Using the voice in vocal expression, toning, chanting, harmonics and mantra all have the potential for therapeutic effects on the body and mind. Through the intentional use of these ancient sound technologies, we physically move energy within our body and psyche and are engaging fundamental principles of sound. One of these principles is harmonic resonance. Resonance is the ability of a vibration to reach out and activate a similar vibration in another body. The cells in our body are sound resonators and respond to sounds outside as well as inside the body. Participating in group chant, chanting on one's own, working with healing mantras, toning the chakra sounds are all intentional opportunities to sonically activate and charge the body. This is truly wonderful medicine for oneself and the world.

I want to consider the more mundane use of our voice in daily conversations. How does the idea of harmonic resonance, the reaching out and activating another body, play out in daily activities. Can another level of the intentional use of sound occur in our conversations with one another and become healing opportunities. We are rhythmical bodies. We have continual internal pulsations, and we have external rhythms in how we move about in the world; the cadence of our walk, arms and legs swinging like synchronized pendulums, the melodic gestures accompanying our speech. When we interact with others, our personal rhythms influence one another. This ability of one rhythm to draw another into resonance is called entrainment.

In Layne Redmond's book, "When the Drummers Were Women" she offers an insightful description of the rhythm of communication as entrainment. She says: "... language is structured rhythmically with body movement. To communicate successfully, people must be able to adjust the tempos of their expression to one another. When people converse, they interact in complex rhythms almost like a dance. The harmonious entrainment of their conversational rhythms allows each person to listen and respond at the right intervals, instead of overlapping or interrupting the other person or coming in too late. When a person's rhythm is continually disrupted or suppressed, the effect can be severe, leading to boredom, exhaustion, depression, anxiety, anger."

So, the next time you are in a conversation with someone, pay attention to this concept of entrainment. Are you listening, or preparing what you want to say next? Are you feeling the harmonious interaction of true communication that brings about peace, pleasure, understanding ... true communion. Conversations can be healing moments when we open ourselves to the harmonic resonance that naturally exists - within us, around us and even between us.

-- Published in Holistic Healing Journal, September 2010

Summer! A perfect time to open up to the song of life. Music is everywhere - from songs of birds and crickets to trees sighing in the wind to our body's own harmonious inner workings. A harmonious body is a healthy body; in tune with itself and in harmonic resonance with the natural world.

Harmony, resonance, being in tune, music and health share a language. Much as a chord has a fundamental tone or "tonic" we, too, have a key note that creates the basis for our own musical body. This key note is the frequency or tone at which we tend to resonate; it is the "Ohm" tone. It is the sound of our earth home, the primordial vibration shared with nature. The energy of our actions, thoughts, words, emotions create unique vibrations which activate sympathetic resonant tones. Whereas harmonic resonance is defined as the frequency at which a body tends to resonate, sympathetic resonance is the response of a passive body to external vibrations to which it has a harmonic likeness. These sympathetic vibrations are known in music as overtones. An overtone is the note that has a frequency or pitch that is a multiple of the fundamental frequency (your key note). The sounding body's natural resonance (you) produces a unique set of overtones which gives the source (you) its quality. And so we create our own musical universe. Our intentions (positive or negative) set up sympathetic vibrations and create either harmony or dis-harmony, resonance or dissonance. (Think of an experience where you didn't "resonate" with someone and how that felt.)

There is a natural state of harmony between us and nature. It is through our sympathetic vibrations that we find ourselves resonating harmoniously with the world around us. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson of the Center for Neuroacoustic Research has shown by raising the pitch of the human voice 3 octaves, we sound remarkably like birds; raising the pitch 8 octaves, we sound just like chirping crickets, speeded up more we sound like dolphins. Slow down nature sounds and you get dolphins sounding like birds and crickets sounding like a choir.

Sound recordings made from "Ion Acoustic Waves" captured by Voyager as it passed by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune sound remarkably like dolphins, crickets, birds and human singing.

So, listen to the music within and around us - our bodies, our world, even our planets - and tune in to a deep level of relaxation, harmony and healing.

Reference: http://www.neuroacoustic.com

-- Published in Holistic Healing Journal, Summer 2010

Gong

No longer for ears...: sound
which, like a deeper ear,
hears us, who only seem
to be hearing. Reversal of spaces.
Projection of innermost worlds
into the Open..., temple
before their birth, solution
saturated with gods
that are almost insoluble...: Gong!

Sum of all silence, which
acknowledges itself to itself,
thunderous turning-within
of what is struck dumb in itself,
duration pressed from time passing,
star re-liquefied...: Gong!

You whom one never forgets,
who gave birth to herself in loss,
festival no longer grasped,
wine on invisible lips,
storm in the pillar that upholds,
wanderer's plunge on the path,
our treason, to everything...: Gong!

-- Rainier Maria Rilke

Gongs were among the first musical instruments to be made and played by humans. There are creation myths that honor the gong as the emanation sounding the earth into being.

The Paiste Planet Gongs, according to the gong makers at Paiste: "resemble Symphonic Gongs in character, but feature a strong fundamental note tuned to represent a natural harmonic series based on the orbital properties of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon and the other planets as calculated by Hans Cousto. Planet Gongs resonate harmonically with the cycles of the cosmos, communicating to us what has been known since antiquity as the "music of the spheres." Mysterious in sound color, Planet Gongs convey an unusual atmosphere."

The gongs emit complex and shimmering vibrations that support the body's natural frequencies to promote optimal health at a deep level. When sounded, we physically connect to their strength and power. The gongs resonate at a primal, archetypal level which communicates universally.

How does meditating with the "Music of the Spheres" expressed through the planetary gongs affect us? To answer this, a figure emerges from the mists of time: Hermes Trismegistus, ancient mystic, philosopher and alchemist, who gave us the Seven Hermetic Principles that include the law "As Above, So Below." This means we are a microcosm reflecting the macrocosm. The harmony of the spheres is not external to us but is our inner music.

Planetary gong meditations are an opportunity to remember and re-tune us to our own natural harmonic signature. The gongs strike a resonance deep within us, drawing us into a state of grace. A meditation with the planetary gongs offers us a moment to experience a greater sense of peace and place in the cosmic scheme... which is at its core a harmonic and musical universe.

-- Published in Holistic Healing Journal, Spring 2010

It is said that we live in a musical universe. In the Elegant Universe, physicist Brian Greene writes: "Music has long since provided the metaphors of choice for those puzzling over questions of cosmic concern. From the Pythagorean "music of the spheres" to the "harmonies of nature" that have guided inquiry through the ages, we have collectively sought the song of nature in the gentle wanderings of celestial bodies and the riotous fulminations of subatomic particles."¹

In the 1950's astronomer Margaret Burbidge and her colleagues proved that we really are made of stardust. They verified that the calcium in our bones, the iron in our blood and the oxygen we breathe all came from the ashes of ancient stars.²

Now, consider that sound waves travel four times faster through water than air and that our bodies are composed of 70 to 80 percent water. This makes us a perfect cosmic conductor of sound. So here we are, vibrating bodies at a point between subatomic particles and celestial bodies.

In the 1620's Johannes Kepler discovered the laws of planetary motion and calculated the velocities of the planets around the Sun. And last century Swiss mathematician Hans Cousto transposed the velocities into sound frequencies (hertz). Using the "Law of Octaves"³ these frequencies were translated into the musical notes that fall within the range of human hearing. It is this harmony of the cosmos that we invite into the realm of healing; attuning the body, mind and soul to these heavenly harmonies...the "Music of the Spheres." These tones are the basis of the Paiste Planetary Gongs and Acutonics® planetary tuning forks that resonate at these frequencies. The tones, overtones and undertones that are generated by these instruments create sympathetic vibrations whose harmonic resonant patterns interact within our bodies and help us to sonically reset negative patterns, from cellular to muscular, from mental to emotional and spiritual. When the frequencies and intervals of planetary tuning forks are applied to acupuncture points, gateways, muscles and tissues, our bodies and souls connect with these cosmic tones and provide access to a deep inner balance. From the subatomic to the cosmic, sound healing is a call to remembrance.

The work is powerful and profound; it has the capacity to relieve chronic and debilitating illnesses and imbalances of the psyche and soul by realigning and re-harmonizing us with the greater cycles and rhythms of the universe.

References:
¹The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene, W.W. Norton & Co., 1999
²The Smithsonian Magazine, "Margaret Burbidge, Stars, quasars, supernovae, galaxies - if it's out of this world, she has seen it," Article by Marcia Bartusiak, November 2005
³The Cosmic Octave, Cousto, Hans, Life Rhythm, 2000
There's No Place Like Ohm, Carey, Donna, DeMuynck, Marjorie, Devachon Press, 2002

- Published in the Holistic Healing Journal, Winter 2009 edition

Paiste gongs are handmade symphonic quality gongs that come from generations of experienced gong masters who deeply understand the art of gong making. Every gong is made to exacting specifications. The Planet Gongs, according to the gong makers at Paiste: "resemble Symphonic Gongs in character, but feature a strong fundamental note tuned to represent a natural harmonic series based on the orbital properties of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon and the other planets as calculated by Hans Cousto. Planet Gongs resonate harmonically with the cycles of the cosmos, communicating to us what has been known since antiquity as the "music of the spheres". Mysterious in sound color, Planet Gongs convey an unusual atmosphere."

The gongs composition is Nickel Silver which is a metal alloy of copper with nickel and often, but not always, zinc. Nickel Silver is named for its silvery appearance, but contains no elemental silver unless plated. Many alloys fall within the general term of "nickel silver" but they all contain copper and nickel, with some formulations including zinc, antimony, tin, lead or cadmium.

Historically, gongs were among the first musical instruments to be made and played by humans. There are creation myths that honor the gong as the emanation that sounded the earth into being. Their rich resonance, unique sound signature, and responsiveness allow one to deeply experience the remarkable undertones and overtones; tones which represent the Music of the Spheres.

What is the Music of the Spheres

The Music of the Spheres is something that has been written about by poets, writers and visionaries as far back as Pythagoras.

Some of us may only recall Pythagoras and his mathematical Pythagorean Theorem. But delving a little deeper into his life reveals far more than that. It was Pythagoras' concept that we live in a musical universe. He saw music as number and the cosmos as music. He distinguished three sorts of music in his philosophy: musica instrumentalis, the ordinary music made by plucking the lyre, blowing the pipe, etc; musica humana, the continuous and unheard music made by every human organism, especially the harmonious resonance between the soul and body; and musica mundane, the music made by the cosmos itself, which would come to be known as the Music of the Spheres.

Who hears this music, you may ask? It is said that the sound is in our ears from the very moment of birth and is indistinguishable from its contrary silence. How did Pythagoras know of this sound? He heard it in deep meditation; and according to the tradition of the White Brotherhood (the followers of Pythagoras after his death), some can hear and comprehend the celestial harmonies. Poets through the ages tell us this harmony can be heard by purged ears and by those who are in communion.

This Music of the Spheres was heard by another in the not so distant past; Johannes Kepler (16th - 17th century astronomer). Kepler heard the music of the spheres as a palpable symphony in his ears, just as Pythagoras had. In one of his books, The Harmony of the Universe, Kepler reconciled the elliptical paths of the heavenly bodies and using extreme values and ratios, was able to construe the entire musical scale. He discovered that each of the planets has its own scale and set out to construct a celestial chord to unite the songs of all the planets. Kepler's great synthesis, the most ambitious and comprehensive description of the Music of the Spheres ever attempted, was completed in 1618.

But it wasn't until the 1900's that Hans Cousto, a German mathematician and scientist, gave us the transposition of Kepler's mathematical formulas for the movement of the planets into audible rhythms and sounds. Cousto used the law of the octave to accomplish this - an integral aspect of the law of harmony. He combined age-old teachings of harmonics with new findings in physics and other sciences. Cousto took these mathematical calculations and transposed them into musical tones. These transposed tones are what you are hearing when you listen to the Paiste Planetary Gongs.

Of interest are the NASA space probe recordings made by Voyager I & II and other probes. The recorded signatures made by the Earth and other planetary bodies as they travel through space have been translated into audible sound. Pythagoras' "Music of the Spheres" is now an audible reality.

Meditating with the Gongs

So how do the "Music of the Spheres" and the planetary gongs that capture this concept affect us? To answer this, another figure emerges from the mists of time, Hermes Trismegistus, who gave us several universal principles (The Hermetic Tradition) which include the dictum, "As Above, So Below." What this means to us is that we are a microcosm that is a reflection of the macrocosm. This harmony of the spheres is not just something external us but is our inner music as well.

The planetary gongs offer us an opportunity to remember, to allow their harmonic sounds to not only attune us with the greater cosmic tones, but to also allow them to strike a resonance deep within us and draw forth our own music. They provide an opportunity to touch that inner music which is our birthright and that has the ability to draw us not only into a deep sense of peace but give us a connection between our inner world and the larger world. A meditation with the planetary gongs offers us a moment to experience a greater sense of place in the cosmic scheme... which is at its core a harmonic and musical universe.

Let these gongs draw you into your song that you have come here to sing!!

- April 2009

Using specific planetary intervals I tune my essential oil blends, harmonizing them with the Music of the Spheres and incorporating the Hermetic Principles. Using sound also raises the frequency of the blends so that they can speak to us at a cellular level and prepare us for the accelerated times in which we are living.

Hidden Messages in Water

"Our body is made up of as many as 60 trillion cells. Our body is the harmony played by these cells. The harmony of the music played by an orchestra can reach each and every cell of our body and thus contribute to our health. Water responded to beautiful pieces of music by forming elegant crystals."

- Masaru Emoto

Crystallized Human Hemoglobin

Beautiful sacred geometrical gem-like shapes reveal themselves when our bodies' hemoglobin molecules are photographed and magnified. These were photographed and published in the 1970s as part of a photographic exploration of nature's architecture showing the fundamental building blocks of the human microcosm.

Hexagon over Saturn

And looking beyond our inner space, this geometric shape was discovered 26 years ago over Saturn's north pole. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: "It's unbelievable. The 15,000-mile-wide feature appears to be some sort of deep-seated standing wave, through which other things move without changing the wave pattern. It also appears to be in sync with the planet's quick 10-and-a-half-hour rotation." It has remained fixed since first discovered.

Looking at our hemoglobin and Saturn's hexagon, they echo and call to remembrance "As Above, So Below" as stated in one of Hermes Trismegistus 7 universal principles, the Law of Correspondence.

- April 2009

Maren Good and Michael Ungar have been offering planetary gong meditations for more than 4 years. The planetary gongs have a soundscape that is unique among symphonic quality gongs. Michael and Maren have been asked many times if the playing is rehearsed or if they "choreograph" the meditations. All the playing is improvisational in nature. It is the interaction amongst the gongs themselves, as well as their "personalities," that leads and informs the playing.

During a workshop with Deepak Chopra, Maren was part of a guided tour by Alex Grey of his gallery, the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in New York City. Anyone who has seen his visionary artwork knows his ability to capture the energetic body and the numinous on canvas. Walking among the art, experiencing the journey through the Sacred Mirrors is an encounter one does not forget. The entire space physically vibrates. Maren was compelled to offer to bring the gongs to this space. She introduced herself to the Grey's and extended the offer. Allyson, Alex's wife, invited her to the next New Moon Ceremony, a time of setting creative intention and manifestation through meditation and visionary journeying.

It was a match made in heaven, and for the next 2 years Maren and Michael participated in their monthly New Moon gatherings. The Planetary Gongs became the signature sound for these ceremonies, creating a sonic current for the evening's festivities.

Every time Michael and Maren played the gongs in front of and among Alex's artwork, they experienced tonal qualities and harmonics even more vibrant than usual and heard overtones unique to that space. A significant example was the changing of the paintings that had been behind the gongs for a year. The Journey of the Wounded Healer was switched to his newer work, The Net of Being (which is on the CD cover). After the ceremony, even Alex commented on how the gongs sounded different that night... what had changed were the images and colors emanating through the gongs. Alex once said he felt the gongs activated the paintings, and truly there were evenings where some colors in his paintings were virtually popping off the canvas. Simultaneously, Maren and Michael commented that the gongs vibrated with anticipation simply by being in front of the Net of Being. All of us thought it was pretty "trippy!"

Michael, a professional recording engineer for over 25 years, offered to record the gongs at CoSM before the Greys were scheduled to move out of the Chelsea Gallery in December 2008. He wanted to see if the unique sound colorations created in this sacred space could actually be captured. Alex and Allyson opened the gallery on a Monday night when CoSM was usually closed. It was just the gongs and the artwork. Michael brought long time associate and recording engineer Sean Canada and a matched pair of Schoeps M 100 microphones, known for their purity of sound and lack of harmonic distortion. The recording was made at 96 bit, 128k, the highest quality digital recording available today. Nine planetary gongs were selected and the evening was spent recording the sounds that you hear on this CD. The 2 hours of recording were edited down into 40 minutes of material then mastered by Bill Lacey, known best for his restorations and re-mastering of most of RCA's classical catalog.

Maren and Michael are thrilled that they were able to so closely capture the interaction of sound, color and intention that together profoundly expands the harmonic resonance of these amazing gongs.

- July 2008

Attunement is a sacred healing art and spiritual practice. It is based on the premise that the human body is a dynamic, self-healing expression of a deeper, spiritual self. Sharing in the attunement process deepens one's connection with a core of inner stillness and peace, setting the climate for healing, renewal and a strong sense of well-being.

Attunement consists primarily of non-touch spiritual healing techniques offered as a radiant current through the hands of the practitioner. During an attunement, the practitioner works with the vibrational field of the client, balancing the energy flow through the gateways of the endocrine system, chakras, body systems, and energy meridians. Attunement is based on increasing the radiant flow of life current through the body and its subtle mechanism, known as Pneumaplasm. From the Greek words pneuma meaning air, or spirit, and plasma, relating to form or substance, pneumaplasm describes the substance which forms the connection between the invisible world of spirit and visible world of form. What has been described as auric energy or qi is related to this. Attunement clarifies and deepens the client's sense of connection to Source, deepening the experience of oneness.

The radiation shared through the hands of the Attunement practitioner with the client engenders a sense of deep relaxation or meditation in which the cares of the world fall away and the deep core issues of one's life can be looked at in a safe space. The client establishes an internal sanctuary space in which to view his or her world. Another word for this experience is centering. This calm center away from the storm allows the client to turn again to his or her most deeply felt spiritual values. Because Attunement has this centering effect, it encourages the client to make adjustments in his or her life, and begin to move towards a more whole lifestyle.

- January 2006

How's your wellness quotient? My what? Do you have a wellness lifestyle or a routine that incorporates wellness activities? Do you start your day with a healthy breakfast, or a lunch-time workout or walk? Do you fix that nutritious dinner or meet with your personal trainer after work? Or are you just too tired, don't have enough time or hours in the day? Sometimes having a workout partner or someone to go with on those walks keeps you on track. Making a commitment to yourself and someone else can help maintain a wellness schedule and increase your wellness quotient; that is the amount of time you create for your own well-being.

Incorporating body work into your life is another way to make a wellness commitment. The studies and reports are out there supporting complementary therapies as effective wellness strategies, with research citing numerous ailments that benefit from massage, or reflexology or the wonders of sound as a healing treatment. I recently had a session with a regular reflexology client recovering from gall bladder surgery who told me: "If I'd know how much this would help in my recovery I would have come in much sooner after my surgery."

Working with a body work practitioner can help put it all together. It provides a place for your body to relax or heal, an opportunity for your mind to slow down and integrate with the body and for your emotions to subside and renew. Body work can allow the mind-body connection that links our emotional/mental state with our physical health to be experienced. The saying goes, "seeing is believing;" but sometimes one has to believe to see. We may think we believe in that connection, yet we're still waiting to "see" the proof. Maybe we've even gone for a massage or another alternative therapy to "see" what happens; and if nothing gets fixed within one or two sessions, that underlying doubt rises to the surface. In the same way that you have to commit to more than one or two visits to the gym for results, sustained and long-term benefits from body work will occur over time.

Stress in our lives is nothing new, especially in today's world. Receiving a massage, or a reflexology session, or exploring what sound healing is all about is doing something for your health. Active participation in wellness can be a workout at the gym, a yoga class or a five-mile run, and it can also include putting yourself into the "hands" of a skilled body work practitioner.

The studies are out there that document and list the benefits of massage, reflexology aromatherapy and sound healing at the physical, mental and emotional levels. Just "Google" massage benefits.

- Published in the Union County Voice, July 2005