Reya Manna, Author at LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health

SongKeepers are Guardians of the Earth and Vibration

Reya Manna — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 15:00:17 +0000

The Tradition of SongKeepers Around the World

In lore, they go by many names: the SongKeepers, Song Catchers, Songline carriers. They were considered the Memory Keepers of the Earth. From many different traditions, it is the SongKeepers who help hold the frequency of the planet by means of chanting and song. Through their voices, the Earth is held in resonant vibration with the perfection of life.

SongKeepers vocalize ceaselessly in devotion, praise, and alignment with Source. They may know how to find sacred places, make it rain, bring a good crop, or restore someone to health. This all occurs through the power of song. Historically, these practices have been documented, reaching the Western World through the lens of modern understanding, which views music as an art form or entertainment. This allows the magic of song to be hidden in plain sight.

Ceremony and Song

SongKeepers are song ceremonialists. They hold sacred space and they facilitating transformation through vocal vibration. Many SongKeepers were taught the ancient mysteries, entrusted with sacred and cultural songs of their people, and learned to work closely with the natural world. Many indigenous cultures or schools of mysticism had songs or chants they would use which had been handed down from generation to generation. These songs honoring aspects of life, place, rites of passage, times of year, or other markers. In some cases, written songs were handed down from mouth to ear. In other cases, the transmission was given directly from Spirit to the chosen aspirant.

Understanding the Art of Alchemy

SongKeepers are those who understand the art of alchemy through sound and vibration. They can utilize this wisdom to stabilize higher consciousness, cause the land to flourish, heal the afflicted, liberate the collective, and manifest new realities. Their songs remind us of who we are.

Everything is vibration. Every rock and tree and creature is vibration–in addition to every condition of the mind, body, and environment. Singing is vibration. When we resonate sound, it vibrates our bones, which has the capacity to alter the expression of our DNA.

Any condition in your body, mind, or environment with which you are struggling or challenged exists along a vibrational bandwidth. These bandwidths contain thoughts, feelings, health conditions, relationship patterns, and more.

The good news is, if you are facing challenges, you can alter your experience by shifting your vibration. Illness or despair cannot exist in the steady state of high vibrational frequencies. Hence, the songs aren’t just nice melodies or meant for entertainment. They contain so much more.

The Energy Exchange with the Earth

Human beings are designed as part of a Whole. There is an energy exchange that occurs between humans and earth, between humans and the unseen. We experience one side of it every day: through the food we eat, water we drink, our shelter, our resources, our breath, our life. All are given to us by Mother Earth and by this vast unseen world. Quantum Physics shows us that everything is vibration; nothing is solid or fixed. In addition, discoveries suggest that our eyes are only able to perceive 1% of the visible light spectrum. We live in a world within which we are receiving, being nourished and sustained whether we know it or not.

We are put a part within this whole. In order to maintain balance, reciprocal actions are needed to complete the feedback loop. There is a giving that humans must provide the earth and the unseen. Humans are tasked with appreciating, offering, and protecting the land, the spirits, animals, and resources. Without this complete feedback loop, our world is out of balance. The Earth needs us to appreciate, honor and sing to her. She is a living being. The Earth feels our support and love, just like any person. Think about what happens to people if they are not cared for or if they are ignored and neglected. Are they healthy and thriving? Just like us, the earth flourishes when she is appreciated.

In the past, the balance of the ecosystem and the homeostasis of the land were intact. Songs were taught which contained this healthy vibration of place, of harmony, balance and oneness. They were sung to nourish the land and the people who sang them. People were inextricably linked to one another and to their environment, recognizing the connection of all life. At this time in our history, connection has been lost to traditions, to earth honoring practices, to ourselves. Yet, the songs that contain the vibrational strength of the earth and the memory of who we are – are still present and being sung for those who can hear them.

SongKeepers Around the World

SongKeepers come from many different cultures from around the world…

“The Aboriginal people of Australia believe that the land is alive and that to keep it alive, they must sing to it” (from the novel “White Spirit” by James and Lance Morcan). In addition, through the singing of songs, the Aborigines navigate the landscape. The use of songs to find their way is known as songlines or dreaming tracks. These songlines are the journey of creation. They depict the origin of the universe and a time when the Ancestral Spirits created life and resided over the land.

These songs contain the vibrational reality of nature as well as the heritage of their cosmology – hence enlivening the singer with the world of the dreaming and further enlivening the dream. The songs would lead the Aborigines to the “spirit of place” that they were singing. And the songs would reinforce the identity of that reality, in the fullness of its aliveness.

For Indigenous people of North America, music and life were intertwined with nature. Singing was used as a means of communication with the ancestors and the spirits of the land. Whirling Cloud Soman from the Ute peoples stated, “Songs come from creation itself.” And “Songs come from the earth. We are merely vessels through which it can flow and come forth and give joy and give culture” (from the article, “Music and the Land: The American Indian Tradition”).

Music is a means of receiving from Life, remembering our origins and communing with the magic of Great Spirit that pervades all things.

Singing then becomes a conversation of giving, receiving, and thanksgiving.

The role of a human being, then, is to be a conduit of creation itself.

Mantra As Self-Generated Sound Healing

Mantra is chanted in religious traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism. Mantras can be found in ancient languages; these are also known as seed, or “cause” languages. These refer to languages in which the spoken words depict reality, compared to English, which is a phonetic, or “sound it out” language. In these mantric languages, each syllable activates the energy meridians of the body through the placement of the tongue against the roof of the mouth and the movement of the navel with the breath.

Mantra practices are self-generated sound healing, which shift the brain wave state of the meditator and align the practitioner with the reality of the words spoken. These practices work to whatever end a person seeks, including: love, money, success, or even enlightenment. At higher levels of practice, monks, nuns, yogis, and sages chant as part of an individual or group practice to influence the future of our world toward its highest possibility, bring heaven on earth and for the liberation of all beings from suffering.

The use of sacred songs extends to Curandero or healer traditions throughout South America. These include the Cofan of Ecuador, the Quechua of Peru, The Yawinawa of Brazil, The Kogi of Columbia, and countless others. The Healer learns a litany of songs to sing in ceremony, for healing, removing bad spirits, attracting wealth, really everything under the Sun. The use of song goes beyond ceremony. Song is a way of life. It is part of their fabric of relating with each other, nature, and the unseen world. The songs are both passed down through the generations, as well as given from the spirit world.

In Siberia, Shaman are the bridge between worlds. Shaman use singing, drumming and music to induce trance states. They work on behalf of individuals and community, addressing issues within the context of the non-visible spectrum of reality, aligning with the rhythms of nature to affect change.

In what can be considered the “Western World”, there exist mystical branches of the mainstream religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Within these traditions, can be found scriptures, invocations, chants, and prayers that when steeped in devotion align us with the causative aspect of Divine Creation, and vibrationally maintain the frequency of peace on earth.

In Ancient Egypt, the hieroglyphs depict the use of sound vibration being used by priests and priestesses in order to open up portals for communication with higher realms. Some research suggests that many of the temples and even the great pyramid were resonant chambers used to transmit sound vibration, activate higher consciousness, supply energy and even maintain the anchoring of interplanetary consciousness on the earth.

Sound, Vibration, and Music are referenced in countless creation myths throughout the world. In the Pueblo Indian creation myths, the spider sung creation into existence. In the Bible, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God,” suggesting creation was spoken into existence. In Hindu tradition, the sound Om is the primordial sound of creation. In Hebrew, the first letter of the alphabet is Aleph – said to be the sound of the first out breath or exhalation. In Aztec mythology, the God Quetzecoatl blew a conch shell rippling out vibrations that created the first emanations of life.

Sound as Communication

What these traditions have in common is the use of singing and sound as a communication channel between heaven, earth, and humans. This supports balance and right relationship. The singing is living, available and necessary for our highest, as well as that of our world.

We are not individual beings, living separate and apart from one another – lonely and isolated.

We are all part of planetary consciousness.

We are being called at this time, to join the Legions of Beings in the seen and the unseen worlds holding the vibration of the New Earth.

With so many traditions, lost and forgotten, there is a way forward. At this time in history, there is a surge of earth energy, of cosmic consciousness coming through the ethers, emanating from beneath the surface of convention and organized belief. There is a resurgence, a revival of Gnosis. The presence of spirit beyond the veil is speaking loudly, reaching through to shake us from our routine and inviting us into communion.

We are being called out of the sleep of compliance and conformity and back to our hearts, to the heart of the earth, to the heart of creator – to be active participants in the symphony of creation – an orchestration that very much needs us for its living and thriving.

We feel this call for connection and for new ways of being to emerge through the space between us. In order to restore our feeling of connection, we need to cherish each other, take care of the Earth, honor our direct access to spirit. Recognize that we matter. We make a difference.

Even the vibrations that we hold can greatly impact the outcome of someone we’ve never met. The change doesn’t have to be anything grandiose, it can be found in the still, small moments. Sing to the Earth.

Remembering the Songs of our Ancestors

We must remember the songs we’ve forgotten. The songs of our ancestors. The songs of the land. The songs of the future. The songs of the children. The songs of our hearts. The songs of each other. We must begin to restore our relationship with the music of life. As we become lovers of life, life becomes a lover of us.

This is the recipe for SongKeeping

SongKeeping is to hold the vibration of life so solid and strong in melody and harmony, in unison, in breath, in vibration – that the power of goodness, the power of the heavens shake the illusion and falsehood to dust.

You can be a SongKeeper too!

SongKeeping isn’t about being a performer or having the “perfect” voice. It’s about using the voice you have as a conduit of love, as an instrument of peace and devotion, and feeling the world around you respond in kind.

Thank you to all those benevolent beings who hold the vibration of the planet so life can continue.

The journey forward is guided by following the singing in life. Keep walking in the direction of what makes your heart sing. If you sing to the Earth, eventually, the Earth will show you what to do.

If you would like to learn more, join us for The SongKeeper School. This is a six month program of sacred singing, earth honoring and ritual.

Learn more about SongKeeping and the power of music with Reya Manna. https://reyamanna.com/events/innerworlds

The Voices of the SongKeeper School

https://youtu.be/bbKF307ajxc

The Inner Worlds of The SongKeeper School

https://youtu.be/skbaEhE6Ks8

Reya Manna

Reya Manna, MSW, MDiv, CPC is a best-selling author, singer, sound healer and visionary working for the transformation of humanity and the planet. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, a Master’s degree of Social Work and a Master of Divinity. She is a Certified Professional Life Coach, Reiki Master, Naam Yoga Teacher, Harmonyum Practitioner, and mom. For over 20 years, she has been immersed in the multidisciplinary spiritual, self-help, and psychological fields – with emphasis on religious studies; native wisdom traditions; transpersonal psychology; yoga and sound healing. Through combining these varying modalities, she has formed a unique approach to working with individuals, families and groups to assist them in finding their voice, accessing their highest potential and doing the greatest good for the world.

In addition, Reya is the founder of The SongKeeper School – a program of sacred singing, earth honoring, and ritual. Reya is also the founder of the program “Sing the World Awake!” – a motivational music, movement and conversational experience to activate children’s highest potential through song and catalyze transformation in our relationship with ourselves, each other and our planet. She is currently located in the Los Angeles, California area.

www.singtheworldawake.org

The post SongKeepers are Guardians of the Earth and Vibration appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Sound Healing in Los Angeles

Reya Manna — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 14:11:39 +0000

Sound Healing: A trend that can vibrate the world to wellness

More than simply a trend, sound healing practices are becoming a way of life in the greater Los Angeles area and beyond. Wellness Music is identified as one of the Wellness Trends for 2020 by the Global Wellness Institute’s Global Wellness Trends Report. In yoga studios, living rooms, churches, on mountaintops, in gyms, at festivals, and in community centers, people are sharing sound techniques that lift your vibration. Some version of any of the following is available practically every day of the week: Sound Bath, Sound Healing Meditation, Crystal Bowl Bath, Gong Meditation, Sound Healing Cacao Ceremony, Sound Journey, Past Life Regression or some creative version of this lay down, cozied up concert during which you can meditate, relax, or simply fall asleep.

We may ask why this new niche is rising in such popularity on a global scale, with LA at the forefront. Be Crystal Clear owner and Sound Healer Sugar says, “Sound Healing offers relief from our hectic lives and our overactive minds bringing clarity, awareness and comfort to our mind, body and spirit.” Light on Lotus owner Kate Duyn shares, “I think the increased amount of time we are spending online on all of our electronic devices while being inundated with a constant stream of distractions is starting to take its toll on our health. It feels to me like people who are already engaged in wellness or spiritual practices are tuning into this, and feeling the need to unplug, rest and re-set their nervous systems. In my community in particular, I certainly noticed a shift toward sound baths and these kinds of healing experiences in recent years. They have become a regular method of coping with our collective unrest and anxiety.”

SoCal’s Trend-Setting Renegade History

California’s recent history reveals how it is a vector for popular culture and a hot bed of activity. Noteworthy events include the 19th century gold rush, the time when (1923) when Los Angeles was the source of one-quarter of the world’s entire oil supply. The movie industry moved from New York to Hollywood in the 1900s, which set the stage for Los Angeles stardom. The post-war era of the 1950s brought with it Disneyland, Universal Studios, and the Dodgers. The counter culture movements of the 1960s, with their emphasis on the expansion of consciousness, yoga, film, music, art, and a deep questioning of the status quo—all had a life of their own in California. Los Angeles is a mecca for music, media, fashion, industry, and influential tastemakers. Change happening here is being broadcast to the rest of the world.

LA is also something of a spiritual destination. The region attracts visionaries, yogis, teachers and outliers, such as Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekananda, Aldous Huxley, Krishnamurti, Swami Muktananda, as well as spiritual groups, organizations, and utopian communities. It is a hub where new ideas have a safe space and curious audience, a climate of innovation on all fronts.

The Native caretakers of these lands—the Tongva and the Chumash, among others—understood its magic and the use of sacred sites to vision, commune with the spirits of the land, and make offerings to assist with its natural balance.

How the Magic of Sound Healing is Calling Us

In the flow of energy described in quantum physics, sound becomes light, and light becomes physical matter. Sound even brings us into existence on Earth. Astronauts report that there is a hum – there is a sound to outer space. Ancient spiritual texts speak of the primordial sound of creation. Science refers to a “Big Bang.”

On film, the movie Contact (1997) paints a picture of alien intelligence that communicates through almost indecipherable sounds, which later are revealed to be complex blueprints of an entirely new system of technology. Movies, as well as spirituality, portray a journey in which the characters follow the signs that somehow transform their world.

Sound healing may, potentially, be a bridge between these worlds of pop culture and inner contemplative spirituality. Spiritual seeking is an individualized journey, leaving the aspirant alone in meditation and contemplation in order to gain deeper awareness of themselves. This may feel threatening and inaccessible to some, while not even stimulating the curiosity of others who require a more hand-holding approach to self-actualization. Pop culture on the other hand, through music, art and media, can ignite the senses and provide a framework for being moved, touched, and inspired.

Traveling at the Speed of Sound

Sound healing unites the outer and inner worlds. It uses a soundscape to connect with the senses, while simultaneously setting the participant up for an inner experience. In this context we are not left to our own devices, to be lost in the recesses of our own mind or of our own breath. Instead, we are gently guided through sound, which offers our body the prompting to relax and let go so that we can more easily access the meditative state.

Sound is a portal. It takes us into parts of ourselves hidden or long forgotten. It can take us back to our childhood or even open ancestral memories. It can remind us of our connection to the earth and to each other. Sound can help us to relax our mind so that we can perceive something we didn’t perceive before.

Sound Vibration or Sound Healing gives us a chance to realign with our body’s innate wisdom. It gives us the opportunity to hear our inner voice. In a world with so many competing interests – for success, wealth, power, fame, and attention, our hearts are longing for connection. We are needing the sound of our own soul.

Participating in Sound Healing in LA

In Los Angeles there is so much Sound Healing to appreciate! Some in the form of people who are not to be missed and some in the form of places which consistently offer quality programming. Every person and place is a carrier of a different code—to help humanity remember its true identity at this time in human history. Of course there are many other reputable sound healing practitioners and locations for sound healing. We didn’t have the space to mention all of them.

A Selection of Sound Healers

Lynda Arnold

Lynda Arnold creates a haunting soundscape with her vocals, monochord, bowls and looping technique. She regularly holds concerts St. John’s Cathedral in Downtown LA with her group of all female sound healers called “Sonic Devas.” Lynda’s 432 Hz electronic music/sound meditation collaboration with Torkom Ji is called “Solar Theory.” At St John’s Cathedral, I had the fortune of witnessing them both! They produced an otherworldly blend of sounds, tones, loops, and rhythms. Lynda is a certified sound healer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and seasoned performer on a life-long mission to build healthy communities through the power of sound and music. She offers sound healing workshops, private sound baths and singing for wellness sessions. divasonic.com

Helane Marie Anderson

Helane Marie Anderson sings like an angel, taking you into the celestial world with her voice paired with crystal singing bowls, chimes and alchemical bowls. Helane’s toolkit is made of imperial topaz, androgynous indium, pink aura gold, and ocean palladium. Helane is a certified sound healing and therapy practitioner, and a craniosacral, massage, and Polarity therapist. She has a background as a songwriter, trained as both a classical pianist and singer, and is adjunct faculty at USC. Her book is: You Are Meant to Sing! 10 Steps to Unlock Your Inner Voice. www.sacralsounds.com.

Guy Douglas

Guy Douglas creates some of the largest sound healing events in LA, selling out cathedrals and other venues to create immersive experience on a grand scale including Sound Healing Symphonies and beachfront Gongs for Peace. Guy got started more than 15 years ago, after he heard the sound of his first gong and thought it was the sound of creation. He uses symphonic Paiste planetary gongs, native flutes, ocean drums, Tibetan bowls, and crystal bowls. At Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Guy Douglas’s Sound Bath Symphonies sell out to a “laying down” crowd of 1,400 people. He recognizes that people are bombarded by information and stress and they need a way to get out of their heads. In addition, Guy offers Breathwork Sound Baths, sound bath yoga, corporate events, and private sessions. gongguy.com.

Nacho Arimany

Nacho Arimany uses music frequency 432 Hz and the sounds of nature to assist individuals in an embodied experience of our full potential. Nacho has developed the Arimany Method, which is a movement and voice technique that helps to create specific architecture in the brain based on the properties of the Golden Ratio. The result is a calmer, more productive body and mind. Nacho performs in concerts, and offers workshops and individual sessions around the world, nachoarimany.com.

Uyanga Bold

Uyanga Bold is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer and performing artist from Mongolia based in LA. She has an overwhelming list of accolades and accomplishments. Her stunning voice transports the listener with shamanic overlays and classical technique. uyangabold.com.

Torkom Ji

Torkom Ji is a live synth master, and 432 Hz DJ and sound magician. His soundscapes are ethereal, composed with just the right amount of spaciousness, giving rise to vibrational tension opening to sublime release. He is a musical story-teller, conveying the layers and texture of the wind, water and sun through the crafting of frequency, and rhythm. @torkomji

Karen Seva

Karen Seva creates ceremonial space with her voice, sound, and breath. The music played is a combination of celestial-sphere angelic, as well as ancestral channeled, vocal melodies. She utilizes songs, sound bowls, gongs, chimes, native drums, Ohm wands, flutes and stringed instruments. The melodies come from the mountains, trees, sun, angelic realms and elemental spirits. The participants are guided on a journey to induce higher states of consciousness and invite communion with their unseen guides and helpers. Karen has everyone sing to take the vibrations into their bones via the sound of their own voice. In addition, Karen works with private clients to assist in opening their voice and remembering their true nature, as well as with children through her nonprofit “Sing the World Awake.” karenseva.com.

Christo Pellani

Christo Pellani is certified in various energetic healing arts practices, and has studied with many master teachers including Fabien Maman, Grand Master Wei Ling Yi, Margaret Ruby, and Eric Pearl. He maintains a teaching residency with the California Academy of Healing Arts, and is an instructor of Tao Yin Fa series 1 Chi Gong and Kototama with the Tama-Do Academy for Color, Sound, and Movement. Christo is a master drummer, using rhythm to help us connect with the earth, stars and our own soul. soundformation.com.

Jahna and Michael Perricone

Jahna and Michael Perricone are a married couple who have been in the field of sound healing for more than 20 years. Michael is a master of Tibetan singing bowls, having begun his dharmic path of bringing these sounds to the world after becoming enchanted by the hearing of his first singing bowl. Jahna is a UCLA-certified mindfulness facilitator and vocalist. Both work in the fields of classical music, as well as in the film and television industries. Together, they bring the sounds of 300-600 year old Tibetan singing bowls, gongs, chimes, water drums and other instruments, mixed with Jahna’s ethereal vocals. Their sound bath is that of precision, musicianship and expertise, in which each sound is given space to breathe, inviting the listener to surrender and emerge renewed. Jahna and Michael hold sound baths around Los Angeles, as well as annual retreats in the Greek Islands. jahnamusic.com.

Sound Healing at Be Crystal Clear

A Few Noteworthy Places for Sound Healing in LA

NAAM Yoga (Santa Monica)

NAAM offers a synthesis of sound vibration, breathwork and movement that strengthens the energy body and stimulates the body’s self-healing mechanisms. The roots of the practice are Naam (the sound current), Kabbalah, and Sukshma Vyayama, a practice handed down from a 300-year-old Himalayan sage, with the intention of bringing it to the West for fortification against the demands of the modern world. Sukshma Vyayama works on transforming our physical experience of life (body, mind, emotions, and circumstance) by working on our electromagnetic field. Through the principle of vibration, coupled with precise exercises to target the energy meridians of the body, the internal organs, the blood and brain, an optimum state of health is attained. The effects of this practice are currently being studied through blood analysis, with positive results on multiple functions after only one session. NAAM Yoga is also the home to many wonderful sound baths and vibrational healing experiences. naamyogala.com.

Bhakti Yoga Shala (Santa Monica)

Kirtan, the devotional call-and-response chanting, is the essence of the practice at Bhakti Yoga Shala with owners Govind Das and his wife Radha, along with special guests. Monday Night Kirtan is a packed-to-the-walls emotional and spiritual collective expression of sound vibration. Radha shares her divine feminine force for song on Thursday nights. Other events include sound healing of every modern tune and rhythm. bhaktiyogashala.com.

Ceremony Meditation (Venice)

Ceremony is owned and run by Reiki Master and sound healing facilitator Roxy Ghoraishy. The schedule features an array of powerful sound healing events combining crystal bowls and sound healing elements. Other sound healers include Jeralyn Glass, singer, crystal bowl master and founder of Crystal Cadence, the LA Crystal Tones Singing Bowl Temple with over 300 gemstone bowls for purchase. ceremonymeditation.com.

Wanderlust (Hollywood)

Wanderlust has a vibe that evokes their namesake transformational festivals with classes, events, workshops, concerts, food and cutting-edge techniques in order to guide the seeker to their True North. Their variety of Sound Bath experiences include Full Moon Soulstology Sound Bath with Ambi, who combines astrological wisdom with Reiki-infused crystal bowls and planetary gongs. Look for yin yoga restorative breathwork sound baths, concerts, and the Golden Bridge Choir. wanderlusthollywood.com.

Be Crystal Clear (Santa Monica)

Studio owner and teacher trainer Sugar Panbehchi is a Reiki Practitioner, Crystal Healer, and Sound Healing Practitioner. According to Sugar, the crystal bowls “play such a pure frequency that penetrates and rebalances you mind, body and spirit bringing you to a state of harmony. The bowls help awaken people and clear away their mental fog so they can tune into who they truly are at their inner code.” Be Crystal Clear hosts sound bath trainings for people who want to immerse themselves in the energetic understanding of the use of sound vibration with multiple instruments. Students learn the integration of intuitive healing practices with the science behind sound frequency. becrystalclear.com

InsightLA Meditation

Insight LA has been offering high-quality mindfulness and compassion practices for nearly 20 years. They offer a roster of sound baths and sound healing experiences on a regular basis. insightla.org

Unplug Meditation (Santa Monica and West Hollywood)

Unplug requires students to check their phone at the front desk. This is just one way that the clients are walked step by step through the process of “disconnecting” with the outer world as a doorway to be with yourself. Unplug offers a variety of sound baths and sound healings on the regular. unplug.com

Mystic Journey (Venice)

The gallery of crystals and geodes throughout Mystic Journey complements the vibrations offered by a group of expert sound healers. mysticjourneyla.com

The Den Meditation (Hollywood and Studio City)

You feel as though you are stepping into a well-appointed homey space, perfect for sonic restoration, at either of The Hub’s locations. A regular schedule of sound baths, sound healings, and sound meditations foster deep relaxation. denmeditation.com

Reya Manna

www.singtheworldawake.org

The post Sound Healing in Los Angeles appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The Benefits and Best Practices of Sound Healing

Reya Manna — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 02:09:19 +0000

Karen Seva Music Photograph by Martin Piers Dunkerton

Traveling at the Speed of Sound

Before there were eyes to see

when a vast darkness still permeated the void,

All rested beneath a firmament of Sound.”

– Jeff Volk

Everything makes music: the trees, the flowers, the birds, the stones, even human beings. Some music we can hear and some music we are just finding ways to translate into audible tones for our ears. Yet, all is part of the great symphony of creation. For all living beings, when our music is in tune, there is a state of health in the body and in our environment. When our music is out of tune, it results in dissonance or dis-ease. This is part of the essence of the practice of sound healing.

Sound healing is an ancient practice for bringing health to the body, aligning the mind, and accessing the unseen world. Science has been catching up to what mystics, shamans, and healers have been taught by secret esoteric lineages and by the earth and cosmos itself. Sound vibration has been used in tribes and cultures for healing, connecting community, and gathering in ceremony. In the lore of Atlantean and Lemurian civilizations, even Ancient Egyptian culture, it is said that there were those who had the capacity to create with the power of sound vibration—to materialize matter out of seemingly thin air. Druid and Celtic stories tell of high priests and priestesses who lived at one with the forest; knowing the songs of the nature devas and how to walk between worlds by singing to them.

The memory that has been stored in our bones is reawakening; which is perhaps why the appeal and popularity of these modalities is increasing at such a rapid rate.

Sound Bath at Red Mountain Resort

Why Sound Healing and Why Now?

Sound is one of our five senses. Yet, it is so much more. Sound is audible vibration. We receive these vibrations as music, language, or as information, such as an indicator that there’s a storm outside. Sound vibration is the music that life makes. When dusting off our physics textbooks, we remember that everything is vibration. Sound is the vibration that we hear. Those vibrations are constant: heard and unheard. Everything on the planet and in the universe is characterized by different gradient changes in vibration. Our thoughts, feelings, words, and moods are all vibrational states.

Scientists and mystics agree on the power of sound vibration. Pioneers in the field of sound, including Dr. Masaru Emoto, Fabien Maman, and Dr. Hans Jenny have studied the effects of sound and intention on physical matter. They have demonstrated the impact of sound down to the most elemental building blocks. The results are conclusive: Sound affects our bodies, minds, emotions, and energy.

Sound Healing is based on the principle that particular sound frequencies have the capacity to bring the body into its natural state of harmony and balance; into its natural state of health, wellness and perception. Hazrat Inayat Khan, a 19th century Sufi mystic, speaks about vibration as a sea, in which man lives, and out of which his successes, failures, health, affairs, and all conditions of life are formed. Our thoughts, feelings, and experiences all exist along a vibrational bandwidth.

We look around the world and see increasing reports of global unrest: economic decline, political dissension, and environmental devastation. We are experiencing a time unprecedented in human history, in which the global community is united on a mass scale through accelerated rates of technological advancements. Yet, this same technological upwelling is creating a void in the quality of human connection and belonging unlike ever before in history. We see this in increasing rates of mass shootings, and the rise in depression and anxiety-related disorders.

At this time, ancient and modern technologies are emerging to assist us in harmonizing our bodies, minds, and emotions with the earth and the cosmos.

Here we stand, in this time and space looking for answers of how to be better humans. How to be healthier. How to be happier. How to be more successful. Sound brings us back to harmony, connection, inspiration, and to dreaming again of what is possible. Isn’t this what we are all longing for?

Sound Healer Karen Seva photographed by Martin Piers Dunkerton

Sound Healing: 5 Hints for Selecting the Experience

With so many groups and practitioners offering a wide variety of sound healing modalities, how do we know which is the right one for us? What are some underlying principles of the practice? How can we follow best practices for sound healing? Here are some of my suggestions for using discernment when choosing a sound healing experience.

Look for Love.

Sound is a transmitter of intention. Sound is a carrier of love. Love is the fabric that weaves all life together in a harmonious tapestry. We are each energy transmitting stations: giving and receiving energy at a constant rate. When we are held in a field of love, our nervous system is able to relax and our natural self healing mechanism is activated. Love opens the heart. When the heart is open, life works. It is truly love that heals, not a person. A true healer is simply a conduit of divine love. Look for practitioners who radiate love, beauty, kindness, peace and calm. High on humility, low on ego. The truest master is the servant of the universe.

Trust yourself. Pay attention to what you feel.

Do you feel a resonance? Does the sound offering or practitioner resonate with you? Does this feel like something you’d like to do and will benefit from? Trusting your instincts is an essential part of the process as you will be putting yourself in the hands of the energetic container that the practitioner has established. Working with sound has the capacity to activate the teacher within your own heart. The pathway of this inner teacher is one of self-love and self-trust. So, trust yourself. Put yourself in places that are right for you. The experience will be maximized when you feel comfortable and aligned with what is happening.

Understand the practitioners’ connection.

What is the practitioners’ background? Are they connected with a particular lineage? Do they channel? Is the person aligned with something greater than the self? What is the practitioner’s goal for the sound healing work? Understanding why someone does what they do can ultimately inform you as to whether this is something that would further you on your own path.

Select sacred space.

There are a variety of ways to set sacred space for sound healing. You may want to choose a sound healer or experience whose methods resonate with your personal spiritual practice. For example, some practitioners use aromatherapy or clearing herbs such as sage, palo santo, or essential oils. You may enjoy smoke or aromatherapy or you may be sensitive to it, so choose well. Other people chant or use light frequencies, ring chimes, do Chi Gong, or call in the directions (the energy of north, south, east, and west). Sound healing set in energetic power spots, in a ceremony or festival, or at a healing spa or retreat center can amplify the feeling of sacred space.

Tools and instruments of sound healing.

Some of the many tools of modern-day sound healing include (but are not limited to) gongs, crystal singing bowls, Tibetan bowls, digeridoos, monochord, chimes, bells, rattles, drums, guitar, bass, voice, tuning forks, rain sticks, Native American flutes, hang drum, and more. Each instrument is expertly tuned to align the body, mind, and spirit. Sometimes the sounds can feel uncomfortable. Crystal singing bowls sometimes resonate with a loud drone. Gongs are metal beings. Each instrument has a different purpose, such as clearing, attuning, sweetening, et cetera. Also, the flow of a sound healing experience is like a symphonic composition with a beginning, middle, and end. One of the tools of sound healing is the composition itself. In a sound healing, pay attention how you feel once the experience is complete.

Drum Circle Photo Courtesy of Red Mountain Resort

4 Categories of Sound Healing

Chanting and Singing

In a field full of magical tools and instruments tuned to the Earth, the Sun, and every chakra in between, the most powerful tool for sound healing happens to be the human voice. Mantra Meditation is one of the oldest forms of sound healing. Languages such as Sanskrit, Gurmukhi, Hebrew, and other ancient or indigenous languages are structured so that each syllable activates the energy meridians of the body, both on the upper palette of the mouth, as well as through the navel center. Singing and chanting is self-generated sound healing. As one intones these sacred sounds, the vibrations reverberate throughout the sinuses, muscles, organs, nervous system, brain, and even the bones. We can literally alter our DNA through the power of chanting. Some global healing and balancing practices include Native chanting, Gregorian chanting, Tibetan throat singing, and overtone singing.

Sound Baths

A sound bath is a modern and eclectic offering. It is potentially composed of “all of the above” when it comes to voices and instruments. A sound bath combines different instruments and styles for the purpose of removing blockages, harmonizing the chakras, recalibrating the brain and nervous system, and encouraging visioning and self-reflection. Sound baths can induce an intuitive guided altered state, immersing the participant in a sea of vibration, much like a deep theta state concert for the six senses.

Shamanic Journeys

Sound healing can be a part of many shamanic journeying or experiences with a shaman, shamanic practitioner, or shamanic healer. The purpose of a shamanic journey is to connect with the spirits of the natural world and the unseen world. The word shaman actually refers to a psychoactive mushroom carrying healer from Siberia. However, in most “Shamanic Journeys” you do find neither mushrooms nor Siberians. So then, we apply a more loose definition of the term, to mean “walking between worlds.” In many traditional cultures, it was the songs, the drums, and the sounds that were the portal to the “otherworld.”

Specific Techniques

There are many specific sound healing techniques, including: Tama-Do, Vibroacoustic Sound Therapy, Biofield Tuning, Nordoff-Robbins, and Neurological Music Therapy.

Reya Manna

www.singtheworldawake.org

The post The Benefits and Best Practices of Sound Healing appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.