"The Water Poem" is a wordless vocal composition by Ram Dass and AWARÉ that pairs atmospheric strings and percussion with contemporary ballet choreography by Dmytro Borodai. First performed at the Ukraine 4 Ever Gala in The Hague (2023), the piece explores themes of flow, surrender, and embodied presence through sound and movement. The composition emerges from the album "And Now He Has Wings" and demonstrates how non-verbal music can evoke visceral, transformative response in the body when combined with movement practice.
What makes wordless vocal music a form of spiritual practice?
Wordless vocals have long held a central place in contemplative traditions across cultures. By removing the semantic layer of language, the voice becomes an instrument of pure vibration and intention. In "The Water Poem," Ram Dass uses the human voice not to communicate narrative or doctrine, but to create a frequency field—a resonance that listeners receive through their nervous system rather than their intellect. This approach aligns with the classical yogic understanding of nada yoga, the yoga of sound, where the vibration itself carries the teaching.
When a voice operates without words, it moves beyond the interpretive filters of the mind. A listener cannot mentally parse or judge the content; instead, they meet the sound where it lives—in breath, in resonance, in the body's felt sense. This is particularly potent in a live or meditative setting, where the absence of language creates space for individual interpretation and inner response.
How does music pair with embodied movement to deepen presence?
The collaboration between Ram Dass's composition and Dmytro Borodai's choreography for the United Ukrainian Ballet illustrates a fundamental principle: music and movement are not separate phenomena but expressions of the same underlying energy. When a dancer moves to a piece without lyrics, they are essentially translating frequency into form. The body becomes the voice, the gesture becomes the word.
Contemporary ballet, unlike classical ballet, emphasizes the full range of the spine, floor work, and emotional authenticity. This aesthetic is naturally aligned with contemplative movement practices, where the goal is not to achieve an external ideal of beauty but to express an inner state with honesty and presence. In "Soul Vibrations," the choreographic title given to the piece, Borodai creates movement that mirrors the undulating, flowing quality suggested by the composition—the way water moves, the way breath moves, the way energy itself flows through a body when resistance dissolves.
This pairing demonstrates that embodied practice—whether yoga, dance, tai chi, or qigong—becomes more integrated when music supports rather than merely accompanies it. The sound and the movement share a common source, creating a unified field of attention and aliveness.
What is the relationship between water as metaphor and musical flow?
Water appears throughout spiritual and artistic traditions as a metaphor for consciousness, adaptability, and surrender. Water moves around obstacles rather than resisting them. It takes the shape of its container. It flows from high to low, following the path of least resistance. In music, flow refers to the seamless progression from one moment to the next, where tension and release are balanced, and listening feels effortless.
"The Water Poem" engages both the literal and metaphorical dimensions of water. The wordless vocals, atmospheric strings, and percussion create a sonic landscape that mimics the movement of water—rippling, gathering, dispersing, and converging again. Listeners report that music without lyrics allows them to enter a state closer to the flow state described in psychology, where self-consciousness dissolves and action arises directly from alignment with the moment.
The metaphor of water in a poem traditionally evokes impermanence, continuity, and presence. When composed into music, these qualities become experiential rather than conceptual. The listener does not think about water; they become the experience of flowing.
Why does this composition originate from a larger album project?
"The Water Poem" is part of the album "And Now He Has Wings," released under Spirit Voyage Records. The album represents Ram Dass's collaborative work with AWARÉ, a project combining his vision with the musical and production expertise of Bogdan Djukic and Matias Da Via. Albums structured around thematic coherence allow individual songs to be both standalone experiences and part of a larger narrative arc.
By situating "The Water Poem" within a broader collection, the album context enriches the piece. Listeners who engage with the full project encounter the poem as one voice in a larger conversation about transformation, presence, and embodiment. This approach reflects the classical album format—where sequence, variety, and cumulative effect matter—as opposed to individual tracks in isolation.
The production credits reveal that Ram Dass not only composed but also produced, engineered, and mixed the work, indicating a level of sonic intentionality that extends beyond arrangement into the technical realm of frequency balance, spatial imaging, and sonic texture. This is material crafted with precision, not merely captured.
How does the live performance context shape the meaning of the composition?
The video shows "The Water Poem" performed at the Ukraine 4 Ever Gala in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2023. This was not a studio recording but a live performance combining recorded music with real-time dance. The presence of a live body moving to the composition adds dimensions that studio listening cannot fully replicate.
In a live setting, the audience witnesses transformation in real time. They see a dancer respond moment-to-moment to the sonic field. They observe how breath, body alignment, and emotional presence create visible effect. The gazes of other audience members also shape the collective field—there is a shared attention that intensifies the experience.
The choice to premiere this work at a benefit gala supporting Ukraine speaks to the values embedded in the project itself. The composition becomes an offering, a gesture of solidarity, a way that sonic and embodied beauty can honor resilience and community. Art functions here not as entertainment or distraction but as a form of witness and support.
What does atmospheric composition reveal about sound design for inner work?
The description notes that the piece combines "wordless vocals, atmospheric strings, and percussion." This is a carefully chosen palette. Strings create the sense of continuity and emotional resonance traditionally associated with the heart. Percussion grounds the listener in rhythm and presence—the steady pulse that anchors awareness. Wordless vocals operate in the space between the two, sometimes leading, sometimes supporting, sometimes dissolving into the texture.
Atmospheric composition—music that prioritizes texture and spatial quality over melodic development—is increasingly recognized as valuable for contemplative practice. Neuroscience research suggests that ambient or textural music can facilitate alpha wave states in the brain, associated with relaxed alertness and integration. Unlike music with strong narrative arc (verse-chorus-bridge), atmospheric music allows the listener's attention to roam rather than being directed along a predetermined path.
This approach is particularly useful for movement practices, where the dancer or practitioner needs space for their own intuition to emerge. If the music is too prescriptive, the body becomes a puppet. If the music is too minimal, the sense of support dissolves. "The Water Poem" appears to strike this balance—enough structure to hold attention, enough spaciousness to allow authentic movement.
Where to go from here
Listeners interested in exploring this work can access "The Water Poem" across multiple platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Bandcamp. For those drawn to the fuller context, "And Now He Has Wings" offers additional compositions by Ram Dass and AWARÉ. Ram Dass's website and artist channel provide pathways to learn more about the composer's larger body of work, philosophy, and teaching.
Those interested in the intersection of music and embodied practice might explore how wordless vocal music appears in other contemplative traditions—Sufi mystical music, Tibetan overtone singing, Indian raga traditions. Similarly, the connection between sonic texture and movement could deepen through studying dancers who work with instrumental and ambient music, or through experimenting with one's own body's response to different sonic environments.
The composition stands as evidence that profound spiritual work does not require words, dogma, or intellectual framework. Frequency, presence, and the honest meeting between sound and body are sufficient to open doors that language alone cannot unlock.
