LIVING THE FIELD

SOUND THERAPY
LIVING THE FIELD
LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Contents Therapy
Lesson 1 Tuning in to the right frequency 5
Lesson 2 Hearing the sound of health 9
Lesson 3 Powerful sounds from the Ancients 13
Lesson 4 Living in universal harmony 17
Lesson 5 All of heaven in a single note 21
Lesson 6 Chanting your way to health 25
Lesson 7 In the beginning is the breath 29
Lesson 8 Chanting the tonal prayer 33
Lesson 10 Singing along with the chakras 37
Lesson 11 Overtoning for healing 41
Lesson 12 Good vibrations that heal 45

iii
LIVING THE FIELD
LIVING THE FIELD
Tuning in to the right frequency
This is the first of a series of lessons
about the use of soundharmony and
vibrationto heal and to raise con -
sciousness, both individually and col -
lectively. The Field teaches us that we
a re a connected sea of energy and, ulti -
mately, that we are beings of light. This
is complemented by the work of Swiss
physicist Dr Hans Jenny, who discov -
e red that every cell in our body is con -
trolled by an electromagnetic field with
its own fre q u e n c y.
T
hat we are beings of light gives
sense to energetic or vibrational
healing systems such as home-
opathy and acupuncture, which can tune
the body back to health. As Dr Richard
Gerber, author of Vibrational Healing
(Santa Fe: Bear, 1988), once said: If
we are beings of energ y, then it follows
that we can be affected by energ y.1
Biologist Dr Rupert Sheldrake
describes our bodies as nested hierar-
chies of vibrational frequencies, which
appear as discrete systems functioning
within larger, more complicated ones
that are themselves contained within
even larger and more complex vibra-
tional structures.2
This nested hierarchy goes beyond
the human body and its intercellular
connections, and extends out to the
planets and galaxies, which, in their
turn, are vibrationally connected.
Similarly, every living and inanimate
object on the earth, including people,
trees, plants and stones, are also in
communication and, ideally, in har-
mony.
Its a realization the ancients shared.
The importance of sound is reflected in
the philosophy of Nada Brahman
(Union through Sound), and can be
found in Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism,
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and
Judaism. We know the Ancient Egypt-
ians and the Ancient Greeks also under-
stood the importance of sound, and used
it in religious ceremonies, while the
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 1
Pythagorean School developed the the-
ory of planetary vibrations in the Music
of the Spheres.
In modern times, harmony and
vibration are used in many forms of
therapy, such as bioacoustics, cymatic
t h e r a p y, harmonic resonance, Hemi-
Sync from the Monroe Institute,
mantric chanting, music imagery, ton-
ing and tuning forks. Sound is not just
used to bring a sense of inner peace and
calm. It has physical applications as a
method of reducing pain and even for
reversing disease. The American physi-
cian Dr Royal Raymond Rife was using
sound frequencies to reverse some can-
cers he said were caused by a virus until
his work was banned in the United
States in the 1930s.
In this course of lessons, you will
come to understand the significance of
sound in modern therapies and to the
Ancients and, more importantly, how
you can harness it in your everyday life
to effect change and healing.
In this first lesson, we will begin
setting the groundwork by looking at
the science of sound, and how scientists
and researchers have explored the
world of sound and vibration to heal
and change the immediate environment.
There has hardly been a time when
the physicist and his forebear, the natu-
ral scientist, was not experimenting
with sound or endeavoring to under-
stand its qualities and eff e c t s .
Dutch mathematician Christian
Huygens noted the power of pulsation
in 1656, when he discovered that ran-
domly swinging pendula would eventu-
ally begin swinging in unison. He
described this phenomenon as the prin-
ciple of entrainment, where weaker
pulsations come under the influence of
stronger ones.
In an experiment by German physi-
cist Ernst Chladni at the end of the 18th
century on the effects of vibrations, he
was able to create intricate sand pat-
terns by vibrating a steel plate with a
5
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy violin bow. When disturbed, the pat-
Lesson 1 terns would quickly reestablish their
original formation.
But it was the work of Dr Hans
Jenny in the 20th century which gave a
firm scientific footing to vibration and
sound, and inspired many other
researchers and scientists to explore the
use of sound therapy.
Jenny (19041972) was a medical
doctor who spent 14 years on meticu-
lous research into the effects of vibra-
tions on a variety of materials, includ-
ing powders, sand, pastes and liquids.
He used a simple, audible sine-wave
vibration to create wonderful, natural
patterns they were physical represen-
tations of vibration.3
A substance, such as sand, was
placed on a metal plate attached to an
oscillator controlled by a frequency
generator. A turn of the dial made the
plate vibrate at different frequencies
and, instead of creating anarchic
mounds; the material was transformed
into beautiful and symmetrical patterns.
Jenny said he could hear the sound as
a wave, see the pattern of sound and
feel the sound through the vibrating
plate. He called his work cymatics,
which is encapsulated in his main book,
Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena,
which is now back in print.
Although others have been inspired
by Jenny to explore the healing powers
of sound, Jenny himself never saw his
work as a therapy. Instead, he wanted to
demonstrate the importance of sound
and vibrational fields throughout
nature, and its role in a variety of sys-
tems, such as biology, weather patterns
and even social order.
Despite his disinterest in sound
therapy, Jenny saw people as unified
energy fields or wholes, as he put it.
Applying Sheldrakes theory of nested
hierarchies of vibrational frequencies, it
is possible to see our physical bodies as
a gross form of vibrational field, inter-
lapped by other vibrations made up
from our thoughts and emotions.
J e n n y s natural heir is Japanese
researcher Masaru Emoto, who has
explored the impact of human energ y,
thoughts, words and sound on the
molecular structure of water.4
Others influenced by Jenny who
have concentrated on therapeutic appli-
cations of sound include British natur-
opath Dr Peter Guy Manners and
Robert Monroe, whose pioneering work
has created the Monroe Institute.
Manners suggested that every form
vibrates within its own specific range of
frequencies, which alters when unwell.
As every cell has its own frequency, so
every body has a composite harmonic
frequency as unique as a fingerprint. In

The stress-busting molecule

Although plenty of researchers have proven the stress-reducing abilities of music, few
have explored the physiology of the phenomenon.
Researchers from the Neuroscience Research Institute in New York believe that
nitric-oxide molecules respond to music and sound, and cause the sense of relaxation
and wellbeing.
But the discovery goes way beyond the purely mechanical. Nitric-oxide molecules
help create the auditory system and are an active agent in cochlear (inner ear) blood
flow.
A purely physical description tells us that cochlear nerve fibers enter the brainstem
and are routed through the thalamus to the auditory cortex. It is along this path that
the emotion centers within the limbic system are activated when music is played.
But the essence of what is really going on continues to elude researchers.

6

health, the frequency pattern is steady
and constant, but when dysfunction/
disease upsets the harmony of the body,
an aberrant resonant frequency is gener-
ated. Manners would then transmit the
original, healthy vibration until the sick
tissue or organ started resonating with
it, so restoring itself to health.5
Monroe worked along similar lines
of empathetic frequencies, but to modu-
late brain waves. His work resulted in
the HemiSync, an audio system that
transmits binaural beats influencing
brainwave patterns to improve emotion-
al wellbeing, overcome sleep disorders
and reduce stress.
The Russians had also been working
along similar lines throughout the
1960s, although their work only
appeared in the West in 1983, when Dr
Ross A d e y, chief of research at a
California hospital, took delivery of
one of their wave-emitting machines,
known as Lida. The machine was
designed to alter brain waves to treat
nervousness; sleeplessness, hyperten-
sion and neuroses.6 Adey described the
machine as a distant pulse treatment
apparatus which generates 40-mega-
hertz radio waves.
The machine was issued with a pho-
Sound
tograph of a Lida on a stage in a theatre Therapy
in which the entire audience was asleep, Lesson 1
presumably as a result of the transmis-
sions of the machine.
It all added to the mystique of the
Lida, and as much nonsense as science
was spoken about it at the time. It was
even suggested that the Lida was trans-
mitting waves to the United States to
change the thinking of the typical
American.
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson 2: More scientific
discoveries
1 Gerber R. Interview with Intuitive
Times, Autumn, 2001
2 Sheldrake R. Of Sound Mind and
Body: Music and Vibrational Healing
(Cymatics video), as quoted by Jeff Vo l k
3 Jenny H. Cymatics: A Study of
Wave Phenomena, Macromedia Press,
2001
4 Emoto M. Messages From Wa t e r,
Bantam Books, New York: 2000
5 Manners PG. Cymatics healing by
sound, in The Eclectic Viewpoint, 10
February 2001
6 Associated Press release, 20 May
1983
7
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

8
LIVING THE FIELD
Hearing the sound of health
In the first lesson, we introduced the
subject of sound and harmony, and its
role in healing and the raising of con -
sciousness. We started to look at scien -
tific explorations into the use of sound
and, in particular, the work of Dr Hans
Jenny.
In this lesson, we look more closely
at the use of sound as a healing thera -
py, and the pioneering work of Dr
Alfred Tomatis and of the Maharishi
Vedic Vibration Technology (MVVT).
I
t is extraordinary how many times
the theory of the Field coincides
with many of the worlds ancient
belief systems and religions.
Vedic philosophy, for example,
states that there is an unmanifest field
of intelligence called Atma, which mir-
rors the theory of the Zero Point Field
as an interlinked and intelligent sea of
potential. Vedic philosophy goes on to
tell us that, from Atma, comes the
Natural Law, which underlies and gov-
erns the orderly functioning of the
entire universe, which includes us.
Human physiology is an expression
of the fundamental structures of Natural
Law, explains neuroscientist Professor
Tony Nader. As he puts it, the human
body is a replica of the Veda.
The creative force of the Natural
Law is vibration or sound, an idea that
has echoes in Judaism and Christianity
through the Holy Bible verse: In the
beginning was the Word.
Dr Hans Jenny, whose research
work we looked at in Lesson One, stat-
ed, in a similar vein: . . . sound is the
creative principle. It must be regarded
as primordial. We cannot say, In the
beginning was number, or in the begin-
ning was symmetry. They are not them-
selves the creative power. This power is
inherent in tone, in sound.
Dr Jennys conclusion was antici-
pated in the Veda and other religious
writings. All matter, says the Veda,
including cells, tissues, organs and the
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 2
entire physiology of the body, is based
on the vibrations of Natural Law.
This sympathetic resonance is mir-
rored in the Zero Point Field and in
quantum physics in general. As one of
the basic tenets of quantum physics
states that subatomic matter can behave
either as a wave or a particle, so Brenda
Dunne and Bob Jahn at Princeton
University conjectured that conscious-
ness might also have the same dual
identity. Consciousness, they theorized,
could resonate at the subatomic level
with subatomic matter, and so influence
it.
This suggests that wellness and
health occur when our bodies are in
tune with the creative harmony; con-
versely, disease occurs when we are out
of step with this vibration or pulse. In
quantum physics, we would state that
our bodies, when ill, are no longer
coherent.
If the intention were there, this inco-
herence could be alteredthrough
thought, for example, or by vibration.
Maharishi Vedic Vibration Technology
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, famous for
bringing Transcendental Meditation
(TM) to the West, has used the Vedic
philosophy of Natural Law vibrations to
develop the Maharishi Vedic Vibration
Technology (MVVT), a technique for
improving health.
Practitioners have found that a
vibrational impulse can transform
chaos, or disorder, into order, accord-
ing to the Maharishi Ayurveda Founda-
tion.
From the standpoint of the paradigm
of conventional biology, the technique
seems incomprehensible. The practi-
tioner whispers or mutters to himself
some specific sounds, determined
according to the patients problem, and
administers them by blowing on or
touching the affected area of the body.
The Foundation says the influence
of the sound or vibration permeates the
9
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy body and enlivens its inner intelli-
Lesson 2 gence and self-repair mechanism.
Strange as the technique may seem,
it has been the subject of some scientif-
ic research, which has shown that it can
be a beneficial therapy.
The most thorough assessment was
carried out by David Scharf in 2001. He
followed up the 4722 people who, by
March 2001, had received the treatment
in North America. He found that
patients reported improvements after
two or three sessions and that the
e ffects were cumulative. Overall,
around a third reported less than 25
per cent relief, while 29 per cent
reported between 75 per cent and com-
plete relief from their symptoms.
The most common conditions being
treated among these patients were mus-
culoskeletal disorders and mental prob-
lems. The results were mixed, with a
third of those with musculoskeletal
problems reporting a less than 25 per
cent improvement while 95 of the 366
polled (one-quarter) claimed improve-
ments of up to 100 per cent.
Respiratory problems were the ail-
ments most successfully treated by
MVVT, followed by gynecological dis-
orders and cardiovascular problems.
The least successfully treated were con-
ditions of the eye, and hearing disorders
such as ringing in the ears (tinnitus).
Scharfs findings are at variance
with a smaller study carried out by
Professor Nader, who had looked at the
effects on patients with chronic disor-
ders such as migraine headaches, arthri-
tis, back pain and gastrointestinal pain.
In many cases, the results were
immediate and produced a high degree
of relief of symptoms, he wrote.
The Tomatis Method
Dr Tomatis, a French ear, nose and
throat specialist who died in 2002,
developed an audio therapy system for
improving childrens learning abilities
and for treating their attention-deficit
and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).
This approach is less holistic than
MVVT and is used for very specific
purposes. It does not claim to treat any
and every ailment, nor is it wedded to
any philosophy or religion, even if its
founding principles may seem similar.
Tomatis therapy depends on devel-
oping an ability to actively listenas
opposed to our usual passive hearing
to sound waves and frequencies as they
are subtly being altered and modulated.
Active listening in this way, he dis-
covered, can change and improve our
psychological development, and our
ability to express ourselves and com-
municate with others.
Its also been scientifically tested.
Tim Gilmor carried out a meta-analysis
of five studies, involving 231 children
a l t o g e t h e r, and discovered that the
Tomatis Method significantly improved

The mystery of NO
Most of us associate music with relaxation and reducing stressits a view shared and
confirmed by numerous research studies. The process itself, however, has rarely been
investigated, except by one group of researchers who think they now understand the
chemical process that happens when we listen to our favorite music.1
They have isolated the nitric oxide (NO) molecule as being responsible for that sense
of ease and wellbeing. Its released as we listen and enjoy the music, say scientists at the
Neuroscience Research Institute at New York University but its not just a mechanical
process.
Nitric oxide also helps develop our hearing system and inner-ear blood flow. So as we
listen, we relax, and as we relax, our hearing improves, which helps us listen, which . . .
1 Salamon E et al. Sound Therapy Induced Relaxation. BioSonic Enterprises, 2002

10

linguistic skills, psychomotor skills,
personal and social skills, and cognitive
and auditory skills.1
The Tomatis Center in To r o n t o ,
Canada, has studied the results of the
therapy in more than 400 children and
adolescents. All of them had well-docu-
mented histories of learning problems
and a pattern of underachievement in
various educational tests. As part of the
study, when the parents were asked for
their feedback, 95 per cent of them
said the programme had helped their
children.
The greatest improvement was in
communication abilities, followed by
better attention span and reading com-
prehension.
In a follow-up study carried out six
months later, 83 per cent of the children
were found to have maintained their
level of progress, and some had contin-
ued to improve.2
One study looked at the efficacy
of the Tomatis Method for children
who were severely developmentally
delayed. Thirty children participated,
and were assigned to either the Tomatis
Sound
Method, music stimulation, or no treat- Therapy
ment. Both of the treated groups Lesson 2
showed improvements, but the Tomatis
children were the most stimulated. They
were also more responsive than those in
the music-therapy group according to
tests carried out afterwards.3
In a further study involving six
severely autistic boys, the researchers
discovered that three of the boys
showed positive behavioral changes by
the end of the treatment. One boy was
no longer considered autistic, while two
others displayed only slight symptoms
of autism. The other three remained
within the range of severe autism.4
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson 3: Ancient harmonic scales
1 Int J Listening, 1999; 13: 12
2 Stutt HA. The Tomatis Method: A
Review of Current Research. Montreal:
McGill University, 1983
3 De Bruto CME. First Congress on
Audio-Psychophonology, 1983
4 Roy J. Doctoral dissertation. University
of Ottawa, 1982
11
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

12
LIVING THE FIELD
Powerful sounds from the Ancients
In the first two lessons, we looked at
the science of sound and harmonics,
and the ways it is being applied in our
lives today in areas such as healing.
Now, to put our modern discoveries into
context, we need to go back to ancient
civilizations and review the ways they
used sound.
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 3
Not only is it untranslatable, but also
it is also difficult to convey the correct
way of saying it via the written word.
Roughly, it should sound something like
Ohm-mah-nee-pahd-may-hung,
although Tibetans often pronounce pahd
as peh.
Theres no need to be too much of a
purist over pronunciation. The real point

S
ound was a vital healing and cre- is that it is an incantation. As the Tibetan
ative force for virtually every sage Kalu Rinpoche explained: Through
ancient civilization and culture: its mantra, we no longer cling to the reality
use can be found in the history of the of the speech and sound encountered in
Ancient Greeks, the Chinese, Tibetans, life, but experience it as essentially
Egyptians, American Indians, Mayans empty.
and Aztecs, and throughout the Indian Many of these traditions have contin-
subcontinent. ued on to the modern day, and the mantra
Sound was sometimes used by the remains an important element of
general community. The Chinese routine- Hinduism. Although Westerners have
ly used singing stones, thin, flat pieces been told that mantras are special and
of jade that healers would strike to pro- sometimes personal, they are often inten-
duce different musical tones. Their most tionally meaningless sounds. Their pur-
significant tone was known as kung, pose is to still the mind, a way to allow us
which was considered the great tone of to dissolve into the infinite.
nature and which corresponds in our Special mantras, known as shakti
own musical scale to F or F-sharp. mantras, are used to summon spirits or to
Communities would also use mantras, contact a loved one who has died.
sounds and even singing to raise con- The Om sound is perhaps the single
sciousness. The Sufis regarded the sound best known mantra and is chanted,
Hu as the ultimate creative sound while intoned or spoken as two syllables (mak-
Om (or Aum) and Amen were, and ing an Aaa-Umm sound). Hindu
continue to be, the representative sounds mythology says that the god Shiva creat-
of God, or the creative force. The ed the universe by making the Om
Tibetans believe our F-sharp, A and G sound (see box, page 14), an idea that has
to be the most sacred tones; interestingly, resonance with the Jewish and Christian
the importance they place on F-sharp tradition of The Word being the primal
mirrors the beliefs of the Ancient creative force.
Chinese. The descent of shakti downwards is
The Tibetans most famous mantra is depicted by the Hindu as energy moving
Om mani padme hum, which is sup- from the head, down the spine and to the
posed to attract chenrezig, the embodi- abdomen (the mulhadhara chakra). So, in
ment of compassion. So powerful is this our everyday life, we function at the low-
mantra, the Tibetans believe, that seeing it est level of consciousness.
written has the same beneficial effect as The practice of yoga, and kundalini
intoning it. yoga in particular, is to reverse the energy
Similarly, it can also be used if written flow back up the chakras. Each chakra
within a mani, or prayer, wheel. Although has a different color, which corresponds
it is an untranslatable phrase, the Tibetans to the insights of clairvoyants who see
believe that all the teachings of the changing hues or haloes around bodies.
Buddha are contained within it. The Vedas, the ancient holy scripts of the

13
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy Hindus, tell us that there are seven count them among themalso regarded
Lesson 3 chakras (which means wheel of spinning speech as sacred.
light), all of which are located along the The Greek alphabet is seen by some
spinal column. today as a vast sound system with special,
Each chakra not only has a different meaningful resonance. The idea was
color, but also a different tone. In Western taken up by the 20th century German
musical notation, each chakras tone philosopher Martin Heidegger, who
would be as follows: believed that the words of the Ancient
Greeks had a life or spirit that would
Chakra Color Note unlock the real meaning of existence.
According to Greek esoteric music
Base Red C theory, the elemental tetrachord put pitch-
Sacral Orange D es against vowels, so:
Solar plexus Yellow E
Heart Green F Vowel Pitch
Throat Aqua blue G
Brow Violet A Epsilon A
(Third Eye) Alpha B
Crown White with B Eta C
gold Omega D

The chakra system of energy is similar
to the ancient Chinese meridian points,
used to this day in acupuncture to release
blocked energy, and in the Kaballistic
Tree of Life. Ayurvedic medicine, devel-
oped in India, is based on the religious
beliefs and disciplines of Hinduism.
The Essenes, a Jewish sect believed
to have heavily influenced Jesus, used
sound in their mysticism and healing,
although details of their practices are now
lost.
But it was not only sounds and tones
that were considered sacred. Other
ancient civilizationsand we know
enough about the Ancient Greeks to
Much of this esoteric teaching is now lost
to us, and we must begin again to piece
together the discoveries of the Ancients.
What we have left are the statues and
monuments that taunt us with images of
the importance that sound and music
played in their lives. Sculptures in
Baghdad, dated around 4000 BC, show
musicians playing harps and flutes, while
the Ancient Egyptians used to regularly
put on extraordinary musical feasts
involving 12,000 singers and 600-piece
orchestras.
The Egyptians believed that the pri-
mal creative force was Ik. Ik was
unknowable, and we could only know it

The myth of Shiva

Its worth reiterating the myth of Shiva because it has many similarities to the theory
of the Zero Point Field.
The universe, according to the Hindu myth, was in its first, primal stage an ocean,
and on its surface was supreme consciousness (or chitta). The Om sound (which is
personified as the female aspect of creation, or shakti) caused waves (chittavrittis)
on the surface, and these waves created the first sense of individuality.
From these waves came the vast diversity of form and matter, which appears to be
differentiated, but which has the underlying chitta, or Zero Point Field. Shakti then
descended to the lowest vibrational level of consciousness, which is physical matter.

14

through its reflection Ki. God would com-
pare himself to himself and so create
duality, and from this seeming duality
came the mystical statement As above,
so below.
What is interesting about all of these
methods of intoning and using sound is
intentiona conscious action with an
expected outcome. The human voice and
what we sayand, indeed, the way we
say itcan have a powerful effect, possi-
bly to an extent that we still neither com-
prehend nor appreciate.
As Jonathan Goldman states in his
book Healing Sounds (Element, 1992),
the formula Frequency + Intention =
Healing is an important one to under-
stand. It means that the intention of the
person working with the sound is as
important as the frequency which is being
projected at a person to create resonant
frequency healing.
Sound
He gives an example of its use. Take a Therapy
phrase such as: I really like you and Lesson 3
project different qualities onto it, such as
imagining saying it to a loved one such
as a child or parent. Repeat the exercise
but, this time, imagine saying it to some-
one to whom you are sexually attracted,
and sense the difference. Finally, imagine
saying it to a dreaded enemy, and feel the
difference in energy between that and the
previous two scenarios.
We can learn to use our voices for
positive means or we can create the oppo-
site effect. The human voice seems to be
the most potent creator of sound frequen-
cies that can be coupled with intention,
says Goldman.
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson 4: More on intention plus the
mathematics of sound
15
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

16
LIVING THE FIELD
Living in universal harmony
In the first three lessons, we looked at
the scientific research into the use of
sound and harmony especially as a
healing agent, and at its importance
to some of the worlds religions.
In this lesson, we investigate the
esoteric significance of sound and how
it has been interpreted by mystical
n u m e ro l o g y.
A
ncient cultures, including the
Greeks and Romans, banned the
playing of certain kinds of music
to the very young. They believed that
sounds and music could be detrimental to
health and wellbeing if the listener was
too immature to properly assimilate them.
These seemingly sacred sounds were
passed down through what is called the
bardic tradition. Today, Greek rhap-
sodists, English bards, French trouba-
dours, African girots, Norse skalds and
the Navajo singers may be playing the
kind of healing sounds once banned by
Ancient civilizations.
But what is it about the power of har-
mony that the Ancients seemed to know
and which we have now all but forgotten?
How they came by this knowledge we
may never know, but the basis can be
found in physics and, in particular, in the
new discoveries of the Zero Point Field.
According to the Ancients, there is a
Ray of Creation, with seven levels of
materiality and vibration, and containing
all of existence. At the finest, highest
level, which vibrates the most, is the level
of the Absolute (in our terms, the Zero
Point Field). Below this are levels of
increasing denseness with slower vibra-
tions: the level of all possible systems of
worlds; the level of our Milky Way; the
level of the Sun; the level of the planets;
the level of the planet Earth; and the level
of the Moon. Each level is not discrete,
but permeates and blends with the others
so that even the densest is permeated by
the Absolute.
The seven levels of the Ray of
Creation make the Law of Seven, repre-
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 4
sented musically as an octave: the
Absolute = do; all possible systems of
worlds = ti; the Milky Way = la; the Sun
= sol; the planets = fa; the Earth = mi; the
Moon = re.
Seven was a number of great mystical
importances to the Ancient Greeks. The
esoteric teachings of Hermes Trismegis-
tus (see box, page 18) were based on the
Seven Principles, from which the Greeks
were taught the importance of vibration
and harmony. The seven laws are:
1 The Principle of Mentalism: All is
mind
2 The Principle of Correspondence:
As above, so below
3 The Principle of Vibration: All is in
vibration
4 The Principle of Polarity:
Everything is dual
5 The Principle of Rhythm:
Everything flows
6 The Principle of Cause and Effect:
Everything happens according to
law
7 The Principle of Gender:
Everything has its masculine and
feminine principles.
The Law of Seven has also been
described as the Law of Shock. Shock has
been interpreted as an additional force or
energy that can push all living things
towards the note dothe Absolute. These
shocks, which according to the Ancients
can occur between mi and fa (the Earth
and the planets), and between ti and do
(all possible systems of worlds and the
Absolute), have been interpreted as possi-
ble shifts in evolutionary consciousness
as we strive towards the Absolute. In
musical terms, we seek to complete an
ascending octave through these forces,
which can be harnessed and directed
through physical sound.
The notes that make an octave are
mathematically interrelatedfor ins-
tance, the ratio between the second and
third notes is three to two (3:2), or an
interval called a fifth.
To understand how the Ancients
17
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy developed these mathematical relation-
Lesson 4 ships into a system of healing and trans-
formation, we need to explore their lega-
cy, what is left of the esoteric teachings.
Pythagoras, who lived 600 years before
Christ, is the best-known figure from that
period to experiment with the uses of
sound and harmony. He is believed to be
the first person in the West to develop a
system of correlations between musical
intervals, a discovery he made using a
simple single-stringed instrument called
the monochord.
Study the monochord and you will
know the secrets of the Universe,
Pythagoras is credited with saying. He
certainly believed that the universe was
one immense monochord, with the upper
ends of the string associated with the
Absolute and the lower ends with matter.
There is a harmonic relationship between
all the elements, the planets and the con-
stellations, he believed.
Along with his contemporaries who
studied esoterica, Pythagoras knew that
everything was vibrating (today, we
might say that everything is an energy
field). Resonance, one might say, is the
frequency at which a thing naturally
vibrates.
Every organ and tissue in your body
has a resonance, as do all the planets. Our
brainwaves also resonate: beta waves,
which resonate from 14 to 20 hertz (Hz),
occur during our normal waking state;
alpha waves (813 Hz) appear when we
daydream or meditate; theta waves (47
Hz) are seen in states of deep meditation
and sleep; and delta waves (0.53 Hz) are
produced during deep sleep or in very
profound stages of meditation and heal-
ing.
If we take a planets rotational period,
reduce it to seconds and divide 1 by this
number for the inverse proportion, the
result will be off the audible scale. But as
the lowest C on a piano is related to the
highest and resonates with it, so we can
double the number until it falls into an
audible frequency. By this means, we dis-
cover that the Earth falls into an audible
range that is musically the chord of G.
This music of the spheres, as
Pythagoras called it, was not just a
metaphorit is a physical reality, and
Pythagoras himself even claimed he
could hear the sounds of the planets as
they vibrated in the heavens.
As modern physicists have discov-
ered, even electrons revolving around
atoms are vibrating, and so resonating.
They have also confirmed what Pythag-
oras claimedthat the planets not only
generate different sounds, depending on
their velocity, but are also harmonically
related. Indeed, Russell A. Hulse and
Joseph H. Taylor, Jr received the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1993 for discovering
binary pulsarsstars that send out elec-
tromagnetic waves in pulses.
Sadly, much of Pythagoras esoteric
teachings are lost. Perhaps the closest to

Hermes Trismegistus
This mythical figure represents the embodiment of esoteric teachings from the
Ancient Egyptians to the Greeks, and possibly after. The name means Thrice-Greatest
HermesHermes is the Greek equivalent to the Egyptian god Thoth, lord of wisdom
and learning.
Hermes Trismegistus, most probably a pseudonym under which many mystics of
the time wrote, is credited with having written the Hermetica, 42 books of esoterica,
or the Perennial Philosophy, dated to around the third century BC to the first century
AD.
In essence, they suggest that man is divine, but took on mortal form to communi-
cate with nature.

18
 Sound
it today is the Lambdoma system, or nance of a diseased organ or tissues to Therapy
Pythagorean Table, developed by German one that is back in harmony, so we can Lesson 4
scientist Hans Kayser in the 1920s. Like effect healing.
Pythagoras, Kayser found that the princi- By grasping all of this, we are perhaps
ples of harmonious structure in nature and a little closer to understanding why some
the fundamentals of harmonics are essen- ancient cultures banned the playing of
tially the same. He believed that harmony esoteric music to the very young.
could be a bridge between matter and the Bryan Hubbard
soulthat it was a quality that could Lesson 5: More esoterica
influence both. The ratios of musical har-
monics correspond to the underpinnings
of physics, astronomy, architecture,
botany and other natural sciences, he pos-
tulated.
As Kayser wrote in his book Akroasis
(Plowshare, 1970):
If one projects all tones within the
space of one octave with their angles
sketched in a specific way, one obtains
the prototype of leaf form, which means
that the framing interval of the octave,
being the very basis for any music mak-
ing and sensation, contains within itself
the form of the leaf.
This suggests that all of creation can
be represented as tones. Sound and har-
mony are nothing less than the depiction
of everything that exists. In theory, we
could be God-like creators if only we had
the knowledge of all harmony; as it is, our
understanding only extends as far as
changing and influencing things around
us with the use of resonance.
Musician Steven Halpern, who cre-
ates music and harmonies to enhance
meditative states or relieve anxiety, says
that sound is a carrier wave of con-
sciousness. If you have the intention,
your state can be transmitted by sound to
a recipient who, in turn, will be affected
by what is heard. In other words, the
sound contains information.
Musicologist Jonathan Goldman has
devised the formula: Frequency 1
Intention = Healing. Once we know the
frequency at which to transmit (and our
brain waves give us a major clue) and add
to that the conscious intention to heal,
then the sounds we make (either vocally
or through an instrument) can influence
and alter the harmony in another.
Disharmony can be equated to disease
and, by changing the vibration or reso-
19
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

20
LIVING THE FIELD
All of heaven in a single note
In the previous lesson, we looked at the
esoteric teachings of the ancient cul -
t u res and their use of sound and har-
mony. In this months lesson, we inves -
tigate how mathematics has explained
the patterns of nature, and how they can
be related to music.
I
f we are to be able to heal or trans-
form others and ourselves through
sound or vibration, we must first
establish the interconnection between all
things that can make this process possi-
ble.
In earlier lessons, we have seen how
scientists have tried to demonstrate how
all of life is an energy vibration (other-
wise said to be a harmony). This under-
standing was grasped many centuries
earlier by ancient civilizations that recog-
nized the importance of sound as a trans-
forming agent.
Physicists and mystics have not been
the only ones to demonstrate how the
underlying laws of the universe are har-
monic or vibrational; mathematicians
have also tried to create symbols for the
patterns that constantly appear through-
out nature, and which form the common
ground of all things.
The Fibonacci system is perhaps the
most celebrated example of this attempt.
It was developed in 1202 by a mathema-
tician called Leonardo of Pisawho,
through several torturous mistranslations,
has become known as Fibonacci.
He demonstrated his eponymous
method by describing the way that breed-
ing rabbits in one field would multiply
their numbers, an interesting recreational
mathematical puzzle that happened to
describe how nature manifests itself in
structures such as sunflowers, pineapples,
shells, plants and the like, and also how
music is often constructed. It can be used
to calculate Phi, a ratio that also repre-
sents the economical way in which nature
is created.
To understand how these mathemati-
cal models have developed, we first must
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 5
return to our two rabbitsa male and a
femalewhich have been placed in a
field. Fibonacci asks us to accept a few
ground rules before we can begin: that the
rabbits never die; that the rabbits reach
maturity after a month, at which point
they can breed; and that, when they breed,
they always produce another pair (male
and female) of rabbits. With these rules in
mind, the question Fibonacci set himself
was: how many pairs of rabbits will there
be in the field at the end of one year?
At the end of the first month, the orig-
inal rabbits mate, but there is still only
one pair. By the end of the second month,
the female produces a new pair, so now
there are two pairs of rabbits. At the end
of the third month, the original female
rabbit produces a second pair, now mak-
ing three pairs in the field. At the end of
the fourth month, the original female pro-
duces yet another pair, but the female
born two months ago produces her first
pair, which results in five pairs of rabbits
in the field.
As a sequence of numbers, this reads:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5 and, if we continue the pat-
tern, it would go on to read: 8, 13, 21, 34,
55, 89 and 144, because to get to the next
number in the sequence, you must add
together the previous two. So Fibonacci
finally gets to his answerthere will be
144 rabbits in the field by the end of 12
months. (The next number would be 233,
the sum of adding 144 and 89.)
This series of numbers is repeated
throughout nature. In botany, for exam-
ple, the lily and iris have three petals
whereas buttercups, wild roses, larkspur
and columbine have five petals; delphini-
ums have eight petals; ragwort, corn
marigold and cineraria have 13 petals;
aster, black-eyed susan and chicory have
21 petals; plantain and pyrethrum have 34
petals; and the daisy has 55 or 89 petals
all Fibonaccian numbers!
The Fibonacci number sequence also
calculates the golden ratio, or Golden
Mean, of Phi by dividing a Fibonaccian
number with the one before it. So, if we
21
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy divide 233 by 144, the two highest num-
Lesson 5 bers in the sequence calculated here, we
arrive at 1.6180555. But, as we go on still
further, the ratio becomes more and more
exact until we finally reach the golden
ratio of 1.618034 (when 2584 is divided
by 1597), or 0.618034 (when 1597 is
divided by 2584).
Phi can be used to explain the way
nature is arrangedfor example, leaves,
seeds and petals are all placed at
0.618034 per 360-degree turn, which is
222.492 degrees. This packing of leaves
ensures that each leaf has the best possi-
ble area exposed to light while casting the
least amount of shadow on the others. It
also gives the leaf the best exposure to
rain and allows the raindrop to fall
towards the stem.
So, there is a connection between the
Fibonacci sequence and Phi which,
between them, are representations of the
way nature is organized. But what has
Fibonacci got to do with music?
On a piano keyboard, youll see that
13 notes, or keys (eight white and five
black keys, split into groups of two and
three), separate each octave. Of these, the
first, third and fifth notes create the foun-
dation of all chords in the diatonic scale.
Diatonic scales are eight tones, and pen-
tatonic scales are five tones.
Thirteen, 1, 3, 5, 8all of these are
Fibonaccian numbers. But it goes even
further: all musical frequencies are based
on Fibonacci ratios (see box below).
Fibonaccian and Phi measurements
are found throughout music. The climax
of songs is often found at roughly the
Phi pointat 61.8 per cent of the way
through a melodywhen the end might
be thought to be the more logical place
for it.
So, in a 32-bar song, the climax
occurs in the 20th bar. Similarly, the
Golden Section, or Phi point, was often
the moment of dramatic change in many
of Mozarts compositions, especially his
sonatas. Likewise, Beethoven conscious-
ly or unconsciously repeated the famous
opening bars of his Symphony No. 5 at
exactly the Golden-Mean point0.618
parts of the way through the work (bar
372). Similar examples can be found in
the works of Bach and Debussy.
But was this by accident or design?
Is it possible that these composers con-
sciously worked out the Fibonaccian
intervals in every case? We know from
contemporary diaries that Mozart took a

Musical frequencies and Fibonacci

Fibonacci ratio Fr e q u e n c y Note

1/1 440 A
2/1 880 A
2/3 293.33 D
2/5 176 F
3/2 660 E
3/5 264 C
3/8 165 E
5/2 1100 C sharp
5/3 733.33 F sharp
5/8 275 C sharp
8/3 1173.33 D
8/5 704 F

22

keen interest in mathematics, and its true
that Hungarian composer Bartok often
used it by design. In his Music for Strings,
Percussion and Celeste, you can mark off
the Fibonacci moments that herald a
change of key, instrumentation or tempo.
Its little wonder that music has some-
times been described as audible mathe-
matics, but it is debatable whether or not
it has been a conscious process in all
cases. It is just as likely that the sequence
describes a pattern of which we have an
inherent understanding.
This argument is supported by exam-
ples from other cultures. Some commen-
tators have found similar patterns in
Indonesian music, as one example, and
especially that written for the gamelan, a
percussion instrument. As one listener
noted, each layer of the music consists of
instruments of a certain pitch range, play-
ing at a certain tempo. The highest-
pitched instruments play the fastest, the
next-highest play half as fast (every other
beat), the next layer half again as fast
all the way down to the low gongs that
strike only once every 16 or 32 beats.
This suggests that the sequence is, in
fact, no more than a numerical represen-
tation of some natural order of which we
are a part, and so we find a piece of music
beautiful because its harmonies observe
this universal pattern that we are able to
recognize because there is no division
between the process of nature and our-
selves.
Sound
Its worth adding that the Fibonacci Therapy
sequence has also been applied to art, Lesson 5
poetry and architecture which, again, we
can regard as beautiful without really
knowing why we believe it to be so. As
Dr Kevin Jones of Kingston University
said in his essay Self-Similar Syncopa-
tions (Oxford University Press, 1999):
It is almost as if the brain is hard-
wired to match or harmonies with these
patterns in nature, and that the minds
aesthetic responses will naturally be
pulled towards these attractive patterns.
The trick is to disassociate ourselves
from the symbols as representations of
reality and see beyond them to the secrets
they reveal. Just as writers confuse the
describing word for the thing in itself, so
mathematicians identify with the symbols
with which they work. Be they musical
notes, numbers or mathematical ratios,
they all point to the same underlying
truth: everything is related, everything is
connected.
Now that we have established this
connectedness, we can indeed use sound
and harmony to influence a harmonious
universe as well as ourselves and others.
In the next lesson, we will begin
exploring how we can harness this power
for change.
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson Six: Starting sound therapy
23
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

24
LIVING THE FIELD
Chanting your way to health
The first five lessons explored the sci -
ence, esoterica and mathematics of the
association between sound, harmonics
and healing. In this lesson, we take our
first steps from the theoretical to the
practical. Here s how to pre p a re to use
harmony as a healing agent both for
ourselves and for others.
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 6
Europe compared with that used in the
United States, for instance.
As healing with sound involves chant-
ing, it is also important to understand the
role of overtones. When we say that we
hear a C when a string is vibrating at 256
Hz, we are saying that the principal or
fundamental note is C. In fact, many
other notes are sounding at the same

Y
ou dont need to know how to moment, though these are more in the
play a musical instrument to use background.
sound as a healing agent. Instead, These lesser vibrations are known as
you can use your voice to sing and overtones, and they add to the color or
chantand you dont even have to any timbre of the overall sound we hear. If we
singing talent to do this. The first practi- were to hear only a C, it would be a very
cal lesson, on breathwork, is featured in stark sound indeed.
the box on the right. Overtones occur when a musical
A grasp of the basics of sound and instrument is played and they can also
notation should assist you. Sound is an be heard in the human voice. In fact, it is
expression of vibrating energ y. It is the overtones that make our own voices
measured in waves, which are broken sound unique and identifiable.
down into individual units known as Overtones are mathematically related
hertz (Hz). Each hertz represents the to the fundamental note. Thus, the pri-
number of cycles per second created by mary or fundamental note of C vibrates
this energy, although we more commonly at 256 Hz, and its first overtone vibrates
describe this as frequency or pitch. at twice this speed (2:1), or 512 Hz,
So, for example, a string that vibrates which in turn creates a note known as
one hundred times a second creates a the interval of an octave of the fundamen-
sound that can be described as 100 Hz. tal, which also happens to be C. The
On a piano, the lowest note vibrates at second overtone vibrates at three times
27.5 Hz and the highest at 4186 Hzso the fundamental speed (3:1), or 768 Hz,
the faster the vibration, the higher the which is the note G. This pattern ripples
pitch. out to infinity, at least theoretically.
D i fferent frequencies make up the But as far as the human ear is con-
notes of the musical scale used in the cerned, the overtones we hear when we
West today. A frequency of 256 Hz hit a C on a piano comprise 15 other
creates a note with a pitch that we call notes. The 15th overtone, vibrating at 16
Cor do in the Solfege system (do, re, times the speed of the fundamental
mi, fa, so, la, ti, do). On a piano, the note (16:1), creates yet another C that is four
called D vibrates at 293 Hz, E at 330 Hz, octaves above the C that was struck on
F at 349 Hz, G at 392 Hz, A at 410 Hz, B the piano.
at 494 Hz and the next C at 512 Hz (twice As we now know, all harmonics and
that of the previous C). overtones are mathematically interrelated
These are only approximations, how- (see Living The Field Lesson Five). The
ever, and they vary from instrument to second and third overtones have a ratio of
instrument. Tuning a violin allows for 3:2, which is musically known as a fifth.
much wider variation of each note, with This scienceor mathematicsof
C falling within the range of 251264 Hz. overtones has not been developed in the
Even on a piano, the pitch can vary; the West to the extent it has been in India,
concert pitch for the piano is different in where thousands of individual ragas, or

25
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy scales, have been designed, each with a
Lesson 6 specific effect on the emotions.
Overtone chanting is still practiced
by many traditional peoples, including
the Mongolians, the Australian Aborig-
ines and the North American Indians. It
has been most finely developed in the
Tuvic area of Mongolia where solo over-
tone chanting is called hoomi or throat
singing. The chanters have developed a
way to sing two pitches at the same time:
one constant nasal pitch is the fundamen-
tal, while the other pitch, a whistle-like
tone, forms a melody line between the
fifth and 13th overtones. A skilled hoomi
chanter can generate frequencies of up to
10,120 Hz, a sound that is nearly super-
sonic.
Jonathan Goldman, a sound therapist,
believes the Mongolians used these
strange sounds for healing and that the
technique was developed from the
shamans, or esoteric teachers, in the
region.1
The Aborigines of Australia also use
overtones in their sacred ceremonies, but
instead of using the human voice, they
use a didgeridoo, a hollowed-out tree
trunk which, when blown, sounds similar
to the One Voice Chord of the Tibetan
monks.
Although the didgeridoo is a simple
enough instrument to play, the player has
to develop the technique of circular
breathing to maintain the sound. This
involves breathing in through the nose
while breathing out through the mouth at
the same time, a very difficult skill that
has also been perfected in Tibet.
The story of the didgeridoo is associ-
ated with the Aborginal concept of the
dreamtime, when the earth was inhabit-

Preparing for breath work

All singing and chanting relies on proper breath work. Although we are breathing for
every living moment, few of us do it properly.
As it is the basic food of life, it seems sensible to fill the lungs with oxygen with
every breath we take. But we dont, of course; most of us take frequent, shallow and
unsatisfying gulps of air, a form of breathing that will not allow us to perform healing
sounds.
For chanting, we need to be able to produce long notes that are controlled from the
abdomen. This cant be achieved if we are gasping for air halfway through.
The key to good, deep breathing is the use of the diaphragm muscle that sits below
the lungs, but this muscle works properly only when it is fully relaxed. So, before we
begin deep breathing, we must learn how to consciously relax the muscles of the
abdomen. James dAngelo, a teacher of therapeutic sound techniques, suggests we
place our hands across the abdomen to act as a monitor. Because relaxation doesnt
always come naturally, he suggests we can help the process by pushing out the belly
so that it protrudes, but without straining. Then slowly, contract the abdominal mus-
cles as though you want the front wall of your belly to pass through your back.1 This
should be repeated once every 15 seconds or so, without undue exertion or strain.
Do this exercise for around three minutes, and before you begin the actual breath-
work.
Another relaxation technique, this time for the throat, is to induce a yawn. Open the
mouth very wide and make a breathy AHHH sound. To add to the effect, you can also
stretch out your arms as you sometimes might when you yawn as you wake up.
Do this exercise vigorously for around two minutes.
1 DAngelo J. Healing With the Voice. London: Thorsons, 2000

26

ed by a race of supernatural beings called
the Wandjina. The Wandjina left the
Aborigines the didgeridoo as a gift.
When it was sounded, they told the first
Aborigines, it would create a sonic field,
or interdimensional window, through
which the Wandjina could travel to meet
the Aborigines, and vice versa.
The Aborigines also use the didgeri-
doo for healing. As the sick person lies in
the floor, the shaman blows the didgeri-
doo over the diseased area.
The healing power of overtones is
known to the North American Indians,
who sometimes use vowel sounds that are
part of a tribal tradition, although they
will extemporize if it seems appropriate
in the moment.
As Jonathan Goldman wrote after
attending a medicine ceremony of the
Sound
Huitchol tribe: Therapy
From a physiological viewpoint, Lesson 6
vocal harmonics create changes in the
heartbeat, respiration, and brainwaves of
the reciter, altering consciousness and
allowing the shaman to be in a state
where they are receptive to spirit jour-
neys. Perhaps different portions of the
brain are also resonated and activated by
these sounds, releasing different hor-
mones and neurochemicals that facilitate
an altered state.1
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson Seven: the breathwork begins
1 Goldman J. Healing Sounds. Vermont:
Healing Arts Press, 2002
27
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

28
LIVING THE FIELD
In the beginning is the breath
In the previous lesson, we learned that
all singing and chanting begins with
p roper breathing. But you have to be
relaxed before you can breathe proper -
ly, and the lesson suggested a few sim -
ple relaxation techniques. Having
applied these, we are now ready to
begin breathwork pro p e r.
G
ood breathwork begins with good
posture. Before you begin chant-
ing, you need to feel well bal-
anced and have the sense that you are
deeply rooted to the floor. Standing with
your feet apart, the knees relaxed, and
putting your hands on the abdomen can
achieve this. Your eyes should be closed,
and your head straight.
Relax the throat, keeping the tongue
lying at the bottom of the mouth. You
may need to run through a relaxation
exercise before starting. Extend your
belly, as explained in the previous lesson,
as fully as you can. You are now ready to
take your first in-breath.
Music therapist James DAngelo
describes this first breath in his book
Healing with the Voice (Thorsons, 2000).
Imagine that you have a very large glass
of air with a straw in it. This straw is
very long and it extends from the glass,
past your lips and all the way down into
the protruded belly. Your lips will have a
small aperture shaped to make the sound
of OOO (as in FOOD). Now, begin gently
sipping in the air with a continuous light
suction action.
Visualize that you are first gradually
filling up and expanding your belly with
air, layer by layer, as though you are a
kind of balloon. During this in-breath, the
only muscles engaged are those needed to
keep the belly expanded and those that
allow the air to be sucked in. The limit to
the in-breath is determined simply by the
sense that you feel a fullness without
engaging the muscles of the neck, chest
or shoulders. If you begin to constrict in
these areas, then that is a signal to stop the
intake.
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 7
The out-breath should be carried out
with the same relaxed approach. Keep
the mouth shape the same, as though
sucking a straw, and slowly contract the
abdominal muscles so that a steady
stream of air is breathed out. Your hands
on your abdomen should be able to feel
the contraction, but should not push on
the area. As you develop the technique,
the flow of out-breath should last 2030
seconds. If youre keen to start chanting
straightaway, you can make the sound of
WHO (HUU in the Sufi tradition) on the
slow out-breath, or add a TH to that by
curling your tongue, and keeping it
behind your upper teeth.
Once you feel comfortable with this
breathing techniqueand it will take a
few sessions before you doyou can
begin a continuous cycle of in-/out-
breaths without returning to normal
breathing.
The vowels
Vowel sounds are universal and form the
basis of many ancient sounds, chants and
mantras. Many of these are so basic that
they dont need the tongue to make more
complex sounds. As you begin chanting,
you will discover the power of these
sounds to effect change and help with the
healing process.
All of the following sounds are very
easy to make, as you only need to change
the shape of your mouth each time.
AH: One of the basic sounds of the
universe, according to most religions and
myths. This sound is associated with the
heart, and is part of the Hindu OM or
God in its Sanskrit form of AUM. It is
also part of the Christian AH-MEN.
AW: This sound, found in the word
SOUGHT, is linked to the solar plexus
and can help unlock blockages there.
AY: This is the ending of HEY and
SAY, and is associated with the throat
area.
EEE: This has the highest rate of
vibration or frequency and is associated
with the head; its the fast track to deep
29
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy alpha states. But be warneduse it only
Lesson 7 with an open and loving heart, or your
intentions may have a rebound effect.
EH: Its the middle part of the word
SAID, a sound felt in the throat. As the
AH sound is associated with the heart,
so the EH vowel is its counterbalance in
the head.
EYE: This mighty sound can stimu-
late the third eye or brow chakra. Again,
only use this with care and an open heart.
OH: Sounded with a round mouth and
relaxed tongue, its a companion sound to
the omnipotent AH. This is the sound of
potential, and a celebration of all that you
might, and can, be.
OOO: The sound of the middle part
of FOOD, this is the sound of sexuality
and sensuality. To the Sufis, HOOO is
one of the sacred names of God.
The consonants
C and K: To the Dervishes, the KUM
sound is a spiritual wake-up call. The
Mayans also used the K sound in their
chant KIN, which acknowledged the
one creator.
H: As this sound is the closest to the
sound of our breath, it is also the most
spiritually meaningful of the consonants.
In Tantric Yoga, the H sound is connected
to the throat. It can be used to recreate our
sense of unity when we feel isolated or
separated from the universe.
L: To the Mayans, the word LIL,
which was often reduced to L, meant
cosmic vibration. They often put in
front of it the sound O, whichas OL
represents awakened consciousness in
the form of vibration, which neatly
explains what were trying to achieve
with these lessons. We are only now
beginning to understand the significance
that sound had to the Mayansmany
of their temple sites were built to create
the best acoustics. Tantric Yoga takes a
similar view and uses the L vibration to
stimulate the root chakra, which is linked
to the Earth and is the point from where
our fundamental energy emanates. Of
course, the L sound is very significant to
the Muslims as it forms the central part of
their word ALLAH, or God. It is also
important to the Christian faith, as can be
seen from its use in Alleluia.
R: The Hindus associate the R sound
with what they call Rajas, which sets an
act in motion. In Tantric Yoga, the RAM

The universes deepest note

As you begin to use sound as a therapy, its good to be reminded once in a while of
the harmonic nature of the universe. Far from being merely a theory put forward by the
Ancients, it is a matter of scientific fact, as astronomers have recently confirmed.
They have discovered that a black hole, located 250 million light-years away from
earth in the Perseus cluster of galaxies, is emitting the lowest note so far detected in
space. And, if youre interested, its B-flat!
The note is far too low to be heard, as it is being transmitted 57 octaves lower than
middle C, at a frequency that is a million, billion times lower than the limits of human
hearing.
The astronomers realized that the black hole was making a sound because of the
ripples that were passing through the hot gas clouds in the Perseus galaxy. These
ripples were the result of sound waves, the astronomers discovered. From this,
astronomers at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, England, now believe that
sound waves may well cause the growth of galaxy clusters, the largest structures in
the universe.
If that is true, the B-flat pitch in the Perseus galaxy cluster will have remained
constant for some 2.5 billion years.

30

sound is associated with the solar plexus.
Its associated with heat and activity (RA
was the name of the Egyptian Sun God).
M: If youre happy, this is the conso-
nant for you to hum. Its linked to the
feminine energy (hence mama and
mother). Its also a sound found at the
end of many sacred words, such as OM
and Amen. Made with a closed mouth, its
a sound that vibrates in the head and helps
us develop our consciousness.
S: This sound represents the life force.
It can enliven, inspire, purify and nurture
intuition. Its linked to the mental plane
and, in turn, the minds connection to the
senses. It sounds like a snake, the figura-
Sound
tive image of the kundalini or energy Therapy
force. Lesson 7
Y: This is a consonant associated with
the heart region. It is about unity, a bring-
ing together of seeming opposites. In the
Chinese tradition, this is represented by
the two Ysthe Yin and the Yang.
V: This is another consonant that rep-
resents energyoften sexual energy. In
Tantric Yoga, the sound VAM relates to
the sacral chakra, the seat of sexual ener-
gy.
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson Eight: starting to tone
and chant
31
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

32
LIVING THE FIELD
Chanting the tonal prayer
Youve learned how to breathe and con -
trol the breath. In the previous lesson,
we also looked at the significance of the
different vowel sounds, and how they
can be used to help achieve spiritual
p ro g ress and to help the healing
p rocess. Now, we are ready to explore
toning and chanting.
C
hanting is a form of meditation,
and so should be approached in
a similar way. This means find-
ing a place in your home (or elsewhere)
where you feel at ease and, if you are a
self-conscious beginner, somewhere far
enough away so that others cannot hear.
Ideally the room or place you choose
should be free of clutter so you can fill
it with your own healthgiving sounds. It
should also be a warm and quiet place.
Wear comfortable clothing that is
not tight or restricting; your diaphragm
plays an important part so its important
that it is free to expand.
If you are already a regular media-
tor, your chanting should ideally be car-
ried out at the same time and, indeed,
can be incorporated into your current
meditation. For some, this could be
before breakfast, while others might
prefer early evening and before eating.
As youll be making some strange
sounds, you might instead prefer to do
it when the house is empty! Early morn-
ing is generally considered to be the
optimal time as, then, the benefits of
chanting and meditating can stay with
you throughout your day.
Finally, try to allow 25 minutes for
each session. This includes around 10
minutes of silence, which is as enrich-
ing and important as the 15 minutes of
chanting. Indeed, the chanting can be
used as a mantra as part of the silence of
the meditation.
Unlike meditation, though, chanting
should be done while standing. Its
important to feel grounded, so slight-
ly bend the knees with your feet apart.
Your arms should be relaxed and hang
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 8
loosely at your sides. If you have a
physical problem with standing for any
length of time, you can sit, but its
important not to slouchyou have to
keep your back straight.
As always, when starting to chant,
begin with some breath work. A s
explained in Lesson Six, this involves
relaxing the abdomen, and this can be
achieved by pushing out the belly and
slowly contracting the abdominal mus-
cles. A relaxed abdomen will facilitate
good, deep breathing.
Yawning is another exercise you can
use in preparation. Open the mouth
wide and make a breathy AHH sound.
These simple exercises should take up
only five minutes at the most, but
should leave you feeling relaxed,
revived and ready to begin chanting.
Chanting isnt music so there is
nothing written down that instructs you
to tone on a particular note or notes.
From your own point of view and
enjoyment, it makes sense that you
chant at your fundamental tone, as it
is called. This is a note that is neither
too high nor too low for you to sustain
comfortably.
Much has been made of establishing
your fundamental tone, but it is a rela-
tively simple matter of common sense,
and your own tone can be soon found,
and with the minimum of experimenta-
tion. However, purists reckon it can
take around two weeks of subtle exper-
imenting before your very own tone
reveals itself. This should not stop you
chanting, however.
If youve never had singing or music
lessonsand there happens to be a key-
board handy in the houseyou can
determine your vocal range. To begin,
women should hit a white key near to
middle C while men need to start at the
C below middle C (the seventh white
key to the left of middle C). Once
youve found the note that is the closest
to your own midrange, start matching
the white and black keys in succession
33
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy above and below that. On average, your
Lesson 8 range will probably cover up to 12 of
the white notes, although eight is suff i-
cient for chanting.
Its a good idea to try to audibly
visualize the tones before you start
chanting them; in other words, first
hear the tones in your head. As part of
the exercise, visualize where in your
body you would like the sounds to be
located. It might be a place where there
is pain or disease; it might just be an
area, such as your stomach or head,
which you are more conscious of.
The sound you then decide to make
is up to you. To better understand the
e ffect you are trying to make, study the
Sound column in Living the Field
Lesson Seven, which presents a good
overview of the vowels and consonants,
and their significance.
Whichever sound you choose; chant
it with an emotional purpose and intent.
Mean it. Its like a tonal prayer, so the
desire to harness the healing power of
the sound is paramount. As Keats said
of good poetry, the sound should be
unforced, natural and easy. Theres no
need to strain, but try to make the
fullest sound you canbut remember
to stay relaxed.
Again, the length of the note is not
as important as its intensity. Its not a
competition in holding the longest note,
but the note you produce should never-
theless be as long as you can possibly
make it without strainingand you
s h o u l d n t be gasping for the next
breath.
How to be a laughing Buddha
While the vowel and consonant sounds
reviewed in Lesson Seven have a deep
and meaningful resonance, you can also
use more natural sounds, such as sigh-
ing and groaning, which can have a
very therapeutic effect if you want to
release pent-up emotion.
But you can also celebrate your hap-
piness, especially through the natural
sounds of laughter. The therapeutic
power of laughter has been well docu-
34
mented, and some medical practitioners
recognize the power of laughter to kick-
start our dormant immune systems. The
key sound of laughter begins with the
letter H, which is the beginning of all
laughter.
As with any chanting exercise,
begin with a grounded postureknees
bent, feet apartbut instead of the
usual breathing exercises, breath in
deeply and make a rapid HUH-HUH-
HUH sound on the out-breath. Youll
notice that your abdominal muscles
tighten with each HUH sound you
make. Begin the exercise again until
you begin to feel lightheaded, a sure
sign to stop.
Youre now ready to begin the
laughing chant. There are five basic
laughing sounds, each relating to a dif-
ferent area of your body. The HUH
sound, used as part of the breathing
exercise, relates to the groin and lumbar
regions. The HO sound is a Santa
Claus-like laugh and so, not surprising-
ly, relates to the belly. The HAH sound,
the warmest of the laughing chants, res-
onates with the heart, while the HEH
chant is associated with the throat.
Finally, the HEEEH sound gives a sud-
den high-energy jolt, and is linked to
the brain.
With all of these sounds, keep the
mouth wide open. And, like all good
l a u g h t e r, you shouldnt hold back.
Sometimes your chanting may spark
real laughter and giggling, a sure sign
that its working.
Unlike when chanting vowels,
restrict your laughing chants to three
minutes or so each time, and take at
least a minutes break between each
exercise.
While laughter may be the best
feel-good sound there is, there are
other natural sounds we make that are
just as significant, depending on our
emotional state.
You can, for example, emulate the
groaning sound by making the AW
chant, which is close to the way you
would say awe. When making this
 Sound
sound, bend your body forwards slight- moves down, so ideally the hands Therapy
ly while keeping your clenched fists should meet as your breath runs out, Lesson 8
over the abdomen. Hold the fists in although you will probably have to do
place for 30 seconds after the sound has this exercise several times before the
ended. synchronicity between body and breath
The repetition of the sound depends is achieved.
on your own emotional state, but you Bryan Hubbard
should do no more than 10, at the end Lesson Eight: Group chanting and
of which you should feel a great mantras
release. Finish with silent meditation to
get the full impact of the extraordinary Further reading: DAngelo J. Healing
sounds you have just made. With the Voice. London: Thorsons, 2000
Then there is the wailing noise, rep-
resented by the EEE sound. Done with
passion, this exercise can be cathartic
and can help release sadness. But, par-
adoxically, it also offers a quick energ y
fix, as its a sound with a high frequen-
cy.
For added impact, you can put a K
in front of the EEE, so making a sound
close to the Irish word keen, which
means wail.
The wailing chant has a diff e r e n t
set of rules. Instead of adopting the
standard stance, place your right foot
in front of your left, with the right foot
pointing forward and the left foot
pointing left, as if you were adopting a
fencing stance. The hands and arms
also play a more active role. To begin,
lift your right arm upwards with the
hand cupped, as though expecting a
gift from above. The palm of your left
hand should also be cupped upwards,
but the arm should be bent and held
close to the waist.
As you start the wailing chant,
slowly move your right arm back
towards your body, slowly closing the
hand into a fist. As it approaches the
left hand, open it slowly so that, by the
time the two hands meet, the right
hand is again cupped. As the right hand

35
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

36
LIVING THE FIELD
Singing along with the chakras
The previous lesson looked at the power
of the mantra. This lesson concentrates
on the chakras, how to awaken them,
and how to use toning and overtoning.
T
he idea of the chakras comes to
us mainly from the Hindu and
Tibetan belief systems. T h e
word c h a k r a means wheel i n
Sanskrit. A chakra is supposed to be a
vortex of whirling energ y, and usually
refers to each of seven energy centers in
our bodies situated in a line from the
bottom of the spine to the crown of the
head.
Each is a receptor, mediator and dis-
tributor of subtle energy in our auric or
b i o e n e rgetic field that, in turn, charg e s
the atoms of our physical bodiesor so
the theory goes.
Even an avowed skeptic must con-
cede that our bodies do appear to have
an energy field that is not measurable
with any standard equipment. Seers
regularly witness auras around us, and
theres even an organization created by
doctors, scientists and alternative prac-
titioners who want to work with the
b o d y s subtle energy. In 1939,
Russian engineer Semyon Kirlian dis-
covered that photographic plates
exposed to high-frequency electrical
fields could capture a strange light or
aura around a finger or hand placed on
the plate.
More recently, Dr Hiroshi Moto-
yama, a Japanese scientist as well as
yogi, philosopher and Shinto priest, has
developed sensitive photoelectric
equipment to measure the subtle body,
including acupuncture points and
chakras.
The chakras are said to regulate our
endocrine glands. And, as with the
endocrine system, chakras can be put
out of balance or become blocked due
to stress, negative feelings, bad diet or
poor lifestyle.
Meditation and nutritional changes
can energize chakras, it would seem, in
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 10
the same way that stress and poor diet
can deplete them. But there is more we
can do. In earlier lessons, we learned
that sound is also an energy which, in
turn, can influence our bodys subtle-
energy field. If this is true, it would
follow that the resonance of the chanti-
ng voice could change the vibrational
rates of the different chakra wheels.
This is supported by the experiences of
chanters who have said that, after an
e ffective session, they have felt the
shifting of blockages in the chakras.
There are several schools of thought
about appropriate toning to achieve a
shift in the chakras. Therapeutic sound
practitioner James DAngelo says there
is no single definitive system of vocal
toning for the chakrasthat is, no sys-
tem of particular frequencies in combi-
nation with the consonant/vowel sounds
that guarantees success.
But theres more helpful advice on
o ffer from Jonathan Goldman, an
acknowledged expert in sound therapy.
He has studied the chakras for many
years. But rather than seeing the solu-
tions as hit-or-miss, he was finding that
everything was working. I could not
understand how different sounds and
frequencies could seemingly have the
same effect, he saysand on diff e r e n t
chakras, too, he might have added.
The answer he discovered brings in
another element of the Living The Field
courseintention. The intention of the
chanter, he found, was sufficient for the
chakra to resonate to the tones. So,
apparently, every chant worked because
the chanter wanted it to.
And the process appears to form a
virtuous circle. Goldman found that, as
chanting opened a chakra, the chanter
became more conscious and spiritually
transformed. Thus, the chanters inten-
tion became more focused and eff e c-
tive.
This is because of the release of
energy that Hindus call the kundalini,
said to sleep in the Root or Base chakra.
37
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy As this energy is stimulated, it moves
Lesson 10 up the spine to the next chakra, and so
on, until it reaches the crown, at which
point the person is thought to be fully
awakened or realized.
Even though any tone can work,
provided the intention is there, Gold-
man has found that working with the
vowel sounds is particularly eff e c t i v e .
Perhaps this is as much a reflection of
our different cultures, he says, as peo-
ple in the West, for example, might
have problems enunciating some of the
Sanskrit or Tibetan mantras, or a devout
Christian might feel uncomfortable
chanting something of significance to
another faith. But he believes there is a
physical reason, too. From his experi-
ence, he has found that vowel sounds
create a resonance in the body (as we
have seen from previous lessons), and
this is a concept more easily understood
and accepted by those who may be too
skeptical to recognize the existence of a
s u b t l e - e n e rgy field within our bodies.
E x e rcise: Reviving the chakras
Using vowel sounds, Goldman has
developed his own system of reviving
the chakras and kundalini energ y.
Throughout the exercise, it is important
to focus your intention on the part of
the body, or chakra, that you wish to
work on.
Before beginning, make yourself
comfortable either on the floor or
in a chair. Keep your back straight
The seven major chakras
Chakra Position Glands
Root Anus Adrenals
Sacral Navel Gonads
Solar plexus Sternum Pa n c r e a s
Heart Heart Thymus
Throat Neck Thyroid
Brow Eyes Pituitary
Crown Head Pineal
38
throughout. Cup your hands in your
lap, or place them palms down on
your knees or on the area of the
body on which your intention is
focused. This last position may help
to make your vowel sounds resonate
better. Use one complete breath for
each vowel sound. The sound will
resonate in your throat, but be aware
of anywhere else it resonates. Then,
focus your attention on the area in
your body where the chakra is locat-
ed.
Begin at the Root or Base chakra
with the vowel sound UH (as in the
word huh), using the deepest
sound you can make. Focus your
attention on the base chakra, located
at the very bottom of your spine. If
you like to use visualization, imag-
ine the color red. The sound need
not be loud; it can be soft and gen-
tle. Close your eyes while you make
it.
Work on each chakra for a minute or
twoup to five minutes on each.
Now turn your attention to the sec-
ond chakra, the Sacral chakra,
which lies a few inches below the
navel. It responds to the OO sound
(as in you), chanted on a slightly
higher note than for the Root chakra.
Visualize the color orange.
Move up to the Navel or Solar
Plexus chakra, located an inch or
so above the navel. Employ the OH
sound (as in the word go) at a
Quality
Security
Sex, creativity
Willpower
Compassion
Communication
Insight, clarity
Higher consciousness

slightly higher pitch than that used
for the Sacral. Visualize yellow to
complement your chanting.
The Heart chakra takes the sound
AH (as in father), and again at a
slightly higher pitch than the one
before. Visualize the color green.
For the next chakra, the T h r o a t
chakra, use the sound EYE (as in
I), again at a slightly higher pitch
than previously. Imagine the color
blue (sky blue or turquoise).
The Brow chakra, or Third Eye,
requires the AYE sound (as in
say), visualizing the color indigo.
Finally, the Crown chakra, requires
a high-pitched EE sound (as in
me). For men in particular, this
may be difficult, but it should be
achieved without strain. Sound it
gently while imagining the color
purple.
The entire exercise should take between
15 and 20 minutes, at the end of which
you may feel lightheaded. Goldman
suggests that you enjoy this feeling,
and continue meditating.
This can be a potent exercise. You
are, after all, pushing energy up your
Chakra colors and sounds
Chakra Sound
Root UH
Sacral OO
Solar plexus OH
Heart AH
Throat EYE
Brow AYE
Crown EE
Sound
body and into the top of your head. If Therapy
you want to ground the energy firmly Lesson 10
back into your body, intone the UH
sound again with the deepest note you
can reach.
Goldmans approach is well docu-
mented, and has been practiced for
some 20 years or so.
Ultimately, no approach is right or
wrong; just try to find what feels com-
fortable for you. Whichever tones you
chant, you may notice other sounds you
are making at the same time. These are
the harmonics, which we will investi-
gate in our next lesson.
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson Eleven: Vocal harmonics
and how to use them
Further re a d i n g
Goldman J. Healing Sounds. Healing
Arts Press, 1992
DAngelo J. Healing With The Voice.
Thorsons, 2000
McClellan R. The Healing Forces of
Music. Amity House, 1988
Gardner K. Sounding The Inner
Landscape. Caduceus, 1990
Color
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Purple
39
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

40
LIVING THE FIELD
Overtoning for healing
Overtoning, or harmonics, lies at the
center of the esoteric skill of using
sound as a healing agent. In this lesson,
we explain how to become an adept,
and include some exercises you can fol -
low for healing.
Y
ou are now ready to start using
overtones, or harmonics, con-
sciously. If the voice is a natural
healing instrument, then overtones are the
minerals and vitamins of its sounds, as
music therapist James DAngelo has so
memorably put it.
Stating it more prosaically, every
organ, bone and tissue has its own vibra-
tional frequency when healthy. overton-
ing allows you to correct a vibration that
is of kilter, or diseased, as established by
the pioneering work of the likes of thera-
pist Dr Peter Guy Manners. Overtoning
becomes turbocharged as a healing exer-
cise if it is done with intention or con-
scious awareness (see Living The Field
Lesson Ten).
Overtoning, or harmonics, is when
two or more tones are created at the same
time. Practiced for hundreds of years by
esoteric groups in Mongolia, Africa, Asia,
Arabia and Mexico, as well as by the
Kabbalistic traditions of Judaism and
Christianity, harmonics are also an essen-
tial part of the daily rituals of the Tibetan
Buddhists who, more than any other
group, have done much to bring overton-
ing to the West.
In the West, practitioners such as
David Hykes, Jill Purce and Michael
Vetter offer courses to promote and teach
overtoning to students. Vetter has record-
ed a range of CDs that demonstrates over-
toning and provides a good idea of how it
works and how it should sound.
Esoteric as this may seem, we over-
tone naturally whenever we sing or chant.
As weve seen in earlier lessons, each
tone comes with its own overtone or res-
onance to give it the richness of sound.
Without these naturally occurring over-
tones, sound would be a sparse sine wave,
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 11
such as emitted by an electronic device.
Turning first to vowels, AH has differ-
ent harmonics compared with, say, OH. If
you were to link together the different
vowel sounds into one continuous flow in
one breath (UH, OO, OH, AH, EYE, AYE
and EE), you will start hearing the differ-
ent harmonics naturally created by your
voice. In musical terms, OO creates the
overtones of the octave and the fifth note
of that octave, while AH produces the
overtone of the seventh note. These will
vary slightly, depending on your pronun-
ciation, but you will hear the harmonic
shifts occur as each vowel sound moves
higher up the scale.
Before we begin, a few words of com-
fort from Michael Vetter, who learned
overtoning from avant-garde composer
Karlheinz Stockhausen. One need only
sing slow, continuous tones for half an
hour each day in the comfortable register
of quiet speech, making all the vowel
form movements of normal speaking.
Everything else follows.
We begin overtoning as we would
begin a session of chanting (see previous
lessons). We need to relax, get the breath-
ing right and do some simple vocal exer-
cises before we start. Its advisable to sit
upright in a chair, with your hands on
your knees or in your lap.
Start on a note that is comfortable for
youfor women, this tends to be middle
C and, for men, the C an octave below
that (low C). On this note, begin toning
the vowels from UH to EE in one contin-
uous breath. The secret of good overton-
ing is not to enunciate the vowel sound
too precisely. Try instead to keep the
vowel sound in the throat. As sound ther-
apist Jonathan Goldman puts it, It is as
though you are shaping your mouth to
form the vowels, but not actually pro-
nouncing them. By changing the structure
of the jaw, tongue and cheeks, you will be
altering the way the sound comes out.
When you start out, you can more eas-
ily hear the harmonics youre making by
cupping a hand over one ear while plac-
41
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy ing the other hand a few inches away
Lesson 11 from your mouth.
You will also soon discover that less is
more when it comes to overtoning. Dont
push, and dont try to do it loudlyin
Central Asia, they call overtoning throat
singing, and volume is established by
using your cheeks and lips, not by the
force you apply in trying to push out the
sound.
Overtoning exercises
After experimenting with various tones
and with the different shapes you can
make with your mouth, you will begin to
start hearing other high-pitched noises,
which may sound like whistling or
buzzing, or like another note being creat-
ed. Theyve always been there, as weve
said, but you are now becoming more
conscious of them as you begin these
exercises.
Now you have understood the impor-
tance that the mouth and lips play in over-
toning, we can move on from the vowels
to other basic sounds that can bring out
the harmonics.
As Jonathan Goldman outlines, the
best place to start is with the MM sound,
again on a note that feels comfortable.
Project the sound from your throat so that
your lips vibrate. Using the sound as a
base, start varying the sound slightly by
introducing the different vowel sounds.
So, from the initial MM sound, start
sounding MMOO (as in moo), then
MMOH (as in go), then MMAH (as in
ma), MMEYE (as in my), MMAYE
(as in may) and finally MMEE (as in
me). As always, make the sound softly,
but make sure that your lips vibrate
before opening them just wide enough to
make the vowel part of the MM sound
audible. Again, you will be surprised by
the harmonics that you start to produce
naturally.
As a different exercise, put your lips
together as if you were about to whistle.
With your lips still puckered, open your
mouth and make a MMOORR sound, as
if you were saying an elongated more.
Use one complete, drawnout breath.
You should now begin to appreciate
the importance of the mouth and lips in

The siren technique

Once you feel reasonably adept at overtoning, you can start on a healing exercise
developed by Jonathan Goldman called the Siren technique. Its an intuitive approach
where we feel the right sound for a particular part of the body.
Overall, it is best to close your eyes and get out of the wayin other words, dont
let the logical brain interfereand to do it with a partner, who stands in front of you
and with whom you will work aurally.
Begin with deep breathing and with a prayer that your body may be a vehicle for
sacred, healing sound. Start with the highest sound you can make, focusing on the
healees head, and then drop the pitch of your sound as you go down to the feet.
Then, reverse the process, starting with the lowest note while focusing on the healees
feet, and raising your pitch as you move up to the head.
This scanning of the body should draw you to a specific area but, if nothing
happens, repeat the exercise until you begin to sense which area you need to
concentrate on.
Once this is established, just make the sound that seems appropriate. Similarly, the
spirit that moved you will also determine how long you carry out the procedure.
Finally, finish by placing your hands on the healees shoulders, squeezing them
firmly to help ground him/her.

42

creating harmonics. The nasal cavity also
has an important role to play, although its
not what we normally use to help us pro-
nounce words. The nasal passage is per-
haps the most important feature in help-
ing to resonate the sounds we make. This
becomes more important as we go up the
tonal range.
To help you get used to the idea of
pushing sound up the nasal passages,
make the sound NNEE (as in knee)
while placing your fingers on either side
of the nose, and see if you can make them
vibrate. The good news is that the exer-
cise may help to clear your sinuses, so
keep a tissue handy!
Another sound that gets the nasal pas-
sages vibrating is NNUURR (as in her).
The tongue should be lightly touching the
roof of the mouth for the final RR sound.
Done properly, the tongue will vibrate on
a layer of saliva, rather than on the sur-
face of the roof of the mouth, almost like
a reed. Finally, always remember to
change the shape of the mouth to create
different harmonics.
There are plenty of other similar
sounds you can play with to improve your
harmonic skills, such as NNGONG,
Sound
WWOOWW, HHUURREE and OOEE. Therapy
Goldman recommends allowing around Lesson 11
15 minutes a day to practice.
Group overtoning for healing
Have a small group encircle someone
chosen to receive healing, who is lying
down on the floor. Begin with the OM
sound, which will produce its own natural
harmonics. Start humming the MM sound
before opening your mouths to sound
OO. Finally, close your mouth slowly so
that you are again just humming the MM.
As with the Siren technique (see box,
page 42), group overtoning should allow
the appropriate sound to emerge. You can
ask the healee for his/her favorite color,
or a word they would like transmitted at
the time of overtoning.
Sometimes the sound produced will
be discordant, but sometimes the group
miraculously acts as one, and begins
harmonizing the sound.
Visualization
Another complementary exercise to
overtoning is visualization. As you make
the sounds, imagine there is a beam of
energy coming from your heart, your
throat and your third eye. Imagine these
beams of energy meeting at the point of
a trianglethis is the beam of sacred
sound.
From your heart comes divine love,
from your throat comes divine sound and
from the third eye comes divine wisdom.
Bryan Hubbard
Lesson Twelve: Music to heal by
Further reading
Goldman J. Healing Sounds. Healing Arts
Press, 1992
DAngelo J. Healing With The Voice.
Thorsons, 2000
McClellan R. The Healing Forces of
Music. Amity House, 1988
Gardner K. Sounding The Inner
Landscape. Caduceus, 1990
43
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

44
LIVING THE FIELD
Good vibrations that heal
For this last lesson on sound and heal -
ing, we move from chanting and over -
toning as a healing agent to the use of
music to heal ourselves.
Sound
Therapy
Lesson 12
Music as therapy
His experiences are supported by a raft
of studies confirming the benefit of music
on a range of conditions and problems. It
has reduced disruptive behavior among

S
ound and music appear to be inher- aggressive adolescents with attention-
ent to the human condition, and deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)1
we respond so profoundly to both and helped elderly people with dementia
that we could be described as vibrational to function better.2
beings. In fact, we are indeed vibrational But music has a role in helping with
beings in a universe of vibrating energy health conditions, too. In 15 patients with
or, as biologist Rupert Sheldrake has put coronary heart disease, music significant-
it, we are an integral part of a nested hier- ly reduced their beta-endorphin levels;
archy of vibrations. even after exercise.3 Its a powerful pain-
Its little wonder then that toning and reliever. Listening to music for 20 min-
chanting can be such powerful forces for utes a day proved to be a powerful aid
healing and transformation. But, while we in reducing the pain of osteoarthritis.4 Its
can use music and sound actively to help can improve the quality of life for patients
others, we can also do the same for our- with terminal cancer,5 and other cancer
selves. patients taking antitumor drugs fared bet-
We all know this intuitively. We listen ter when exposed to music.6 Music has
to calming, restful music at the end of a helped patients with post-traumatic
difficult day, or perhaps we play some amnesia to regain their memory,7 and it
high-energy music to kickstart a party or reduced pain during labour.8
ourselves. Impressive as these findings are, the
Music as therapy is well established most positive effects of music therapy
as a useful adjunct to medical care, hav- are as a calming agent and a stress-reduc-
ing been well researched and used since er. Listening to Pachelbels Canon in D
the late 1940s, when it was discovered major reduced anxiety, blood pressure
that musicians who played in hospital and heart rate in healthy people and was
wards helped patients recover more more beneficial than silence.9 Similar
quickly. results were achieved with music by
Holistic healer Dr John Diamond, Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart, suggesting that
who uses music and musicmaking as a music therapy could help heart patients.10
vital part of his healing therapy, says: I Music has calmed patients waiting
have tested many thousands of recordings for stem-cell transplantation, a distressing
recorded over a period of over 80 years, and invasive procedure11 and, in those
and it has been found that, almost without going for a colonoscopy, those who lis-
exception, this music has been therapeu- tened to music needed fewer sedatives,
tic, often highly so. In fact, it has been and had lower heart rate and blood pres-
used for stress reduction, relaxation, gen- sure than those not listening to the
eral tonification, analgesia, anesthesia, as music.12
part of modified acupuncture techniques, Its also helped students under exam
and as adjunctive therapy in drug with- pressure. Japanese students were exposed
drawal programs. Music has also been to two types of musicdescribed as
used in programmes to overcome fears either high- or low-upliftingthen had
and phobias, alleviate insomnia, and even their immune function, neuroendocrine
for the tranquilization of acutely dis- response and emotional state checked.
turbed psychotic patients. Low-uplifting music increased their sense
of wellbeing, while high-uplifting music

45
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy raised norepinephrine levels and liveli- and musician Frances Rauscher at the
Lesson 12 ness, and reduced depression.13 University of California, who studied the
effects of the first 10 minutes of Mozarts
The Mozart effect Sonata for Two Pianos (K.448) on cogni-
This is the best-known example of the tive ability. They found a temporary
benefits of music, even if it is perhaps improvement of spatialtemporal reason-
the most disputed. The term was coined ing on an IQ test.
by Alfred Tomatis, who noticed an effect But no one has since been able to
of Mozarts music on brain functioning in duplicate this finding, although others
children under age three. The idea was have tried to explain how the phenome-
then taken up by physicist Gordon Shaw non might have occurred, if it did at all.

Music to live your life by

Music can change our moods. The right music can snap us out of anger, rid us of
depression, and give us our get-up-and-go. But the secret is finding the right music to
induce the right state. Often, we are guided to the right music intuitively, but musician
and musical therapist Dr John Ortiz, who has made a study of this, has recommend-
ed specific pieces of music to thousands of patientsfor example:

Music to get out of a depressed mood

Beethoven, 1st movement, Moonlight Sonata No. 14
Schubert, Marche Militaire
Mendelssohn, May Breezes
Wa g n e r, Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Beatles, Shes Leaving Home
Beach Boys, Good Vibrations

Stimulating music
Mozart, Symphony No. 35 in D (Haffner), Symphony No. 41 in C (Jupiter)
Beethoven, 3rd movement, Symphony No. 7 in A major
David Bowie, Lets Dance
Oasis, Whats The Story?
Stevie Wo n d e r, Innervisions

Inspirational music
Schubert, overture, Rosamunde
Shostakovich, 2nd movement, Symphony No. 5
Handel, Hallelujah chorus, The Messiah

Music to deal with anger

Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique
Manuel de Falla, Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo
The Beatles, Revolution
The Jam, The Modern World
John Lennon, Cold Turkey

46

A study at York University in Toronto
tested a Mozart sonata against an
Albinoni adagio, and concluded that the
Mozart effect is no more than arousal and
a mood change in response to the music.
But even this finding suggests that
something is going on, even if the music
is not making us smarter. One study
looked at the effect of Mozart on seizure
rate in epileptic patients. Researchers
from Illinois University tested pieces by
Mozart, JC and JS Bach, and Chopin, but
only Mozart and the two Bachs reduced
seizures. It was concluded that the struc-
ture of the music by the Bachs and
Mozart may be resonating in a similar
way as the process of encoding within the
cerebral cortex of the brain.14
Be your own musical therapist
But Mozart or not, it is clear and indis-
putable that music can have a dramatical-
ly therapeutic effect. Healers such as Dr
Diamond have studied different types of
music to such an extent that there is a
menu of recommended recordings that
can help improve different conditions,
states and moods.
Dr Diamond is unique among them,
however, for pointing out the adverse
effects of digital music, both that which is
recorded onto compact discs or that
which has been recorded digitally onto
the old-style vinyl LPs. He has found that
the listener will test weak in a kinesiol-
ogy test if he has heard a piece of music
on a CD after having tested strong after
hearing the same music, but recorded in
analogue mode.
Like Dr Diamond, Dr John Ortiz,
himself a composer, has prepared menus
of music that can relieve various nega-
tive states and encourage more positive
ones (see box, page 46), as have musi-
cians Kate and Richard Mucci.
In classical music, Dr Diamond has
found that the music of Beethoven and
Sound
Brahms can be especially life-enhancing, Therapy
as is traditional jazz, and the songs of Lesson 12
the 1920s and 1930s, such as Aint She
Sweet. Traditional rock-n-roll and the
music of The Beatles have also passed
Diamonds muscle tests.
Dr Ortiz takes a more eclectic view,
and has found that many contemporary
groups and songs have had a beneficial
effect on his patients.
From this lesson and the 11 that pre-
ceded it, we hope that music and sound
will have a central place in your day-to-
day life. Far from being just a nice thing
to have around, music and harmony are
an intimate expression of yourself, and
can help you become who you already
are.
Bryan Hubbard
1 J Music Ther, 2003; 40: 283301,
30223
2 Nurs Health Sci, 2004; 6: 118
3 Dtsch Med Wo c h e n s c h r, 2003; 128:
27126
4 J Adv Nurs, 2003; 44: 51724
5 J Music Ther, 2003; 40: 11337
6 Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi,
2001; 21: 8914
7 J Music Ther, 2001; 38: 17092
8 Pain Manage Nurs, 2003; 4: 5461
9 J Music Ther, 2001; 38: 25472
10 Schweiz Rundsch Med Prax, 1999; 88:
9512
11 Cancer, 2003; 98: 27239
12 Appl Nurs Res, 2002; 15: 12636
13 J Music Ther, 2003; 40: 189211
14 Clin Electroencephalogr, 2000; 31:
94103
Further re a d i n g
Ortiz J. The Tao of Music. Samuel
Weiser, 1997
Mucci K, Mucci R. The Healing Sound
of Music. Findhorn Press, 2000
Diamond J. The Life Energy in Music,
vols 13. Diamond Center
47
 LIVING THE FIELD
Sound
Therapy

48