“[Fresh Ears] really helped me to wake up to existence on a whole other level.”

      - Trask Dunlap

“I learned more about myself in one day then I had in months of going to college… I’ve discovered so much about myself and others… I’ve opened my mind, and I’ve opened my heart to new experiences.”

      - Kathleen Bradley

“This had to be the coolest class ever offered at UCSC¹…. To my surprise a lot of the times, I could apply the ideas and concepts that we learned in class to other areas of my life. It was if I was supposed to take this class in order to help me deal with other parts of my life.”

      - Angelica Rodriguez

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What is freshears.org?

Freshears.org has been providing a suite of free listening resources and technologies to the public since 2013, based upon the somatics-based listening work that Dr. Ishtaya created entitled Fresh Ears.

What is Fresh Ears?

Fresh Ears is a technology for transforming human consciousness.

We "do" this through the felt sense of the direct experience, the center of the fractal of human experience.

Listening is the core of this work.

Through deep listening to sound, the body, and life in scientifically directed ways, and the perceptual neurofeedback this provides, our listening awakens us from within.

Group games, embodied inquiry, conscious movement, and other activities complement the listening exercises and facilitate the transformation which occurs organically in these fun and immersive workshops.

How does Fresh Ears transform consciousness?

Fresh Ears transforms consciousness from the inside out.

As this occurs, heightened awareness and transformation transfers to the body, to seeing, to all of the senses, and to all of human consciousness.

Musicians become more creative, more conscious, and more activated.

Individuals become more aware, more free, more creative, and are transformed at their core.

How does Fresh Ears make us more creative?

The inner technology of Fresh Ears transforms the way that we experience, perceive, and dream the world.

Alot of us want to know what it means to create our own reality and how to dream a new world from within.

All of us want to become the conscious dreamers of our world.

Without understanding how consciousness works from the inside, we will end up being thwarted in these intentions by the mode of consciousness that we have been conditioned to by society, schooling, and parents. Fresh Ears facilitates a rigorous understanding of consciousness from the inside, and from this, any creative activity is empowered, including that of living a human life and creating a new world.

Try a Fresh Ears workshop today

How did Fresh Ears begin?

Fresh Ears was created in 2013 by Dr. Ishtaya while teaching at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Funded by a Chancellor's grant, he developed Sound, Listening, and Consciousness, a revolutionary college course which built a bridge between vibration and consciousness in a university setting.

Out of this class was birthed the Fresh Ears work.

5 of the 20 students in the course reported that Sound, Listening, and Consciousness changed their lives. A few of their comments are shared at the top of this page.

Sound, Listening, and Consciousness was initially inspired by the Deep Listening work of the late, great Pauline Oliveros, who served on Dr. Hoefs’ dissertation committee before her passing, and was an integral part in bringing the curriculum about. If you do not know about Pauline and her work, please take a moment to visit the Center for Deep Listening's website and learn more.

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^{1. The quotes at the top of this page are testimonials from students of Sound, Listening, and Consciousness, the revolutionary somatics-based university course that eventually became Fresh Ears.}