12.19.10 Sound, Healing and Money... What is Sacred?

Earlier this year I received a sound healing session from a friend. She didn't want any money for it. She said she had been guided by Spirit to offer these sessions free of charge. It was quite a lovely session, very powerful and beautiful. The word "transcendent" comes to mind because it really lifted me out of my body and carried me to another dimension. It didn't change my life. It did add to my experience and wonder of the ability of sound to transport us to other realms and realities and remind me again of why I so love this work. The curious element was the discussion that followed and her very strong stance that it is wrong to charge money for the sacred work of sound healing.

The day before yesterday I took my last $100, which I had been saving to buy stocking stuffers for my family and paid the electric bill at my sound healing center, which was due to get shut off. While I was out doing that the internet service was disabled for nonpayment. So, I have sound and money on my mind.

Part of what was put forth in the aforementioned discussion by the woman who gave the session was the idea of trust. Specifically she said, "What ever happened to the idea of trust? That if we do the work Spirit will take care of our needs?" Apparently for her it does. I have no idea whether she has other employment- a "day job". My day job is putting all my effort, energy and time into running a sound healing center, trusting that I am doing the right thing, and that even on what sometimes looks like the thinnest of shoe strings (like this week!) that my needs and the needs of the center will be taken care of!

I confess that I am feeling defensive right now and irritated at the implication that charging money for my sound healing sessions suggests a lack of trust. Or that money is inherently "dirty" and soils whatever (and whoever) it touches. Interestingly I spent years undoing my own belief that "money is bad". So maybe for me this whole conversation was actually reflecting that back to me, inviting me to look at that old belief again to see if I have really healed it. (Judging by my bank account, maybe I have a little more work to do!)

I have had a sound healing center in Florida for almost 6 years- the Sound Body Wholistic Health Center in St. Petersburg. I had no money when I decided to open the center. (You say "Well, you must have had some." No, I had none!) It was initiated by clear direction from Spirit and is continually supported by love, prayers of gratitude and an abundance of TRUST. Financial support and and sufficient income have been sorely lacking and every month that I am able to come up with the rent seems to be a miracle and I see the hand of Grace in all of it.

Most people love sound and music, they seek solace, comfort and healing and they want to learn simple of ways of healing themselves. Most people have music to listen to, many have instruments and we all have a voice. With a little more clarity of purpose and consciousness of how to use the tools already available to us we can greatly enhance our sense of well-being.

I provide a service. I am very clear about this. If I drove a bus- providing a service... say, to a special needs population?... no one would question that I should be paid for it. "Well of course, there's gas, there's your time, there's maintenance to keep the bus running, etc." Is driving a bus for those who need the service, for whatever reason, any less sacred than offering a sound healing session for someone in need? If we put the word "sacred" in front of the word "sound" does it preclude an energy exchange from the person receiving the treatment? Both persons in any relationship should have the opportunity to give and to receive in equal measure in whatever form is befitting, comfortable and appropriate for the situation and the people involved.

Is it less sacred to give than to receive? Is there any difference between the two? I think not. A Course in Miracles puts it like this, "To give and to receive are one in truth."

12.14.10 Sanskrit and Blogging

I have had a huge resistance to blogging ever since I first heard about it. One very simple reason- the word "blog". It is simply an ugly word and I couldn't get past it.

The Sanskrit alphabet is a series of phonemes called the "varnamala" which translates as "garland of letters". Each of these sounds has a particular vibrational quality and effect on consciousness specific to that sound. For example, "ga" removes obstacles, "a" (as in "father") is "all pervading", "sa" absolute truth, etc.- you get the idea. What are the vibrational qualities of "bla" and "ug"? Well, I don't have a copy of the varnamala in front of me so I can't actually tell you the specific esoteric energies associated with those sounds, but I do know how they feel- yucky!

So now that you know why I avoided blogging for so long and have made a decision to move past that issue I will share some more information on the Sanskrit varnamala. I found an excellent article on it this morning as well as the picture at the top of the page of the energetic breakdown of the sounds of the Gayatri Mantra.

ORIGIN OF THE VARNAMALA.

EXCERPT FROM "MANTRA & INITIATION" BY PANDIT RAJMANI TIGUNAIT

......Just as there are countless currents of energy in the cosmos, all of which are distinct from each other, so are there countless energy currents in the human body. In yogic literature these are called nadis. Of the 72,000 distinct nadis the yogis have identified, fourteen are of principal importance. Yogis have also discovered the exact nature of these major energy currents, their pathways in the body, how they interact with other energy currents, and what effect they have on the body, nervous system, biochemistry, and mind. Then, realizing that it is practically impossible to enunciate distinctly the sound that is produced from the vibrations of each nadi, yogis with extraordinary spiritual powers captured the entire range of sound produced by all these energy currents, and divided them into fifty-one parts. That is how the fifty-one letters of the Sanskrit alphabet were discovered.

The yogis have also discovered that every letter of the Sanskrit alphabet has its own color, shape, presiding force, and unique transformative quality, as well as its own seer. They have also experienced the relationship between these letters and different planets, stars, and constellations. They have discovered the approximate location of these letters in the human body and the particular pranic or psychological forces to which they correspond.

At a more subtle level, the Sanskrit phonemes relate to the energy currents which lie deep within the interior of the human body. Each of the 72,000 currents has a distinct sound, although they are too diffuse and vague to be enunciated distinctly. Moreover, the yogis have identified places in the body where two or more energy currents cross. In mantra shastra, the point where two energy currents intersect is called a sandhi, the point where three energy currents cross is called marma shthana, and the point where more than three energy currents converge is called a chakra. Here at the chakras, the vibratory patterns of energy are strong and vibrant. At the center of each chakra a distinct sound predominates, and other distinct sounds are centered around it. That is why, in kundalini yoga, each chakra is represented as having a particular letter at its center, as well as a letter on each petal........

Whoops!

Sorry- that didn't work. Try going to www.thepersuasions.info and play the video! Apparently I don't knwo how to post links yet- maybe someone can advise me? :)

12.9.10 Today's Inspiration

Check this out and put a smile on your face!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQdF_V9p9Mo&feature=player_embedded#!
They are coming to St. Pete in February!

12.8.10 The Perfect Moment

On Sunday I gave a concert at the Unity Church up the street from my sound healing center. The theme was "The Coming of the Light"- a musical representation of the dawning of the Christ Mind- primarily using gongs, crystal bowls, Tibetan singing bowls, chimes and Tibetan bells. It started with deep low tones with a very large crystal bowl, a gong, thunder drum and didgeridoo and gradually progressed to lighter and brighter sounds using the smaller bowls, bells and chimes.

It was a spontaneous creation, well thought out but mostly unrehearsed and clearly something that would never be played the same way twice. I felt it was coming together very nicely and I was quite happy with the unfoldment as I played- but there was one moment that completely took my breath away. It was a very quiet. I was playing one small Tibetan singing bowl with a little bit of water in it, with a violin bow. When I play it that way it makes a beautiful high-pitched sort of mewing sound with extremely high overtones and it is a very captivating sound.

The audience was quiet, not another sound in the room but the high haunting tones of that bowl and suddenly a woman in the audience let out a tiny audible sigh of the utmost pleasure, as if the sound that she heard in that moment was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her life, like her whole being had just suddenly melted.

And the sound of her voice surpassed the beauty of any sound that had come before in its utter and exquisite expression of joy.

12.7.10 Where Does Bob Dylan Fit In?

Reading a biography about Bob Dylan right now... The other night I had a dream that I was getting up in front of an audience to read an excerpt from "A Course in Miracles." There were several rows of people in front of me and I had to sort of cut through them to get up to the front. I was trying to figure out an easy way to get through and thought about making "a soulful bounding leap". I didn't and kept the thought to myself but woke up with that wonderful phrase from "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" ringing in my ears.

Then last night I was doing a sound healing meditation at the Sound Body Wholistic Health Center in St. Petersburg, which I do every Monday night. Before I began one of the people in the group went outside to have a cigarette (no comment... :) Throughout most of the meditation I played a large Tibetan bowl, a couple of crystal bowls, gongs and a couple of other instruments. At the end I held a little set of chimes in my hand and played them very quietly. Suddenly I could feel myself sort of gently, but quickly, slipping out of my body. I put the chimes down and off I went... and suddenly there was Bob Dylan's face (slightly younger than he is now) in a very friendly and congenial way asking one person after another if they had quit smoking yet!

Is this remotely relevant to wholistic sound? Okay- probably not from a visionary aspect! But in the grand scheme of things on this plane, I would have to say yes, because Bob Dylan's music got me through some very tough times over the years. There were times, many times over many years and many stages in my life, that his music was the most healing thing I could listen to. How many hundreds of hours listening to more albums and more songs of his than I will bother to name... and how many hours playing my guitar and joyfully singing "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", and in other moods, more introverted, sometimes angrier sometimes sadder, singing "Love Minus Zero, No Limits", "Masters of War", "Gates of Eden" and on and on... His music was like a healing balm for my heart and soul. It allowed me to feel deeply, when feeling deeply was frowned upon my so many people in my proximity. "Don't feel too much, don't cry too much" was the message I got.

Music allows us to ride the waves of our emotions and eventually reach a quiet shore, where we are, as we were told we would be, released.

12.2.10 Awake

3 a.m. Couldn't sleep so I just watched Jai Uttal's first music video. His musical soul being is so beautiful. I use his music all the time for sound healing sessions. Finally he created his first music video. Share it!
http://vimeo.com/17230312

11.30.10 Wholistic Hearing

I used to hear with my ears. Now I often seem to experience "hearing" with my whole body. I spend so much of my time working with so many forms of sound- tuning forks, acoustic instruments, crystal and Himalayan singing bowls and listening to and experiencing the vibrotactile effect of music as part of my treatments. I have always had an extreme sensitivity to sound and for many years as I have immersed myself in the field of sound healing, I have developed a tremendous curiosity about the evolution of hearing from an essential tool for survival to a sense which can transport us to realms of ecstasy.

In the last several years however I have also become aware of a new level of experiencing sound within my own body, especially peripherally. It seems to be a reactivation of this ancient instinctual awareness of sound. A door opens into the room, I hear a voice breaking through the every day ambient sounds, at night lying in bed I hear the rustle of a possum or raccoon outside and my whole body reacts. It feels as though the entire surface of my body- my skin, my pores, the fine hairs on the surface of my skin- instantly respond to these unexpected sounds.

I watch body signals and am extremely attentive to my clients response to sound and music during sound healing sessions- is it too loud? Too quiet? Is it time for a different instrument? Is the air conditioning too loud? Is the singing bowl harmonious with the music? The bass too strong? I am in a constant state of meditation and on another level on constant alert while giving a session- a very interesting balance. Often it is just an inner knowing that tells me it's time to make a change in the music or place my hand on their solar plexus.

In this moment as I am examining this process I am thinking that it is the attention to my intuition that has led me to a greater sensitivity within myself to the sounds around me. It is interesting and also sometimes disturbing to be so acutely sensitive. The gift is that it allows for a tremendous sensitivity to facilitating the healing process, allowing the body to gently finds its way back to balance through all the subtle changes that can occur during a sound healing session.

11.26.10 Stand By Me

This morning's inspiration... Laugh and cry and sing it one more time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

11.25.10 Thanksgiving

This was my morning meditation- quite different from the last one I wrote about.

Buzzing of electric saw, water flowing into the garden pond, hand and pen moving across the paper. I rub my chin with my hand and am aware of the sound carried through my skin and bones. An occasional car passing by, a small propeller plane off in the distance, the swimming pool pump... the sound of a jet mingles with the sound of the smaller plane, a man's voice shouting- I lean into it with my attention- he is shouting with excitement, not anger- I can tell by the tone although I can't make out the words. Now another engine, this time a motorcycle starting up harshly and then as it leaves the sound quickly fading into the distance.

A bird with an intermittent high short whistle pierces through all the sounds of cars, engines, motors, pumps, changing everything- the quality of a bright star piercing the night sky. Sound has the ability to pierce our awareness, breaking the trance. Sound can be used to induce a trance or break a trance.

Whenever I pass through Lynn Carol and George's bedroom the door swings gently shut behind me and the delicate sound of a zither follows me for just a few seconds, a reminder of the present. Usually reminders are of the past... how funny to be reminded of Now.

11.23.10 Sacred Sound

Woke up this morning and bathed in the River of Sacred Sound, the inner nadam. In this moment it continues, a light silvery crystalline sound that calls for my attention. When I closed my eyes and put my thumbs in my ears to listen more deeply I heard a low slow steady chime in the deep distance of my consciousness. The sound current is steady, constant, underlying my awareness. The sound of my breath ebbs and flows like waves breaking on the shores of my consciousness.

11.22.10

A while back I received a demo copy of Marjorie de Muynck's "Vibrational Healing" CD. It said in the liner notes it was dedicated to the honeybees, cricket and bat population. My intention was to try it out on a vibroacoustic sound table and I wasn't sure I liked the idea of lying on a bed of insect sounds but I figured I might as well try it. It turned out that the music itself was incredibly beautiful and the sounds of the insects were deeply nurturing and comforting- and within about thirty seconds I realized what a powerful effect the sounds of nature have on our physiology. The sounds of crickets, cicadas, honeybees, the sound of running water, rustling leaves, falling rain and the sound of the wind- all of these sounds stimulate the brain and nourish the nervous system. Sometimes the effect is soothing, sometimes stimulating. A negative reaction to certain sounds heard in nature- wind, for example- may also be an indicator of stress or imbalance. Food for thought...

11.21.10

Sound is a catalyzer- it has the ability "to produce fundamental change in; transform", specifically the bioenergetic system, and in fact all matter when used with intention and understanding. Wholistic Sound... therapeutic sound, healing sound, sacred sound... all varying shades in the spectrum of wholistic sound, all have the power to heal and transform us from the inside out and from the outside in.