My Journey in Sound

My journey into sound, vibration and resonance, has evolved over the past 10 years. During this time I have found myself being drawn ever deeper into communion with my indigenous soul, that half forgotten, innate, essential part of me, re-membered through ceremony, shared wisdom and healing sound. Through my training at Primrose Haven, with the College of Sound Healing, I began to glimpse & experience sound as the base fabric of everything, manifesting and expressing itself infinitely throughout nature of which we are part. Sound as vibration, forming, creating, morphing, transmuting energy into a myriad of forms and structures comprising the known universe and beyond the known, manifesting in dreams and other conscious and subconscious expressions of being and existence.

As I have explored treatments, mantras and meditations in sound I have entered into places of calm and grace that I have only ever experienced when deep in the wilds of nature. Experiences that I would describe as ‘divine’. Sound as the breath of God moving within, through, beyond. Exercises and training that has permeated the layers of my physical body, made the skin a liminal zone, a permeable abstract division that loses all form. It has been and continues to be a sublime and deeply challenging journey and one that feels inextricably linked to the deepest heart of what it means to be human. I feel so grateful for this continuing enlightenment. For me sound has been liberated into the living breathing multi-faceted expression of consciousness in creation. When I sing, in vulnerability and pure love, ‘I’ disappears and this body can speak with the tongues of the divine. I am, however, just a baby on this journey and those moments require all my endeavour to devolve myself of myself, not easy for a white middle class male in the UK! It seems to be above all things a journey of becoming.

Human beings vibrate, we are expressions of frequency. As we come into contact with other vibrating entities we respond to their frequencies. We might entrain to their frequencies, they might entrain to ours, perhaps their is a mingling and exchange as balance is found. The same occurs with every interaction that occurs at every second of our waking and sleeping. We are an energetic, vibrating system delicately navigating our way through this human embodied experience. Sometimes these interactions can be beneficial, we might experience ‘good vibes’ when in company with those people who draw out the fullest expressions of our being or when we find ourselves in wild natural spaces where the vibration of nature can bring us calm, clarity and energy. Sometimes these interactions can be negative for us bringing our vibrating system into discordancy. In these instances we can feel out of balance, uncomfortable, unclear, ill. Our bodies entraining to a vibration that takes us away from optimal health. It is here where sound, as a tool for healing, can help draw a person back into their natural state of wellness through the applied use of sound. I am finding that it is in these exchanges with people suffering from anxiety, stress, fatigue, pain, fear, that sound has such a wonderful gift for helping alleviate the symptoms and precipitating changes in circumstances and behaviour.

Sometimes as I walk along Brighton beach I see the vast murmurations of starlings swooping and moving through the sky, diving and changing course, led by no singular bird but moving as a collective, all simultaneously working in harmony, flying lines of least resistance in an endless sky dance as the sun sets. Here I find the clearest demonstration of how sound is effective as a tool for healing and changing our energy. During treatments, sound baths and sound immersions sound is used as a tool of entrainment, bringing the participants into a mutual resonance with the sounds being played and expressed by the practitioner. As the starlings follow each other moving with the energy along the flow of least resistance, so the participants move into accord and resonance with the healing sounds. Their vibratory body and auric field entrain to the sounds, flowing with the energy being expressed as sound and vibration. As a group of clocks left in the same room slowly come into a collective harmonious rhythm so our bodies vibration attunes to the sounds and vibrations being expressed.

Vibration can be measured in Hertz. Before coming on this course I would express experiences in wild places, ancient forests, the ocean as deeply healing for me. My spirit would feel ‘at home’, I would come into a sense of deep abiding and I could appreciate my nervous system relaxing, my body ecosystem becoming more harmonious. Peace and calm would come more often than not. I would move more deeply into a state of awareness and clarity. These are the kinds of terms and expressions I might use to describe the experience. Through exploring sound and vibration I have come to an understanding that all these experiences are imbued with the process of vibration and entrainment. The earth is considered, according to Schumann and many others, to vibrate at a frequency of 7.83 Hertz, the human body somewhere between 5 & 10 Hertz. As we experience stress, fatigue, pain, anxiety, the frequency of the body changes, our vibration alters and we experience dis-ease of one form or another. This can occur for many reasons, often urban environments can cause this as we have very little contact with the natural pulse of nature. When we spend time in a more natural environment our body and our emotional body can begin to return to a state of comfort, entraining to the environment we are in, which is more in tune with our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies when they are in a state of wellness. In the same way when we walk barefoot on the earth our physical body is in direct contact with the Schumann 7.83 Hertz, we are literally ‘grounded’ into that vibration. So called ‘science’ and ‘spirit’ morph in my experience and understanding, ‘energy’ and ‘consciousness’ become terms I am using more often to describe spaces of healing and spiritual depth. ‘Vibration’ and ‘entrainment’ have become key words as I share the potential of Sound Healing as an energetic tool to bring about wellness.

For a decade now I have walked the country meeting people and providing spaces where people can share their story, their experiences of love and loss, their human experiences of profound connection. I have sought to create spaces where they can be vulnerable in that sharing, where they can feel held and recognised, where they are seen and allowed the opportunity to open out. At its best it is a space of love and compassion. Through these sharings there have been many profound connections formed and healing processes initiated. The space is the container for this to occur. In many instances the space itself is as healing as the sharing. And the same seems manifestly true when talking about using sound as a tool for healing. The ‘intention’, the way in which the space is held, the love inherent in each action, the desire for a healing outcome for the client and the compassionate manner in which the space is held and the sound is applied, is essential if there is to be an opportunity for healing to take place. Love, as intention, is the container from which the sound can be expressed. A container that itself vibrates. As the client is a vibrating system in need of tuning and care, so am I as a practitioner. I have found that if I am not in a loving space, if I am not vibrating in an open compassionate way, then the healing process will become compromised. There is a dis-connection.

Through my experiences sound, as a tool for healing, has the ability to bring about shifts in energy in spite of how I am feeling. Whether I can relax or not. As someone who can have a busy mind I am not always able to clear my mind into a meditative state during a treatment. It is so wonderful to engage in a healing process that works in spite of the mind. I can lie down and absorb the vibrations understanding that the sounds are bringing about effective change on a vibrational level. It is a relief. Many of the clients from my case studies had similar experiences. Most had levels of anxiety and problems calming their mind at the start of the treatments but found through touch, listening and sound their mind eased without them having to apply concentration or obvious effort. Sound works on these subtle levels, shaking the body into submission, loosening the tensions, clearing blockages, bringing individuals into a state where they are embodied, present, able to still themselves and have clarity. This can be a comfortable or a painful experience but it happens, regardless of how we are feeling.

Which brings me to ‘spirit’, ‘God’, the ‘Divine’, ‘Goddess’. Sound Healing is something I have taken into my life as a daily practice. A way of calming my psyche and drawing me into a place of meditation. It has also become a place of spiritual expression for me. A shamanic practice of connection where I communicate my love. Where I experience ecstatic communion with divine consciousness. I sing mantra and tone with the Shruti Box and play the Gong. Through this everyday practice I am finding myself becoming more resilient to the challenges of this worldly experience. I can connect with the more expansive parts of that experience, I can love more deeply and openly. When I don’t practice I can become out of balance. I really want to bring more people to this simple, beautiful, ever-changing and diverse tool for loving and healing.

As I continue my practice, I am endeavouring to find ways of bringing the techniques I have learned into everyday settings. In this way they can reach those who are in so much need, particularly at this time of great change. So the challenges continue and my courage is further tested as I am required to continuously ‘come out’ into the public space. For me Sound as a healing tool opens up a gateway providing the opportunity for people to come to a more profound experience of their humanity within the realm of all consciousness. I would call that a Spiritual Experience but it can be described in whichever way is comfortable. I have experienced healing sound bringing people into presence, into a centred place where they can see more clearly and hear their inner voice. I have seen it remove emotional blockages and ease pain. I have seen it radically change peoples lives, I have witnessed people have life-changing energetic activations. The treatment, however, is only 10% of the work. The rest is up to the client. The sound opens the door to healing but the client must push the door ajar, glimpse what is on the other side and take the difficult and beautiful steps through the door and onwards.

I am so grateful for this journey and those who have guided, and still guide me, along the way. I am also so grateful for how these practices have helped shape my world view, drawing together practices and traditions from all around the world. Finding commonalities across perceived cultural divides and deepening my understanding of the richness of various traditions from India to China, Egypt to the Celtic Isle, from the Americas to Africa. I often share Bija Mantra treatments for a clients as part of this work To share those ancient sounds, to connect in with those spiritual intentions, and to allow the sound to move through me in a healing manner is, and will always be, such a privilege.