from Ayerveda College
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God,” is stated in St. John’s Gospel. Johannes Kepler, the great German mathematician and astrologer writes in his Music of the Spheres, “The earth hums a tune,” and the ancient rishis uttered secret syllables before administering life saving treatments and medicine. Edgar Cayce, the great modern day mystic called sound ‘The Medicine of the Future’ and the benefits of ultrasound in modern medicine are duly noted for a number of things, including the use in healing muscles that are affected by pain.
Actually, the word heal, in old English, means “to return to a sound state”’
to “make whole, sound and well. “
The Sanskrit word svanah, meaning sound or tone, generally refers to a type of synchronization.
There is no doubt that human beings along with all sentient beings are a part of a vibratory experience which began with creation, ever permeating prakruti and that sound, being of that experience, plays a vital role in our emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual existence and well being. Assuming that the reader understands that sounds or vibratory patterns have an effect, this paper will delve into some of the physics of what sound is, cite examples of Western studies and Ayurvedic views as related to sound used in healing, and explore the Om sound and its vibratory significance on humankind’s fit in this universe.
Sound
All sounds are waves and are produced by the vibrations of material objects. These vibrations are transmitted through air or other mediums such as solid, liquid, gas or plasma. When vibrations reach the ear they are converted to electrical impulses in the brain, which we interpret as sound. However, lower frequency vibrations can also be felt by the body. Sound also has a speed at which it travels and is dependent on subtle atmospheric changes like temperature and humidity.
Because sound travels in waves, it can move over very large distances. However, the linear concept of how sound travels can go quite beyond that sounds are simply waves. Paul in his book, The Yoga of Sound states that “sound is infused with intelligence—an organizing principle that shapes the forms we perceive [even] through our eyes. “ That organizing principle has been shown to affect everything down to our DNA, permeating every cell within our bodies. In other words, sound effects form, as it was proposed that sound came first, before form. This connection of sound to form was summed up when Plato said that ‘a stone is frozen music’.
It is interesting to note that sound waves bend and take little energy to produce. The conceptual physicist Paul Hewitt states that “10,000,000 people talking at the same time would produce sound energy equal only to the energy of an ordinary incandescent lamp. “ Yet our sense of hearing is subtle and we are only able to hear because of our ears’ remarkable sensitivity. Medical science has even proven that our ears are “the first organ to develop in the fetus and the last organ to stop function during the process of death.”
Sound has loudness which depends on the amplitude of the wave. We gauge loudness in decibels which measure common noise levels found in our environment and are registered by the human ear beginning at about 10 decibels with painful sounds beginning at about 125 db. The frequency of sound is measured in Hz, or cycles per second. Humans can hear from around 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. However, it has also been suggested that “music or audible sounds could modulate physiological and pathophysiological processes” and that “cell types other than auditory hair cells could respond to audible sound [as] vibrotactile sensations… in the chest and throat.”
Sounds, simply, have waves, patterns, and frequencies; yet, affect us in ways that are both subtle and remarkable.
Pitch and quality are also ways to describe frequency and sound characteristics. For example, low pitch notes have a lower frequency of vibration than high notes–the higher the pitch, the faster the vibration and the lower the pitch, the slower. A musically pure note is one frequency, though most sounds that we experience have many different frequencies combined.
Resonance is an important factor when examining sound and its quality because “when the frequency of forced vibrations on a body matches the body’s natural frequency, a dramatic increase in amplitude occurs.” This brings in the idea of a principle called prime resonance. This means that our organs and systems have their own innate frequencies. These frequencies determine how the cells and systems absorb sound or to what extent they can be re-harmonized by various outside healing frequencies. And we know that our cells, organs, and systems are susceptible to a variety of environmental and emotional traumas which can de-harmonize them and vice versa. For example, long term exposure to noise can contribute to the dis-harmony of the cells and systems in our bodies. Studies conclude that each organ as well as each cell vibrates its own frequency since cells emit sounds as a part of their metabolic processes as they interact with the frequencies in their environment.
Rhythm
We know that before birth, the fetus is not only encompassed in the mother’s rhythms, but is also able to hear noises outside of the womb as early as four months. Caraka notes that around the third or fourth months, the fetus begins to manifest consciousness. This is when ether or akasha, the most subtle of the five elements, becomes evident. Ether, according to Ayurveda, is responsible or associated with the sound of hearing. And from birth on, we are surrounded by rhythms and sounds that make up the vibratory experience of pattern all around us. These rhythms are noted in our immediate environment—in the seasons and in the passing of different times of day, the cycles of the moon and our patterned breathing. Even the rhythmic beats of our hearts are mirrored in great poetry and in Shakespearean plays in the form of iambic pentameter. This makes us an obvious reflection of these patterned rhythmic experiences of which even our “Milky Way Galaxy turns like a Ferris wheel” every 10 million years. Nothing in the universe escapes movement and rhythmic patterns. So sound has to be a part of a rhythmic structure that affects the cadence of our experience. The more we are in tune with waves of varying worth may determine the quality of our bodily existence in the greater scheme of life’s rhythms.
Western studies and stories on the effects of sound on healing
Not surprisingly, there have been numerous studies on the effects of sound on health.
In Masaru Emoto’s book on water crystal healing, he is able to show how organized sound in the form of music affects the formation of patterns in water crystals which are frozen in Petri dishes under a light microscope. Through photographs, he demonstrates how water takes on expressions of sound. He also likens our body’s systems to a symphony that is healthy when it is harmoniously vibrating. As with all energy, sound moves in waves outwards, though they may affect patterns beyond ‘normal’ perception.
Emoto reveals how one vibration influences another as in prime resonance. First, he shows that diseases have a measurable wave or vibration. That vibration is something termed hado and is measured using a device called a Magnetic Resonance Analyzer. The MRA measures the characteristic of the wave produced by the vibration inherent in the diseased organ. He then shows how music formulates patterned crystals when exposed to various classical musical pieces. Dr. Emoto claims that upon drinking the water that was exposed to healing music prescriptive to that patient and his disease that healing and balancing is able to take effect, correcting the energy disturbance.
From analysis of each piece of music’s hado, he is able to suggest that by listening to various melodic pieces, one can be relieved from a variety of imbalances which include irritability, suppression of emotions, relationship problems, stuck thought patterns, self- pity, hopelessness, deep sorrow, stubbornness, and depression.
In The Mozart Effect, Campbell, a classically trained musician, begins by telling how he healed himself from a potentially deadly blood clot in the brain through internal visualization and by humming a sound which he felt helped his cells resonate a healthy pattern throughout his system.
In humming a tone, I sensed the power of a sound that had warmth, brightness, and clarity. I envisioned the sound as a vibrating hand coming into my skull on the right side, simply holding the energy within. I imagined a vowel sound coming into my left hand, traveling through my heart and body, up to my right hand, and then back into my head, heart, and down through my feet. Each tone made a circuit through my body.
Undergoing a series of medical tests three weeks later, the results showed that the clot had decreased from more than an inch to less than an eighth of an inch, astounding the doctor who pronounced him out of mortal danger.
Most people would agree that ‘music masks unpleasant sounds and feelings’, but music, patterned sound, is also demonstrated to slow down and equalize brain waves. Campbell reminds us that varying states of consciousness are associated with different types of waves such as beta, delta, and theta and it has been proven that the slower the brain waves, the more relaxed and peaceful we feel.
Respiration, heartbeat, pulse rate, as well as blood pressure have all been proven to be affected by various types of music. Campbell cites a study by researchers at Temple University who found that when our heart rates are increased, our resistance to disease is decreased. They also found that rock music increased the heart rate more than other types of music and that some forms of rock music were responsible for reducing skin resistance to stimuli.
Campbell, inspired by his own healing with the help of sound, was able to show how attributes of various types of music resulted in specifically desired effects. As with prime resonance, how the listener responded to various patterned sound or music was important, so the healing effects varied “according to the composition, the performer, the listener, the posture assumed in listening, and other factors.”
It is interesting to note how various musical genres have a range of effects on most listeners, again this is due to individual perception and experience. For example, chants were noted to create a sense of relaxed spaciousness, classical music with improved concentration and memory, jazz can elicit feelings that inspire and uplift, and salsa may simultaneously soothe and awaken the senses. Even heavy metal, “with its dynamic and disturbing consequence of exciting the nervous system, can help modern day adolescents release their inner rage and turmoil.”
In Empower for Your Health magazine, Dr. Mark Harrell, an endocrinologist, after explaining how our biology demands rhythm, discusses how music therapy can help stroke victims and patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Scientists believe that music triggers undamaged networks of nerve cells that allow translation of the beat into organized body movement. Dr. Concetta Tomaino, co-founder of the New York City Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, notes that ‘someone who is frozen (from Parkinson’s or stroke) can immediately release and begin walking. They can co-ordinate their steps to synchronize with the music.’
Music affects health as it influences digestion, endurance, productivity, and feelings of romance. Used along with other healing modalities, mainstream or otherwise, certain types of music are seen as helpful and prescriptive sources.
In one single-blind controlled scientific study, patients who had experienced cerebral artery strokes were shown as benefiting simply from listening to music for two months.
Fifty-four patients completed the study. Results showed that recovery in the domains of verbal memory and focused attention improved significantly more in the music group than in the language and control groups. The music group also experienced less depressed and confused moods than the control group.
Those findings also demonstrate “that music listening during the early post-stroke stage can enhance cognitive recovery and prevent negative mood.”
Using just sound waves themselves have been shown to have an effect on the human body. An example is proven in yet another single-blind study done in Finland several years ago involving forty-nine volunteers in two senior citizen centers. The effect of low-frequency sound wave therapy was shown to have a positive effect on blood pressure, mobility, as well as bone density on frail elderly subjects.
In one researcher’s postlude, there are numerous examples given of people who have helped to heal or soothe themselves from varying degrees of dis-harmony. For example humming helped minor abrasions, listening to Mozart helped to relieve acute pain, enjoying grounding music with strong beats helped folks with anxiety, and the harp helped to relieve back pain. Music may be one of the keys to “transcending the pains of the moment…from Zen monasteries to intensive care units, accounts abound of [those] who experienced the remission of a disease or disorder as the result of some sound or melody.”
Toning and humming
The book Toning: The Creative Power of the Voice, Laurel Elizabeth Keys articulates stories about people who were healed with toning or relaxing into their voices. “Toning can release psychological stress before surgery, lower the blood pressure and respiratory rate of cardiac patients, and reduce tension in those undergoing MRIs and CAT scans.” Sounds seem to trigger endorphin release, thus masking pain which may help the body to heal more effectively.
In Campbell’s book he, as a listening therapist, was able to detect through a patient’s voice, long dormant emotions. A forty-seven year old woman had a cyst on the right side of her right breast and Campbell heard a break in her voice when he stood on her right side. After she was able to express a long held repressed memory, she was then able to release the memory through humming. The woman’s cyst had completely disappeared within three months.
Campbell also noted that humming was more helpful than singing in helping schizophrenia patients positively modify their behavior.
Some people, with guidance, are able to find their own sound or resonance in order to help release unresolved emotions and pain.
There is also evidence that toning and humming helped to alleviate various ailments including headaches and menopausal hot flashes.
In essence, every person is seen to have a tune, a song, a hum, a string of syllables or rhythmic sounds that “resonates with his or her essence” creating “harmonious thoughts and feelings.”
Jack Kornfield in his book, A Path with Heart, reminds us of the story of Siddhartha, finding his song as he sits alone by the river, taking everything in as Himself. During deep contemplation is where “we [can] experience more deeply both the beauty and the sorrow of life [listening] deeply, the great song moves through each of our lives.”
Tibetan singing bowls
Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor in his book Sounds of Healing discusses his discovery of Tibetan singing bowls in helping cancer patients. As a scientist, he communicates the importance of vibrational healing through sound and how “we can order our molecular structure though sound and heal physical and emotional imbalances.” He gives one example of a woman with a tumor in her thymus gland and how singing bowls helped her to relax and reflect upon internal stresses that were the cause of the blockages in her body. By listening to “the vibration of the crystal bowl and visualizing the shape of her fears” she was able to see where the fear was stuck in her physical body, in this case, the throat. He points out that her story is not unique as most people are in so much of a rush that they don’t stop to consider what is important or missing in life, getting ‘out of tune’ with the world around them. This dis-harmony is usually reflected in disease or imbalance. Getting ‘back in tune’ helps us to release tensions that we are many times not even aware of.
Entrainment
How sound can affect us can be explained by what is termed as entrainment. Entrainment is defined as the process by which the powerful rhythmic vibrations of one object with a similar frequency causes an object to vibrate in resonance with the first object. We are not, of course, referring to our bodies as inanimate objects since human beings possess amazing complexity that complements their ability to harmonize and to adapt to the environment. Entrainment is based in rhythm and when a vibration is perceived through the auditory senses, then the combined synergy creates profound synchronicity.
It has been studied then postulated that everything rhythmical is subject to entrainment, and that even people’s bodies respond to the talk of another. Dr. William S. Condon from the Boston University School of Medicine closely observed the body language of people as they listened to another person speak. “Listeners were observed to move in precise shared synchrony with a speaker’s speech.” He also noted that there was “no discernible lag even at 1/48 of a second.” An analysis of this data shows the power of entrainment works whether or not we are conscious of it.
The idea that “the human organism is not only constructed according to harmonic principles, but also functions within them” is suggested by physiologist Gunther Hildebrandt. He helps us to understand the notion of entrainment since everything vibrates in a certain resonance with what is around it and that we are deeply entrenched in a great synchronized scheme.
Ayurvedic examples on effects of sound.
The Rishis
Ayurveda, or the knowledge of the ancient rishis, is deeply rooted in the idea of entrainment and of the greater vibratory experience for which we are all striving. The rishis were also attuned to the primordial sounds and understood that everything was held together by things that we could not see. Deepak Chopra explains that “Ayurveda tells us to apply a specifically chosen primordial sound like a mold or template slipped over the disturbed cells pushing them back into line, not physically, but by repairing the sequence of sound at the heart of every cell.”
In the Vedas, sound was understood to have a healing effect on its listener and, not surprisingly, various instruments were used to enable particular vibrations of sounds to prevent increases in particular doshas.
On Healing Sounds of Ayurveda site, a musician offers a variety of melodies played by specific instruments in order to pacify doshic imbalances. The melodies attributed to these instruments’ sounds seem to counterbalance the effects of an imbalance.
For example, the instrumental sounds of the bamboo flute are thought to prevent the increase of vata. The bamboo flute emits soft notes and has a soothing effect on its listener. This is also the flute from which Lord Krishna played his soulful calming melodies alone on a calm river.
Pitta needs a strong quality to catch its attention and the sitar is believed to possess that with its nasal overtones and rich sound.
The sarod is a classical Indian lute-like instrument and, with its deep and ‘awakening’ sound and clear tones, is said to help balance and enliven the kapha dosha. The sarod is not as sweet as the sitar, nor as soothing as the bamboo flute.
Nadis, chanting, and mantra
In The Yoga of Sound, Paul states that sound essentially “works with the transformation, restoration, and reconstitution of the energies of the soul through channels known as nadis…subtle channels of the chakra system related to the soul’s infrastructure.” In other words “sound optimizes the performance of energy vortexes or chakras which govern our emotional, psychic and spiritual states of consciousness.”
Mantras, or hymns, became interwoven with all actions related to healing. Mantras, as sacred sounds, are known to affect our vibratory being and consciousness as the word mantra itself means both protection and instrument.
In the Ashtanga Samgraha, chants are noted as playing a vital role in the overall healing process. From the very start of life, chants are indicated. For example, the attendant present at the birth of a child is instructed to chant a hymn into the baby’s ear right away.
Mantras are also alleged to have the power to rid a child of evil demons. It was seen important that those evil spirits are won over by the chanting of certain sacred sounds or hymns.
The Vedas themselves are a series of mantras, as both words and sounds awaken memory and the deep knowledge encoded in our DNA and cells. This deep encoding is linked to the primordial sound of creation and to the source from which we emanate and are deeply a part. However, it also understood that the emanator of the sound must, as stated in the Ashtanga Samgraha, be fully conscious in order to achieve the highest level of effect. As Paul reminds us, “The vibratory effects of our tones…find their way into the psyche. Let us be mindful about these tones and use our voices to heal.”
The experience of mantra and chanting are best when accompanied by ritual. Ritual, in the very way that it is performed –the same time each day, also mirrors the rhythmic quality of mantra or the universe’s ebbs and flows. Paul states that without sound encompassed in ritual that it is difficult to “release the accumulation of psychic toxicity in our spiritual system.” It also “allows us to experience the deep and the high, much like sound.”
In a translation of the Yoga aphorisms of Patanjali, it is noted that the “repetition of sacred words or mantras is…an invaluable aid to spiritual progress.” Tapping in to our true nature, the definition of health being not forgetting who we are, is where true health lies. Any disengagement from our spiritual nature is a disconnection from the source; and overall good health is more possible when we are encompassed by our connection and in tune with our greater nature, all of which is helped by sacred sound.
The rishis in Ayurveda also addressed other ways to fall ill besides disconnecting with one’s true nature. Poison is a reality of our world and the ancients understood that being poisoned or otherwise harmed by the external environment posed a very real harm to the human body. Toxins from snakes, animals and plants were believed to have possessed a fire that would severely harm one’s well-being. One of the suggested antidotes to poison was the use of sound. The Ashtanga Samgraha states that “Poison is full of tejas…it does not get warded off by the administration of drugs as quickly as by the use of mantras, full of satya, brahmacarya and tapas of the priest.” The physician would have to be proficient with the hymn, however as part of ‘sacred hymn’ therapy in helping the patient.
Interestingly, in Traveling the Sacred Sound Current, Debroah Van Dyke notes that “sound is [also] fire…the agent of purification.” Sound, therefore has “an inherent role in the transformation of our consciousness because it is the very vibrational nature of our soul.” The creative organizing force of sound on our biology cannot be denied as sound’s power is evidenced to organize matter itself.
An interpretation of the Yoga Sutras notes a sort of transcending effect of sound, one that goes beyond simply healing the body. “By making samyama [when the true nature of an object is known] on the sound of a word, one’s perception of its meaning and one’s reaction to it…one obtains understanding of all sounds uttered by living beings.” This understanding translates into one being able to “attain supernatural powers of hearing” and achieving various levels of samadhi, complete absorption.
Chakras and bija mantras
Chakras, the energy wheels in our subtle body, are also directed by sound. Chakras represent their own dimension as they act as a “superhighway system in which our energies travel.” Roadblocks through this highway system can be unblocked not only by visualization and physical exercises, but also by using sounds, specifically mantras, something that was known during the Vedic era.
Chanting bija mantras or what are known as ‘seed sounds’ increase the rotation or the frequency of prana moving through a chakra. If the function of a chakra increases, then there is heightened awareness and change in the chakra, with the quality of that dependent upon intent and the level of the practitioner.
Mantras in themselves have long been a part of Hindu cosmology. The intelligence inherent in each syllable, vowel or consonant when uttered, has very specific connections to our total spiritual being.
The following is a breakdown of how bija mantras work within the body, utilizing all five elements.
The bija mantra of the first chakra, Lam, helps to increase the earth element in the body. The second chakra’s bija mantra, Vam, helps to increase the water element in the body. The third, Ram, is believed to increase the fire element in both the body and the mind as the fourth chakra, Yam, increases the air element in both the body and mind. The fifth bija mantra for the throat is Ham and influences the either element, again working with the mind and body. The bija mantra Ksham influences the ether element, but goes beyond the physical and affects the astral body as well. And the crown chakra’s bija mantra, Om, influences the physical, subtle, as well as the causal body.
One may also note the consonant and vowel sounds in each of these mantras, as their vibratory effects are connected back to the source of the universe and well as to the duality inherent in our current state of being.
The M in each of these sounds is said to represent the maternal and material aspect of the universe. The A sound in turn represents the Father, the nonmaterial, the action of the Alpha. L (lam, earth) is a heavy, closing sound, while H in HAM (ether) is light, airy, ethereal sound, and R (ram, fire) is an energetic, fiery sound. Typically, consonants have come to reflect the hard, material aspects of the world, while vowels represent the spiritual or etheric aspects.
Paul states that the movement of various appropriate tones for the individual using Vedic mantras helps to “sustain the wavelength of sound frequencies generated by our brain [and] streamlines our mental processes toward the intention of the mantra.” Focus lends itself to practice of the seventh limb in yoga, dhyana, and is the precursor to the ultimate state of consciousness, samadhi.
OM
One of the most interesting aspects of the Vedic mantra Om is that its uttering and meditating upon it connects us to a higher vibratory rate, linking us to the origin of Prakruti.
It is, in other words, “the sound of all sounds together.”
If we are to assume that the ancients were in resonance with the creation of the universe itself, then we must examine some of the theories of creation.
One of those theories is that the universe was created by the ‘big bang.’
The word ‘bang’ connotes loud sound. Interestingly enough, scientists theorize that the big bang wasn’t an explosion at all. Stephen Hawking in his book The Universe in a Nutshell puts forth a multiple of theories by great physicists, most notably, Einstein. Space, so it seems, originated as a point of density when “density would have been very large.”
Through Einstein’s theories and the invention of the modern telescope, Hawkins reveals that galaxies are spreading apart and that the universe “is not a cosmological constant.”
The ‘primeval atom’ or big bang points to the scientific fact that our universe is expanding and that both space and time had a beginning. The expansion of the universe can be likened to our ever expanding consciousness. And the sound of Om is in resonance with this expansion as well as our consciousness which is ever changing and growing.
The sound of the big bang was mathematically construed by University of Washington physicist John G. Cramer. One can listen to the sound of this expansion on audio. It is of interest to compare a modern day scientist’s rendition of ‘the big bang’ to the rishis mantra Om. The listener will notice that the ‘big bang’ is actually a hum, and is very much “what the ancient Rishis perceived in their deepest meditations. “ This hums signals an expansion, not just in matter, but also in consciousness itself.
The ancients harmonized in resonance with the expansion of what we perceive as time and space as Om can be said to mirror the space time continuum.
“Om is the single most important sound that can, by itself, configure the human body optimally for maximum resonance and is noted to have the ability to generate overtones or additional frequencies that occur over and above a tone.” Paul quotes a passage from the Upanishads which helps us to contemplate the depth of Om’s meaning.
There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in sound and in silence. By sound we go to silence. The sound of Brahman is Om. With Om we go to the End; the silence of Brahman. The End is immortality, union, and peace.
Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread, the [person] of contemplation by means of Om reaches freedom.
In other words Om “represents… the totality of all that is and all that is not.” And chanting it connects us to the Divine expansion, offering us the awareness that we are a part of everything that is and was. This glimpse of wholeness and of both surpassing and encompassing duality is offered if we simply tune into it.
Summary
Through these examples we can see that the Ayurvedic understanding of sound is ancient and intuitive, with deep involvement in our spiritual being and the bodies we occupy. The western interpretation includes analytical understanding of the physical nature of sound. But as the effects of sound on the body and psyche are steadily investigated, the convergence of western and Ayurvedic perspectives become more integrated.
The good news is that western medicine and what we once called ‘alternative medicine’ are beginning to work together. The science of the spirit is becoming more understood as we progress on the path of the best ways to get well, stay well, and feel connected. Therefore, healing modalities become complementary, eliminating the need for isolation.
Fewer and fewer western medical doctors are separating their practices from what is becoming more and more evident—that we are energetic beings and not simply made up of parts. And much is being scientifically noted about how stress and outside influences affect our well-being and can even be the cause of dis-ease in the body. The connection to what we hear, as well as see, has a lot to do with how we feel. Any wellness professional, who is truly into his patient feeling whole, connected, and empowered, will be able to address that in his or her practice.
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