May Kay Sturdevant makes beautiful music on the dock outside her Madeira Beach home.
MADEIRA BEACH – Mary Kay Sturdevant loves to laugh.
But even more than that, she has a need for laughter and a talent for sharing the healing power of laughter and music.
A certified laughter leader, Sturdevant is drawn to music and uses exercises in her Laughter Club meetings, just like she uses her laughter techniques when doing her music therapy.
“Music and laughter go together,” she said.
She uses music and her personal spirituality to make people feel better and brings her therapy to Hospice patients, senior facilities and others who suffer from physical and emotional ailments.
“I don’t like to say I’m a healer,” she said. “I’m trained to use music to make people better. I’m a vessel.”
A victim of a serious automobile accident that left her with a new understanding of life, Sturdevant has always been drawn to the healing arts and to art itself. Now, she finds bringing healing peace to others helps her ailments, too.
An outgoing child, she loved to sing and dance and followed her parent’s penchant for the performing arts. She has even taught line dancing at Madeira Beach Recreation Center – and may again.
After graduating from the State University of New York’s Empire State College, she worked for a short time as a counselor and woman case manager. She then became a personal caregiver, which is where she found her calling.
In working with the elderly now, she uses her vocal talents and instruments to bring relief. Though she plays several instruments, she most often brings her rainstick with her to visit patients. Music therapy is finding wide acceptance in the medical field for its positive effects and Sturdevant is hoping to expand its use in the area’s hospitals.
Because of her own experience with physical pain, she works hard on her personal health, and said she must constantly be on guard to keep her own health – body, mind and spirit – balanced. She believes in positive thinking.
“As you think so you shall be,” she said. When she prays, she doesn’t ask. She thanks God for healing.
She does spiritual drum circles and is active in the preservation of Sacred Lands on Park Street. She also performs in the choir at Blessed Sacrament Church in Seminole.
“It’s a Native American spirituality,” she said. “It’s spirituality in nature. And I love Blessed Sacrament Church. It’s a great family community.”
Mainly, Sturdevant just wants to spread her happiness, whether that means sticking a big red nose on her face and laughing contagiously, or by playing a soothing flute for a dying patient, being happy and bringing it to others is a choice she made 17 years ago when she realized she was miserable – and didn’t want to live that way.
“Peace, health and harmony are what we create,” she said. “It’s like sharing the joy.”
Sturdevant will be teaching her methods at a laughter and music playshop Thursday, April 13, 7:13 to 8:43 p.m., at Sacred Lands, 1700 Park St. N. The workshop is $15.
She also will host a World Laughter Day sunset celebration Sunday, May 7, 6 to 8 p.m., at Archibald Park, 1511 Gulf Blvd., Madeira Beach. Call 393-5027.
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