According to author and lecturer Dr. Deepak Chopra, Ayurveda teaches that:
"The body is held together by sound, and the presence
of disease indicates that some sounds are out of tune… primordial
sound is the mysterious link that holds the universe
together in a web that is the quantum field."
Dr. Hans Jenny, a Swiss scientist who studied the
effects of sound upon organic matter, called the work
cymatics, or the study of waveform phenomena. Using
various organic substances vibrated at different frequencies,
he found repeatable patterns that represented cellular
growth, mandalas, and microscopic life forms. From
his work it has been proposed that sound creates form
and changing frequencies affect form at a cellular
level. Now, using laser technology, physicists are
also finding that harmonic intervals produce perfect
geometric shapes, reinforcing the idea that vibration
underlies all form.
Dr. Andrew Weil, author, lecturer and founder of
the Program in Integrative Medicine in Tucson,
Arizona, states that
"The new science of psychacoustics
-- the study of the effect of music and sound on
the human nervous system -- shows that [frequency]
can relieve pain, help stroke patients, and benefit
other conditions."
Dr. Herbert Benson, M.D., of the Mind/Body Medical
Institute at Boston's Deaconess Medical Center, having
studied the effects of chanting mantras on human
physiology, found that repeating a single syllable or word produced
measurable changes in energy consumption, respiration
rate, heartbeat, metabolic rate and pulse, as well
as an increase in alpha brain waves.
Sound Medicine for the Twenty-first Century
by Tryshe Dhevney
It can’t be that simple. You can’t just open your mouth, make a sound and change your life! Or can you?
Early in my childhood I was taught to muzzle my voice, careful to say the right thing. Nothing spelled doom so much as a look from a disapproving adult. Don’t speak, don’t move, don’t feel and if you know what’s good for you, don’t tell the truth. These were the tenets of my time and my childhood as typical as they come. Eventually it became easier, if not safer to do what was expected—BEHAVE! That is to say, suppress my vibrant, curious, messy human nature. I wasn’t alone. Women of my generation especially, though not exclusively, live with a legacy of silence. Many of us traded being authentic for being good. We cultivated the art of choking back our words and speaking nice. Sadly, any experience of an authentic Self faded into a distant cellular memory.
As adults we coped—with trauma, negative emotion, multitasking, suffocating fear, stress, loss of passion and purpose. We accepted the unacceptable while our inner people-pleaser determined the course of our lives. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but in my life this was a recipe for disaster.
Studies show when we silence ourselves or repress our feelings there is potential for chronic, even serious health problems. This unconscious unexpressed anger can become so all-consuming that it can literally kill us. Most attempts at feeling better or “getting things under control” take time, money and/or special gear. It would not occur to most of us to simply open the mouth and make sound. Imagine the remedy as simple as saying “aaahh!”
We all know that listening to a babbling brook or a favorite piece of music can change our moods. What most don’t realize is that the sound of our own voice can provide an even more penetrating and prolonged shift in the internal vibrations of the body, mind and spirit. Recent medical research shows that creating sustained primordial sounds can shift brain states, create health and transform consciousness with little or no effort. Dr. Andrew Weil, author, lecturer and founder of the Program in Integrative Medicine in Tucson, Arizona, states, “The new science of psychacoustics – the study of the effect of music and sound on the human nervous system – shows that [frequency] can relieve pain, help stroke patients, and benefit other conditions.” In recent years, noted French composer and bioenergeticist, Fabien Maman has been exploring and documenting the specific influence of sound on the cells of the body. He conducted experiments with two breast cancer patients who toned for three and one-half hours a day for a month. In one case, the tumor vanished. The second woman had surgery to remove the tumor and it was discovered that the tumor was “reduced and completely dry.” In his book, The Role of Music in the Twenty-first Century, Maman writes, “This finding indicates that the vibration of sound plays a determinant role in the transformation of cellular structure, acting directly at the most subtle level of the human organism. . .The diseased cell died because it was not able to accommodate its structure and synchronize with the accumulation of sound.”
Toning—making a sustained sound, usually a vowel tone—can change the entire molecular and cellular make-up of the body. Moaning and groaning are also forms of toning. So whether you make a specifically pitched tone or just having a good groan, sound heals!
There is a natural sound attached to every feeling—both physical and emotional. Yet it seems we've spent many years silencing that natural urge to make sound. We just have to let go and let it out. It’s our nature. Have you noticed that sound seems natural and spontaneous when we “ooo” and “aahh” over a sensational crème brûlée or experience the sweet rhapsody of a cooing baby? Not only is sound connecting us more deeply to the moment, it’s also massaging the muscles and tuning up the body. Don’t you feel better after a good cry or deep laugh, or find relief once you get things off your chest? Previously stuck energy begins moving with a simple thought—a decision to let go and let it out. The brain is responding—balancing the nervous system, strengthening the immune system and creating a visceral sense that all is well.
That visceral sensation is the nervous system responding to sound and restoring resonance throughout the body/mind and spirit. The body remembers how to do this. Many vocal sounds you make are spontaneous and unconscious. However, there are other sounds when made with conscious intent that impact the neural pathways in the brain and instantly change your emotional and physical balance. Research shows that once sound is introduced there is a notable increase in the amount of Alpha waves moving through the brain. You feel calm, less anxious and able to access your extraordinary natural wisdom and capabilities. Whether it’s peak athletic performance you’re after, increased creativity or simply just feeling good, one tone can make the difference. The evidence is in your experience. You feel better.
Some of the most basic daily tasks take on new vitality when you make sound. Let’s say you lift something heavy. If you hold your breath the burden seems heavier and you may rip or even rupture something inside, some organ you’ll want to keep for a while. If you release sound during the lift, as body builders do, a strength surges through your muscles, focusing your attention and making the lift easier and less damaging to the body.
Just spending minutes a day consciously making sound can shift the dense frequencies of stress or disharmony and lift your spirits.
But why take my word for it? Give it a try! Get comfortable, relax your tongue and the muscles in your neck and face, open wide, and in a mid-range pitch that feels comfortable for you, begin to tone, aaaaahhhhh. Stay with this tone for a minute or so and then stop and listen to your body. Don’t you feel better—a little more peaceful, more relaxed, less stressed out? Just seconds of toning will energize the breath, oxygenate the entire body, relax the muscles and stimulate the flow of energy through your body. As you hold these tones you accelerate the release of any resistance, emotional and physical, and create an experience of being in the flow. What have you got to lose except maybe a little suffocating fear or the stress of a vein-popping day? Not only will you feel better, the world around you will reflect your good feeling as well.
Play with your voice every day. You can tone while in your car, puttering in your garden (plants love taking a big drink of your voice), while putting on your makeup (a sonic facial), playing with your pet, and working out—even yawning. Experience the power of your own voice as you access a deeper resonance and calming power within. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way and Vein of Gold, sums it up beautifully: “The human voice and our conscious use of it as an instrument can penetrate and heal even the deepest shadows of our human condition.”
You’ve come this far, why not play with all the vowel tones?
- Sit comfortably.
- Imagine a little cord attached to the center of your chest bone gently lifting and extending your chest and spine upward and relax your belly muscles.
- With that lift, notice how effortless it is to breathe into your belly and lower back.
- Relax your jaw and tongue and let your mouth fall open (the width of two fingers).
- Ease into the vocals by simply letting out a loud sigh, at the end of the sigh push the rest of the breath out of the belly. Repeat a couple times.
- Slowly give voice to the vowel tones ‘aa’ (as in play), ee, ah, oh and ooo (as in smoothe) sliding the tones higher then lower. Sustain each tone to the end of each out breath.
According to noted author and lecturer Dr. Deepak Chopra, “The body is held together by sound, and the presence of disease indicates that some sounds are out of tune…primordial sound is the mysterious link that holds the universe together in a web that is the quantum field.” |
These slides are the work of Japanese researcher Mr. Masaru Emoto, from his book "Messages
from Water." Mr. Emoto's work provides factual evidence that human vibrational energy, thoughts, words, ideas and sound affect the molecular structure of water.
In my book Healing Sounds, I first presented the formula "FREQUENCY + INTENT = HEALING". Mr. Emoto's research truly demonstrates the reality of this formula. Remember that water comprises over 70% of a mature human body and covers the same amount on our planet. Water is the very source of all life. The fact that the molecular structure of the water can be affected by our consciousness, our intent and our sounds is extremely important and may have great implications for future of personal and the planetary harmony and healing.
Mr. Emoto has been visually documenting these molecular changes in water by means of his photographic techniques. He freezes droplets of water than then examines them under a dark field microscope that has photographic capabilities. His work clearly demonstrates the diversity of the molecular structure of water and the effect of the environment upon the structure of the water.
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| Slide #1: This slide show the beautifully formed geometric
designs of Sanbu-ichi Yusui Spring water. |
Slide #2: This is contaminated water from the Yodo River
in Japan. |
As you can see, pure water creates lovely, hexagonal
geometric forms. Polluted water looks like mud.
Mr. Emoto decided to see what effects music had
upon the structure of water. He placed distilled water between
two speakers for several hours while playing music and then photographed
the crystals that formed after the water was frozen. The results
of the effects of these two very different types of music speak
for themselves.
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| Slide #3: This is the effect of Bach's “Air for
the G String” |
Slide #4: This is the effects of Heavy Metal Music |
Mr. Emoto decided to see how thoughts and words affected the formation of untreated, distilled water crystals by typing words onto paper and then taping them on glass bottles overnight.
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| Slide #5: These are effects of the words “Love and
Appreciation” |
Slide #6: These are the effects of “You make me
sick. I will kill you!” |
These last pictures are perhaps most impressive.
They indicate the great potential of sound coupled with intention
to create great shifts and changes for this planet—particularly
with regard to assisting pollution.
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| Slide #7: This is very polluted and toxic water from the
Fujiwara Dam in Japan. |
Slide #8: This is the same water from the Fujiwara Dam, after
Buddhist monks had offered a prayer over it. Through the monks
chanting they were able to purify the water. Prayer—sound
coupled with intention seems to have the ability of restoring
water to its natural, harmonious geometric symmetry. |
These photographs that we have just seen show
proof that not only does sound have the ability of effecting
and changing physical structure, but that, with regard to the
molecular structure of water, that our intent with our sounds
is extremely important. This may have great implications for
the future of both personal and planetary harmony and healing.
Extracts from Secrets in the
Fields by Freddy Silva, published in July 2002.
Images © Freddy Silva, Lucy Pringle, Colin Andrews. Cymatics
images from Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration by Hans Jenny. ©
2001 Macromedia, and courtesy of Jeff Volk. For more info visit the web site.>
During the twilight days of December 1998, small articles tucked away in the
nether regions of the British press quietly announced 'Unknown Force Was Behind
Corn Circles, Claims Hoaxer'. This dramatic U-turn by the surviving member of
the infamous Doug & Dave duo- who since 1991 have misled the world with
tales of their crop flattening prowess with planks of wood- illustrates that the
hand of man materialized in crop circle lore long after the real phenomenon
manifested.
Latterday hoaxers claim that they applied boot to wheat in 1978, yet crop
circles have appeared throughout the world since the early 1900s, with dozens of
eyewitnesses even reporting crop circles forming in a matter of seconds as far
back as 1890; several descriptive accounts were even documented in 1678 by
Robert Plot, then curator of the Ashmolean. If hoaxers are responsible, then,
they appear to have mastered the art of time travel, in which case it is they
who should be under scientific scrutiny.
To date some 10,000 crop circles have been catalogued worldwide, and their
anomalous features continue to be irreplecatable: plants bent an inch above soil
and gently laid down in geometrically-precise patterns with no physical signs of
damage, light burn marks at the base of stems, altered cellular structure and
soil chemistry, discrepancies in background radiation, alteration of the local
electromagnetic field, depletion of the local watershed, and dowsable,
long-lasting energy patterns, not to mention measured effects on the human
biological field. So much, then, for two guys and a piece of wood. But thanks to
a virtual embargo on research coverage throughout the media, a popular myth has
developed that all crop circles have been nothing more than a prank with a
plank.
By definition, hoaxes are forgeries, and forgeries require originals from
which to copy. So what is this 'unknown force' that creates genuine crop
circles? One answer may lie with sound.
Echoed in all the world's faiths and traditions, Universal matter was created
by sound: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God', St. John
reminds us. Hopi and Navajo traditions even assert that in ancient times shamans
would utter words onto sand and create patterns, a concept not dissimilar to the
Hindu mandalas which are said to be expressions of the vibration of God.
Consequently, the Eastern faiths- Islam in particular- chose sacred geometry to
express the image of God, a technique later used in those hymns to sacred
geometry, Gothic cathedrals.
Modern science now shows that these geometric rhythms lie at the centre of
atomic structures. When Andrew Gladzewski carried out research into atomic
patterns, plants, crystals and harmonics in music he concluded that atoms are
harmonic resonators, proving that physical reality is actually governed by
geometric arrays based on sound frequencies. Even that primeval Hindu sound, the
OM, from which is derived our modern term 'hum', when sung into a tonoscope
produces the very geometric shapes attributed with 'sacredness'. Perhaps the
most important of these shapes is the hexagon, upon which the Egyptian matrix
named the Flower of Life is based. This series of outwardly-rotating divisions
of the circle accommodate the branches of the building blocks of life, the amino
acids. This Flower of Life has subsequently manifested as a crop circle.
As the expression of number in space, geometry is inextricably linked to
music since the laws of the former govern the mathematical intervals that make
up the notes in the western music scale- the diatonic ratios- hence why the
ancient Egyptians referred to geometry as frozen music.
In the February 1992 edition of Science News, Prof. Gerald Hawkins used the principles of Euclidean geometry
to prove that four theorems can be derived from the relationships of elements in
crop circles. More significantly, he discovered a fifth theorem from which he
could derive the other four. Despite an open challenge, over half a million
subscribers have been unable to create such a theorem, which Euclid himself only
hinted at twenty-three centuries earlier in his thirteen treatises on
mathematics. So it came as a slight surprise when its equilateral version
materialized as 160,000 sq. ft. of flattened barley at Litchfield, Hampshire, in
1995.
Since Hawkins' Euclidean theorems also produce diatonic ratios, a link exists
between crop circles and musical notes, themselves the by-product of the
harmonic laws of sound frequency. Soon, crop circles bearing unmistakable
associations with sound then began to appear. One contained a curious ratchet
feature from which is constructed a musical diagram also dating to the
Egyptians, the Lambdoma. Also known as the Pythagorean Table, it defines the
exact relationships between musical harmonics and mathematical ratios.
In 1996 another crop circle demonstrated the combination of two important
figures: the 3-4-5 triangle and the Golden Mean, producing the geometric diagram
necessary to produce musical ratios. But it was a convincing formation at
Goodwood Clatford- which had its plants bent six inches from the top- that gave
the proverbial nod to sound, for here was a representation of a cymatic pattern
etched in 5000 sq ft of barley.
Cymatics is the study of vibrational wave patterns. One of its earliest
pupils was Margaret Watts-Hughes who, in 1891, captured precise geometric
patterns on film as she sang sustained notes into a device containing lycopodium
powder. But it would be another seventy six years before Swiss scientist Hans
Jenny published the first of his painstaking studies on the transmission of
sound through physical mediums, this time in the shape of monitored electronic
frequencies.
He observed how sound vibration created geometric shapes- a low frequency
produced a simple circle encompassed by rings, whereas a higher frequency
increased the number of concentric rings around a central circle. As the
frequencies rose so, too, did the complexity of shapes, to the point where
tetrahedrons, mandalas and other sacred forms could be discerned. Like Margaret
before him, Jenny enabled humanity to observe 'frozen music'.
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SOUND BITES
Breaking the Sound Barrier 
