Original article link: http://www.soundtravels.co.uk/a-How_Sound_Affects_us_Physically,_Mentally,_Emotionally_and_Spiritually-541.aspx Physical Healing, Mental Entrainment, Emotional Healing, and Spiritual Awakening with Sound There are four main areas of our system where sound has been proven to be effective. These areas often overlap. An emotional release can make a physical pain go away, or a Spiritual breakthrough can clear the mind like never before. Physical Healing and Pain Relief Physics explains how sound affects matter in detail. We know that everything has a resonant frequency, which it most naturally resonates at. When we find that resonate frequency and play a sound that matches it, it actually feeds energy into the object. This could be a cell, an organ, or any part of the body. Also, when we use vibration to trigger a natural resonance in something, it’s like it gets a massage – loosening it up and causing more flow. This can be extremely effective for an organ like the heart, or for relaxing muscles. However, if you play a sound that matches a resonant frequency, then turn the volume up, you can explode the object. This can be quite effective for destroying something like cancer cells. The law of resonance says, “A strong vibration causes a weaker vibration to vibrate at the same frequency as the stronger vibration.” Based on this concept you can actually use sound to transform a cell into a benign cell. Although this might sound unbelievable, scientific experiments have actually shown cells being transformed into different types of cells with vibration. Sound can also be used to get rid of pain. Pain receptors can only handle so much information, so when you fill them up with sound, they can no longer transmit pain impulses. In the classes, we also teach a technique where you can make the sound of a pain, and the pain goes away in just about every case. There are many tools for creating physical changes in the body: Voice, Crystal Bowls, Tuning Forks, and Tone Generators to name a few. Probably the most effective is the use of frequencies based on Cymatics. These are frequencies that have been researched in detail. There are frequencies for just about every part of the body. Tuning forks are also extremely effective for relieving pain. The Voice can also be incredibly effective when used right on the body. In the classes, we teach how to use both tuning forks and the voice right on the body. Besides focusing on specific cells or organs, all of these tools can be used to create a sense of well being where the body’s natural healing responses kick in. It has been proven that these instruments can dramatically boost the immune system. Sound often works to create a more harmonious flow in many of the systems in the body – including the skeletal system, nervous, system, muscular system, digestive system, circulatory system, respiratory system, and endocrine system. It has also been shown that you can actually create very specific vitamins and minerals in the body, by resonating their frequency. This may seem quite unbelievable, but it has been proven in several research studies. In one study, a frequency was shown to increase the oxygen content of the blood. In the classes we share a wide range of frequencies that have been shown to create vitamins and minerals. Besides musical instruments or voice, there is also the tool of Intention. Technically, when you hold an intention for a positive outcome (similar to prayer), you are transmitting a frequency via the quantum field. Intention has been proven in many clinical studies. Lynn McTaggart covers all of these experiments in her book, “The Intention Experiment.” When intention is coupled with sound, it can have a profound effect on the Physical body. Additionally, when the energy of Love, Spirit or Source is incorporated into the sound dramatic changes can happen to parts of the body, or to the systems in the body as a whole.   Emotional Healing and Release   Many in the field of healing believe that stuck emotions account for as much as 50% of the issues and diseases we manifest (the environment being another large part). We already know how powerful music can be to transform our emotions. Sound and music and can be used to release these stuck emotions and deep emotional issues. In the classes we share nine simple techniques on how to release emotions — many that you can do in the car, when in the thick of an emotion, or… in a professional sound therapy setting.   If you look at emotions as sound and vibration (as everything is) many emotions are really annoying sounds. For example, the sound of “fear” is very much akin to a scream. It is a sound that does not support health. It is not good for the healthy functioning of your heart, your nervous system, your immune system or any of the cells in your body. Imagine being a kidney and having someone right next to you screaming in fear for a couple of hours… or for days (or God forbid… for months or years). If I were a kidney I would give it up. And, kidneys do…when accosted by the sound of fear over long periods of time.   Most of the lower emotions are associated with sounds that are really irritating, such as: pessimism, frustration, irritation, impatience, overwhelment, disappointment, doubt, worry, blame, discouragement, anger, revenge, hatred, rage, jealousy, insecurity, guilt, unworthiness, fear, grief, depression, despair, and powerlessness. These are distorted or inconsistent sounds, and they break down your physical body.   On the other hand, the sounds associated with higher emotions support your health, such as: contentment, hopefulness, optimism, positive expectation, belief, enthusiasm, eagerness, happiness, passion, joy, appreciation, empowered, freedom, and love. They actually nurture the beating of your heart and your nervous system. The sounds associated with these emotions are consistent and quite pure tones. Vowel sounds resonate these types of energies the best. Vowels create consistent and pure tones.   So the trick is to simply be present enough to notice when you are resonating the irritating sound and music of lower emotions, and simply change the station to the consistent and beautiful sounds and music by resonating higher emotions.   One of the most powerful sound techniques is to use sound to transform subconscious negative beliefs. These are beliefs that generally stop us from manifesting what we want in the world. Beliefs are simply really powerful frequencies in our subconscious that are hidden from our view. They might be things like, “I’m not good enough,” or “I am not worthy of being financially abundant,” or “I can’t get healthy now that I have this sickness.” Based on the law of resonance, they simply resonate and attract into our world whatever the frequency of the belief is.   The tricky part is that these beliefs are often hidden from our view. However, even when we discover them, it can still be hard to change their frequency. Often these beliefs have been reinforced by experience over many years – or many lifetimes.   Very similar to the techniques for releasing deep emotional issues, in the classes we share and practice using sound to release and transform these negative beliefs. Then, we also use sound to resonate new belief systems that support life. Similar to Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) these techniques are extremely powerful in creating lasting positive changes in your life.   Mentally – Brainwave Entrainment   There has been extensive clinical research clearly proving that when we listen to frequencies within the range of a brainwave (beta, alpha, theta and delta) our brain will be entrained into that frequency within a few minutes. “Binaural beats” are frequencies that can be created with sound within the frequency range of the brain. We can use these frequencies to help put us into various brainwave states, which can help with a variety of issues including ADD, ADHD, post traumatic stress, learning disabilities, sleep disorders, enhancing mental clarity, memory, and creativity. When we listen on headphones these frequencies also synchronize the left and right brain, which is our optimal state.   There is now research showing how to use these binaural beat frequencies to lead us into states of deep meditation, and higher emotions of love and joy. When our thoughts flow as smoothly as a beautiful song, we have less stress in our life, and thereby better overall health.   Spiritual Healing, Awakening, and Reconnection   Sound and music have been used since the beginning of time in cultures all over the world to help bring us into a state of Spiritual healing, harmony and awakening.   Most people think of Spiritual healing as a process whereby we simply clear out negative emotions, deep emotional issues and negative belief systems – so we can more clearly resonate love and light. Some also look at it from a mental perspective in that we have to get clarity in our mind so that it doesn’t keep leading us into stressful roller coasters fraught with anxiety, and dead end traps, which also create stress and anxiety. We have already discussed how sound can help with both of these emotional and mental issues.   Meanwhile, sound can also be used to entrain us into harmony and a direct connection to Spirit, our Soul, and Source.   Connecting to the Frequency of Your Soul – Many Spiritual teachings talk about returning to your Soul. Alice Bailey talks about building a bridge between your personality and the Soul. She calls it the “Antakarana.” When we listen to the sound of our Soul (instead of our ego and personality), and develop a direct connection to it, we often receive guidance on how to live our lives more fully. She also says that our soul is the same frequency from lifetime to lifetime. This totally makes sense because there must be something that carries the information of our soul from lifetime to lifetime.   It also makes sense that our entire body at every level must have a fundamental or root frequency that it is based on. Every sound has a fundamental; every song has a home key; and everything in the universe has a fundamental note that that it resonates to. In fact, it has been shown in research in a hospital that when you resonate this core root frequency your whole system falls into alignment.   Since everything is vibration, even our Soul must be a certain frequency, right? Doing a variety of tests we can find your Soul Frequency. We can do these assessments at the Institute or online (CLICK HERE for more information).   Once you find the frequency of your Soul you can use that frequency to come home… to yourself… where you are at complete peace and connected to Source at the same time. ??   Connecting to Spirit and Source – Sound and music can also be used as an avenue to connect us to the higher energies of what many call Spirit, Source, or God. Even if you already know how to connect to Spirit, the right sounds and music can enhance that connection and make it even stronger. Certain frequencies might do it, but more commonly certain sounds (timbres) or certain passages in a song (musical intervals and rhythms) do it more often. You can also do this energetically with intention. When you get all 4 levels of frequency, timbres, music and energy going in tandem whole worlds of unfathomable healing power and levels of consciousness that we have never imagined can open before us.   There seems to be a direct relationship between consistent sounds (pure vowels sounds) and the consistent energy of Spirit.   I always think of the frequency of God or Source as being all frequencies in the universe. In fact, when people explain the experience of being one with Source and everything in the Universe they say that it is not one frequency in particular. Instead, it is as if you are all the frequencies in the Universe simultaneously. I have since discovered that tuning in to more than one thing at a time – simultaneously – is a portal into oneness and source.   For example, when you tune into sparkles on the ocean, it is easy to get lost in the waves of sunlight moving across the sparkles. At this point you have disappeared. You are simply the experience. This also commonly happens when listening to sounds and music. You disappear and become the experience. You can simply de-focus your mind and listen to all sounds at once versus listening to the details of any one sound in the mix.   Another way to experience this portal is to tune into all of the chakras at once. Tuning into 7 frequencies simultaneously will make you disappear, so that you are the only the experience.   Another technique is to tune into all frequencies of the Universe simultaneously. You simply become all of the sounds of the Universe by adding them bit by bit until you are all the frequencies of the Universe… which is the truth. In fact, all of us are all of the frequencies of the Universe… so this is where we are all one. Some call this sound “The Cosmic OM.” To merge with the cosmic OM is a profound experience. You normally return with a clear perspective of this illusion of separation that we all live in – and just how silly it is.   Raising Your Vibration – People often talk about “raising your vibration,” in order to become more Spiritually oriented. However, the phrase is actually a little confusing. Otherwise, someday we might all be talking like the chipmunks.   On one hand, I believe many people are simply talking about riding the higher emotions of love and light that we discussed earlier. It’s also about pure thoughts and actions that don’t hurt anyone else and lead us to resonating more with our Spirit and Soul. I often think of a higher vibration as simply being a purer vibration — One with less distortions and distractions. This means we are less affected by outside energies and have much better focus of attention.   However, when we look at the phrase in more detail, it means different things depending on which system you are referring to — Physical, Mental, Emotional, or Spiritual systems.   Physically, the frequencies in our body (from cells to organs to collective systems) don’t go higher when we get higher. In fact, the more in alignment with nature and Spirit we get, the more our cells and organs resonate at their natural healthy frequencies. No higher or lower.   Mentally, it has been shown that our brainwaves actually go higher and lower at the same time when we are in higher states of consciousness or deep states of meditation. We actually exhibit extremely slow brainwaves of Sub-delta (less than .5 cycles per second), and extremely fast brainwaves of Gamma (more than 30 cycles per second) – both simultaneously. Therefore, mentally the term should be, “Raising and Lowering your Vibration at the Same Time.”   Emotionally, we go from feeling and expressing irritating and annoying sounding negative emotions that are distorted and inconsistent, to feeling and expressing beautiful sounding positive emotions that are pure and consistent sounds, which support our health in every way. The higher emotions that include gratitude, compassion, love and joy are actually not higher sound frequencies at all. Therefore, at the emotional level, “Raising Your Vibration,” is really about purity and consistency of frequency versus raising the frequency.   Spiritually, there could be something to raising our vibration. I do know people who talk about tuning into extremely high frequencies (above 10,000 hertz) in order to access higher states of consciousness. However, I still don’t quite get how this works, but I remain open to the possibility that there is something in us Spiritually or at a Quantum Level that can be raised.   Meanwhile, again I have come to believe that to raise your vibration is more about purity and consistency of frequency than anything. It is about 100% clarity of focus and presence at all times. A frequency that doesn’t waver – just like the frequency of Love, Soul, Spirit and Source never waver – ever! They are all as pure and consistent as any vibration on earth and in the Universe. So when we resonate with them – we find the profound peace of this consistency and purity.   Raising Your Consciousness – Ultimately raising your consciousness is the same as raising your vibration. Many in the field define “raising your consciousness” as simply resonating higher emotions such as gratitude, compassion, love and joy. However, it is also about resonating with Love, Soul, Spirit and Source – our true essence.   In the 3D level of normal day-to-day reality, this is also about resonating with patterns and the flow of nature and Spirit versus those of machines and the ego.   As we open our hearts more fully to life and experience spiritual harmony, diseases and physical issues often fall away entirely; emotional issues sometimes resolve on their own, and mental clarity seems to ensue out of the blue.

What is silence?  It is so much more than the absence of sound.  A meditative silence is really about a sense of inner quiet, of stillness and tranquillity, free from mental chatter as well as external sound. Often this is felt in those moments when we hover between waking and sleeping, between the in breath and the out breath.  This space is so precious in these times when we have so much input from radio, television, phones, email, Facebook… it can take a big effort to drop all these distractions and actively seek out silence. And it can be challenging to drop these distractions, enter a silent space and observe what arises.   One of the great gifts of working with sound is the way it can move us effortlessly into this meditative silence – we can just rest and be carried on waves of sound.  It makes it really easy for us. There is no need to sit on the meditation cushion, struggling to still the mind.  Instead it’s just about surrendering to the flow and following the sound into silence.   Sound releases us from mental chatter, stilling the critical voice which constantly makes judgements on our experiences. With language comes the desire to label what we perceive, and then with ego the impulse to judge whether things are going in our favour or not.  This is essential for our survival and protection, but can prevent us from being in touch with our essential selves and from living in the moment. We also habitually cast back to the past and forward into the future, endlessly rehearsing what we should have said, what we might say. As Eckhart Tolle so vividly describes this: ‘virtually everyone hears a voice, or several voices, in their head all the time…the voice comments, speculates, judges, compares, complains, likes, dislikes and so on.’ (The Power of Now) The experience of a sound bath or meditation gives us release from these habits of mind – we do come back, of course, to the world of ‘ten thousand things’ – but altered, because we have experienced the deep peace which lies beyond.   One of the many beauties of gongs and singing bowls, is that they create music which we can’t easily define or label, which never repeats itself – it just is what it is.  So the mind surrenders the search for meaning, for pattern, and for judgement. Each time we play or listen  we experience a unique improvisation, with many and complex tones and overtones.  Listening intently to these instruments draws our focus from the ego, softening the edges and allowing us to just be.  We lose our illusions of separateness and feel the reality of our interconnectedness with all beings. Sometimes in this state of connectedness we can experience flashes of insight or understanding, or be released from mental or physical discomfort.   Then the silence which follows these sounds is also not just an absence of sound, but is a resonant silence – the vibrations may no longer be audible but they continue to sound in the body and in the room.  Holding a silence at the end of the sound meditation is a wonderful harmonious experience, as we continue to rest and integrate all we have heard and felt.   Often people report an enhanced quality of listening – as we turn our attention outward once again to engage with the material world, we can often find our enjoyment of music and sound sharpened.  We can also find that we can welcome in all the sounds which arise – traffic as well as birdsong – hearing it all as vibration.   There is something special too about the experience of sharing this silence with other people – in a one to one session with the practitioner, and in a group session with all the participants.  This has a different quality from solitary meditation – we feel the energies of our companions in this experience, and are drawn together. Having the presence of a practitioner who creates a safe space allows us to surrender more deeply than we would otherwise. They take the role of a guide or witness, giving a sense of security. Perhaps there is some ancient memory of needing to keep some awareness for self-protection when we are alone, preventing us from relaxing completely, and this is released when we are accompanied.   This is a big responsibility for sound practitioners, but it is profoundly rewarding and a great privilege to share the journey into sound and silence with our fellow human beings.   www.soundscape.org.uk

Tibetan Bowls: A Musician’s Perspective by Mark Biehl

Author’s website: http://www.acuitysoundworks.com/main.html The tones singing bowls produce are actually waveforms of energy. These oscillating waveforms have the capacity to interact with our brain; often creating an alert yet relaxed state of awareness. Although I have been a musician for most of my life, it is only relatively recently that I have discovered the wonderfully inspiring sounds produced by Tibetan singing bowls. Yet, the tones produced by these bowls are remarkably complex, and offer a multitude of timbres that traditional Western music is incapable of producing. One of the earliest aspects of musical training that I can remember relates to the concept of pitch. To be able to play a musical instrument in tune is a fundamental part of the learning process. Paramount to tuning a musical instrument is knowledge of the phenomenon known as oscillation. Stated in simple terms, oscillation occurs when two relatively identical musical tones are played together simultaneously and waveforms collide. In the case of tuning a musical instrument, one tone is generated by an external device (a “tuner”) and the other tone comes from the musical instrument itself. The resulting effect can best be described as a pulsation. This vibrational effect will begin to slow down as adjustments are made to the musical instrument in order to precisely “match” the tone of the external tuning device. Conversely, movement away from the pitch reference will cause the pulsating effect to speed up. Learning how to distinguish this change in oscillation is critical to properly tuning a musical instrument. The beauty of Tibetan singing bowls lies in their precise tuning and in the resulting vibrational patterns that they produce. The tuning of an individual bowl does not occur by accident but rather is part of an intentional process developed by its maker. Every bowl is uniquely handcrafted—no two bowls are exactly the same. This is significant because each bowl possesses a specific harmonic resonance composed of several tones. The quality of the resonance depends upon the metals used and, more importantly, on the technical skill and hearing ability of the craftsman. The tones singing bowls produce are actually waveforms of energy. These oscillating waveforms have the capacity to interact with our brain; often creating an alert yet relaxed state of awareness. In fact, our mind is drawn to the vibrational patterns of the bowls, and responds by producing brain waves that can increase our ability to become more focused or centered. This clarified mental state is complimentary to the practice of meditation. Mark Biehl, lifelong musician and composer, is the founder of Acuity Soundworks ®, dedicated to the development and presentation of music to inspire creative thought or action. Its central focus is the creation of musical works that encourage listeners towards a more positive mental state, provoke the imagination, and restore wellbeing. For more information please visit: www.acuitysoundworks.com.