All posts tagged: Healing Sound

Bardo of Becoming

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// by Andrew Holecek If you are well trained, your first after-death experience will be the luminous bardo of dharmata. If you’re unfamiliar with the subtle states of mind revealed in this bardo, it will flash by in an instant, or be completely missed. Those who have practiced the meditations that facilitate recognition will reap the rewards, and attain liberation at the level of the dharmakaya or sambhogakaya. Without this preparation, most of us will wake up in the karmic bardo of becoming. For nearly everyone, the first experience after regaining consciousness is a sense of being in their own body. Even though the mind is without a body at this point, the habit (karma) of being embodied is so strong that it continues. You feel like your old self, and don’t know you are dead. Since this bardo is ruled by the winds of karma, the experiences are particularly fickle. These “winds” are not literal winds, of course, but a metaphor for how we are blown around by the power of karma. Because we …

Healing Secrets of Sound

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By Christine Stevens // The roar of joy that set the worlds in motion Is reverberating in your heart —Radiance Sutras, Dr. Lorin Roche We are all wired for rhythm by our circadian sleep and wake cycle, our brain waves, our cardiac beats, and even our neural firings. This is our personal music medicine. So many people have been told they have no musical ability. They believe they can’t ‘hold a tune in a bucket’ or keep a beat. But the truth is we are the music. I call it “homo musicalis”. The healing power of music is not just a fluffy concept; it is based on both historical and research-based evidence. One of the fathers of music therapy, psychologist and music therapist Dr. Mark Rider, known for coupling musical experiences with active visualization for pain reduction, writes about the power of group sing-alongs to treat trauma responses for veterans. In fact, group drumming has been shown to directly activate the immune system and calm stress responses. A 2001 study published in the journal Alternative …

Becoming

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By Richard Rudis // Let’s imagine it’s approximately 2,600 years ago and you’re sitting by the bank of the slow moving river Nairanjana somewhere in ancient India. The sunrise is dazzling and the early morning rays warm your face. The only sound is that of a light wind in the tree-tops and the Earth awakening to a new day. As the morning fog lifts a huge tree, previously unnoticed, materializes high above you on the river bank. Among its large surrounding roots a thin, a stately man is seated in peaceful mediation; his eyes half closed, his expression serene, his energy mountain still. Fascinated you doggedly vow to remain near by, refusing the desire to wander off to participate in life beyond this moment. Unhurriedly time passes. Eventually the man stands and with a half smile he acknowledges you before walking into the surrounding jungle. Unwilling to release the subject of your vigil you follow. Several weeks pass softly wandering while going about life’s chores. You sense that superficial space and time appear to warp …

Healing Sound: A Conversation with Christine Stevens (Video/Audio)

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Shambhala Mountain Center hosts Healing Sound Retreat with Christine Stevens and Silvia Nakkach, August 29–September 1, 2014. Christine Stevens is on a musical mission to introduce people to the most ancient and transformative vehicles to support healing and release joy: Voice & Rhythm. Through guided sound-centered contemplative practices of drumming and chanting, students gather an original repertoire of medicine melodies to use personally and in shamanic, psychotherapy, and wellness sessions. In this interview, she shares her inspiration, discusses her journey, and leads listeners/viewers in a healing exercise. Watch our interview with Christine below, or scroll down to stream/download the audio. If you’d like to download the audio file, CLICK HERE and find the “Download” button. Otherwise, you can stream the audio below. Related posts on the SMC Blog: Blog post from Silvia Nakkach: Sound and the Subtle A guided exercise from Christine Stevens: Finding Your Rhythm ~~~ Christine Stevens is the founder of UpBeat Drum Circles and author of the Sounds True books Music Medicine and the Healing Drum Kit. She has appeared on PBS, NBC, and led the first drum circle training …

Sound and the Subtle

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By Silvia Nakkach Silvia Nakkach will be co-leading Healing Sound Retreat, along with Christine Stevens, August 29–September 1 Sound as vibration has the ability to permeate all things. Sound originates in space. We live in space, breath air, receive energy from the sun and the earth at every moment, and yet, the awareness of the essential relationship with these primal elements only happens during heightened states of consciousness, when we become sensitive to the gross and subtle dimensions of these essentials. Sound travels through us, activating our bodies and our imagination, and modulating our mood in the process. We connect and process sound as information. Everything we do, think, sense, and feel, carries a vibrational frequency that creates and can change our circumstance at every moment. The most ancient cultures on the planet believed that material reality is the manifestation of primordial vibration. Even the Bible teaches that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1 Early and contemporary spiritual traditions, the mystical experiences of sages …

Finding Your Rhythm

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By Christine Stevens Christine Stevens leads Healing Sound Retreat, along with Silvia Nakkach, August 29–September 1 The following is an excerpt from Music Medicine, the Science and Spirit of Healing Yourself with Sound (Sounds True, 2012) We use the language of rhythm all the time. I feel “off-beat.” Happiness is called “up-beat.” We talk about feeling like “we got our groove back.” But dive deeper into this rhythm metaphor to the deep pulsing heartbeat that defines life itself, and you’ll discover that rhythm exists within and all around you. Playing drums and percussion can become a sacred invocation of this healing life force. Four Rhythms of Life We all have rhythm within us. This rhythm is so natural that we hardly notice the drum of who we are. The following are just a few examples of four rhythms we know from being alive that define the movement of life. 1. Heartbeat. The heartbeat rhythm is primal—the mother of all rhythms and the rhythm we first heard inside our mother’s womb. The groove of life ranges …