I had hoped the treatment would help with tension in my jaw, but I did not find a noticeable change. The next day, I was back to my customary routine, a bit more relaxed than usual, and wondering about the impact of regular sessions over a period of time.
A year ago, I had a different experience from an impromptu exposure to a singing bowl. A straight-sided crystal bowl, about a foot in diameter, was tapped with a wooden dowel, which was then drawn around the rim, producing a long, resonant, mesmerizing tone. The result was a needed emotional catharsis that made me curious about the power of sound.
Garnier described the effect of sound by defining it as a set of frequencies within the vast range of vibrations that make up all of life and existence. “Each of our cells and organs vibrates, and the body as a whole vibrates,” he said. “If we had more hearing, we could hear a flower grow. We could hear ants shout at each other.” Within our range of hearing, the right sound frequencies can bring the mind to a still point, where thought drops away, the brain slows down, and, he said, “the heart takes over. We become acutely aware of our own nature as vibrating beings. That awareness enables us to tune ourselves back into harmony.”
Garnier, a former creative director who once worked for Ear Magazine, discovered sound healing after he came down with vertigo while living in New York City. The attacks made him feel as if he was spinning so fast, he couldn’t even call for help. He consulted with a top neurologist, who recommended, after a year of unsuccessful treatment, that Garnier try surgery. Reluctant to undergo an operation on the inner ear, so close to the brain, he sought alternatives.
A Peruvian friend connected him with a shaman, and Garnier went to the jungle, where he buried himself in the ground several times in a quest for a vision. “I was visited twice by entities who showed me what sound was and how to help the world,” he recalled. After two weeks with the shaman, his vertigo was cured, and his journey into healing sound began.
Instructors at the Menla retreat emphasized the indigenous origin of their techniques. Workman’s instruments include didgeridoo, fujara (Slovakian shepherd’s flute), and donso ngoni (West African Harp). David Hykes, who works with voice and chant, has collaborated with the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan sages. New Yorker David Moises spent a year in India, learning yogic sound techniques that he integrates into his psychotherapy practice.
Different instruments have different qualities, said Garnier, and the practitioner must have the ability to tune into the client to determine individual needs. The deep voice of the gong has a clearing or “washing” effect. The high pitches of tuning forks, combined across specific tonal intervals, have been shown to cause cellular changes. Crystal bowls generate an ethereal sound, said to stimulate ancient memories and access to intuitive knowledge.
“The property of crystal is to store, amplify, and transform energy,” said Garnier. “Computers contain crystals. We get hooked on computers, and we don’t realize there’s a crystal consciousness within. You and the computer resonate with each other.” According to the law of resonance, he explained, entities vibrating in close proximity tend to adjust their vibrations until they come into alignment. He cited an experiment by Swiss sound researcher Hans Cousto, who placed ten clocks in a room and found, a week later, that they were all ticking in unison.
Because crystal, with its spiral structure, has a strong resonance, Garnier finds it important to play crystal bowls properly. “The sound plays too loud when the person playing the bowl is not centered or in harmony with the energy field,” he noted. “There can be a negative effect. In the shamanic world, what makes a good shaman is his own energy field.” When played with the right touch, the bowls, like other healing instruments, produce a state that is said to be akin to the deep repose that comes from long meditation practice.
Music also has healing properties, Garnier acknowledged, but pure sound goes to a different level. “Music is melody-driven,” he said. “The brain can know what the next note is going to be. Often there’s a drum, so the music has a beat. The brain cannot let go entirely. In sound healing, the brain lets go, and we merge with the universal energy field.”++
For more information, see https://www.sagehealingcenter.org/ and https://www.ricardaoconner.com/.
