughness
My intention for this community is to feel alive and inspired again, dusting off all that has deadened your spark. The underlying current is all about energy: mental energy, emotional energy, and physical energy, and how to refocus your awareness. I’m a huge fan of enoughness. Plenty of my life was spent as a pleaser and I’m now living the benefits of choosing me. I’m a Reiki master, intuitive energy and crystal healer, an author, composer, and a pianist. The emergence and nurturing of these aspects of myself came about through paying attention to the nuggets and nudges offered to me.
This isn’t a cookie-cutter, one-size fits all type of exploration. We are different people with different experiences shaping who we are in this moment. After all, healing isn’t about changing who we are. It’s about changing the BELIEF about who we are. While there will be concrete material to work with, we’ll also explore real stories, real challenges, real emotions, and real successes…together. Let’s dive in together and reveal what’s waiting inside of each of us. Your whispers are waiting.
Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart: A Guide to Transformation from the Inside Out
Numerous self-help books promise a quick way to reach spiritual enlightenment. The real ‘guts to glory’ way is to get to know yourself. It’s that simple and that complex. Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart is a 3-book series that invites you to lean in and unravel the mystery of what makes you YOU. The books are overflowing with meaningful and sometimes challenging information offered in a dynamic approach to discover the gems within you.
The Fall in Love series offers a collection of thought-provoking reflections on various aspects of psychological and spiritual life. Each quote has accompanying questions to elicit thoughtful engagement and a related mantra. It is a poignant invitation to deeply understand yourself.
The Fall in Love series is written to inspire curiosity, open to reflection, and step into an honest knowing of who you are. It is a guide to the rich tapestry that has been woven together from the threads of your life experiences. These books encourage slowing down, being gentle, and accepting all of you. They support the process of growth and empowerment, offering tools to bring clarity and light.
Be courageous. Fall in love with the whispers of your heart.
Reviews
Testimonials
Winter Wonder--Original Music for Solo Piano by Ann Ruane
Release Date: April 1, 2024
Winter inspires a sense of magic. Nature reflects a union with winter as the fauna and flora trust their instinctive essence and prepare. There is much to be learned by bearing witness to this symbiotic relationship. Winter summons a pause, an invitation to go within ourselves, and a return to nurturing the sacred within.
I have always loved winter and the blanket of beauty created by the snow. I love the magic the snow contains as it glimmers when the light hits it. The extended darkness feels like a big hug, holding me as I snuggle in. I adore seeing Christmas lights both inside and outside homes. They create a joyful expression, changing like a kaleidoscope as the wind blows or the snow increases.
This collection embraces child-like wonder and awe of winter. It stirs the imagination. It invites you on a path to wander your own winterscape.
Inner Mosaic--Original Music for Solo Piano by Ann Ruane
Release Date: October 28, 2023
Inner Mosaic: Unique, individual pieces put together to create a work of art. Each piece is significant and part of the whole—even the jagged pieces. Some are bigger, some are smaller; some are more vibrant, some are more muted. All pieces are held together by the binding energy of love. There is no brokenness, only parts of the whole. Some pieces make you want to pause to take them in, and some pieces you want to discard. All the pieces are needed and necessary. Appreciate them all.
Each piece in this collection is a part of my own inner mosaic: the beautiful, the challenging, the transforming, and ultimately, the inner invitation. As I sat with these pieces, I opened to how they resonated differently within me depending on where I was mentally and emotionally, affirming the depth of connection to the inner journey. Embrace the variety of perspectives you experience when you play these pieces, allowing different aspects of the mosaic to catch your attention, just as if you were taking in a mosaic in front of you. This is a glimpse of how the pieces of you—your story—combine to create a magnificent work of art.
Homeless Spirit Suite--Original Music for Solo Piano by Ann Ruane
Release Date: October 28, 2023
I learned of this piece through a dream. I woke up knowing I needed to compose a 3-movement suite called Homeless Spirit. I made note of it, acknowledged receipt of the information, and returned my focus to what was in front of me. Until the next day. In the shower. The message was that I needed to write it now. Needless to say, the piece downloaded VERY quickly, faster than any other music I have written to date, especially since it wasn’t the only thing I was working on or doing during the day. I was even guided in how to title each of the movements, so together they create a sentence, yet each portion can stand on its own: Wandering Alone Through the Tempest; Finding a New Path.
To me, the journey of the homeless spirit is not experienced only once in a lifetime. As I grow, heal, and open to who I am, I find myself on this journey repeatedly, with varying degrees of intensity. I’m learning to embrace the times when I feel like the homeless spirit, knowing there is ALWAYS a new path.
Return Home: The Echoes Resound--Original Music for Solo Piano by Ann Ruane
Release Date: September 12, 2022
17 original piano compositions offering therapy for your soul.
"Return Home: The Echoes Resound" was inspired by the true source of this music. What started out as little sketches scribbled in a manuscript book eventually blossomed into the pieces contained in this collection. The motifs, harmonies, and styles flowed right out of my pencil onto paper. There was a hidden treasure within me, waiting for me to return home to it.
Each piece in this collection portrays a facet of the return home...to your heart...to your roots...to your truth. Allow them to live differently within you each time you play or listen to them. Be Flexible. Be curious. Be with the pieces in a way that reflects where you are and how you feel in the moment. Let the music speak to you in a way that resonates with what you need to hear.
As you play or listen to the music, I invite you to return home within yourself. Allow your own echoes to vibrate and resound within you, opening you to your own treasure. Feel beyond what you play or hear and simply be.
The poems and prayers that make up the lyrics or mood of the pieces are from "Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart, Book 1".
Enjoy a variety of Christmas music in various styles with Ann at the piano and Topaz adding his "vocals". They are sure to spread some holiday cheer!
What people are saying about "Fall in Love"
"Everyone carries inside of them, a deep and shadowy fear of the unknown. A fear which, over time, becomes a crackling noise weaving itself through our building inner narrative. This fear isn’t necessarily that we’re disquieted by the thought of being left behind or potentially shut out by what we struggle to perceive. Rather, we dread the uncertainty of being able to withstand the new knowledge which comes to us if we decide to open our heart and minds to that which was previously felt as dark and dauntingly mysterious. We imagine our heart buckling under the weight, or that our soul might wither away. There comes a time when we must ask, what truly longs to be expressed within the murmurings of each deep-seated fear and the traces of sheer avoidance?
Ann Ruane takes us through the dense forest of the unknown and onto an illuminating path of personal healing and intuitive recognition in her beautifully crafted book, Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart. Each chapter will lead you through the work of revelation and transformation, ultimately translating the divine messages that have been swirling in the mists of your heart’s telling whispers. Once opened, the pages of this book will become a hand to hold onto, a friend to confide in, a teacher to come back to, and a cherished guide to depend on."
Susan Frybort, Author of Open Passages, Doors and Windows to the Soul and Hope is a Traveler, a collection of poems
Susan Frybort, Author of Open Passages, Doors and Windows to the Soul and Hope is a Traveler, a collection of poemsI am not a sentimental person. I never thought a self help book could do much for anyone. Then I received a copy of Fall in love with the whispers of your heart and my whole belief system was demolished in one chapter. It was like this book was sent to me at the exact moment I needed it, when I didn’t know I needed it.
I really felt connected to what Ann was saying and how she laid out the book was genius. It was so simply done but with such gravitas and compassion that I couldn’t help reading the whole thing twice. I answered all the questions she asked and found out things about myself I didn’t even know. I made notes and felt a strangely dignified calm wash over when I repeated the mantras to myself. I have post-it notes sticking out from it everywhere and I am torn between hoarding my copy to myself and the need to share it with people so they can feel the way I do today.
I can’t recommend this book enough! I found it insightful and written from a soul so beautiful you can’t help but trust this book to set you on a path you didn’t know you were searching for.
Thank you so much for all the work you do Ann and I hope more books come from you in the near future.
-Stacey Assau, The Lioness of Literacy
What a beautiful and encouraging read that will be so easy to revisit often.
-Sharon B
The Title Is Very Fitting After Reading the Book.
1. I enjoyed the book and was not able to put it down.
2. The change in the fonts was helpful and allowed you to zero in on various aspects of the book.
3. The mantra's will be used in my daily self-meditation.
4. I will be reading a second time to help formulate some self-improvements.
-Mike V
Beautiful Cover
Each chapter of the book is thought provoking and makes you want to continue reading!!
-Nancy B
Great Read! And Exploration!
Really opens you up to several thought processes
-Pat A
This would make a great gift for anyone interested in taking a personal inventory and seeking to make their future a brighter, healthier, more peaceful place. A great idea for Christmas!
-Laurie P.
Fall in Love With the Whispers of your Heart
Whispers of your Heart is like going out for coffee and a chat with a good friend – a really wise friend who bounces ideas off you and makes you think on the ride home.
-Bonita Z.
I read a page a day...thank you.
-Jamee S.
The first page we opened the book to was immediately inspirational and timely.
-James H.
This is a great book to help stimulate thoughts, move through blocks, stir productive self-reflection, and make changes in your life. Ann Ruane gives an easy to follow path to explore everyday topics, and is supportive in that exploration through examples, questions, mantras and poems. The book is set up to allow you to read as you choose, without the expectation of reading it from cover to cover. Truly a wonderful way to navigate life, and grow in the process.
-Carol D.
I received "Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart" yesterday and am devouring it. The quotes selected are so poignant. Thank you so much for your diligence, vision and nurturing spirit that oozes from the pages.
-Dick H.
My 2 books came on Fri. I have ordered a 3rd. It is wonderful!
-Mary A.
Thank you for hearing the whispers of your heart! Your wisdom and insights, coalesced into this rich and succinct collection of messages, ring so true for me! There is a lovely, simple resonance that seems to have all the decades of input from my many avenues of pursuit in personal and spiritual development brought down to core lessons, core teachings, core questions... core.
I honor your courage to follow your whispers! I am a grateful recipient of the outgrowth of your choice!
-Mary Beth
PODCASTS
Embracing Energy Work: Conversations on Healing and Growth - From Reiki to Emotional Awareness with Ann Ruane and host Laurie Groh
Hear the story of how crystals helped get me "unstuck" in life and guide my path.
Thank you to Jenny Rice for having me as a guest on her podcast, "Get Unstuck in Life".
"Helping Others See Who They Really are with Ann Ruane" on the Jeffrey Eisen Podcast
Professional pianist, reiki master and author Ann Ruane understands the challenges of healing from a life-altering event. After her divorce in 2006, she found solace in her music and journaling, but after receiving a reiki treatment during a massage, Ruane found energy work transformational. The experience sent her on a spiritual path and eventually led her to write Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart, released in October through Book Baby publishing. Page after page, Ruane offers a series of thought-provoking reflections on aspects of psychological and spiritual life.
Read more of the Community Spotlight article in Natural Awakenings Magazine here.
On Vulnerability: An Excerpt from Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart | Natural MKE
Through Fall in Love with the Whispers of Your Heart, Ruane hopes to inspire curiosity and transformation in the reader’s life; move through the paralysis of perfection; bring comfort to the discomfort; acceptance to the rejection; love to the unlovable; and choose connection over perfection. “You can find gratitude for your true self and what you have to offer. Learn to celebrate you,” Ruane says.
Return Home: The Echoes Resound Book and CD Launch Concert | Natural MKE
Musician and Author Ann Ruane will perform her newly released CD, Return Home: The Echoes of Resound, at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield.