When I first did singing on my sound healing training course I was suddenly struck by a number of things. This was unlike any other kind of singing I had done before; and I had sung in a number of choirs back in schools and at college – so why was this different? It was all about sharing. A sharing of love. When you vocalise in a group, especially if you are singing sacred chants, it takes you back to a place you have long since forgotten. That sense of community, of sharing something special with others. You often find yourself looking around the group and smiling at others. If you think back to Victorian times when there was little else to do but entertain themselves, what would they do to while away the evenings? They would either play the piano or sing – or very often, do both! We have since lost the impetus of wanting to sing. The entertainment’s all in front of us in the form of a box which we sit religiously in front of, day in & day out. Isn’t it time that we got back to the ‘old ways’ and did something different for a change?
Let’s not also forget that singing is really good for you. If you sing it lowers your blood pressure. There have been studies done on people who sing in choirs who have less diseases and illnesses because they are free to express themselves, even if they are singing a particular piece and it is controlled and conducted, they are still doing themselves a great deal of good.
Singing gives you that ‘feel good’ factor. It will produce ‘happy endorphins’ which help you feel alive when you are singing. Also, if you sing in front of an audience their response when the performance is finished will also give you an immediate rush that makes you feel just amazing. I remember suffering post performance blues when I was younger whereby I experienced such euphoria of a performance, that the next couple of days afterwards it was like I was coming down slowly and it took a while to get my mood back up again. Well, there’s an antidote to this problem. Don’t stop singing! Always do a little everyday. Even if it’s in the shower or in the car you’ll find it will help you feel better and you’ll get more confident in doing it, so why not give it a try?
Why is it so good for you? It opens up your lungs and allows more oxygen to come into your body. It releases tension when you really allow yourself to ‘go for it’. As mentioned, it creates the happy endorphins which give you a healthier nervous system. To get back to the group chanting sessions – these are designed with meditation in mind. The chants allow you to create a central sense of peace which is often experienced by people who do yoga or who meditate regularly. The chants will also connect you to the divine energy. In my sessions I use Sanskrit, Native American as well as pagan chants also. The Sanskrit chants are often the most beautiful and the language is so sacred and powerful it really does give you an instant connection to the universal energy source. The Native American chants are fantastic and great fun and will fill your body with energy. Some of these will also feel very sacred when you do them. The pagan ones are all about feeling a connection to the elements that surround us. If you can’t get outside to connect, then do it from the inside. Singing about the earth, air, fire, water and the ether is an amazingly powerful way to connect you to the earth and all it's magical properties.
So if you chant in a group you’ll experience another amazing gift. At the beginning of this article I mentioned it was all about sharing. Sharing of love and of harmony. If you sing your chants with love for yourself and for the group then this really is the most powerful way of singing there is. A mutual giving and receiving of love though the power of sound. What better way to share an hour or two? If you like that idea then you’ll also love being part of a ‘Sound Bath’. This is when you are immersed in beautiful sounds from the group who sing powerful & positive affirmations into your body. It can be a very moving and an emotionally releasing experience. Not to be missed.
If you’d like to learn more about my chanting, workshops or sound baths then please get in touch or have a look at my website, www.isissounds.weebly.com
www.thecollegeofsoundhealing.co.uk
The best way to experience this joy of group singing is to try it for yourself. Start with a group and just give it a try. You’ll never know what you’ve been missing out on. Finally, enjoy each day as if it were your last and ‘Live in Bliss!’
Why Sound Healing? Simple – it works!
I was drawn to this therapy because of my love of music & sound and hadn’t really been aware of its multifaceted purposes until I did my Sound Healing training course.
How does sound healing work? We are ca 80% water and sound travels really well through water, (think about how whales use sonar to talk to each other – this can travel for miles). Therefore we’re really receptive to sounds. We’re all subjected to sounds on a daily basis. Some of this is good sound; bird song, laughter, songs we love and some of this is ‘bad’ sound; traffic noise, road-works, planes overhead, people arguing. We tend to absorb these sounds and they can have a detrimental effect on us. Sound healing is a way of ‘re-tuning’ yourself by projected good sounds back into the body. This is done through the use of voice, shakers, tuning forks, singing bowls and gongs. It’s incredibly relaxing and can create a meditative state of mind. It helps with anxiety, insomnia, depression, headaches/backaches, allergies, IBS to name but a few problems. It can also help work alongside prescribed medication for sufferers of long term illnesses.
In Don Campbell’s book, the Mozart effect, he documents the positive effects that classical music can have on children’s concentration levels in the classroom.
Slower tempo music slows our breathing rate. The human heartbeat will tend to match the rhythm of the music. Listening to Pacabel’s Cannon, for instance, will slow our breathing rate and change our brain wave pattern from beta to alpha. Music will also calm our nervous system and affect metabolism.
If that is the case it should be relatively simple to improve people’s health, shouldn’t it? It’s not quite that simple. Many of us are in a routine where we get up, get the kids off to school and go off to work. We sit in an environment where all you hear is the humming of computer screens, tapping of fingers on keypads and raised voices of colleagues in meeting rooms thrashing out another important work related issue.
As a Sound healer, I often meet people who say, ‘Oh but I can’t sing’, or, ‘I’m tone deaf’. We can all have fun making sound even if we think we can’t sing!
Why not allow yourself a little bit of healing through sound? It doesn’t have to be loud, you can do it in the privacy of your own bathroom, car, wherever you feel most comfortable. Just simply start with a bit of humming and then progress to singing along to your favourite tunes on the radio, whether that be Classic FM or Radio 1, it matters not, what matters is the effect that those sounds are physically having on your body.
To get the most benefit from sound you have to actually join in yourself! If you are sitting there thinking but I still wouldn’t know where to start, why not try investigating some of the information out there. I trained with College of Sound Healing. They have a great web site full of interesting articles on sound and music. They also have courses running all over the UK. www.collegeofsoundhealing.co.uk
Or why not try a workshop and have a go. Most people enjoy making sounds once they have overcome slight feelings of self consciousness. I am running a variety of workshops throughout the year, so why not give one a try? If you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know what a difference it can make!