Food for thought...17:10 Mar 31 2009
Times Read: 782
The Secret Power of Sound: Listen and Heal
By Silvia Nakkach, MA, MMT
"Sound is a uniquely potent form of energy medicine that entrains us to the vibrations of our own essence and that of the Universe. Sound is also the simplest, most direct route I know to achieve the sense of profound calm that allows us to move into that peaceful inner place that I call our essence." Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor, MD - Director of Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine at the Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center & author of Sounds of Healing.
Sound is at the root of all existence. Consciousness as the universe is a vibratory dynamic system, and knowledge of sound encourages further exploration of the relationship between human and cosmic orders.
For centuries, the therapeutic value of music and sound has been known. Specific sounds and music were played as a form of natural medicine. Music and chanting were implemented to induce, transmit, and transform diverse realms of perception (sensorial, emotional, cognitive), becoming one of the most effective mediators of emotional communication at an intra-psychic, interpersonal, and transpersonal dimension of experience. Cross-cultural music has been an essential part of community-building, ritual, and accompaniment for life passages.
Sound has been used as a gateway to transcendence and the exploration of consciousness by shamans, yogis, mystics, composers, and scientists. The ancients in China and Tibet imparted a sophisticated knowledge of how to tune and combine the metal “singing bowls,” bells, and gongs with chanting sacred syllables to generate a sonic vibration that could influence pulse rates and brain function. In Indian and other musical traditions, the music is based on the “tonic,” a sustained tone, or drone that gives a ground to the melody, and is as well, a reminder of being protected by the “breath of God”. The drone leads the musician and the listener into a state of contemplation, slowly clearing the mind to a state beyond thoughts and emotions.
Methods and rituals for accessing deeper states of healing and for controlling outer forces of nature have been employed for thousands of years. The "low-tech" approach of yesterday has evolved into what is today a rapidly expanding science of high-tech application of sound to expand consciousness and support therapeutic processes.
As Dr Jeffrey Thompson states: “With far more sophisticated tools for measuring what happens in the brain during expanded states of consciousness, combined with more advanced tools for influencing the brain to travel to these states, we now have the ability to use our technological know-how to accelerate our own biological abilities and perhaps, our own evolution.”
The Interdisciplinary Dialogue between Sound and Neuroscience Research
The fast growing public interest in sound therapy denotes a major shift in Western scientific and medical practices and a fruition of the development of consciousness studies. In Music Therapy, music is instrumental in assessing and accessing emotional states, creating an interactive and therapeutic container so that particular feelings can be explored.
“Sound is a nutrient for the brain and can either charge or discharge the nervous system. We can consciously use sound to enhance life,” Joshua Leeds
For example, the ground-breaking work of Dr. Tomatis reveals how sound vibrations in the ear and through the skin can stimulate brain function. The discovery of acoustic brainwave entrainment, or the ability to change brainwaves and states of consciousness and emotions with sound and music, including hemisphere synchronicity, uses mapping equipment (EEG), blood tests, and bio-feedback procedures that measure profound changes in the body. These methods involve digital technology, advanced sound instruments, as well as sound tables, and sound tracks in recordings. All these sound therapies work to cause the brainwave entrainment response, directly affecting physiological systems and our vital pulses (i.e.: pulse rate, brainwaves, heart rate, respiration, EMG papillary dilation, EEG, body temperature, endocrinal functions, etc).
This research is interdisciplinary, integrating the insights of secular and sacred musical traditions with new findings in neuroscience and sound medicine. The effect has important implications on musicology, music cognition, music therapy, and the study of consciousness, and may suggest widespread implications in treating conditions like ADD, chronic fatigue, immune system diseases, brain dysfunctions, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain, immune system dysfunctions, chemical intoxication, pain, addictions, grief, anger, fear, and spiritual longing.
Rhythmically hypnotic and repetitive pulses and vocal sounds are integral to the healing process. A single beat of a drum contains many frequencies and overtones which stimulate larger areas of the brain. In particular, low frequencies and pitches can be tolerated for a longer time, thus resulting in an enduring transmission of energy. The typical tempo of tribal drumming in an EEG measurement mirrors that of the basic rhythm of an Alpha wave production (8-13 cycles per second). The repetitive drumming produces an auditory driving of the alpha waves, leading to a trance-like state that also can produce out-of-the-ordinary perceptions.
In the course of illness, the healthy flow of energy is constricted and creativity is diminished. Singing functions as a great barrier-breaker. As sound is produced, it relaxes the mind, harmonizes the perceptions, and creates a release in unnecessary tensions. Even one long note or syllable is enough to create that “freedom” effect.
Jean Achterberg states that the finest sound medicine will be produced by those who take the best from the shaman and the scientist, and learn to travel through textures of experience and consciousness states.
The experience of music is multi-dimensional. We experience music with our skin, our bones, our body temperature, and our pulse rates. Music cognition (music as data) understands music as symbols affecting memory and the brain. The phenomenon of musical embodiment and transcendence is one of healing, wherein musical meaning stimulates psychological processes and development. Music-based therapies have the capacity to align auditory awareness, inducing different kinds of attention and trance-states that stimulate deep inner healing and a sense of spiritual liberation, devotion, and belonging, thus acting as a preservation of community.
The Benefits of Sacred Chant
Sacred chant is an integral expression of the healing power of the voice and the magic of tone. Chanting is an extremely satisfying sensory experience and can fill us with joy and love, purifying our senses and emotions, as well as our surroundings, leading us naturally to meditation, liberating a sense of divine light and happiness. At the physical level, a balance of the brain function takes place, sound waves and music in the form of electrical impulses impact the nervous system and affects the heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension. The effect is a sense of “wholeness” - the body and the mind as one.
Ritual and shamanic music healing welcomes the embodiment of divine presence. Sacred chant stimulates meditative states that bypass and transcend negative emotion, promoting serenity, relaxation, and wellbeing.
As the fabric of breath, vibration and emotion, the singing voice can affect the body and mind more efficiently than any other form of sound. Vocal sounds are a primary source of energy, both balancing and stimulating to the brain. Chanting releases harmonic energy and triggers a spontaneous identification with the sacred; a dimension of consciousness characterized by a healing release of boundless radiance, openness and love.
Sacred sound travels through consciousness and can transform everyday occurrences into a mythical dimension through modalities of vocal expression and rhythmic entrainment.
“In the most ancient Tibetan mythological cycles, sound is considered to be the original source of all existence. Sound, which from the beginning of time has vibrated in ineffable emptiness, arises through mutations of light, and then differentiates into rays of various colors from which the material elements that make up the entire universe originate. The complete sound that comes from the fusion of the expressive force of the voice, the drum, and the bell, is able to cut through that type of membrane that separates different layers and textural states of consciousness, creating an atmosphere strongly permeated with magic and spirit.” Constantino Albini
Sacred chant is rooted in ancient melodic movement. In India, these scales systems are called ragas, or “that which colors the mind.” These vivid tonal arrangements evoke specific spiritual qualities or states of being. The experience of breathing deeply, dwelling in one note, feeling the musical vibrations that revitalize the body, and blending one’s own voice with other voices in essential harmonies, is deeply inspiring, offering rare glimpses of the sacred source.
The time is fast approaching when people will select their music with the same intelligent care and knowledge that they use to select their food. When that time comes, music will become the principal source of healing for many individuals and social ills, and human evolution will be tremendously accelerated.” Corrine Heline
The Effortless Voice and the Practice of Droning
from the Yoga of the Voice™ by Silvia Nakkach
In this exercise, you will allow for sound to follow breath, and voice to follow sound.
• Release a vocal tone through a relaxed and small lip opening, similar to humming (sounding like “Wuu”).
• Sustain your focus on that specific tone, sounding this tone over the subtle drone of an external instrument, such as a tamboura or a sound box.
• Chant just one or two notes, dwelling in that tonal space. Attune yourself to the awareness of tone, not yet exploring melody. Enjoy dwelling in and vibrating with one consistent tone.
The drone is a continuous tone or harmony, usually created with the simultaneous sound of the tonic and dominant (Fifth), or the tonic (Fourth). If played on strings, it will involve many other partial harmonies and sonorities. In sounding to a drone, we immerse ourselves deeply into the experience of opening the voice, departing from the root tone, diving into subtle undulations of the same tone, wandering through transformations of timbre and texture, and returning “home,” to the infinite tonal ground offered by the drone. The phrasing is simple, calm, and knowing.
Variation: use a variety of seed-sounds such as: Ah, E, Om, Ram, Bam, Yam, Lam, Tam. These sacred syllables are related to the embodiment of the qualities of the elements of nature. Duration: 5 to 10 min. This toning practice is recommended for enhancing deep listening, concentration, and creativity. For more information visit: www.voxmundiproject.com
Silvia Nakkach, MA, MMT, named by Utne magazine as one of 40 cutting-edge artists that will shake the art world in the new millennium, is a pioneer in the field of sound and transformation of consciousness. Her innovative work is integrated in the comprehensive training, The Yoga of the Voice™. She is founder of the Vox Mundi School and the creator and coordinator of CIIS’s Sound, Voice, and Music Healing Certificate program.
COMMENTS
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Cheetahcry
17:58 Mar 31 2009
Awesome read hun. Hmm maybe this is something that we can put on the sfs group page.?????
xxEmaeraldxx
22:37 Mar 31 2009
You are such a smart cookie Oceanne! I love it, and great idea Cheetah :)
Oceanne
17:41 Apr 01 2009
Glad you eonjoyed it,thanks..Sure,whatever you think would go good in the pages.:) I have some more stuff I will be posting soon too.sorry they are just big cut an paste jobs right now,but for the time being,its all I can really do.
Fallingstar
09:37 Dec 08 2009
I could not agree more...I tried to deal with a troubled soul...big mistake I was soon out of my depth.
however I have some natural defences I was gifted with...but the sounds..the chants became a very real feature...
My entry poem dont jump the well refers to this some decade ago...
Yes I heard the chanting and undertones that were very powerful and very dark
I do not profess to understand this time in my life...now chakras and some experiments reveal more. I have just learnt to push back.
Honestly I am not that intersted but I seem to have an "In"....mmm ...if you have loads like me please ignore this. I think you do.
But I have seen and done some wierd stuff.Honestly I am not that interested and having found a friend I would rather vanish but if you really need me hit me up.Not because I like you guys but I hate the bullies and those that picked on me.
AND NO thats not reverse psychology but because I know how damaging and stressy this stuff can be.
Respect and kind regards, you know much more than me. Farewell.TFS.
P.s I really respect your knowledge and reson detre.(spelt wrongly)LoLX