Healing
with sound is perhaps the most intricate of the Healing
Arts. It necessitates both the ability to move into the most
quiet and gentle spaces of the heart, and then into the
expansion of Spirit that moves through a concert hall and
bathes all those in attendance.
Here is a journey through the very process itself of healing
with sound. In this particular sound healing, we begin with
the simple four strings of the tambura, a traditional
instrument of India, tuned in intervals of octaves and a
fifth. These notes represent the fundamental (audible note)
and the first overtones or harmonics of that note. Our ears
perceive additional overtones as we hear these notes sounded
together over and over again. These overtones, which are
created upon the tympanic membrane of the ear, resonate
deeply within each of us. These overtones move through the
physicality of our ears and stimulate our brain wave
patterns. You may notice that while listening to this song
it is hard to think a complete sentence. But you may also
feel emotions welling up, both comfortable and
uncomfortable. This is by design!
The opening solo tambura pattern of notes gives way to my
voice improvising on a simple phrase. This phrase I repeat
three times. In a live concert, which is where this healing
was recorded, I am asking, internally, a different question
of the energies in the room with the repetition of each
phrase. In the moment that I finish singing the phrase, I
sense the energy in the room shift, responding to the
question that I had in my mind as I sang the phrase. Most
often I am asking 'What is next?' or 'Is the energy that I
am sensing ready to evolve?'
The guides and angels relating to those people listening as
well as the energetic presences of Nature (such as Nature
Spirits) recognize when a human is asking them, rather then
telling them, how to proceed. I find that holding questions
rather than statements in my mind as I sing or speak invites
the consciousness of many other Beings to more fully
participate in any healing process.
Healing itself is an act of tension and release. Tension
occurs as that which we are ready to release is revealed to
us. Release follows as we come into the realization that we
no longer need it. Music serves to reveal to us those
emotions and behavioral patterns that are not conducive to
the expression of ease, grace and beauty in our life.
Sometimes that means feeling emotions or sensations that are
not easy to feel while listening to music.
You may experience just such a sense of uneasiness while
listening to the middle section of this sound healing. This
is the section that reveals those energetic patterns which
your soul and body are ready to release. This means that it
is only your personality that is (stubbornly perhaps?)
holding onto the patterns. Sometimes it feels like the space
around your body is being massaged or even scrubbed clean.
Sensations of uneasiness are often caused by our own
personalities gripping onto beliefs, habits or energy
patterns that our body and soul have decided already to
release. I find that breathing consciously into my lower
body brings me more in touch with the discomfort I am
experiencing. Once I notice if it is a body sensation, an
emotion or a fearful thought, I ask the thought, emotion or
body sensation if it is really mine. Is it really mine right
now? Most often by asking questions I also give the pattern
permission to depart.
And now begins the replenishment of the body. After the
release of any pattern there is a need to replace the old
energies with fresh new ones. Just as our body is designed
to be fed nutritionally every day, so too our body has the
resources to nourish and replenish itself from the
vibrations around it. Within the context of music, we are
able to resonate with newly revealed vibrations that now
serve us in our soul's journey. These vibrations, which may
reflect qualities such as love, compassion or patience,
courage or contemplative focus, are and have always been
within us. The concluding segment of the sound healing is
merely a time of remembrance, allowing these qualities
within your Being to be magnified.
In the moment of silence following the sound healing your
body chooses to embrace the healing itself. It is in this
moment of time, following the cessation of the audible
sound, that the healing offered through the song is received
into the cells of your physical body. Your experience of
this healing moment is often experienced as a deep
sigh.
"Healing
is an art not of incessant insistent infliction of
change, but rather the artful availability of
Grace, Patience and Compassion from within the
Healer's Heart."
Ave,
Maria (original Latin text by Hildegard of Bingen 1098-1179,
translated into English by Norma Gentile)
Behold, Mary,
you who increase life,
who rebuilds the path,
You who confused death
and wore down the serpent,
To you Eve raised herself up,
her neck rigid with inflated arrogance.
You strode upon this arrogance
while bearing God's Son of Heaven
through whom the spirit of God breathes.
O gentle and loving Mother,
I behold you.
For Heaven released into the world
that which you brought forth.
This one,
through whom the spirit of God breathes.
Glory to the Begetter of All, the Children of All and the
Holy Spirit.
And to this one,
through whom the spirit of God breathes.
Norma's formal training in music (BM, MM,
University of Michigan, Voice Performance) combined
with her studies in esoteric healing have helped
Norma understand how sound affects our ability to
heal, and influenced her exploration of chant as a
modality of healing. Her concert performances and
recordings are unique experiences of this
integration of sacred sound and sacred healing.
Norma's website offers sound clips, podcasts,
articles, and a monthly e-newsletter. Her latest
recording, Songs of Spirit, is now available at
iTunes, Amazon.com and her website:
www.HealingChants.com
Atmaram
Chaitanya was initiated in brahmacharya and
became a certified meditation instructor in the
shaktipat tradition of Bhagavan Nityananda of
Ganeshpuri by Swami Muktananda in 1978. Later he
was given the title Chaitanya by Mahamandaleswar
Swami Shankarananda of the same linage. Singing and
accompanying bhakti kirtan for the past 40
years, he has helped facilitate kirtans at ashrams,
temples, yoga studios, retreats, festivals, and
homes around the U.S. and India. Atmaram sings and
plays tambura and dotar with the Indian music group
Sumkali as well as Ann Arbor Kirtan, has a BBA
degree in Internet Marketing, and is the Webmaster
for the Center for Wireless Integrated Microsensors
and Systems at the University of Michigan.
