Watch the video above, or read the blog below, How to raise our awareness, shift from negative thoughts, heighten how we feel, lifting from negative perspectives to healing, restoration, moving forward, and positive energy with sound healing.
Raising consciousness might be described to be about changing our perspective from being a victim, from negative thoughts and cyclic thoughts, feeling daunted, and overwhelmed. And raising consciousness is much more because it is about lifting from being stuck in the mode of figuring things out to relying upon our higher guidance system that allows us to navigate knowing there are always lessons but we are using our innate intuition that is available. But how to get there? And why?
Getting to higher levels of consciousness has been marketed to us through the meditation industry. Many people who have tried these marketed methods feel they cannot get the benefits because they are unable to follow that model and feel they have failed. This is often because this method is at the least challenging to quiet thoughts, or nearly impossible. Another aspect of this method is knowing all the benefits , but it becomes another chore to mark off the daily list to progress because it is an unpleasant task that is difficult and more of a struggle.
However, other simpler methods of accessing the multitude of benefits of ‘meditation’ that is shifting from ordinary consciousness into relaxed states releasing the beta brain waves that bind us in our trauma and vigilance. Other characteristics of ‘meditation’ are changes in heart rate and our breathing which occur simultaneously with the changes in brain waves. These are noticeable as subtle shifts and often become increasingly significant with continued and regular practice deepening over time. We can even start using the word ‘meditation’ to have a broad-brush application to different methods that get us out of beta brain waves and into alpha and deeper states.
The Story of the Buddha and Sound Healing Meditation
Many years ago I heard Jill Purce share a story about the Buddha. The story goes, the Buddha brought a group of his students together and gave them a task. The task was to go out into the world, in many different places, and teach meditation. At the end of one year they would reconvene at the same location and report on how well their teaching meditation methods worked and effectively gave the benefits to people. After the year all the students returned to the designated location and reported on their success. The student who had the most success was the one who used sound and music-specific sounds and music that easily transported the listener.
This ancient story tells us meditation is invaluable to our development and the use of it has been going on for thousands of years as method that lifts us into higher awareness and raise consciousness. Now we know through more recent scientific research that meditation has benefits that are far reaching to our physical body building the immune system, with our emotional and mental regulation, changing the trauma response through healing and restoration of the neurological system, releasing the stress response, and diminishing cortisol production which includes diminishing inflammation, and biochemical changes resulting in the production of Gaba, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin.
Getting the benefits of all the research using sound as a transformative element allows us to easily, and quickly access meditation through listening just as it did thousands of years ago. This is partly because we have a focus, the sounds are repetitious and continuous, and the tones are particularly adapted to facilitate shifts in consciousness.
The Transformative Rhythms and their Tones
Using only particular rhythms to facilitate meditation in ancient times is just as useful today. Rhythms have deeply connected us because they are so familiar because we live with rhythms within and around us. When we encounter particular sound rhythms and patterns they are transformative sound healing methods. These sound healing rhythms are present in our own heartbeat as well as the heartbeat of our mother while we were in utereo which has a specific beat and space between the beats that we know on a deep internal level often beneath our awareness.
Other consistent rhythms we rely upon in our world that we are often not even aware of their comforting effects upon us including
- the repeating sounds of the ocean waves going in and out
- the waves of the sun’s light
- our own electromagnetic waves from our body that are part of our energy field also known as our auric field and layers of our auric field
- the Earth’s electromagnetic waves
- our breath as we inhale and exhale, and the sounds of our own heartbeat, the flub dub and the spaces between our breathing and heartbeat create these auditory feelings that are comforting and ever present.
These all have a rhythm that we deeply know without ever bringing that knowing into awareness.
More On Rhythms
In our collective history, when we go back to when each of our ancestors lived in villages there was always a drum (and drum rhythm) wherever we were on Earth. The drum sound was used to gather people together and to unite the listeners through the repetition of the sound and the patterns of sound. What ancient people knew is that the repeating sounds allowed the listener as an individual and the group to entrain to the sound through their body, heartbeat, brain waves, and respiration that we now identify as meditation, a ‘non-ordinary’ state of consciousness. The drum sounds and rhythm facilitate transferring from ‘ordinary’ consciousness into receptive and restorative states where inner connection, inspiration, and insight are cultivated.
The second part of this profound wisdom is the knowing that we need to connect into this state regularly where we change our heart rate, breathing patterns, and brain waves for our longevity and physical mental, emotional and spiritual healing, health, and wellness.
That shifting out of what we call ‘ordinary’ consciousness into what we call ‘non-ordinary’ consciousness is vital for our physical body, mind and emotions and spirit because we are hard wired to develop and use different brain waves states. This is because these other states help us process, connect deeply into our inner wisdom and heart of compassion, consideration, and kindness, develop our resilience and inner strength, release stress that cause physical and mental illness.
When we listen to particular sound patterns as rhythms sound healing takes place.
This is because entrainment occurs which is a connection and response to the rhythms we hear and feel that change three elements of our physical body systems to become in synchronization with the sound healing patterns. These are our heartbeat, brain wave patterns, and our respiration our breathing, changing our connection to the sound healing rhythms that are more than healing.
The changes in our heartbeat and breathing which is a slowing down and release of stress and inflammation and simultaneous change in our brain waves takes the listener into receptivity while releasing the hyper-vigilant state we are in during our ordinary waking state and where stress, chronic stress and inflammation and trauma are stored and continue.
We also know not all sound patterns have the same effect; these transformative healing sound patterns are not the rhythms of the fabulous 50’s, heavy metal, punk, popular music, or even most of classical music. The healing sound rhythms are unique in their repetition, tone, pattern, and resonance.
Bernard Benson, Harvard MD identified the responses that shift us into relaxation, receptivity, releases stress, and cultivates inner wisdom, restoration, and emotional and mental regulation as the Relaxation Response. The Relaxation Response is a key element for anti-ageing and the opposite of physical and mental illness, regeneration
Moving beyond the current paradigm that previously built the now outmoded idea that our predilection towards physical and mental illness is related to genetics. Now we know it is stress, the stress hormone cortisol, and inflammation that are underlying characteristics that cause the dysregulation for mental and physical illness.
Consistent Listening Changes Us Profoundly
When we consistently listen to specific sound patterns and rhythms we are in the Relaxation Response, where we develop and deepen the changes that are powerfully beneficial for us not as a one-time intervention but as a life-long practice that deepens over time. When we consistently listen to these specific sound healing patterns and rhythms our demeanor positively changes, our responses positively change, our outlook positively changes, and our ability to develop, grow, and access levels of higher consciousness and heightened awareness develops and grows.
When we listen to these particular transformative sound patterns they carry us and hold us in a different state than our normal vigilant state of brain waves, heart rate, and respiration that is from the place of stress to restoration. Our breathing, our heartbeat, and our brainwaves simultaneously, gently, and easily change without effort or focusing on the need to change, simply by listening. This is because we entrain also known as resonate to and with resonate with the sound patterns. When the sound continues entrainment occurs allowing us to sustain the transformative connection we are in the Relaxation Response. We entrain as an individual and with others who are also listening to the same transformative sound and music patterns. That is why using curated sound and music in groups as well as alone is particularly beneficial for practitioners to use. The sound listening can be considered a potent intentional activity that aligns resonance for all participants harmoniously without effort.
As ancient people innately knew sharing the sound and music listening experience is essential for connection within, uplifting consciousness and perception, releasing trauma and regeneration of the neurological system, and the other systems mentioned above. This is telling us that human beings are not designed to stay or thrive in one level of consciousness all of the time. Another way of saying this is what we call ‘non-ordinary consciousness’ which is also heightened consciousness is a normal and required level to access not only for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness but required for our development because there is diminishing of stress and inflammation and increase dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin .
The rhythms that transform us, as sound healing change our entire system from chronic stress that result in mental, emotional, and physical illness to resilience, mental and emotional regulation, healing, restoration from trauma, gaining positive feelings, anti-aging, and develop resilience, insight, creativity, problem-solving, and intuition resonant within us. As in ancient practices use of sound rhythms regenerative, method correlates with scientific research showing, physical mental emotional neurological, biochemical, transforming, uplevel, and expand and raising consciousness.
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How Meditation Boosts Gaba https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/meditation-boosts-your-gaba/
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