Last month I wrote that we live in a Universe of vibration and that we ourselves are Beings made of vibration/sound. We affect each other, our environment and ourselves through our personal resonance. Entrainment is the term used to describe the process by which one vibrating source locks on to another source and brings it into step with itself. So, if something is vibrating at an unnatural frequency, we can bring it back into balance using entrainment.

37914488 - old retro radio on table blue backgroundSound is a carrier wave for consciousness. We can project energy into sound by using our intention. Students of Mind Power know that thoughts are real forces. We can project these thought forces into sound waves and allow them to interact with any aspect of ourselves (body, mind, soul), or with another person, or even the environment at large. Think of your mind as the conductor of an orchestra made up of the different parts of you. Think of these parts — the organs and cells in your body, your emotions and thoughts, your soul — as instruments in the orchestra, each vibrating the essence of who you are as a unique individual. When everything is playing together in harmony you get beautiful music; you experience sound health and a feeling of well-being. But when something goes out of tune it affects the entire orchestra. As the conductor, it’s your challenge to keep things together. There are many tools that you can use; Mind Power is one such tool. Sound Therapy is another.

Just as negative thinking affects us negatively, there are some sounds that have an adverse effect on our general health and well-being. Just as in Mind Power where we weed out negatives, so too in sound work we balance our personal vibration and our sonic environment. Noise pollution is prevalent in most cities and towns. Cars, trucks, buses, hooting horns, the cacophony of voices in a busy shopping centre, even the sound of your fridge or your air conditioner, all have an effect on you. Through the process of entrainment these sounds can bring you out of balance and make you tense up without you being aware of it. With awareness however, you can reverse this process and use sound daily to charge you with energy.

Here are some practical steps to working with sound in your life:

Step 1: Be aware of sound and know how different sounds affect you. Ask yourself: «How does this sound make me feel?» Energized? Relaxed? Tired? Irritated? Angry? Motivated? Depressed?

Step 2: Take appropriate action. Eliminate sounds from your daily environment that have a negative effect on you. If that’s not possible, then balance them out with nourishing sounds. With our diet we need the nutritional balance that fruits and vegetables bring; we can’t always eat junk food or we will become ill. Similarly, since we are sound beings, we need to expose ourselves to nourishing sounds and balance our sonic diet.

Step 3: Take a regular “Sound Bath”. A great way to wake up in the morning and to go to sleep at night is to bathe yourself in some beautiful sounds. Nature sounds are the most effective. The sound of rain, ocean waves, wind blowing through the leaves, crickets and birds, children laughing. There are so many natural sounds that give us energy. If we need more there are some very good recordings of nature sounds; get a CD and pop it into your player or use your iPod. Listen just before you go to sleep and first thing in the morning when you wake up. This helps you get a deep, restful sleep and enhances your dreams. It’s also a great way to stimulate the subconscious mind.

Step 4: Use music to enhance your activity. Different sounds have different effects. If you need to be energized, a fast beat is good. If you want to relax after a tense meeting, choose a piece of music that calms you. If you’re studying, the music of Mozart has been found to be extremely helpful in concentration. Experiment with different music and see what works for you. Use your computer to play music while you work and do some «Sound Tanning» (my personal term) during your busy day. Sound can help to focus, inspire and motivate you. Music can be meditative and relaxing, soothing a restless mind, body and spirit. Sound can do so much for you that it is a shame that we have neglected it or used it only for entertainment value. As you can see, there are so many more ways to use sound than we have presently been taught.

Step 5: Learn to use your voice creatively. Unfortunately many of us have become distanced from our voice, or even worse, ashamed of it. There are many limiting and negative beliefs about the voice. Most adults believe they «can’t sing» and are uncomfortable with the sound of their voice. This is a great shame, because the voice is a fingerprint of the soul. Each of our voices is unique, containing precisely the right frequencies to help us balance. It is the perfect instrument for us regardless of how we think we sound; plus it is portable, with us everywhere we go. Babies know this instinctively. They hum to themselves to relieve stress.

Step 6: Toning vowel sounds is a very effective way to use your voice to work with your body and energy system. Vibrating the body with these sounds stimulates the secretion of powerful endorphins which are natural painkillers and immune boosters. We have an amazing natural pharmacy at our disposal inside us, awaiting our sounding of it into action. Vocal toning also gives internal organs a massage at a cellular level. When was the last time your kidneys or your liver got a good massage? Use simple sounds like OO, OH, AH, EYE and EE. Repeat them over a long breath to resonate different parts of the body. This also teaches you how to breath deeply, which in turn oxygenates your blood and detoxifies the body. Do this in your car while you’re in traffic, or in the shower accompanied by the sound of running water. I have a simple rule when it comes to working with the voice: It’s not about sounding good or sounding right, it’s simply about sounding. Period.

Step 7: You can incorporate small amounts of sound work with your daily Mind Power program. Exercises like Affirmations can be combined with voice work. Appropriate music can be used in conjunction with Visualization, Seeding and Contemplation. Instrumental music is best because it doesn’t contain someone else’s words or thoughts. The instruments stimulate the mind and emotions and generate energy.

I hope that these simple ideas and the background about Sound Therapy from last month’s topic have given you some food for thought, as well as something practical to work with. Like Mind Power, sound work is a practice, not a philosophy. Try it out and see how it works for you. It can make a significant difference to your well-being. Be creative, and most importantly, as John would say, «Have fun!»

Article by Steve Tsakiris
Steve Tsakiris lives in Johannesburg and holds workshops in South Africa — constrat@mweb.co.za