All Press Releases for August 26, 2009

Dianna Woodley Showcases Professional Brand through Cambridge Who's Who

Dianna Woodley, the Founder of Angel Harps, uses the miracle of "music therapy" to improve the well-being of special needs children



    August 26, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Just ten short years ago, Dianna Woodley was a deeply depressed victim of domestic violence. As a mother of three children, her active life grounded to an abrupt halt, when in 2001 she was diagnosed with chronic plantar fasciitis and confined to a wheelchair. After a lifetime of social activism helping women and children in violent homes, Dianna knew that it was time to help herself. The question was, where to start? Then one day, she discovered that as she was listening to the beautiful tones of harp music, the pain in her legs began to lessen. She wanted to learn more and began to listen to harp and other soothing music.

The more she listened to this music, the better she felt. She wondered, why? She found that music had been used for healing since the beginning of time and that only in the last few hundred years had it evolved into being used primarily for entertainment. Euclid used the monochord, a single-stringed instrument, for healing in 300 B.C. In the third century B.C., Socrates was said to have healed hundreds by playing water-filled glasses. The psalter, another musical instrument from prehistory, originally was simply a wooden board with gut strings stretched between pegs. It lifted the emotions to such a level that the Old Testament psalms were given their name, due to always being accompanied by the music of the psalter.

Listening to this music, Dianna's spirits lifted as well, and she began to have hope again. She separated from her husband and began dreaming of creating a nonprofit organization, which could provide harps for children who were disabled like herself. She located a harp maker who volunteered to design a lap harp for these special children. To raise funds, she set a concert date and asked harpists and crystal bowl players to volunteer their time. She then rolled her wheel chair to over 200 homes in her neighborhood, soliciting donations. In order to award the first harp, she even sold personal keepsakes to have the necessary $600. Oprah Winfrey's famous cry, "Follow your dream!" helped sustain her during this trying time.

In 2005, Dianna's Angel Harps organization donated their first harp to a child with Down's syndrome. Wanting to reach more children, she contacted the principals of schools in her city of Chula Vista, CA. With school budget cuts always an issue, they were delighted with her dream. Dianna Woodley is the true angel behind Angel Harps. Starting with a dream to help others with disabilities, she has changed the lives of hundreds of children with disabilities ranging from multiple sclerosis to ADHD by providing them with harps to assist in their healing process. National and local businesses have lent their financial support and her concerts are a seasonal favorite in her city of Chula Vista. Ninety Five percent of all proceeds go toward the purchase of harps, with all other necessary services donated.

Crediting it to all the power of healing music, Dianna today is fully recovered and pain free. As Angel Harps has grown, so has her vision. Now Dianna looks forward to the day when she is able to give these specially designed harps to each special education department in San Diego County. To Discover how you can help build Dianna's dream and enrich the lives of special needs children, contact Angel Harps at 619-518-6160 or go to http://www.angelharps.org.

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