Holland's Calling

Whoops- up since 6:30 preparing for my departure tomorrow- almost forgot about my blog! My two things I have managed to stay consistent with for some time now- Weight Watchers since last June and blogging daily since January. WW success is 22 pounds so far. I would like to lose another ten (at least). My fear- that I will get derailed from both of these and lose my momentum. If I can maintain my current weight I will be happy with that because it is so hard to travel and not gain- at least for me.

As far as my blogging, that will be another challenge- mostly because I anticipate being so immersed in everything I am doing that I will just forget about it! I hope that's not true. I hope that I will discover that I really have developed a strong enough habit that it will be fairly automatic for me to find a time to sit and write.

Also, the fact is that I will not be as distracted in some ways being there as I am in my own home where there are constantly interruptions and distractions. In some I ways I think my world may be a bit quieter there as I will not have nearly as much access to my phone, family and friends as I do here.

So, it will be interesting to see which way this goes. One thing good- it's 6 hours later there so all my posts will show up 6 hours earlier than they usually do!!!

So, since this is where I'll be the day after tomorrow, I am posting a video of a session I gave with Himalayan singing bowls at a workshop in Utrecht, Netherlands, when I was there in 2012. The person I am working on is my dear friend Paul Goudsmit who hosted me last time, along with his partner Jane, and with whom I will be staying for the next three weeks when I return. Enjoy!

Report on Dreamtime Sounds

Two years ago I taught a class on healing with Himalayan metal singing bowls to a group of women in Sarasota, FL via Skype. At the end of the class they asked me if I could make a recording of the bowls specifically for helping one to go to sleep. I made the recording right away but then didn't know how to actually put it on a CD so I have never done anything with it. Tonight I finally figured out! Really, it was easy- I just had to do it, as it turned out. I am listening to it right now on my good stereo. Up until tonight I had only ever heard it on the computer!

That was about three minutes into the track. After that paragraph I had to go lie down on the floor as I could no longer focus on writing. I disappeared into the sounds. My breathing got very still, as it does in deep meditation. Images came into my mind as in a dream but I don't remember what any of them were.

I had forgotten. I hadn't listened to it in about a year. When I first made it I played it numerous times before going to sleep and I had to conclude that it must work because I never heard the whole thing. Tomorrow I will call a sound tech in Providence and see if he can clean up a few ambient sounds which were caused by me moving around the bowls when I was recording it. Then I can call my friend Nadia and tell her that I will have their CD ready soon!

More steps in the right direction...

Healing With Himalayan Singing Bowls

Today as I was looking through photos for my new flyer I began studying pictures of sound healing sessions I have done with Himalayan metal singing bowls. It is quite an experience working in this way with the bowls. All the bowls I use and sell are antique bowls, 200 to 400 years old.  What I discovered very early on is that bowls seem to have an "intelligence".  When I go to set them up around the body they seem to "tell me" first of all which ones want to be played and also where to place them. I have come to think of this as different "layouts" in much the same way as a tarot card reader does different layouts with the cards, depending on the situation. I have never done two sessions with the bowls laid out in the same way. And as you can see from the above video and from the pictures below, sometimes in the course of a session as things begin to clear the bowls then need to be moved around to move on to the next step in harmonizing the energies.

One woman I worked with wanted help in dealing with jet lag as she flew across the coutnry every week for her job. In the beginning of the session the bowls were placed very close around the physical body. As the energies began to clear the bowls moved further and further out (with my assistance!) until they took the shape of the giant angel wings around her body.

Sometimes many bowls are placed around the body- sometimes only a few. Because I sell the bowls, I have access to quite a few but one bowl can be very powerful. The truth is you can do a very effective session with only one bowl if you know how to play it properly. There is technique and subtlety to the approach, and if you listen to the bowl it will guide you.

 Good bowls, particularly the older ones, produce at least two to three audible tones at one time and many more subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) harmonics. Depending on the striker- or as Sister Dang Nhiem calls them "inviters", for we are inviting the sound of the bowl- you can coax many different sounds out of the bowl. The intervals between the tones of one bowl (the number of spaces between the notes) are the interval of a fifth, which has the effect of balancing the right and left hemispheres of the brain. When this occurs the most natural response is to effortlessly enter into a state of meditation. Thus by the nature of their sound the bowls set up a perfect environment for healing because the entire nervous system almost instantly shifts into a state of deep relaxation.

Perhaps you are listening to the opening video while you are reading this. When you are done reading I suggest you go back and start the video over and just listen. Don't bother about watching it- it's really not that interesting other than watching as the bowls begin to be moved around! But the audio is surprisingly good given the camera I recorded it with and you can hear the pulsing of the tones at times which entrain the brainwaves to an alpha or theta state, slowing everything down. Just sit and close your eyes, or keep them open- whatever feels right for you, and observe what happens for you as you listen to the tones. Don't bother trying to relax- you won't have to try! There is a physiological response that is occurring automatically and activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is in charge of the relaxation response.

 Once you drop into this deep state change can happen on a very deep level. The key is always intention. Get clear about what you want- what you want to let go of, what you would like to integrate more fully. You simply clear the path so you can see where you want to go and then let go and allow. The transformation happens very naturally. Sound is beautiful in the way that it flows much like water. It will go just where it's needed, feeding and nourishing all those spaces that are in need of healing.