Sound Meditation + Heart Opening for Alchemical Healing
Hello Sound Bathers and Meditators! I want to share a little bit more about the way I practice sound healing so that you understand the intention and in this way can enter into an alchemical agreement more easily.
When Siddhartha (bodhisattva) attained enlightenment, his mind was not zen, peaceful, and blank. In fact, he was visited upon by horrors and suffering. The work for attaining enlightenment was to learn to greet all of the suffering visited upon his mind with compassion and equanimity. So, when you have an active mind in meditation, you are having an advanced practice! With a busy mind, you are offered an opportunity of doing the difficult work of PRACTICING finding peace regardless of the condition.
This is why I instruct: Greet all thoughts and sensations with an open heart.
“The Heart is the emperor, the supreme controller. The Heart is the fire at the center of our being, from which the spirit radiates.”
-Neijing Suwen (Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine)
The heart is the Fire element. A “broken heart” is not just an expression. It is a real understanding that the heart is affected physically by emotional turmoil and trauma. Loving involves an opening of the heart, a connection, and even an electromagnetic connection. Loss and heartbreak affects us on an electro-magnetic level and takes time and therapies to heal. Heartbreak and loss can be from a person, a belief, a condition, or anything we experience. A connection to something greater than ourselves is crucial for a healthy heart - whether that connection is a spiritual, humanistic, community, family, or a creative connection.
Sometimes thoughts can "harass the heart" and it can feel discouraging. In these times when a person doesn’t have the ability to “sit with” a particular thought or thought pattern, there is an ancient approach that may help. In this case, Taoists have a practice that I learned from Master Mantak Chia. The intervention for harassing thoughts is to rapidly move your eyes right and left, back and forth, twenty times. I have been told that EMDR therapy uses this approach too.
In the interest of healing, I weave into my sound bath experience moments when sounds will challenge your peace. In traditional east asian medicine we "dredge" channels to move energy. Dredging is bringing to the surface what has been buried and has become "stuck." With the stark resonance of a gong or a disorienting binaural wave pattern, I seek to "dredge" feelings, energies, thoughts and emotions. In this way, you can sit with what comes up and needs to be processed.
This is why I instruct: Greet all thoughts and sensations with an open heart.
My hope is that in a sound bath you use the time to "sit with" what IS... notice that what IS changes from moment to moment... and develop compassion and non-judgement for everything that IS. I hope to offer an opportunity for practicing connecting with the wisdom, spirit, and the power of your inner emperor, your heart.