Experiences with Sound
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010As many of you already know, I use sound in my healing practice. What you may not know is what started me down the path of using sound. I plan to write a series of blogs talking about this topic.
It all started when I was living in California and I met a couple who were incredible musicians. After getting to know them I found out they were also practicing Buddhists. Having an insatiably curious appetite and having wondered what Buddhism was all about, I went over to their house for a meeting. While I was there, they started a process that they called Gong-yo, which is basically chanting particular “words” in a certain order. They had a booklet that had words written in Sanskrit along with a phonetic translation to use. Everyone would follow along in the booklet and rhythmically chant out loud in unison using words I had never heard before.
The group chanted for about an hour. I could feel the impact of the sound throughout my body and I felt great. So I decided to give the Buddhist chanting a try, and practiced it daily on my own and with groups. Both were very powerful, but the amplification in a group was particularly impressive.
I remember that there was a phrase they often used when describing the benefits of their chanting tradition. They said that it “changed poison into medicine”. Some people in the group had a great deal of trauma in their life and immersed themselves in this daily chanting routine. I noticed their lives really turned around and that they were able to function more normally. I also noticed that when they stopped, they would often return to their negative patterns. I believe this is because chanting or sound raises ones vibration and helps to maintain a more consistent positive level.