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I recently attended an event that included a performance on the didjeridu by one of the most talented masters of the instrument I have ever heard, Shine Edgar. After speaking about the instrument and giving us a performance, he then gave each of us a close encounter with the healing nature of the didj.
One person at a time, he played the didjeridu right at the heart chakra for several minutes. The end of the instrument was placed about an inch in front of the heart chakra.
This exquisite sound vibrated every cell in my body! What a molecular massage! And a huge heart opening!
Shine says, “The indigenous peoples of Australia believe that the world and all life are ‘sung’ into existence and that all physical matter is really energy or vibration (sound). We are all eternal beings born with a ‘dreaming’ or soul’s purpose.”
Some aboriginals say, “if the earth had a voice, it would sound like the didjeridu.”
For those who haven’t heard of a didjeridu before, it is believed to be one of the oldest instruments on the planet. The aboriginal people of Australia created the didgeridoo traditionally out of a branch that had been hollowed out by termites. The sound created by blowing into one end of the branch is phenomenal.
The didjeridu has a very low fundamental tone or main sound. In addition to this main sound, it has many layers of harmonics or higher sounds that are mathematically related to the fundamental sound. The fundamental sound has a strong effect on the physical body and the higher harmonics affect the layers within the electromagnetic field around the body.
A talented player can change these higher sounds by changing the shape of their lips or mouth. The didj performer can also playfully imitate the call of the Australian dingo and all kinds of animals and birds.
It sounds like the Outback of Australia alive with the sounds of everything that lives there. Some performers even add words while playing the didjeridu. What a wonderful way to add words of reverence or prayer while playing such an amazing instrument.
A few months ago, I shared with you a video of the great vocalist, Bobby McFerrin, demonstrating how easy it is for people to predict a melody created with the pentatonic scale. It was one of the special moments of the World Science Festival in 2009.
The brain scientists sharing the stage with him were astonished by the demonstration. Below is the link to my article and the video in case you didn’t catch it the first time around.
So is the human being’s emotional response to music.
One of the world’s most beloved songs is “Amazing Grace” by John Newton. “Amazing Grace” is also written using the pentatonic scale. It carries the magic of bringing us peace in times of great sadness.
The creation of this beautiful song has the most incredible history. Below is a video of the great American singer, Wintley Phipps, talking about the pentatonic scale and sharing the history of the creation of “Amazing Grace.”
This video includes one of the most heart-wrenching and heart-warming performances of “Amazing Grace” that I have ever heard. You might want to have some tissues handy.
I remember several years ago when my mother was very ill. She had just returned home from having surgery and I moved in for a while to help her out.
At the time, I was preparing some solo classical guitar pieces to play in a concert later that year. One of my favorites was an arrangement of the Prelude from one of J.S. Bach’s Lute Suites. I would practice in the living room while Mom rested in her bedroom.
Every time I practiced the Prelude she would come out to the living room and lie down on the couch. She would promptly go to sleep. The music relaxed her so much she would have a deep, restful sleep.
She would wake up as soon as I finished practicing the Prelude and would go back to bed. Now, this is just a 4-minute piece! Once I realized how deeply she rested when I played this piece, I would stretch my practice of the Prelude for a couple of hours or more, so she could rest longer.
When I am learning a new piece, I can spend many hours mastering the technique and sounds required so it wasn’t too difficult to stretch out a practice session on the Prelude.
She would still wake up when I finished practicing the Prelude and go back to bed when I started working on another piece.
I always wondered what it was about Bach’s music that makes it so healing. Even when I am not feeling well, I will pick up my guitar and play my favorite Bach pieces and always feel better.
I don’t think I ever really found out what it was in his music that is so healing, except that playing his music and listening to it makes me feel whole.
Several months ago, a friend of mine sent me a story that was published in the Washington Post 3 years ago that absolutely dumbfounded me!
I attended Jonathan Goldman’s training, Healing Sounds Intensive, in 2005. He taught us the how to tone the Divine Name then. However, he also asked us not to teach it to others. I don’t think the general public was ready for such a technique yet. We certainly are now. Since the release of his new book The Divine Name: The Sound That Can Change the World, I have deepened my own practice of this sound.
Jonathan Goldman is one of the founders and pioneers of the field of sound healing. He is an award-winning musician and author, having written several books and created over 25 CDs.
The Divine Name is indeed a profound, sacred and advanced technique for healing and, in my experience in using it, deeply transformational. It is also surprisingly easy to learn.
Goldman includes an instructional CD with The Divine Name to help readers learn how to tone this incredible sound. The CD is immensely helpful.
If you are anything like me, I find that when learning a new skill, extra practice sessions can be really helpful. On Monday, July 19 from 7 to 8 pm, Mountain Time, I am offering a live practice session of the Divine Name in Calgary at Self Connection Books, which will broadcast simultaneously in a webinar for those who are unable to attend the live event. The webinar will also be recorded and all attendees at the live or online event will be sent a link to download the webinar and continue their practice.
I have been using Goldman’s system of vowels as mantras for at least the past six years and find this way of toning incredibly helpful for maintaining health and balance in my daily life. It is the most powerful tool I turn to when my life gets turned upside down.
The Divine Name is a big step forward. I believe that when this amazing sound is regularly toned by large numbers of people individually or in groups, we can indeed walk on this beautiful earth as the sacred humans we truly are.
When I started to notice what was going on in mine, I was appalled and dismayed. I felt that most of the time, I had a repetitive, belligerent child on my hands.
How did I create this and more importantly – how do I manage it? I was realistic enough to know that ‘control’ of this mind was out of the question.
And I had another big problem. Now that I was aware of this ‘monster upstairs,’ there was no turning back. I couldn’t put my awareness on mute. I could ignore it sometimes, or get hung up on one of those mental ‘rollercoasters.’
And this is where the big “M” word came in – meditation. Really! With this unfocused mind?
So, I became a reluctant student of my thoughts. I knew when I started this journey with my thoughts that awareness of them and especially managing them was the doorway into this potential. Thoughts are the tick that make our lives tock.
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One person at a time, he played the didjeridu right at the heart chakra for several minutes. The end of the instrument was placed about an inch in front of the heart chakra.
Jonathan Goldman is one of the founders and pioneers of the field of sound healing. He is an award-winning musician and author, having written several books and created over 25 CDs.
And I had another big problem. Now that I was aware of this ‘monster upstairs,’ there was no turning back. I couldn’t put my awareness on mute. I could ignore it sometimes, or get hung up on one of those mental ‘rollercoasters.’