Sound Circle of Life

Listening right now to Walela singing "Amazing Grace" in Cherokee. The first time I heard it I started weeping and decided in that moment that I want this played at my funeral. Other than that I don't have too many thoughts about a funeral- but I would have one just so that I could have this song played at it! It is so beautiful.

I haven't been blogging. I miss it. I think of it just about every day. I have been spending time with my mother in her 90th year which has been an incredible gift for both of us. And then unexpectedly my 33 year old son had to have surgery to remove some scar tissue in his small intestine from Crohn's Disease. The surgery took a lot longer than they expected and his healing is slower also than anticipated. So I have been very much dealing with that, plus my mother- and Christmas around the corner. I am so grateful that I am in New England to be with my son while he is going through this.

And there is the grace! "I do not know what anything is for."

The Amazing Talent of Alice Coltrane

Clicked to some great link online just now which opened up a world of bhakti and in the middle of the page was this wonderful piece by Alice Coltrane. God how I love her music. Her "Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana" was one of my all-time favorite albums years ago. Played it til I could play it no more. Would often listen to it over and over. I ache sometimes to be able to hear it and chant along with "Govinda Jai Jai" and "Prema Muditha".

I think the couple my ex-husband and I lived with off and on must have had the album with this title track because when I heard it tonight I knew every note of it and it resonated so deeply within me. So interesting to hear this music from a time when I knew nothing on a conscious level about sound healing and have the awareness of how deeply healing this music was for me.

Sound Sculptures

For the past two weeks I have been working pretty intensely, as much as I have time, on my Healing Sound Garden website www.healingsoundgarden.squarespace.com. I have been exploring all kinds of possibilities for sound sculptures and outdoor instruments. This morning I ran across this pretty wild sound sculpture. Not suitable for an outdoor sound garden but nonetheless, very cool!

A Sonic Treasure

Julian Treasure is my great discovery of the day! I stumbled across this video online today and was so grateful for this man's understanding of sound, how powerful it is, how it can affect us both negatively and positively- and the clarity of his expression. He talks about ways in which we can use sound to enrich our lives and things to be aware of to lessen the potential damage of certain sounds and modern technology.

One of the things I loved that he talks about is how we are developing a sort of dissociation (he calls it "dislocation") between what we see and what we hear- ex. being overuse of telephones. We are constantly "inviting into our lives the voices of people who are not present with us"- we take this for granted and in fact many people today are really addicted to their cell phones.
Makes me think of a song by Greg Brown.


I also found the information about the compression of sound through the use of digital recording, mp3 players, etc. very interesting- that compressed sound makes us tired and cranky because our brain has to work so hard to fill in so much of the sound. Fascinating, and of course it makes perfect sense, given how incredibly nurturing the "right" kind of sound and/or music can be, whether it is natural ambient sound from water, birds and insects to a live concert in a hall acoustically designed for optimal music appreciation.

The right kinds of sound and music feed our brain and nourish our whole being.

Adrian Belew Interview

This is an extremely interesting interview with Adrian Belew, the brilliant guitarist who has played with some of my absolute favorite bands of all time- King Crimson, Dave Bowie, Frank Zappa and the Talking Heads- and no doubt many many more. I love this though because he talks about all these bands that were part of my formative musical background. And all of this music had such a huge influence on me, literally a lifeline during really tumultuous times.

Before I went away to boarding school my brother gave me a KLH stereo and every day I would come home, or go to my dorm in school and lay down on the floor with my head between the speakers and let the music take me away. That music was so full, so rich, so subtle and so powerful and I see how much I have taken from it in my Sound Journeys- the ability to combine sounds that take the listener to a different realm. I really never thought about it in that way until tonight.

Gethsemane Sunset (Cymatics).wmv

This is just incredibly beautiful. Can you even begin to imagine what is happening inside of our bodies, our brain, when we listen to music?

And isn't it interesting how many of the formations from the disc on the left actually look like the brain?

Who is Tingsha Bobo?

Tingsha Bobo has been a rare but most welcome visitor in my life. I have experienced the gift of his wonderful ability to touch people's hearts and tickle their funny bones only twice in my life. The first time was on my 50th birthday several years ago ("several" is more than 3 but probably less than 10, yes?). Last Saturday he reappeared as if by magic while a few family members and I were in the midst of a celebration for my mother's 90th birthday.

I decided to write about him in this blog because sound is one of the vehicles he uses to transport people into his world of magic. His recent visit was quite short- no more than 7 minutes altogether- but during that time he played a small didgeridoo which he pulled out of his knapsack as well as a set of Tibetan tingshas (presumably where he gets his name) and a small rattle. When he appeared at my birthday he brought out a long haunting flute and quickly brought a group of 50 or so people under its spell. Both times he has combined the gifts of music and laughter, two of the best medicines known to man. We also discovered that he has a marvelous voice when he unabashedly serenaded my mother with her favorite birthday song! Anyone who has ever had a birthday in her presence has heard her sing that song. How did he know???

I have been looking on line for a derivation of the word "Bobo" which seems to be a fairly commonly used name for a clown. So far this is the most interesting and seemingly relevant bit of information I have come up with:"Who is Boo-Boo the Fool? A listener wonders if this African-American character has any relation the Puerto Rican fool, Juan Bobo. Martha draws a connection to the Spanish term bobo, meaning “fool,” and its Latin root balbus, meaning “stammerer”. Grant notes that the name Bobo has been extremely common for clowns since at least the 1940s, and the bobo/clown/jester character is prevalent in most all cultural folklores, be they African, South American, or Anglo-European."

So, if anyone were to ask me "Who is Tingsha Bobo?" (which they occasionally do since we have an extra line for him on our phone just in case someone needs to reach him for some laughter and song- hopefully we could call him in through the ethers) from my brief introductions to him my answer would be that he is a clown, a very sweet clown, who uses music as his medium- although I suspect he has some other tricks up his sleeve (or in his knapsack) that have yet to be revealed.

Enjoy!

Fred Neil, Vince Martin & John Sebastian - "The Dolphins" 8/2/76

Fred Neil... Sweet! And John Sebastian playing that oh-so-sweet harmonica. Great and rare find on YouTube. I love that more and more posts go up every day of and by so many great musicians- stuff that is rare, precious and heart-warming.

Wake Up Call

Good morning blogaholics. I haven't written a word here in 6 weeks. Finally my schedule has wound down. I am in Massachusetts at my mother's house and will be here for the next 8-10 weeks- through the new year as it looks right now.

About five weeks ago I went back to California for two weeks to teach a sound healing workshop on the use of tuning forks. It was at my sister's clinic in Los Gatos, the Six Harmonies Traditional Medicine Center. We had a class of ten students including my sister Miranda and her partner Jen Minor- who are both amazing practitioners! I have to admit that I am quite astounded at the work they are doing out there. I have known them both for a long time (yes, well... one of them all my life!) and have certainly experienced Miranda's work but the blending of modalities and the sensitivity with which they individually address each client was so impressive. They use Traditional Chinese Medicine (acupuncture, herbs and tui na), Thai massage and craniosacral therapy and also have a number of apprentices they are training- all of them either acupuncture students or licensed acupuncturists.

So I was essentially there to help them explore ways that they could incorporate sound into their practice. The workshop was great- it was a wonderful group and although it was one day and basically a very intensive intro, I felt that everyone got a lot out of it and would really be able to work with what what they had learned. I also did a Sound Journey and the second week I was there gave a lot of sessions, all but one with tuning forks. I did give one person a session with crystal bowls.

The most powerful part of it all for me was doing 3-4 tuning fork sessions every day for a week. I was so immersed in the process and it was such a wonderfully contemplative time. It is such beautiful quiet work and a simple straightforward protocol with very little hands on and it allows a space for the practitioner to become very quiet and internal and really it gave me a lot of time to look at my life and where I am now and see where I might want to do somethings differently- particularly for me in regards to my physical environment, given that I have never liked living in Florida. The awareness that it is time for me to really move forward towards making a change hit me very strongly.

The Creative Mind

Woke up- no- correction- found myself awake this morning very early, unable to sleep- my mind having a mind of its own! In fact it seemed as though I slept very little during the night. My body wanted to sleep and in fact one part of my mind seemed to be wishing that the active part of my mind would quiet down so that we could all go back to sleep! But that did not happen. So I surrendered to the part that was awake and my body begrudgingly followed along. We got up (me, my body and the various conscious and semi-conscious parts of my mind), grabbed a copy of "A Course in Miracles" that was by the bed, threw on some clothes and made my way into the living room. The sound of birds outside was irresistible- they've been drowned out by the air conditioner for months and was probably the most compelling reason to remove the pillow covering my head (the last ditch effort to go back to sleep) and get up and enjoy the sound and see what else was waiting for me in the early morning hours.

All of this led me to thinking about the activity, the creativity and the expansiveness of the mind. My intuitive sense tells me that it has infinite potential, literally, but we are so used to be confined in a body that we automatically throw confines around the mind as well because we don't know how NOT to. My friend Will said years ago that we live on an addictive plane- we have gravity pulling us down at all times. That stayed with me. As I lay in bed this morning I was aware of some tendency to move toward fear in my mental body and a lesson from ACIM came to me. Simply, "There is nothing to fear." I allowed myself to rest in that awareness for a little while, observing my thoughts before I got up. The body is not confined by the mind. I know that as I sit in this chair and I write, and I close my eyes and I listen. There are trucks in the distance, dogs, birds, cars, the movement of the air.

Where does my mind go when I sleep? If it does not sleep when I sleep (which it clearly does not!) then does it die when my body dies? It seems highly unlikely. But it will no longer be trapped by the body, by gravitational forces that want to limit it and rein it in. The mind has a compulsion to create and in line with the tendencies of this plane it also can be drawn in to addictive patterns- those tape loops that keep us away in the middle of the night. Some of it I think is biological- like the addictive pull of the computer which I believe is a factor of frequency. How often I sit down at the computer with the intention of either performing a simple task (checking email, sending a message, looking up an address) or beginning a creative project (writing, creating a brochure) and I find myself wasting absurd amounts of time due to distraction and attraction of varying sorts- but I think they all come down to a frequency, or frequencies, that pull at various parts of the brain-mind-body. It is interesting to see the shift from creativity to stagnancy that can occur in a short space of time.

The ability to create is fascinating. The mind uses the body to express itself. Yesterday I read a quote about the challenges of an untrained mind and what a powerful tool a well-trained mind is. When I got up and turned my computer on this morning, thinking about the creative potential of the mind, the confines and the expansiveness, I was met with this beautiful video. The music was composed and sung by my friend Christine Ghezzo. I felt it was the perfect expression of all that I had been thinking about, a perfect example of the mind's urge for creative expression and one of the billions of forms that takes.

Wholistic Chants

Just found some tracks on Youtube from one of my favorite albums of all time- the Apple recording from the Radha Krishna. I still have the vinyl but it is not remotely playable! But I could never get rid of it- especially since it has the transliteration of all the chants from the Devanagari- it was my first real introduction to Sanskrit. I remember when I used to chant along with it as a teenager and experiencing the familiarity of the language and my homesickness for India even though still today I have not yet been there in this lifetime.

Healing and Resonance...

At last I am done with three months of intensive teaching- sound healing courses for massage therapists. Not to complain, to be able to provide continuing education credits for massage therapists is a wonderful thing. It is an incredible venue to be able to bring sound healing further into the mainstream. There are many who come thinking they are just coming to get their CEUs and discover a whole new healing modality that they were previously completely unaware of. The deadline for Florida massage therapists to get all their CEUs and renew their licenses is tomorrow. So it has been a pretty intense period of time. And some very powerful experiences and beautiful healings. Here is a testimonial from a participant in a tuning fork workshop a couple of weeks ago who had a pretty amazing experience while receiving a session with the Brain Tuners.


On a different note, there has been a lot of discussion in my world lately about vibrational energy and resonant frequency. One of the things I have been thinking a lot about is telluric energies, or electrical currents that run through the earth. There is a theory that languages, music and cultures developed from these telluric energies and are inherent to those areas. Hence the great differences in, for example, Far Eastern and Germanic languages and music. This could also have to do with the different flora in different areas and part of the problem of introducing foreign species of plant life. They react strangely, are invasive, whatever... because they really are vibrating at a different frequency than the plant life- or animal life- around them. Some of them adapt. They become entrained to the vibration around them. Whichever is the stronger vibration will win out.

The End of "Life"...

I spent the last three weeks immersed in Keith Richards' autobiography "Life" when I wasn't immersed in Kirtan Camp, California dreaming, and landing back in the hot humid un-reality of Florida! It was one of those books I did not want to end and have been going back to it for days re-reading different parts of it that struck me the most. I actually had a piece of paper that I kept tearing in half over and over marking another page, then another and another. What a great heart. So honest, such simple straightforward eloquence and deep appreciation. Such a deep love and appreciation for music, for the people in his life- family, friends, acquaintances, fellow musicians- and for his memories of a very packed life.

I have to share some of this. "For many years I slept, on average, twice a week. This means that I have been conscious for at least three lifetimes." This book is so full that it is like reading about three lifetimes and pretty much every moment of it is captivating- at least it was for me.

When he was little his grandfather Gus would take him out on his wanderings. "His warmth, his affection surrounded me, his humor kept me doubled up for large portions of the day. It was hard to find much that was funny in those days in London. But there was always MUSIC!... You had no idea where you'd end up. Little shops around Angel and Islington, he'd just disappear into the back. 'Just stay here a minute, son. Hold the dog.' And then he'd come back saying, 'OK,' and we'd go on and end up in the West End in the workshops of the big music stores, like Ivor Mairants and the HMV. He knew all the makers, the repair guys there. He'd sit me up on a shelf. There'd be these vats of glue and instruments hung up and strung up , guys in long brown coats, gluing, and then there'd be somebody at the end testing instruments; there's be some music going on. And then there'd be these harried little men coming in from the orchestra pit, saying, 'Have you got my violin?' I'd just sit up there with a cup of tea and a biscuit and the vats of glue going blub blub blub like a mini Yellowstone Park, and I was just fascinated. I never got bored. Violins and guitars hung up on wires and going around on a conveyor belt, and all these guys fixing and making and refurbishing instruments. I see it back then as very alchemical, like Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I just fell in love with the instruments."

But my absolutely most favorite part of the whole book is one beautiful paragraph where he describes Roy Orbison. He's talking about when the Stones are in Dunedin, New Zealand, very early on in their career- 1965, and it's been an incredibly long day and it's wet and dark and they're all totally depressed. As he puts it, "Boredom is an illness to me, and I don't suffer from it, but that moment was the lowest ebb. 'I think I'll stand on my head and recycle the drugs.'" And then...

"But Roy Orbison! It was only because we were with Roy Orbison that we were there at all. He was definitely top of the bill that night. What a beacon in the southernmost gloom. The amazing Roy Orbison. He was one of those Texan guys who could sail through anything, including his whole tragic life. His kids die in a fire, his wife dies in a car crash, nothing in his life went right for the big O, but I can't think of a gentler gentleman, or a more stoic personality. That incredible talent for blowing himself up from five foot six to six foot nine, which he seemed to be able to do on stage. It was amazing to witness. He'd been in the sun, looking like a lobster, having a chat, smoke and a drink. 'Well, I'm on in five minutes.' We watch the opening number. And out walks this totally transformed thing that seems to have grown at least a foot with presence and command over the crowd. He was in his shorts just now; how did he do that? It's one of those astounding things about about working in the theater. Backstage you can be a bunch of bums. And 'Ladies and gentlemen' or 'I present to you,' and you're somebody else."

Music Heals... Kirtan Camp- 2011!

Just got back from an amazing 7-day Kirtan Camp with Jai Uttal last night! I believe the end count was 55 kirtanistas chanting their hearts out... crying, laughing, singing, praying and playing together. An atmosphere of love, nurturing and support...

I realized sometime over the course of the last few days that I felt physically better than I have in a very long time. Was it the food- mostly raw, all organic... the climate- San Anselmo, CA, just north of SF- and the awareness of what an incredible physical drain Florida has on my body... the music- chanting, playing harmonium and drumming for the better part of 7-8 hours a day... the devotion, the bhakti, the shakti? Well, I think it had to be all of the above... again my favorite word comes to mind- WHOLISTIC. Healing on all levels- body, mind, heart and soul. Giving myself space to be and to heal. I realize how little music I have been enjoying for myself and my own spirit lately.

Such a good reminder of why I do what I do.

So simple.

Music heals.
Sound heals.
Love heals.

Here is a just a glimpse of the absolute sweetness of it all- which also speaks to Jai's generosity and spirit of willingness to share with no agenda of his own. Someone asked about how he combined other instruments with his kirtan and specifically enjoyed his use of the banjo- which is something I have always loved in his music, so the next day he brought it in.

The Physics of Water and Tibetan Bowls- Part Two

Well, to someone else this might have just been a cool and interesting video- it certainly was to me! But it was also much more than that. I was immediately intrigued because what I saw in the video somehow reminded me of what was happening in the bowls. It was clearly not the same but definitely seemed related. I immediately went to the MIT website and was able to find the email address of John Bush, the math professor on the video. (If you don't know what I'm talking about see last week's blog post.) I was hoping perhaps he could explain what I was seeing. I didn't really expect a response and actually felt a little shy about it but my curiosity far outweighed my sense of awkwardness.

I wrote John an email the same day- in fact probably within the hour of seeing the video because I was so excited about what I had been observing and the possibility of an explanation. I described as best I could what I had been seeing and asked him if he was familiar with the singing bowls. I really figured that even if he hadn't witnessed this in the bowls that he may have been familiar with it in some other capacity and that it was probably some boring "old news" to him and since he was some really important busy guy from MIT the chances of hearing from him were slim at best!

In fact I heard from him within 24-48 hours of sending the email and he was very interested in what I was observing. He said it sounded like the phenomena of "walking droplets" his friend and colleague Yves Couder had been exploring. He attached an article describing the walking droplets and I was pretty convinced that this was exactly what I had been seeing when I played the bowls with water in them. He was not familiar with the bowls beyond that he thought he might have heard one at one time.
This is the URL for the article. Unfortunately I could not get the link to work in this post but you can cut and paste the URL into your browser and it should work.
http://www.lps.ens.fr/~boudaoud/Publis/Couder05Walk.pdf

We continued a dialogue and because it fit right into the work he was already doing, within a short time he had a grant to study the fluid dynamics of the water in Tibetan bowls, specifically in relationship to the wave-particle phenomena in quantum mechanics, previously a theoretical foundation but unproven (and/or not disproven) on a macrocosmic level. I picked out a couple of bowls for him that best displayed the action and they were soon at home in the MIT Math Lab. Before I sent off the bowls though I couldn't resist my own humble demonstration for the world to see.

The bowls I used in this video were two of the bowls I sent to MIT.

Not long after that I was in Massachusetts visiting my mother less than an hour away from Boston and I was invited to come to the Math Lab to see what they were doing. I was very excited! It was pretty much what you would expect of a lab that was studying fluid dynamics- lots of faucets set up at different heights and beautiful large format photographs of drops of water, water patterns and insects walking on the surface of water. And on a white formica counter top was a Tibetan bowl that had been marked in four places around the edge with a Sharpy- clearly the spots where the waveforms would first begin to emerge as it responded to the sound. The bowl had a wire attached to it from a large speaker which would resonate the bowl when they turned it on. That way they could keep the sound at a steady volume to observe and film what was happening. So basically the bowl vibrated by sympathetic resonance rather than someone manually playing it. It was very cool and odd and interesting to see this sacred sound object being used as the centerpoint of a science experiment. The whole question initially was whether they could get the water to "walk". They were excited to try it with silicon fluid because of the difference in viscosity. (Excerpt from an email a couple of weeks later:
"I just came up from the lab, where Denis has seen bouncing of drops of silicon oil in Bowl #1.
Tomorrow, walking!")

All in all I sent them four bowls. I spent lots of time trying out bowls to see which ones really worked the best with the water, in terms of showing the unusual movement of the fluid. I have gotten so that I can tell just by looking at the shape of a bowl whether it will respond especially well with water in it. I am always amazed and fascinated and sometimes still totally surprised by what I see. For example, a few days ago we put water in a smaller bowl, less than four inches across and the droplets formed a beautiful symmetrical pattern all clustered together in the center of the bowl.

The research project was completed in a little over a year and three weeks ago John Bush sent me the original article plus a short article that was in the BBC. It has received a lot of press in various physics and science magazines. This is the link to the article in the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13972556 (Again, you'll have to cut and paste the link. Sorry)
The videos are fascinating so if you don't feel like reading the articles watch this.
This first one is silent but very interesting:

The bowl in the video of the attached article is one of the ones I sent them. He also gifted one to his good friend Yves Couder who I believe was the original inspiration for the research project.
Here is the video from the BBC article.


I am sort of an insane fanatic now and spend absurd amounts of time playing bowls with water in them and watching, watching, watching. Not only that, I find myself watching all kinds of other drops of fluid. Every morning I take a liquid sulphur supplement and I have to count the drops as I add it to water because I have to take a very specific amount. It seems to have an odd consistency and the bouncing is very obvious.

The Physics of Water and Tibetan Bowls- Part One

Okay,so... the big news is that the research paper on the fluid dynamics of Tibetan singing bowls by MIT Professor John Bush and Denis Terwagne of Belgium's University of Liege has finally been published! Why is this of special interest to me? Well, for one thing because I instigated the study.

Here's how the whole thing happened. Once upon a time there was girl named Rosie who was very captivated by a video called "Cymatics" which shows the work of Hans Jenny and how sound affects matter through various medium, including liquids of varying viscosity and certain non-liquid substances such as lycopodium and iron filings. The different materials respond to sound in their own unique ways according to their physical properties- but ALL of them respond. According to the different frequencies they organize themselves in different (and typically orderly) fashion. As the frequencies change the patterns and structures change.

If you are not familiar with the concept of cymatics take a look at this short video.

Okay, you may have figured out by now that Rosie is me, so I'll continue in the first person just to move things along.

As I was teaching my own sound healing workshops I thought it would be fun to do some of our own simple cymatic experiments so I took a frame drum and put sand on the head of a drum and then toned into the edge of the drum. As soon as I hit the primary tone of the drum the head of it would begin to vibrate through sympathetic resonance and the sand would organize into a pattern. This was cool, fun and interesting but it took a lot of breath!

Eventually I got a Tibetan singing bowl and decided to see what would happen with water in the bowl. What I discovered was that when the bowl was struck with the water in it, it would immediately set up a pattern in the water which would become more complex the longer the bowl was resonated as the waves would begin to cross over each other. The volume also seemed to make a difference. And as I acquired more bowls I also noticed that the pattern was different depending on the size and frequency of the bowl.

But what I noticed beyond that was even more interesting to me. The water would bead up on the surface and would stay on the surface as long as the bowl was resonating- and the beads of water seemed to skitter across the surface! It was bizarre and fascinating to me. It seemed to me that the water was not acting like water- it reminded me of when (we were bad kids) and would break a thermometer and mess with the mercury (quicksilver) which would break up into beads and whiz across the floor.

Then one day about a year and a half ago I got an email with a link to this video. Mind you, by this time I had been observing this phenomena with the water in the bowls for over two years wondering what the heck was going on- seriously thinking things like "Could the sound be changing the molecular structure of the water?"

Stay tuned for Installment Two of this very exciting story!

Kirtan Camp, Here I Come! 6.21.11

It has been my heart's desire to go to Jai Uttal's Summer Kirtan Camp in San Rafael,CA for the last however many years- ever since I first heard about it, whenever that was. I keep in touch with him and Nubia and every year threaten that I am coming but have never been able to get the dough together. This year is the last year he is offering it for a while and when I heard that my mind was made up. There was no way i could afford not to go. Bought my plane ticket to California today! Don't have the money yet for the camp but I am committed and it will come. Living life out on a limb! What else is new?

This is one of my very most favorite Jai Uttal videos, hanging out singing to Ganga Ma in Rishikesh. So beautiful, simple, heartfelt... I posted it on my blog a while back but I didn't write so I guess nobody really saw it. It should not be missed- such a sweet 48 seconds of bhakti bliss. Oooh! That sounds like a poem...

48 seconds of bhakti bliss
Something my heart wants not to miss
A song of love, the soul's sweet kiss
48 seconds of bhakti bliss...

Wholistic Healing with Tibetan Singing Bowls

Lately I have been giving a lot of sound healing sessions with Tibetan (or Himalayan) singing bowls. They are called singing bowls because of their harmonic resonances and also because when you strike them the tone continues to ring long after they are struck. I have discovered through giving individuals sessions that the bowls seem to have an intelligence of their own and they actually seem to communicate how they should be arranged and played, as well as what bowls to pick for a given session. I am finding that there are different layouts or "spreads" that direct the sound energy in different patterns and directions. So far no two have been the same.

A couple of weeks ago I gave a friend a session with the bowls. Before she came I had already picked out a chakra set because I knew she was going to have a session with the bowls- she didn't know until she got there, but I had already been guided as to the beginning of the session. Once she lay down on the mat other bowls began calling to me and I put them around her as I was directed. I was astounded that each bowl I picked was in perfect harmony with the others even though I didn't try them or play any of them in advance.

After I felt that the layout was complete I began playing the bowls. What I began to sense as I played was that the layout was a Sun/Moon Spread, that it was assisting in balancing her male and female energies. In the beginning the layout looked like this.









Toward the end of the session, maybe after 20-25 minutes I was guided to begin changing the layout of the bowls. I began moving them and was directed very specifically where to place each bowl and soon discovered that the energy of the bowls was being directed very strongly to the heart, and clearly going in toward the heart. The sound was traveling up from the bottoms of her feet, through her legs and into the heart. And from the fingertips up through the arms and into the heart... in through the shoulders and into the heart, and also straight up from the root and straight down from the top of the head meeting in the heart as well. It looked like this.









It was incredibly beautiful and powerful and the sound of the bowls was extraordinary. I felt like the sound energy wanted to go to her heart. When the session was over I did not move the bowls away from her as I usually do because I wanted to share with her what I had witnessed and I felt she would better understand if she saw the layout of the bowls and the shift from the first part of the session to the second.

But before I shared with her I asked her about her experience. The only thing I said was "The sound all wanted to go to your heart." When I said that she began weeping. And then she told me that what she experienced was all these orbs surrounding her, these little spheres that were totally full of love and they all began moving into her. She said they were all her "buds", her friends and they were all part of her and then they all went into her heart and they were just hanging out there, in her heart. And she just wept. And so did I.

This is the last few minutes of the session, when I began changing the layout of the bowls. This is what it sounded like.

Blogging in my Mind 6.10.11

Forgive me bloggers for I have sinned. It has been two weeks since my last entry. I have been blogging in my mind practically nonstop, but as J says in A Course in Miracles "Your good intentions are not enough." Okay, that being said, I have been writing- just not in here, so I am going to paste some of the stuff I have been working on. I have been teaching workshops galore- almost every weekend. Last weekend was one on Healing With Tibetan Singing Bowls. I put together some information on the bowls, compiled from a variety of sources, mainly Eva Rudy Jansen and Rain Gray who has a wonderful interview with a Tibetan lama on his website, sprinkled with some insights and wisdom of my own! ;-)

I have been working like crazy on these workshops and then in the middle of last week I was suddenly asked to be in a play- a musical play- this Saturday. I said yes and ended up with two parts- one of which is a singing part and I have to do a couple of songs. Sound healing I know and I am comfortable talking about it and facilitating very large groups- but performing, playiing my guitar and singing to an audience really throws me out of my comfort zone- which I kind of love in a way, too! Because I know how empowering and healing it really is to be out of one's comfort zone and move forward regardless. I do really enjoy theater and haven't been in a play for SO many years (never mind how many!) and I love the parts I am playing- an archetype from Hildegard's visions- Ecclesia- and Hildegard's protege, Richardis. They are both wonderful parts and the music is great. The challenge has really just been that I had put aside this time to prepare for my workshops and that got totally cut into so I got really stressed- not a good body/mindset for a healer! so tonight I get my comic relief from "Romance & Cigarettes", one of the funniest musicals I have ever seen.

Okay a little bit about sacred sound here... after all that is what we are doing here!

Shamanism and the Esoteric Teachings of Tibetan Singing Bowls

“Every atom constantly sings a song, and it is this tone which creates finer or denser forms of greater or smaller density.” Lama Govinda

The bowls are shrouded in secrecy.The Tibetan, or more accurately Himalayan singing bowls originated in the Bon culture of the Himalayas- the original religion of Tibet, a shamanic animistic tradition which predated Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced in the 7^th c. AD and split off into two branches. The Bon religion is a more shamanic branch of Buddhism, and Lamaism is essentially Buddhism with strong Bon influences. Although both used sound extensively in ritual and meditations there is no written account whatsoever of the use of the bowls in their practice although they have been found in both monasteries and private homes.

That being said, according to Richard Rudis, "In the words of the great Tibetan master/Bodhisattva Gwalwa Karmapa, the Singing Bowls of Tibet emit the ‘Sound of the Void', the sound of the universe manifesting. They are a symbol of the 'unknowable' and as an alloy, date back to the Buddha, Shakyamuni (560-480 B.C.). Their origins and detailed histories are shrouded in the distant past and are surely a gift from the shamanistic 'Bon' religion which precedes Buddhism in Tibet by centuries. For centuries they have been utilized for healing and consciousness transformation."

Over 20 years ago Rain Gray, seeking answers to the mystery of these singing bowls, went to Nepal and found a very old Lama who talked to him at some length. Lama Lobsang Leshe told him that the bowls give a very high teaching, the pure teaching, the essence of Buddhism. He said that all sounds give different teachings and the singing bowls give Voidness teaching. The Voidness or emptiness teaching is the highest of all teachings. Without emptiness teaching there is no enlightenment. “This sound wang, wang, wang, wang, wang, means emptiness, empty, empty, empty, empty.” “Buddha is not here but singing bowl is.” (From interview with Rain Gray and Lama Lobsang Leshe, 1989)

“It is said that in the beginning the wind created the gyatams [matter/substance], the basis of our world, by a spinning movement. This movement of the wind was melodious and it was this kind of sound that combined the form and the matter of the gyatam to form a whole. The gyatams sang and from them emerged shapes that, in turn, produced others through the power of the sound that they had made. This applies not only to the past but is still true today. Every atom ceaselessly sings its song, constantly creating coarse and fine substances.” Lama from the Bon monastery of Tesmon, Tibet. Tibet: Bandits, Priests and Demons by Alexandra David-Neel, 1988

The Role of the Shaman... In the past shamans have acted as “mediators” between man and the spirit worlds. Part of their ability is to restore communciation when it has been temporarily disturbed. Their primary tool is sound- first the voice, chanting and singing, and then other instruments- drums, rattles, wind instruments and presumably the bell, bowl or gong. Through the use of sound shamans are able to reconnect us with parts of ourselves that we have lost the ability or forgotten how to access- sometimes indeed our right mind.

Paradigm Shift... We are in a transitory phase moving into a new paradigm, a consciousness in which we no longer need the doctor, the priest or the shaman... the mediator. Tools are becoming available to the masses so that we can learn to heal ourselves. We are learning to “tune in”- to fine tune our frequency. The Himalayan singing bowls with their resonant tones and powerful frequencies are wonderful tools that have really only begun to become somewhat more available to the Western world in the last 20 years. It may seem that Tibet is losing its rich culture at times- and on some levels that's probably true- but this is also part of the process of opening up to a greater global and universal consciousness. These bowls are a gift from their culture to us to allow us to begin to expand our consciousness, fine tune our frequencies and begin to absorb some of these age old teachings. Just as the vibratory essence of Sanskrit mantras is inherent in the seed sounds and can reveal itself to us with the proper practice and pronunciation, these bowls have ancient voices and teachings to reveal to us.

Seven Metals (more or less)... Singing bowls are made of various metal alloys depending on where they were made and what ores were available to the traveling metalsmiths. A metallurgical investigation, conducted by the British Museum in London, discovered the fact that the oldest tools usually are crafted of a 12-metal alloy composed of silver, nickel, copper, zinc, antimony, tin, lead, cobalt, bismuth, arsenic, cadmium and also iron. The ancient Himalayan bowls were composed of seven holy metals located in Tibetan plateau. The metals corresponded to seven celestial bodies:

1. Gold – Sun – Leo
2. Mercury- Mercury – Virgo/Gemini
3. Silver – Moon – Cancer
4. Iron – Mars – Scorpio/Aries
5. Lead – Saturn – Capricorn/ Aquarius
6. Tin – Jupiter – Sagittarius/ Pieces
7. Copper- Venus- Taurus / Libra

Each metal has its own sound and the combination produces the unique singing and harmonics of the bowl. The proportions of metals are different in each bowl. It is said that the bowls from Nepal have more of a golden glow whereas the bowls of Tibet had a higher concentration of silver and tin giving them a dull anthracite luster.
A Lost Art... Today's bowls are cast. They have not been made in “the old way” for at least 60 years and it seems to be a lost art. No one really knows how they have such a multiplicity of tones, and such a precise balance of overtones and frequencies that has so powerful an effect on consciousness, but the older bowls create measurable beat frequencies which entrain the brainwaves into alpha and theta states. These are the states which are most conducive to an “open” mind, the states that support deep relaxation, meditation, peace and an inner stillness. These are also the conditions that can lead to profound changes and healing on a physical plane.

Thoughts on "Thoughts from Within" by Woody Harrelson 5.25.11

This is amazing. This is wholistic poetry! This is a request and an expression of healing for the whole planet, the whole earth and all of the beings who populate it. I knew nothing about Woody Harrelson beyond his ability and brilliance as an actor... but of course you always have to wonder about those people who can step into someone else's shoes and make you believe they are that someone. There has to be (I think) an extreme level of compassion to get inside another person and express their feelings as if they were your own.

Even actors who we judge to have a less than appealing personality in the world- they have something- maybe they can't tap into their own feelings, or maybe their own feelings are so strong that they feel endangered if they were to let them out. So they go undercover as it were, and allow themselves the freedom to immerse themselves in another, maybe an historical person or maybe the extreme figment of someone else's "imagination". And there, that may really be where they can connect with their own essence, in safety. No one gets hurt, and no one sees the vulnerability that lies beneath the surface.

But here, I feel like I have a sense of Woody Harrelson, a strong sense of him, in an unabashed expression of honesty- contempt for all that is wrong with the world and compassion, love and hope for the possibility of who we can be, as individuals and as a collective whole.

This is also a great example of the power of the Internet, to connect us as a whole, in the most meaningful sense of the word- that I can randomly click on someone else's YouTube channel and stumble across this bit of brilliance. And it lit up a place in my mind and in my heart. That is astounding to me. I know I can just as easily get tripped up by triviality and inconsequential bullshit as I muddle through Facebook, my emails, YouTube, you name it... but on the flip side of that there is what I believe to be the Higher Purpose of the Internet and I am so grateful for all the people I have connected with, the ones whom I have re-connected with, and these brilliant bits of illumination that light up my world.

"When a mind has only light, it knows only light. Its own radiance shines all around it, and extends out into the darkness of other minds, transforming them into majesty. The Majesty of God is there, for you to recognize and appreciate and know. Recognizing the Majesty of God as your brother is to accept your own inheritance. God gives only equally. If you recognize His gift in anyone, you have acknowledged what He has given you. Nothing is so easy to recognize as the truth. This is the recognition that is immediate, clear and natural."
~A Course in Miracles~ Text p. 127

It Acts Like Love 5.23.11

I found this poem on Geoffrey Gordon's website. It reminds us of why we love music.


~RABIA~

IT ACTS LIKE LOVE

It acts like love-music-
it reaches toward the face, touches it, and tries to let you know
God's promise: that all will be okay.

It acts like love-music and,
tells the feet, "You don't have to be so burdened."

My body is covered with wounds
this world made,

but I longed to kiss God, even when He said,

"Could you also kiss the hand that caused
each scar,

for you will not find me until
you do."

It does that-music-helps us
to forgive.


And then if you are still not sure, listen to this chant, watch the video and notice... every little thing... your body, your mind, your emotions, your breath, your heart... there is so much sweetness in this incredible gift of life.

Wholistic Composition 5.21.11

Arrived in Minneapolis last Wednesday, ostensibly to visit my eldest son Namdev, his wife Kim and my granddaughter Patience who live here. My second to oldest son and his wife, Moose and Addie, who had never been out here were meeting us here as well. To my great and happy surprise though I had also found out that Zoe Keating was performing the first night I was arriving. So Kim and I went to see her while Namdev and Pay met Moose and Addie at the airport and had dinner with them.

The first time I saw Zoe Keating on YouTube less than a year ago, performing "Escape Artist" I was totally mesmerized, hooked and had tears in my eyes by the end of it. I have no idea how many times I have watched it since. Some days the melody line is continually floating through my consciousness. We saw her in a small venue, the Cedar Cultural Center, and were in the second row. I have been to more concerts than I can remember where I have had a lousy vantage point and been so frustrated by someone's big head right in my way, twisting this way and that, craning and straining my neck to see, and was so delighted to have such a great close up vantage point! She started off with "Tetrishead". This video is not great resolution but it is a beautiful rendition.

Not much can be said after that. Just so astounding, her brilliance as a composer combined with her sense of rhythm and mastery of technology that in the end sounds like an orchestra of cellos. It was absolutely wonderful.

So in my mind this was a very auspicious arrival. The rest is yet to come- later the sounds from the Quaking Bog where we went walking yesterday!

Sanskrit mantra for abundance 5.15.11

Several days ago I was looking up a Sanskrit mantra for abundance. I ran across this and it is short and simple .I love this woman's voice and her pronunciation is wonderful so I am going to work with it for a while. My intention is to do at least one mala a day- 108 repetitions- for 40 days. Will keep you posted!

(One hour later) Just finished my morning mantra meditation practice. Chanted the mantra 108 times aloud, then silently (in a whisper), then totally silently/mentally as I had been instructed by one of my teachers, Shyamji (Sri Shyamji Bhatnagar), several years ago (not specifically for this mantra but another one that he gave me.)

It was very interesting as subtle awarenesses began to slowly surface in my consciousness- which I didn't really notice unitl I began the third mala and was just chanting mentally. In the beginning I was just in the experience of chanting aloud and it seems that during this process the actual vibratory sound of the mantra began to seep into my physical body and entrain the nervous system. As the chant became quiet, just a whisper, my whole being became very quiet and with the third time through on the mala just chanting mentally I could feel subtle energy running throughout my body but the greatest awareness in my middle, ring finger and baby fingers. Throughout my body a very quiet vibration moving through... my cells? my nadis? Don't know but it felt good. Also light began to come forward on the last series of repetitions. When I finished the third series of repetitions on the mala I sat quietly and began to experience waves of blue and golden green light. Then it shifted into a beautiful deep rose color that I really had never experienced before.

As I write this it is also coming back to me that as I chanted I became aware that the sound seems to pierce blockages in the physical body allowing it to up and become more and more receptive to the frequency. It clears and balances the energy channels then begins to work more deeply as the sound gets quieter- much the same idea as homeopathy. The quieter the sound the deeper and more powerful the effect. It clears the channels within the body and then begins working on the subtle bodies. As the system aligns with the frequency of the mantra it then expands out into the auric field filling the aura also with the vibration of the mantra so that one's whole being becomes receptive to the frequencies of the vibratory essence of the mantra, thus attracting the specific energy of the seed sounds of the mantra.

And as a side note, this also makes clear the need for proper pronunciation of the individual phonemes of the mantra- because they each carry and convey a very specific vibrational quality that is necessary to achieve the desired results of the mantra.

When I got up a felt very enlivened and happy. I noticed that I liked myself when I looked in the mirror- rather than having the usual critical thoughts about myself- and then thought "Ah, that must be from doing the mantra. " And of course just taking the time to sit for a bit as well, which is always good for the soul.

Toning, Self- Generated Sound 5.6.11

Just wrote this article for a workshop I am teaching (actually a rewrite of an old one). Seems like good blog material. After all, toning is self-generated wholistic sound. Sound for the WHOLE BEING- sound to RESTORE US TO WHOLENESS- Original Perfection (as opposed to the paradigm of Original S-word!)

TONING
Self-Generated Sound for Self Healing
~Rosie Warburton, Sound Therapist~

What Is Toning?
Uhhhhh... Good question- what is “toning”? Toning is the simple practice of holding a single sustained vowel sound in order to experience the effects of the sound vibration on various parts of the body. It can also have a powerful effect on the mental and emotional bodies. With consistent practice toning can be developed into a highly effective procedure for aligning and balancing one's own energy field. It may also be used by body/energy workers as a diagnostic and therapeutic healing tool as well as being a very effective tool for meditation.

Toning the Chakras
Uuuuu (pronounce like “oo” in “moon”)... There is a vowel sound and corresponding frequency for each of the 7 primary subtle energy centers in the body (known as “chakras” in Indian philosophy). There are a number of different systems by which one can determine the appropriate pitch. By doing toning as a meditative practice you will be able to quickly and effectively clear, align and balance your chakras. A one, two or three octave system may be used depending on one's vocal range and personal preference. One or two octave systems are more commonly used as many people do not have a range of three octaves or more. You will find, however, that with a little practice your range will noticeably expand- even toning as little as 10-20 minutes a day over a period of 2-3 weeks.

Benefits of Toning
Ooooh (Pronounce like “o” in “so” or “OM”)... There are many benefits to toning. Intuitively we sing or hum to an infant to calm them down when they are upset. The sound of our voice is as powerful a healer as touch. In our culture we have gotten so far removed from it though, that we are unaware often even when we are naturally using it as a healing tool. By humming a single tone, a feeling of warmth and well-being spreads quickly throughout our body. Deep emotional release can also occur simply by allowing ourselves to “sound”, letting go of any judgment- or even experiencing the judgment and sounding right through it as we observe our emotional reaction to it from that place of witness consciousness. As it has been said, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” As we tone through our most uncomfortable feelings, those feelings often will begin to transform and sometimes far more quickly than we might think possible!

Trusting Your Voice
Aaaaah! One of the great joys of toning is that there is no wrong way to do it! And for many of us who have been told we “couldn't sing” or we had a “bad voice”, or felt in any other way oppressed in our vocal expression, there is an incredible freedom in allowing pure sound to pour out of our body. Your voice is your gift- no one else has one just like it- it is the perfect expression and blueprint of the uniqueness of you. Let it out. The world is waiting!

How It Works
Aaaay (like “may”)... Hans Jenny, the father of cymatics, the study of wave phenomena, showed us that sound creates, changes and rearranges matter. Physiologically when we tone into a specific area of the body we are literally realigning the molecules of the body. We know that a sustained high-pitched frequency has the power to shatter a wine glass, just as a sustained low frequency can conceivably cause windows to break or walls to crumble. This idea can be applied to help us understand how toning works on the physical and subtle bodies to actually break up physical, mental and emotional blockages.

The Healing Practice
Aiiiii (like “eye”)... When working with another person, the practitioner scans the client's body using modulating vocal tones and sometimes his or her hands (usually off the body) listening for “feedback”. This may come as a change in tone, an overtone or harmonic bouncing back, or a feeling of warmth, coolness, tingling, or lack of vitality. The practitioner then tones directly into the area calling for attention breaking up the energy blockages or crystallized patterns with sound waves directed into that area. One may tone very close to the body or into the energy field around the body, depending on the level of healing that seems to be needed. The goal is to bring coherence back to a chaotic energy field, essentially retuning the system and restoring the natural state of harmony and homeostasis.

The Gift
Eeeeee... Toning literally vibrates our being on every level and thus can be used as a tool for physical healing, emotional well-being and spiritual transformation. Physically it can loosen trauma in the body, relieving physical pain and accelerating the healing process. Mentally it can help us within a few short moments to become clearer, more alert and more focused. Emotionally it can be calming, cathartic, empowering or joyful; it can assist us in releasing anger, fear or grief. And all of this supports our spiritual evolution. Toning is a simple tool. It is safe and it is built-in! No one knows what your body needs better than you. Trust your body- your instincts, your intuition and your inner wisdom- to tell you what sound it needs and then allow yourself to open up and LET IT OUT. Explore. Be creative, be unafraid and enjoy!

And then stop, breathe, feel and listen to what your body is saying now. It's probably saying “Thank you!”

Note- This article has been broken down into seven sections. The tone at the beginning of each paragraph corresponds to the tones for the chakra system, in order, from the root to the crown.

• Root Chakra – Survival, connection to tribe- Sound: Uhhhh (like “rug”)

• Naval Chakra- Emotions, creativity, sexuality- Sound: Uuuuu (like “moon”)

• Solar Plexus Chakra- Power center Sound: Ooooh (like “so”)

• Heart Chakra- Unconditional love Sound: Aaaaah (like “father)

• Throat Chakra- Speaking one's truth, creative expression Sound: Aaaay (like “may”)

• Third Eye (Brow point)- Inner Wisdom, psychic abilities Sound: Aiiiii (like “eye”)

• Crown (top of head)- Connection to Source Sound: Eeeee (like “thee”)

If, after reading this, you are still afraid of making the wrong sound- remember this “Frequency plus intention creates healing/transformation.” (Jonathan Goldman) ;-o

The Fibonnacci Suite

Wonderful! More later...

The Fragrance of Bhakti 4.30.11

In Miami right now at the Airport Marriott. Wide awake after an amazing kirtan by Jai Uttal in this incredibly beautiful Episcopal cathedral in Miami. At one point I was very consciously breathing in the sound, the beautiful chanting- poignant, wistful and deeply hearfelt and I thought "Ah... this is what is meant by the fragrance of bhakti." I really felt like I was inhaling the fragrance of love and devotion.

Tomorrow is a six-hour workshop on Awakening Bhakti through the practice of chanting kirtan. There is a beautiful description of Bhakti on the web page for the event. It reads thusly..."Bhakti Yoga is the path of personal relationship with Spirit, with God, with Goddess; a relationship that includes all the flavors and moods of the human heart. In the journey of Bhakti our emotions become the fuel to reconnect us with the Divine and to find healing and wholeness within us. Through singing Kirtan we explore, express and share the deepest caverns of our souls and ultimately find the eternal spring of love." It works for me.

Music and the Emotions 4.20.11

I have a particular fascination with the fact that certain music can evoke such a powerful emotional response- part of what makes it such a powerful healing modality... that it can assist us in accessing deep places within ourselves of joy, angst or ecstasy- sometimes taking us on a white water raft trip and sometimes a gentle sail on a balmy sea and ultimately deposit us back on the shore feeling soothed, peaceful and whole once again.

Daniel Levitin, author of Your Brain on Music, psychologist and researcher has been exploring this curious power that music has over us for many years. As more and more study is being done in the field of psychoacoustics- the effect of music on the mind- scientists are beginning to get clues about this phenomenon. Yesterday there was a fascinating article in the New York Times Science Section which actually followed up one written several years ago specifically about Mr. Levitin's works and his book. This latest article has some very interesting input from a number of musicians as well, including Paul Simon and Bobby McFerrin.

Enjoy the read. This may actually open up to an interactive page where you can listen to different pieces of music and then enter your response. If the link doesn't work (I couldn't find hte "embed" code) then just cut and paste the url. It's worth it if this topic is even mildy interesting to you.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/04/18/science/20110419-music-expression.html?src=me&ref=science

Walking Meditation 4.12.11

This morning I took a walk in the park near our house.

My mind was yak yak yakking...

so finally I decided to stop and listen...
to all the sounds around me as I walked.

I was walking on the grass next to a cement path by the bay
but the water was so still that I never I heard it.

I first notice the sound of my footsteps on the grass.
And all the different sounds my footsteps make
as the greenery changes under foot...
St. Augustine grass- slightly dry and crunchy,
areas of dried oak leaves- crunchier still,
wide patches of clover with white blossoms- a soft brushing sound,
short delicate ground covers with tiny yellow blossoms- near silence.
The wind blowing gently past my ears...
a soothing sound
very different
than the sound of the wind blowing through palm fronds-
or through the oak trees.
The fisherman scraping the
metal handle
of his net on the seawall as he adjusts it.
A steady multitude of birdsongs,
none of which I could name
other than the seagulls.
A lawn mower in the distance,
gradually louder as I come closer...
slowly fading to a quiet hum as I pass by.
The curiosity of how many sounds I would actually remember.
The sense of the air...
nearer the water,
in the sun,
under the trees...
and wondering
if the different qualities of air
are different frequencies.
A young man jogs passed me on the walking path,
his sneakers padding rhythmically on the cement.
A woman jogs past.
Her step is light...
and quiet.
A steady stream of cars
far enough away to simply create a gentle whooshing sound as they pass.

The awareness at a certain point that I have fallen into my thinking again and am no longer listening- and then... the most beautiful voice of a young woman greeting me as she and her husband and child pass by me on their walk.

That's all I remember...

Playing for Change 4.7.11

You all know about it, right? The foundation that brought you "Stand By Me" played by musicians all around the world- and much more. But do you know who they really are,how they got started and how they are affecting positive change and connecting hearts? This is a wonderful video that exemplifies music and musicians in action inspiring and changing the world- one note, one song, one person, one village at a time.

A Virtual Joyful Noise! 4.6.11

Every day I am writing, thinking, listening and exploring sound and music. I get many emails with great links to all kinds of wonderful things. I have brilliant musical vibratory friends and connections. Today I received a beautiful inspiring email from one those beings who resonates on a frequency that is very harmonious with my own and she sent me this fantastic video. To see people joined globally via the Internet but connected through music and sound brings such joy to my heart. This project is thrilling to me. Enjoy another piece of wholistic sound...

Jai Uttal in Rishikesh singing to Ganga Ma

Observing Intervals 3.28.11

So, I spent last week visiting my mother and giving lots of Biosonic Repatterning sessions with the Solar Harmonic Spectrum tuning forks. It was really pretty amazing. I gave 12 tuning fork sessions over a period of 7 days- I don't usually give that many in a year unless I'm teaching a workshop! So it was really sort of an exploratory journey for me.

The way this protocol works in a nutshell is that the practitioner (that would be me in this case) plays a series of intervals for the client. The Solar Harmonic Spectrum is a set of 8 Pythagorean tuning forks- C, D, E, F, G, A, B & C- which are played two at a time and held a couple of inches away from the listener's ears. The combination of tones create specific intervals which affect and realign different aspects of the nervous system, activating the body's built-in healing mechanisms and gently bringing the bioenergetic system back into alignment. For the practitioner the sounds are very quiet. You hold the tuning forks up to the other person's ears and they can hear the tones for a surprisingly long time, well over a minute, but for the practitioner the audible sound does not last long at all. However the skin and bones are great conductors of sound so even though we do not hear the sound after about 20-30 seconds it still affects us because we are holding the tuning forks and that sound is going into our body- and the sound frequencies are reaching us through the air even though we can no longer hear it.

The first little jolt of super-awareness I had was when I was giving my mother one of the very first sessions when I got there. I was sitting at her head, very quietly and semi-tranced out and had begun playing the interval of the third (C & E) after a series of other intervals. Suddenly I had an emotional issue come up that I didn't even know was still an issue- nothing to do with my mother, something totally separate and out of the blue- and suddenly I had tears streaming down and was trying hard to hold back my runny nose lest I disturb her repose! I was sort of shocked and began thinking about how I could resolve the issue after I finished the session. And then I picked up another combination of tuning forks and the issue disappeared as quickly as it had come up and I thought, "Wow- that was totally that specific interval that brought that up." And it did not come up again so apparently in that process it really was resolved- I didn't need to follow up at all on it later. There was no more charge around it when I thought about it. And then I really started paying attention to my thoughts and feelings throughout the process.

The whole protocol is very meditative for me and overall that was my general experience but nonetheless in the background there were still thought processes and I began to be very aware of how they changed with different intervals. The fifth (C & G) seemed to be the most expansive. I would become instantly quiet and feel as though I were expanding in all directions. I understand it as being connected to the Golden Ratio and the image of the Vitruvian Man, the expression of perfect proportion and symmetry. Also it represents the balancing of the five elements- earth, water, fire, air and akasha.

The next thing I noticed was when I played the interval of the sixth (C & A) I became extremely left-brain and started analyzing math patterns related to the Fibonacci Series, some of which I have since held in the vault of my mind to work out on paper or on the computer when I have time- I have a lot of follow-up study to do!

The fourth (C & F) also seemed to evoke more of an analytical response in me as well as a certain intuitive understanding.

The second (C & D) consistently felt to me like being blanketed in a soft silvery feminine energy, like that of the moon.

My sense of the seventh (C &B) was a higher level of esoteric understanding and the octave (C- 256 hz and C-528 hz) felt to be the integration of Heaven and Earth, the descent of Spirit into Matter. John Beaulieu also suggests this as being representative of the yin and yang, female and male energies particularly represented in the voice with the male voice being an octave lower typically than the female when singing in unison.

In writing this, I am giving my overall energetic impressions of these intervals- however each session was vastly and uniquely different even though the energetic qualities of the various intervals remained fairly consistent from my point of perception. Each person who received a session (or more than one) found it to be extremely relaxing, enjoyable and helpful on many levels. One person told me afterward that she is very self-conscious and has a hard time letting go so she didn't think she would be able to in the first session but she found herself totally relaxing within minutes. And again that speaks to the power of sound, when utilized consciously, to fully engage us to the extent that everything else drops away. It allows us to become fully present to that place within us that is pure joy and peace that is always accessible- but that we are not always available to experience.

Tuning Updates 3.19.11

Well, I wrote the other day about giving my mother a session with the Pythagorean tuning forks. Since then I have given several more sessions. This is the most consistently I have utilized this protocol (Biosonic Repatterning). At my office I primarily use the Soundweaver VibroAcoustic Environment (pictured here) which has speakers built into the mat as well as on the copper frame so that you feel the music as well as hearing it.


Just finished giving my mother her third session since I have been here. She didn't have one yesterday because she still felt so good from the day before and in fact said she still felt great today- but she wanted one anyway because she loves them so much. When the session was over she didn't even need a hand getting off the table today. I have to admit that I am as amazed as she is at what a positive effect they are having on the physical level. It is definitely far beyond the obvious effects of deep relaxation, which is powerful enough in itself. It seems as if we are moving back the hands of time.

Yesterday one of her close friends came for a session who has "bad knees" and a bad back as well- for years. She is right around the same age as my mother who, as I mentioned the other day, is 89. After the session she told me that she could feel the sound coming in and moving through her body right down to her knees. She felt so much better after the session that she said, "I can't wait to go home and try out the stairs!" It was quite funny and I recommended she not push it but she apparently called my mother today to tell her how great she felt.

Mum's live-in caretaker, Stella also received a session yesterday and was delighted. She has such a hard time relaxing and also a very hard time sleeping and she just loved it as well. She said she got extremely relaxed and went straight upstairs to take a nap. Another woman who owns a dayspa here in Hamilton had a treatment and as soon as I was done asked how long I'd be here and if I would like to give their clients sessions while I'm here and whenever I come back to visit.

So this is very fun and exciting exploring this protocol which I have not put to the test until now. Of course one of the great advantages in using them when I travel is that they are lightweight and very portable- unlike crystal bowls or a sound table! I only wonder why I waited so long...

By the way, if you would like to learn more about Healing with Pythagorean Tuning Forks and other sound healing protocols, please go to my website www.wholisticsound.com and check the calendar of events for workshop dates.

Recommended Drumming Allowance for March 2011

Christine Stevens is a great drum circle facilitator and teacher, and sound waves and intention travel great distances. As A Course in Miracles says, "A miracle is never lost. It may touch many people you have not even met, and produce undreamed of changes in situations of which you are not even aware." So let us join our minds and send our loving thoughts, healing prayers, our songs, our drumbeats and the prayer of the heart to Japan.

Also I received this beautiful story in my email today that I would like to share, knowing that in the midst of the appearance of strife and anguish, there is beauty, light and love.

A blog post from a woman in Sendai, Japan. She eloquently speaks to the love that emerges
from challenging conditions:

posted by Anne Thomas on 3/14/2011 11:30 am
A letter from Sendai

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed
to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is
even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home.
We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined
up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and
beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes.
People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens,
or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has
water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to
fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in
lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an
earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to
be in the old days when everyone helped one another."

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes.
Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is
for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has
not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these
things,others do not. No one has washed for several days.
We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns
than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials.
Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is
needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in
some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in
the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people
out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night.
No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are
scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the
whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with
the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky
magnificently.

And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my
shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the
electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have
no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from
door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to
complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear.
Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major
quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant
tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a
part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts.
So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's
husband came in from the country, bringing food and water.
Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there
is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring
all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience
the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very
wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is
happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening
that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is
hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to you all,
Anne

The Sound of the Universe 3.17.11

Did I mention that when I was a kid I wanted to be an astronomer? As someone who is both passionate about sound and a latent and secretly aspiring astronomer this talk given by Janna Levin left me absolutely breathless by the end of it. Incredibly brilliant and a beautiful delivery as well. Enjoy...