About thirty five or so years ago our friend, Ron Young, wrote a lovely song entitled Children Of Light.
Elizabeth recorded it on her first album, Gratitude.
This morning, perhaps inspired by the final night of the Democratic (Virtual) Convention, she was moved to send it to all her eMail list and I (her husband, Ben) decided to share it with you.
Really listen to the lyric and maybe you’ll be inspired, too.
Love heals is not an empty phrase. There are research studies bearing out the integrity of that statement. But that’s not exactly what this vlog is about. It is the idea behind Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series. Love, music and beauty are all healing techniques and in this series we created a combination of those elements.
A pristine beach, a large yet gentle waterfall and a spectacular mountain lake provide settings for Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series.
In this vlog the creators share their ideas about the project along with some “backstage” photography. **
If you know someone who is (or are yourself) preparing for or recovering from surgery, suffering with illness
Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series may provide relief from the anxiety and pain. Love heals.
** Video by Mel Higgins Collins / Stills by Arledge Armenaki
In 2010 Elizabeth, who’s dictum is “Love Heals”, had been mulling the idea of a video for her Pledge to Love.
The concept of the video was to stress the international aspect of the Pledge so we wanted to include as many nationalities/languages as we could. From our neighborhood we got the Turkish fruit vendor and the Yemeni hardware store guy. Through networking with our friends we ended up with thirteen languages from Gaelic to Chinese.
(Except for one in Germany and another in Oregon they were all in a one mile radius of our house. You gotta love New York City!)
Elizabeth tells us: This “Pledge to Love” is the result of a gift from Dr. Brugh Joy. Several years ago, at a class of his on the upper west side of Manhattan, he was having us sit quietly with our right hand on our heart center. We were to feel, very slowly, one at a time, the myriad aspects of Love present there – joy, tenderness, peace, gratitude, compassion. It was so beautiful. The next morning in meditation, in putting my hand over my heart to recreate this experience, I heard this Pledge of Allegiance. I’ll be forever grateful. Regardless of where we stand religiously, spiritually, or non-spiritually – we all want to feel good and be happy.
We did versions of several lengths. The one presented here is the longer one.
The short versions are (4:51) here and (2:10) here. Enjoy and please share.
*This is a rewritten version of a vlog on Ben’s books website hence the super on the video. Elizabeth’s home page is at lovehealswithelizabeth.com.
The concept of creating surgery support video and audio programs had been in Elizabeth Hepburn’s mind for a decade or more before we were enabled by Eric Brown to begin the process of actually making them in 2003.
Married to a Video Maker
When Elizabeth first mentioned the idea to me (Ben Bryant) I knew that in order to produce a project of this magnitude, with the quality it deserved, a significant amount of money would be required. About ten years later I directed and edited a documentary that Eric financed. While we were in the middle of the production of Nyack to Ninth Avenue he mentioned that he wanted to learn more about producing video and asked how I had learned. I told him my story about being “thrown into the deep end of the pool” by my mentor Jack Tellander pointing out that the best way to learn was to just do it.
Creating a Producer
Eric asked if I had any ideas for projects and I whipped out the one-page description of Elizabeth’s surgery support concept. He liked it and when he met Elizabeth it was (mutual) love at first sight and we were on our way.
Here’s a short sample of our Pre-surgery support video for the Patient. (There is also a version for the Caregiver.)
Click here for downloads of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series. Once on the page, put your cursor over an image to Id. the program and click for more info and a sample. If you prefer discs click here.
By the way, I wrote a book – Waiting for Elizabeth – about our relationship and it includes the entire creation story of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series.
As I have written before and will no doubt write again, Love Heals, is the idea behind all of Elizabeth Hepburn’s work.
This video needs no additional introduction in that it is, itself, an introduction by Elizabeth to her Better & Better Series. All more that need be said is that I, Ben Bryant, was blessed with the joyful task of directing and editing the entire project.
Enjoy.
Click here for downloads of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series. Once on the page, put your cursor over an image to Id. the program and click for more info and a sample. If you prefer discs click here.
By the way, I wrote a book – Waiting for Elizabeth – about our relationship and it includes the entire creation story of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series.
The creation of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series was the consummation of a dream for both my wife Elizabeth and me, Ben Bryant, director and editor. We will always be grateful to our Producer and friend, Eric Brown, for enabling it to happen.
In the Lap of Luxury, the third program in the Better & Better Series, was shot at New York State’s spectacular Lake George in the Adirondack mountains.
One portion of the shoot began at Yankee Boating Center. We hired a sailboat for Elizabeth’s photography and a second boat for camera. Riding out of sight in the cabin were Melinda (wardrobe), Michina (makeup) and Richard (a very capable production assistant) who handled the playback boom box and walkie-talkie for my direction from the camera boat. The picture boat had an outboard motor which was fortuitous since there was very little breeze that day. The camera boat was a kind of floating flatbed that comfortably accommodated both camera crews, our gaffer plus me and Eric.
We motored into the lake until we were out of sight of buildings and began to shoot.
All the video and audio programs in Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series are available for download here. Once on the page, put your cursor over an image to Id. the program and click for more info and a sample. If you prefer discs, click here.
You will find many more video production and editing tales, including the full story of the making of Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series and all the other productions Eric and I did together when you click here and get my third memoir book Waiting for Elizabeth.