You have to laugh. Talk about food and everyone flocks over. Talk about meditation and everyone runs away. But it’s okay. If I end up talking to myself, that’s fine. I may even come to like the sound of my own voice. Or I may just lapse into silence (it's happening more and more). J
Except for when I make the big bad UUUH sound. Zoe mentioned the word 'chant' yesterday and it’s funny cos it’s not one I use. I never think of myself as chanting yet AUM is indeed a mantra, a chant. When I started off trying to meditate in the Labyrinth, I couldn’t get to the pure AUM. My mind was too skittery. So I went back to a form of meditation I’d tried years before: toning or sounding vowels as mantras. Yeah, chanting basically. Years ago I did some research on sound healing and I came across Jonathan Goldman’s Healing Sounds tape. Yes, a cassette tape, it was that long ago. I played it sitting at my desk in one of my deeply sceptical moods but I was literally blown away. In fact it scared me because there came a point where I really didn’t know where I was; I felt completely adrift in time and space. Now, of course, I’d love that but back then it scared me shitless and the tape gathered dust.
So, when Ma.Ste. talked about meditation in the Labyrinth, I remembered the tape, rummaged in the old chest of drawers and tugged it out. Found that, yes, we did still have an ancient sound system with a cassette slot and plugged it and myself in. Wow. Triple wow actually.
You start off with the base chakra, with a very deep uuuuh sound then slowly move up until you reach the crown with a high-pitched iiiiii sound.
There I was, in my study, eyes shut, grunting and squeaking along. I still can't do the really low uuuuh sound, not deep enough to feel it. Maybe I'm still not really grounded enough? Some sounds come easier than others and you have to wonder if that means one chakra is happier than the others?
Don't believe in chakras, in the energy centres of the body?
Doesn't matter in the least. They probably don't believe in you either. :-) But I do. Because I can feel them and when I make these chakra sounds, I can feel them vibrating in the relevant part of my body.
Anyhow, if you find it hard to jump to the pure Zen stuff, I dunno, this might be a way in. It’s active, it gives you stuff to do with your vocal chords and mind (you can visualise each chakra with its relevant colour if you like). Yet you still get pretty damn good results.
Sounds woo-woo? Mebbe. Or mebbe not.
Here’s how Goldman puts it. ‘Modern science is now in agreement with what the ancient mystics have told us—that everything is in a state of vibration, from the electrons moving around the nucleus of an atom, to planets and distant galaxies moving around stars. As they’re creating movement, they are creating vibration, and this vibration can be perceived of as sound. So everything is creating a sound, including the sofa that we’re sitting on, or this table, or our bodies. Every organ, every bone, every tissue, every system of the body is creating a sound. When we are in a state of health, we’re like an extraordinary orchestra that’s playing a wonderful symphony of the self. But what happens if the second violin player loses her sheet music? She begins to play out of tune, and pretty soon the entire string section sounds bad. Pretty soon, in fact, the entire orchestra is off. This is a metaphor for disease.’
He reckons that if you can project the right resonant frequency (for a healthy organ) to the diseased part it will return to balance by a form of entrainment. It makes sense to me.
Sacred chants (such as Gregorian chants) often employ very high frequencies (around 8,000 Hz) which are capable of stimulating the central nervous system and the cortex of the brain. Simply listening to music that is high in harmonic content is beneficial to us humans. When you make the sounds yourself, it can be even more powerful.
He also believes that it’s not the sound or harmonic alone that creates healing but that sound in combination with the intention of the person who is projecting it. Magic? No. Just science that hasn’t quite become known yet. And probably won’t because, as Goldman says, ‘You can’t patent a tone.’
Actually he says a whole lot of interesting stuff and if you wanna, follow this link to read an interview with him.
If you go to his website Healing Sounds you can download this 'chakra tune up' for free.
7 Minute Chakra Tune Up
There’s tons to say about sound and vibration but I reckon that’s enough for now. What would Ma.Ste. say? Probably this…
‘…since it’s music you are supposed to make it or listen to it, and not to write or read about it. Relax.’
And then pick up a guitar…
