the shorter version…
My name is Kelley Doyle! Hello!
With honor and gratitude to those who came before and continue to do this work, I am a song-carrier. In the community singing tradition, this is one who holds a collection of songs, both from others and originals, to share in circles and community spaces.
My songs often come through while in Nature and at rest. Or, when I least expect them and there’s a lesson I need to learn.
I am also an enthusiast of learning new things, walking in wild places, and fixing yummy food (especially vegetarian chilis). In Richmond, you can often find me sitting on the rocks by the River or visiting a local bookstore with my dear partner Will!
The Longer Version
Song has been a constant companion and a tether to the Sacred.
In the tender time between middle and high school, I was introduced to contemporary worship music, which opened a world of possibilities. You mean I can move during church? I’m not confined to the red hymnal? That early connection gave me access to a deep contemplative space that felt like Home. I followed that feeling throughout my teenage years, leading me to college where I sang in an a cappella group and led worship in my campus ministry.
It was around that time I began to unravel some of the beliefs I was holding. I started to recognize where the words I was singing weren’t congruent with the world in which I wanted to live. My inter-religious study was shaping me profoundly, too; I read from mystics the world over.
My journey led me to seek to divinity school, seeking to reconcile that numinous experience of my youth with a more expansive theology. My capstone thesis was called “Mystic Melodies and Words of Wonder: Reclaiming Worship Music for Spiritual Formation and Liberation.” Afterwards, I served in congregational ministry for several years in Nashville, TN.
I started to feel things shifting — then I experienced what Francis Weller calls a rough initiation, and felt called further down into what I now know as soulwork. Song, particularly songs from the community singing tradition, carried me. I began to realize deeply that community singing was the container for what I knew to be true all along: song can nurture us, move us from the head space to the heart space, connect us to one another, and help create justice & wholeness. I am grateful to be a student and a witness of this work.
Teachers, Study, & Influences:
- Earthkeeper Wisdom School: A Year in Ceremony with Lyndsey Scott & Carolyn Griffeth
- Restorative Yoga – Satya Greenstone
- Faith Matters Network Movement Chaplaincy Training
- Frame Drum Wisdom – Karen-Renée Robb
- Sound Ceremony Training
- Herbalista & Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Homestudy
- Green Eco-Chaplaincy – Dr. Julie Hawkins
- The Work that Reconnects by Joanna Macy
- Science & Experience of Ecotherapy – Dr. Dorothy Ibes
- Master of Divinity – Vanderbilt Divinity School
- B.A. (Religious Studies and Hispanic Studies dual major) – The College of William & Mary