First Weekend-Long Sound Healing Retreat/Workshop at Wholistic Sound
Pearls Before Swine
One of my earliest introductions to wholistic sound, sound that has the power to heal the body-mind-spirit was Tom Rapp's album "One Nation Underground". The band was Pearls Before Swine. I was no older than 13. The album came out in 1967. It was an album and a group that opened up my mind and my emotions, unlike anything I had heard up to that point. When I heard them I couldn't get enough- I listened to their albums over and over.
Tonight I am revisiting that album- I wanted to hear the song "Snow Queen" which is from a different album, "Beautiful Lies You Could Live In" (1971), an album I listened to over and over as a teenager. When I went to YouTube, however, the first thing that came up was "One Nation Underground". I heard the first note and was hooked. Interesting to look back at a time in my life that was so charged, so full of idealism and angst, right in line with the times. As I listen to them now I hear music that shaped my mind and my consciousness and is a piece of who I am today.
When I was 17 I was suspended from boarding school for going out and listening to Pearls Before Swine when they were playing at The Salt Tavern in Newport, RI. It was well worth it! I was the instigator on that outing- no one else knew who they were. I wrangled three of my friends, one of whom was 18 and could order beer, to go with me. As it turned out, our waitress had gone to the same school we were all attending and she called the headmaster after bringing us a pitcher of beer! At some point I got up to use the restroom and when I came back he was sitting at our table with the rest of my friends. He smiled, said hello to me and let us listen to the rest of the set before he made us all leave. I think he actually let us finish our beer!
I loved all of their albums- each one became my favorite, one after another. They were like revelations to me, touching places inside of me that I didn't know existed and allow me to open to my self.
Tonight I am revisiting that album- I wanted to hear the song "Snow Queen" which is from a different album, "Beautiful Lies You Could Live In" (1971), an album I listened to over and over as a teenager. When I went to YouTube, however, the first thing that came up was "One Nation Underground". I heard the first note and was hooked. Interesting to look back at a time in my life that was so charged, so full of idealism and angst, right in line with the times. As I listen to them now I hear music that shaped my mind and my consciousness and is a piece of who I am today.
When I was 17 I was suspended from boarding school for going out and listening to Pearls Before Swine when they were playing at The Salt Tavern in Newport, RI. It was well worth it! I was the instigator on that outing- no one else knew who they were. I wrangled three of my friends, one of whom was 18 and could order beer, to go with me. As it turned out, our waitress had gone to the same school we were all attending and she called the headmaster after bringing us a pitcher of beer! At some point I got up to use the restroom and when I came back he was sitting at our table with the rest of my friends. He smiled, said hello to me and let us listen to the rest of the set before he made us all leave. I think he actually let us finish our beer!
I loved all of their albums- each one became my favorite, one after another. They were like revelations to me, touching places inside of me that I didn't know existed and allow me to open to my self.
Tom Rapp was the creative force behind Pearls Before Swine. I found this fascinating article about him online. He is a lawyer now. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/rapp.htm
Wholistic Sound on Airbnb!
Sound Revelation
Today's sound revelation- that different sheep have very different voices! Yesterday I went down to the edge of the river to look at the new dock and there was a sheep with a very deep voice "Baaa"ing at us. Coming toward us on the river was a scull with four or five people rowing toward us. I heard a very high-pitched "Baaaa" and the big sheep with the deep voice replied. Again there was a high-piched "Baaa". I started laughing because I thought it was someone in the boat answering the sheep. After the third time I realized it was actually another sheep and not someone in the boat goofing around! Today Paul, Jane and I were walking down to the edge of the river and there was the flock of sheep again. This time I heard several voices and there was no one else but us in sight. Maybe you already knew that but I found it very exciting, silly as it may sound! 
Sound Pleasures
Woke up this morning to the sound of the hang drum being played in the next room. How sweet is that? I stood by the door and rather surreptitiously recorded a bit of it!
The first thing I did when I went downstairs was pick up my friend Ine's guitar and play the Devi Stotra.
After breakfast I went out for a walk through the farmland and enjoyed the funny squeaky sounds of the magpies dancing in the fields. I think they've gotten a bad rap. It seems as though I've always heard them spoken or written about in disparaging tones. I suppose they've done something to deserve that but I've only seen their beautiful black and white colours and heard the wonderful sounds they make and so far I have a very good impression of them!
After I got back to the house I went upstairs and listened to a couple of tracks by Jai Uttal on the sound table. That was a really great experience! If you want a really good meditative experience, listen to this track. If you want an even better experience, contact me and have a healing session with it on a vibroacoustic sound table! Even Jai said he really didn't realize all that was going on with this music until I gave him a session on the sound table with it- there are some beautiful low frequencies that you don't really hear when listening but that you feel deeply on a vibroacoustic table.
The house is very quiet- just the sounds of birds, the hum of the refrigerator and off in the distance there are trains- one to Berlin twice a day, and ones from Amsterdam to Soeste and back every ten or fifteen minutes. One tiny little train with only one car goes by, once a day I think- maybe twice? That's the train to Poland!
Sometimes it gets very windy because the land is so flat- there is nothing to slow it down. Other days I've heard the rain beat down on the roof. But today, just the birds, the train and the refrigerator- and the clicking of my keys on the keyboard.
One of the loveliest effects of the hang drum is the simultaneous sound of the fingers tapping on the drum at the same time is it is creating lovely tones and beautiful ringing overtones.
The first thing I did when I went downstairs was pick up my friend Ine's guitar and play the Devi Stotra.
After breakfast I went out for a walk through the farmland and enjoyed the funny squeaky sounds of the magpies dancing in the fields. I think they've gotten a bad rap. It seems as though I've always heard them spoken or written about in disparaging tones. I suppose they've done something to deserve that but I've only seen their beautiful black and white colours and heard the wonderful sounds they make and so far I have a very good impression of them!
After I got back to the house I went upstairs and listened to a couple of tracks by Jai Uttal on the sound table. That was a really great experience! If you want a really good meditative experience, listen to this track. If you want an even better experience, contact me and have a healing session with it on a vibroacoustic sound table! Even Jai said he really didn't realize all that was going on with this music until I gave him a session on the sound table with it- there are some beautiful low frequencies that you don't really hear when listening but that you feel deeply on a vibroacoustic table.
Sometimes it gets very windy because the land is so flat- there is nothing to slow it down. Other days I've heard the rain beat down on the roof. But today, just the birds, the train and the refrigerator- and the clicking of my keys on the keyboard.
One of the loveliest effects of the hang drum is the simultaneous sound of the fingers tapping on the drum at the same time is it is creating lovely tones and beautiful ringing overtones.
Benefits of Chanting Sanskrit
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| Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati (Ramamurti S. Mishra, MD) my teacher's guru |
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| My beloved teacher, Swami Sivananda Sarasvati |
Reasons for learning Sanskrit through chanting, according to Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati:
- You learn Sanskrit naturally and effortlessly.
- You enter your being through discipline of meditation, relaxation and concentration.
- You experience natural unity and integrity with the world.
- You receive natural and holistic healing, unifying body, mind and spirit.
- By the radiation of natural health on all levels you help others in the same direction.
- You experience the integrity of all world languages through the vibration of Sanskrit language with chanting.
- You enter into meditation in a natural way.
- You experience natural and spontaneous revelation of freedom and enlightenment, the light of natural awareness.
The Sanskrit language, known as “The
mother of all tongues” is one of the oldest known languages, if not the oldest, on our planet.
The written alphabet is called “devanāgari”.
It is said that the language derived from the cities of the devas,
“the shining ones” (“nagar” is the word for city). Each
letter was derived from an icon of one of the many diverse Goddesses.
The great Devi created 50 subforms of herself, the mātrikas
or “little mothers” whose names are still recited daily by devout
shakti worshippers. Each letter has its own meditative quality and
vṛtti (perturbation of the
natural mind) associated with it.
Because
each phenome in the Sanskrit language has its own vibrational
quality, with the proper pronunciation one can attain states of
mastery- theoretically even
if you did not know the actual meaning of the words!
This idea has another level of importance, because if the language is
mispronounced one can inadvertently be bringing in unwanted vibratory
energies. For example, “the pigeon”... rājakapotāsana...
the
word “rāja” means king or sovereign. Leave off the long “a”
and the word becomes “raja”- which translates as either pollen of
flowers or menstrual excrement! Properly pronounced it really
translates as “the royal pigeon pose”. When one is teaching [yoga] one
can be adding to this energy of excellence through the correct
pronunciation of Sanskrit.
In 1786 Sir William Jones, one of the first people to seriously study the language outside of India had this to say about it:
The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists.My personal experience of studying and chanting Sanskrit is that it charges the brain, balances the nervous system, creates new neural pathways and improves memory.
This short video is from an introductory Sanskrit class for yoga teachers that I taught at Living Room Yoga in St. Petersburg, FL several years ago. The actual devanagari letters are below so you can chant along.
Now It's My Turn! (or What I Am Taking From "Your Turn Challenge")
In the ancient Indian healing science of Ayurveda, it is said that it takes 40 days to break an habit, change a habit or create a new habit. Although it takes 21 days for a habit to create new neural pathways in the brain, it actually takes 40 days for those pathways to become fixed as a new habit.
I feel like I'm well on my way with the commitment to keeping up with my blog and believe it or not, my life is changing because of it. I wake up in the morning thinking about what I am going to write and can't wait to get to it. Last night I didn't get my blog posted until something like 11:53 pm but I still got it done before I turned into a pumpkin!
The word "practice" comes to mind. This is a practice. I am practicing essentially to become a bit more structured, a bit more disciplined, so that I can continue to make room for all the things I want to do, create, and accomplish- on a daily, weekly, yearly and lifelong basis- different levels of goals.
Yesterday I decided to add a new My Turn Challenge to my day and I have committed to doing a simple yet powerful group of exercises every day for 7 days- The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation. About 12 years ago I did them consistently for two months. I began to feel very positive changes in my physiology after as little as two weeks and I would have to say that after two months the change was quite dramatic. Then one day I had a bad fall playing tennis a little too ambitiously, damaging my wrist and my knee, and I never got back to practicing the Five Rites consistently again. I do them sporadically, once very few days or weeks, usually when I have some sort of pain in my body which they typically seem to relieve quickly. I want to do them, I know they work wonders for me but I don't. What's up with that? Who knows... I don't need to figure it out- I just need to make a change.
Yesterday, waking up with a pain in my neck from carrying wood, I decided it was time to do them and then I thought, "Well, what if I just commit to doing them every day for a week just like I did with blogging?" Start with a simple doable goal. So that's My Turn Challenge for this week. I'm off and running with the blogging- I won't let go of one to pick up the other.
I also just started a book that my therapist recommended to me- Vinegar Into Honey by Ron Leifer. I was talking to him yesterday about the challenge of finding time to read during the day. Why should that be a challenge? I love to read but of late it is. I start to read just before I go to bed when I am so tired I can't read more than two pages typically! It suddenly occurred to me that I could use the My Turn Challenge idea for this too and I decided that when I wake up in the morning- before I check my phone for messages, emails, updates and suddenly discover an hour has gone by- that I will pick up the book and read for at least 15 minutes. Then I can get up do "The 5 Tibetans" (which is exactly what I did this morning- Day 2 of Tibetan Challenge).
One of my bigger goals is to finish writng a book on sound healing that I started well over ten years ago. What I am anticipating is that by getting in the flow of writing in my blog on a daily basis, very soon I will get back to writing something every day in my book and one day in the next year or so it will be done, completed, finito!
The working title, by the way is Sound Possibilities: Restoring Balance and Harmony Through Sound and Music.
Oh and by the way again- I am very excited that I have gone from typically less than 20 page views a month on my blog to 129 yesterday!
So again, a big shout out to Winnie Kao, creator of Your Turn Challenge, and Seth Godin whose work was the inspiration behind it, to all my Facebook Your Turn Challenge new friends, supporters and motivators who on some level I answer to every day and look to for continued inspiration. Also to all the people, friends known and unknown, who "like" my Wholistic Sound Facebook page, who are members of my Sound Body Wholistic Health Center Facebook page, who read this blog, who come for sessions, workshops, sound journeys and meditations and to my four amazing sons- Namdev, Moose, Ben and Nic- who I believe have all come to appreciate that I am always pushing the envelope and know I will always support and encourage them when they want to do the same, do something daring, think outside the box, take a chance, step into the unknown. I love you guys!
Healing With Himalayan Singing Bowls
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.
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.
Nothing, Pretending To Be Something
Fell asleep listening to Jeff again last night. Suddenly awoke with my heart pounding when I heard footsteps outside in the snow- crunch, crunch, crunch... Someone walking around my house.
Oh... no. It was just Jeff taking me for a walk up Temescal Canyon! Back to sleep. Slept like a log.
More good stuff in the works. Scheduled a couple of kirtans in Newport with a holistic counselor/life coach for her clients- a result of leading the chanting group last week.
Gave a kickass massage and sound treatment to a good friend this afternoon who has been dealing with a traumatic physical health issue and serious pain for many months at best. Her relief from the session was very significant, so that was a wonderful thing.
AND someone just reminded me of this fabulous band that was around for a few years- I saw them a couple of times at the Unity Church in St. Pete when I lived in FL and they were awesome. Excellent musicians, very conscious, and they rocked! Both times I saw them I danced nonstop through the entire show.
So here is a little treat for you. I strongly suggest you have your good speakers hooked up to your computer when you watch it. Here II Here, formerly Inner Voice...
Oh... no. It was just Jeff taking me for a walk up Temescal Canyon! Back to sleep. Slept like a log.
More good stuff in the works. Scheduled a couple of kirtans in Newport with a holistic counselor/life coach for her clients- a result of leading the chanting group last week.
Gave a kickass massage and sound treatment to a good friend this afternoon who has been dealing with a traumatic physical health issue and serious pain for many months at best. Her relief from the session was very significant, so that was a wonderful thing.
AND someone just reminded me of this fabulous band that was around for a few years- I saw them a couple of times at the Unity Church in St. Pete when I lived in FL and they were awesome. Excellent musicians, very conscious, and they rocked! Both times I saw them I danced nonstop through the entire show.
So here is a little treat for you. I strongly suggest you have your good speakers hooked up to your computer when you watch it. Here II Here, formerly Inner Voice...
Revving Up
I met with a therapist today as there are some things I really want to work and move through and that felt really good. He was clear and perceptive and I feel like I'll be able to do some good work which I am excited about. Time to peel away another layer...
I have a couple of different people to talk to next week as far as getting some more work out there- one who wants me to lead a chanting meditation at her office for a group of people and another who markets small businesses and might help give my business a jump start in this area. She is very interested in sound healing so partial trade may be an option too which is kind of nice.
I gave a lovely woman a session today at my house, which has really been my plan since I moved in- getting my business going here in my house. I moved in last October but there has been so much upheaval between getting the house and healing space set up followed by holidays, birthday, travel and being sick for three weeks that it has been a very slow start. She was one of the people who came to the chanting group last Saturday. I didn't charge for the group last week because their usually their donations go to the soup kitchen at the church, and I was very comfortable with that; and through that event I have at least one new client so it was well worth it. I loved that she felt her health issues were as she put it, "A problem with resonance." It's nice to work with someone whose operating premise is that restoring health is a matter of restoring harmony. Usually that's my line and it's definitely what I am good at!
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| Newport Community Chanting, Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI World Sound Healing Day- February 14, 2015 |
I'm also working with several oncology patients through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital and starting to get more and more new patients each week. It's definitely another case of giving without concern for the return. The patients- oncology, caregivers, and senior citizens- get massage, sound healing, acupuncture, lymphatic drainage, and various other alternative therapies at a highly discounted rate. The therapists get a portion of that and in terms of monetary remuneration it isn't much, but it is such great work. When I am there I do massage, craniosacral therapy and sound healing with tuning forks. The clients are so much in need of the work and so appreciative that it is always such a pleasure working with them. All of these people, most of them women, are very proactive about their health and doing everything they can to stay balanced, which is a beautiful thing. In the beginning I thought, "I must be crazy to travel as far as I do for this work to barely make enough money to cover my gas!" but I love working with these people so much. And it is so thoroughly appreciated and that in itself is a huge reward. I only go out there one or two days a week so there are plenty of hours left in the week to make up the difference.
Oh, and tomorrow night I get to take my youngest son Nic, who just turned 34, out to dinner for his birthday to a fabulous restaurant in Bristol, RI. He is a foodie and has been aware of the restaurant, Persimmon, for quite some time but never been there. I, on the other hand, have- and I know he will love it! We have been trying to go for two weeks now but again... obstacles! Yep, the energy is finally starting to move!
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| My son Nicolas Hardisty and I |
From Where I Sit
watching snow gently falling
on the thick whiteness of what came before
snapping and crackling of kindling in the wood stove
clicking
clacking
keys on a keyboard
movement of the soft sleeve of my grey woolen sweater as I type
metallic staccato sounds as the stove begins to heat up
wood creaks as I move in the old chair with the pale blue velvet seat
knowing a peculiar white cherub
stares
silently smiling
at my back
fire gets hotter
crackling subsides
now the steady quiet roar of the chimney
the falling snow looks like silence in motion
Focus and Intention
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| Yin Yang Heart Mosaic by Rosie Warburton |
Missed a day of blogging yesterday due to internet being down. Today, prepared for blizzard! Picked up a little extra wood yesterday just in case power goes out. Sitting with a cup of sake, wood stove going, jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table and musical instruments- guitar, banjo, harmonium, tamboura, crystal and Tibetan singing bowls- all around.
Have had some lovely sonic experiences over the last two days. Last night I went to a fundraiser for Sandywoods Center for the Arts in Tiverton. Six different bands- unfortunately I missed the first one, Bluebird Orchestra, but all who followed were great. The last one was Willard Grant Conspiracy- absolutely knocked me out.
Singer/guitarist Robert Fisher and viola player Dave Curry- I was left speechless... Haunting, atmospheric, breathtaking, and deeply moving... A quiet backdrop of slides with desert landscape and poetry. At one point Robert stopped after a few bars of a song and tuned his guitar. I observed him- I could almost say I studied him- in that process as he very quietly, with absolute focus and precision, tuned each string and I saw how deeply he listened. (Yes, I'm back to that again- deep listening- such a beautiful healing practice.) Description of Dave Curry's playing that I found on their website "Live and on record, Curry makes every note sound as if it is the first time it has been played; he embodies the concept of always being present and reacting to the moment. It is a roller coaster of twists and turns that keeps the listener on the edge of their seat." Pretty accurate. I don't have anything I could add to that.
I was sitting in the back of the room because I had met a friend who had her 3 month old baby with her. As the set progressed I kept moving up, closer and closer, and at the end of each song I would be sitting there stunned, literally with my jaw hanging open- one after the other. Suffice to say, they blew my mind in the best way possible.
Today was (and still is until midnight!) World Sound Healing Day. I got up early and went into Newport to lead a chanting group. We started off listening to a short explanation of the global intention and focus directing the sound of "AH" from the heart to the planet and then we all toned together along with the sound of a Tibetan bowl. After we intoned the "AH" to Mother Gaia I asked if anyone would like to share anything about their experience. One woman said that she had an awareness that "Her heart is beating and it's so full of love." She was deeply moved.
What she said really struck a chord in me and I realized in that moment that that is the most powerful awareness. When we think about healing the earth, if we can focus on the heart of love, rather than the pain, the suffering, the damage we have inflicted on her, that the effect will be so much more powerful. When we are in need of healing we often have to do whatever it takes to sidestep or get out of the pain and focus on the deeper awareness that is beyond the body. Often that is enough to affect a physical healing the body and in fact can sometimes produce what seems to be a miracle of healing in what looks like a hopeless situation. Our mind, aligned with our intention, is by far the most powerful tool that we have.
Back In The Saddle Again!
A whirlwind of "soundy thoughts" going through my head. Spent so long working on my new flyer today that I actually thought I had blogged already!
I see some things that still need tweaking. More refinement when I am done with this short update...
Saturday, February 14, as well as being Valentine's Day, is also World Sound Healing Day, an event initiated by world renowned sound healer Jonathan Goldman in 2002. I am still feeling slightly disheveled in my new pad, even though it looks and feels great so I hadn't set up an event here to join in. I gratefully accepted an invitation to lead a chanting group in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday morning where we will start off by toning the heart sound "AH" along with hundreds of thousands of other people across the globe who will be sending a Sonic Valentine to Mother Gaia. The global intention is to heal Mother Gaia, her waters and raise the consciousness of all beings on the planet. We will follow this with an hour or more of toning, chanting and kirtan.
I am so happy to be able to do this as we did it every year when I had the center and I have taken a couple of years off due to major life changes. I feel like I'm getting back in the saddle- and it's a saddle that feels like Home!
Several organizations are involved in measuring the effect of prayer, meditation and other spiritual activities on the electromagnetic field of the earth as well as the consciousness of her people by gathering statistics on the numbers of violent crime at specific times across the globe. To see some interesting information on this, click on this link: http://www.healingsounds.com/world-sound-healing-day-4
I see some things that still need tweaking. More refinement when I am done with this short update...Saturday, February 14, as well as being Valentine's Day, is also World Sound Healing Day, an event initiated by world renowned sound healer Jonathan Goldman in 2002. I am still feeling slightly disheveled in my new pad, even though it looks and feels great so I hadn't set up an event here to join in. I gratefully accepted an invitation to lead a chanting group in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday morning where we will start off by toning the heart sound "AH" along with hundreds of thousands of other people across the globe who will be sending a Sonic Valentine to Mother Gaia. The global intention is to heal Mother Gaia, her waters and raise the consciousness of all beings on the planet. We will follow this with an hour or more of toning, chanting and kirtan.
I am so happy to be able to do this as we did it every year when I had the center and I have taken a couple of years off due to major life changes. I feel like I'm getting back in the saddle- and it's a saddle that feels like Home!
Several organizations are involved in measuring the effect of prayer, meditation and other spiritual activities on the electromagnetic field of the earth as well as the consciousness of her people by gathering statistics on the numbers of violent crime at specific times across the globe. To see some interesting information on this, click on this link: http://www.healingsounds.com/world-sound-healing-day-4
Sympathetic Resonance
This morning I walked into my sound healing room to open the curtains and noticed my flute lying on one of the tables. I picked it up and played it for just a minute or two and was about to put it back when an extraordinary sound caught my attention. I could hear a very faint resonance of tones in the room. I blew a few notes on the flute again and stopped. Same thing...a barely audible harmony of sounds. I tried it again- where were these beautiful mysterious tones coming from?I walked over to the circle of crystal and Tibetan bowls and played again. Ah yes, there it was! The tones of the flute were causing the other instruments that had the same frequencies to vibrate in sympathetic resonance. It was extraordinary, ethereal- and astonishing to me that in so many years of working with these instruments I had never heard such an enormous response from one instrument to another! So subtle and so beautiful.
Over the years in my workshops I have shared many examples of sympathetic resonance as it is a key component in sound healing. Often when I am teaching and I have a gong next to me, my voice hits a certain tone that causes the gong to resonate. It is actually loud enough to distract me sometimes but it is also a great example of how one particular tone will cause another object (it doesn't have to be a musical instrument) to resonate if the tone is the same as said object's resonant frequency.
In its application to sound healing, knowing that all aspects of our physical body, our emotions and our thoughts have specific frequencies, we can effectively release trauma from the body by using this principle of sympathetic resonance.
In life we can simply observe and enjoy the interplay of tone and harmony as a subtle vibratory experience (sometimes not so subtle!) when we feel a resonance or connection to another. It could be the way a song makes us feel, or a tree, or a flower or the presence of another person. On the flip side when we get triggered and are upset, anxious or in pain, then we have the opportunity to explore what can help us to shift our energy back to a state of calm or homeostasis. Again it could be a song, a tree, a particular healing modality, the presence of another person, the remembrance of our breath- any myriad of possibilities because everything is vibration.
As it says in the Vedas, "Nada brahma." The world is sound.
Be Large- In Thought, In Word, In Deed
I called the landlord and made an appointment to see it, thinking it was what the sign said- an office, one room. When I called him he told me the whole building was for rent- 6 rooms- a conference room, a small kitchenette, a large front room and 3 smaller rooms. I only needed one so I knew I would not be renting this place but I thought I should really get a feeling for what was available in my area so I went to see it and to meet him.
He and his wife, a lovely Peruvian couple, met me there. He was a retired doctor and she was a potter- of all things! Clearly we had a connection. I had not been in the building more than 2 minutes when I suddenly realized it would be the perfect place for a sound healing center- which I had not, up til that moment, had any thought about starting. It was all perfect- a front room for gatherings, groups, meditations, classes, three treatment rooms for other sound healing practitioners, a reception/waiting room area, a kitchenette which would be available to all practitioners and to students when we had classes and workshops, plus a good-sized office away from the other treatment rooms with its own entrance for me and my clients.
Up to this point I had always worked out of my home- first as a potter and then for another 10 years as a sound therapist so this was really a stretch for me. The vision was so strong though that I couldn't turn my back on it. I immediately shared with Elias and Maria, the owners, my inspiration and vision and they loved the idea. A while later I left them and got in my car to go back home and think it over. When I drove away I burst out crying- not because I was upset but because the the vision and the excitement was so strong that I knew I couldn't walk away from it. I had no idea how I would make it happen as I had no working capital at all but I knew I had to do it.
There was no decision to make- only a commitment driven by intention. Up to this point I had been very good at staying under the radar. If I wanted this business to succeed that was not going to be an option. I was going to have to step up to the plate.
A few days later I made an another appointment to meet with Elias as I knew I would need three months to get the space ready to open. I told him there were some things I needed to discuss with him before I could sign the lease. I made a list of requests of what I needed from him in order to be able to move forward- changing out the carpet in some or all of the rooms, negotiating on the first 3 months rent since I wouldn't be opening til January 15, spreading out the payments for the security deposit, etc., etc. I don't remember what all was on the list but there were several other things and I was very nervous about presenting this it to him. Elias agreed to meet me and if we were in agreement I could sign the lease at the same time.
The morning of our meeting I was so nervous! I told Henry, my live-in boyfriend/partner of many years, how I was feeling. He said, "Why? Are you afraid he'll say no?" I said, "No- I'm afraid he'll say yes...[more tears] and then I'll really have to be big. I won't be able to hide. I will have to totally put myself out there to make this thing work."
On October 15, 2004 Elias left me a key so that I could go to the building before him. I told him I wanted to just sit in the space and feel it for a while so that I could be really sure that this was the right thing. This was a huge process for me. I decided before I went to the meeting to take a walk on the beach and clear my head. I had my list (of what I perceived to be unreasonable requests) with me. On the way to the beach I kept going over "The List" in my mind, having imaginary conversations with him, what I would say and how he would answer ("no, no and no"). I knew on some level that even if he said no to everything I would somehow find a way to do it anyway- because I had to. It wasn't about what I wanted- to hide and play safe. It was about something much bigger than me. It was simply the next right thing to do- or as Seth Godin would say, it was my turn.
So... I'm driving to the beach, nervous, projecting, tearful and suddenly I see a marquee in front of the Pass-A-Grille Women's League that says:
BE LARGE
IN THOUGHT
IN WORD
IN DEED
Whoa- doubletake! Did I really just see that? If ever there was a message that was meant for me... that was just crazy! I never saw that sign before and I have never seen it since.
I drove to the beach with an even greater sense of purpose, took a long walk, went to the building, sat down on the floor and started another list that was entitled "If I were queen..." Then I went into each room and envisioned what it would become, how it would be painted, decorated and used and put it on the list. After an hour or so Elias showed up by which time I was thoroughly inspired. I told him what I had been doing since I had gotten there and he loved it.
What kind of a man was this who thought it was simply brilliant that I had made a list with such a title? He said it reminded him of the Knights of the Round Table. How or why I am not exactly sure but we had a wonderful meeting that ranged from the Arthurian legend to the physics of sound. Then we discussed my other list- the scary one- and yes, he agreed to everything. We signed the lease on October 15, 2004 and on January 15, 2005, one week after my 50th birthday I opened the Sound Body Wholistic Health Center.
I ran the center for the next seven years. Elias and Maria were my angels. They believed in me and supported me through thick and thin. Sometimes I joked with them asking if their wings were hidden underneath their clothes. I believe they were. A huge community grew out of and around the center. It was an oasis of sacred sound and healing for that period of time. I gained many dear friends, met some amazing practitioners and had the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience of the healing power of sound with a great many people.
When something is meant to be there is just no getting around it.
