Introduction

Sound is the first sense to awaken in the womb. It brings the intricate and awe-inspiring world of sound to us whilst we live, and is the last sense to leave us as we die.

Literally “ in the beginning was the word”.

The energy of life flows through us in the womb, and then through our whole existence, and it is as if this energy of life is a certain note, a certain sound

At all times in our lives energy flows through us, around us and radiates from us, and if we think of this energy as sound, we are radiating either coherent or incoherent, resonant or dissonant sound at all times

We could say that this note precedes us, and before we even speak, we have introduced ourselves by what we are emanating. In fact this note resonates with everyone we meet. We could also say that one of the objects of life is to manifest a clearer and more pure sound that eventually carries us over the threshold of that great initiation we know as death.

We recently recorded an album “Sleeping Angels”, beautiful in its simplicity and profound in its purity. It featured Jenny James’ pure tones sounding the AUM or OM in two different forms. The initial intent of this album was to “create a safe and calming ambience to help babies and children with their general well-being and the transition into sleep-time, and to disperse any negative energies around the sleeping child.

What we found however was that the album was being used in many more and different environments then we had imagined. From offices to hotel rooms, practitioners and healer’s rooms, and also different forms of transition as well as babies into sleep time. It is a wonderful birthing album, the transition into life.  I also use it now for most of my meditations and processes in my workshops and private sessions. We were then informed that nurses working in hospice were using the album, as a therapeutic tool, especially when people were too fearful to gracefully let go. They found that Sleeping Angels greatly helped to release the fear of dying.

There is this profound connection of sound linking our birth, life and death.

Preparation for Birth

The parents-to-be are becoming familiar with the various aspects of sound as will be relevant to this stage. In their morning ritual they will be practising their toning together, creating clear and pure sounds that they will be later using for healing and energetic clearing. They will be sounding the AUM together, and then meditating together in silence and gentle breath.

Upon conception the parents, with their understanding of the importance of sound in the womb, will be mindful of the sounds in their environment. An understanding of how certain sounds and music assists the development of the baby’s brain is of consequence. The baby can be bathed in healing sounds on a daily basis, and will love the energy that comes through these healing sounds. This was delightfully demonstrated for me when my son was 20 weeks in Utero and had his first ultra-sound scan. Gabriel had been experiencing toning since conception.

When practising sound healing you experiences a powerful tonal resonance that is an indication that you have sounded the exact note required. It is as if the voice is sounding into a small invisible echo chamber. When this awareness is applied to sounding the womb it is a delightful experience for mother and child. I had the opportunity to apply this technique on Jenny and Gabriel whilst watching Gabriel’s reaction on the monitor. As the tone sounded he raised his head out from a tightly curled position and arched his body up towards the sound.

The parents also choose music that they will use at the birth and start playing this. The baby becomes familiar with the sounds and the chosen music will then be there to aid in that disconcerting transition into the physical world.

We also played the music at home non-stop for a few weeks, sometimes almost subliminal, sometime a bit louder. A familiar sound, and very supportive.

Sound Living
That sound can be used to open our hearts, heal, and bring joy to our lives is beyond doubt. There is a gentleness in esoteric sound, that, when practised, starts to resonate through our daily life. Esoteric sound is about discovering that less is more, that focus and clarity will come through surrendering and allowing, rather then manipulating and forcing. When our life becomes a reflection of this clarity and focus, empathetic detachment and surrender, we have the possibility of being gently introduced to the unfathomable experience of the soul.

Sound is, of course, carried on the breath, and all the above references to esoteric sound apply to our breath. Throughout martial arts, meditation, yoga and singing there are so many techniques of breath and breathing; energetic breath, meditation on breath, cathartic breath, pranic and chi breath, energy flowing in out down, around, and up, that confusion reigns. Many earnest students actually give up, and many more have their energy systems severely disrupted.

When we apply the same principles of less is more, focus and clarity to our meditative breath, we arrive at an age-old technique that truly supports our journey into esoteric sound and conscious living. This technique also reveals the ability to heal with our sound, and prepares us for the final physical transition.

You may wish to practise this technique now.

Take three big, clearing breaths just to let go.

Then tone for a short time … a few minutes. These soft, harmonically rich sounds will charge (rather then discharge) the central nervous system; entrain the brain waves, and center and still the mind.

Then you take 3 gentle breaths, three conscious breaths. The breath comes in through your nose very softly, and then, on the soft out breath, very gently 
Your in breath become so soft, it becomes a very gentle breath. You simply feel the gentle wind on the end of your nose
 
 You are letting yourself totally rest upon this breath.
 
And as you rest upon this breath your body descends into a deep awareness of gentleness. 
You do become aware of where you are holding old energy. But as you enter this deepened state of awareness you find that every part of you now becomes soft and gentle
 
and this softening spreads through your body.

And then simply keep witnessing the in flow and out flow of the gentle breath.

Sometimes a truthful experience can be so simple that it eludes us. We see this often in myths and tales of wisdom and man’s inner journey. The mind will often wish for complexity to match its own perversity, and herein lies one of the secrets of learning esoteric sound healing. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the mind. It has everything to do with letting go of the mind and understanding, recognising and releasing that personification of the mind, the personality.

“Esoteric sound flows through us, untrammelled by personality and untainted by mind, directed and guided to the place of healing most needed”

This simply means that through the practise of all that we have talked about in “Sound Living”, we are able to produce a sound so clear and pure and connected that it will be a clear conduit for healing energy to flow, guided by intuition, into the physical and etheric bodies of clients clearing blockages, pain, disease, and even more subtle and damaging invasive energies.

The awareness that eventually produces such healing sounds is, at the same time, liberating vast amounts of energy inside the practitioner or student. The energy used in holding on to the past (anger, remorse, regret, pain, unforgiving), and in fear of the future (inflexibility and self-doubt) can literally be all consuming. This state of being is so overriding because the needs of the personality are trying to be satisfied, and of course these are infinitely unquenchable.

This liberated energy is then redirected into facilitating well-being, understanding and joy in the student or practitioner.

The Art of Dying

Living in this conscious fashion engenders many qualities in one’s awareness, attitude and life, and one of these qualities is Trust. Once we start to understand the esoteric nature of existence, and thereby take responsibility for what is happening to us, we start to trust in the flow of life. We understand that so many of the things that are happening to us are just energy blocks being cleared out of the way of our unfolding path. Even when the process is quite painful there is still a recognition that takes us out of unknowing to knowing, from victim consciousness to understanding and empowerment.

As we near the end of this physical life this awareness will be paramount for a graceful departure. The flexibility and the clarity that you have engendered will now, as you lose or let go other aspects of the physical form, come to the fore of your consciousness. The practise of esoteric sound will have set up a standing wave, an ongoing resonance that is echoed through one to a cellular level. In an allegorical shift, the benefit to the baby in the womb of sound helping the coherent development of brain cells and creating  ‘environmental security’ is now echoed within the human form as it prepares for death. The mind, instead of being a repository of a lifetime of chaotic thoughts and desires is entrained into calmness and lucidity. The unquenchable desire and emotional turmoil of unrealised consciousness has been released into an understanding and recognition of the true purpose of life.

We have related examples of how a simple recording of an esoterically sounded AUM created such a feeling of safety and recognition that people were able to release their fears and at the last moment let go into graceful transition and death. Imagine if one has actually led a life that reflected and resonated this esoteric awareness how conscious this transition could be, and what the consequences of this conscious departure would bring about.

Esoteric sound.

When Bach composed his complex, brilliant and beautiful piano pieces called Fugues, he started with a simple theme. This was then woven into some of the most beautiful music ever written, with variations within variations. And yet the central theme was always there, resonating, underpinning the whole composition.

Our lives can be like this. The simplicity of the understanding of esoteric truth within us will confound some people. History resounds with stories of masters creating metaphorical tales of realisation and understanding because the truth itself is so simple that it can be understood in a few breaths.

The understanding and ongoing experience of esoteric sound complements this experience that resonates within us, and will always be there to bring joy, healing, and a wonderful direct connection to the heart.