What is a sound journey?
We listen to the listening, in the same way we continue to see even when our eyes are closed, we are in constant presence of our own perception of ourselves. Fields of constant presences that are never empty but filled in a continuous present moment. Sound is always present to experience, in the same way as clouds come and go in a windy sky. Even if we were suddenly not able to hear again, we would remember the sound of sounds and/or feel the vibrations through our body.
In thinking about silence recently, it is perhaps the first instinct to intellectually think about what silence is – the absence of sound – rather than consider it as a state of being, a quietened inner world.
It has been scientifically proven that sitting in quiet meditation for at least 10 minutes a day helps calm the emotional centre of the brain and brings with it the ability to regulate our emotions and be more in flow with them. Meditation helps us bridge our outer world with the depths of our inner world and thus get in touch with how we are feeling, what we may need to let go of and what we may need to balance. In my own self-exploration of silence, I am beginning to realise how little time I give to myself and how within that time I do not give myself a space of allowance and surrender. It is only in taking that time that I can give myself the opportunity to get to know myself for who I am, through the changes I am continuously experiencing, I allow the silence to carry me into deeper connection.
For those that may find the idea of a quiet space challenging to sit and be in, and where the mind’s own chatter is able to take over without distraction (I do sometimes). Giving or receiving a guiding soundscape such as with the sounds of a gong, a Tibetan singing bowl, crystal singing bowl or other sacred instrument, we can give ourselves an opportunity to focus on the range of vibrations and sounds that these instruments produce.
These soundscapes allow space for embodied feeling without having to think about it, and help the body relax by entraining the brain waves to synchronise with the sounds played by the instruments. This triggers the brain to slow down from a Beta state (hertz to add, busy thinking, active thinking, making decisions) to a Theta state (hertz to add, deep meditation and relaxation, creativity, insight). Physiologically, when listening to the sounds of the instruments, the parasympathetic nervous system (our rest and digest system) is activated, turning on the relaxation response in the body and giving the opportunity to reach a relaxed deep sense of peace and a deeper meditative space.
What if, we were to listen to ourselves with ultimate compassion and try reach that space of inner sense of wellbeing and peace, would we be able to reach that slippery inner, and most searched for, state of silence? Air may seem insubstantial in the same way silence does, but once we interact with it, it can touch us in interesting ways.
I feel that it is not the absence or presence of sound that triggers the silence within us, it is in the journey of deep listening where we are able to bring about a quietened state and become more fluent with the life we are living. A journey that can be guided through the absence of silence, where the sound itself becomes the medium to reach the state of silence.
“Within each of us there is a silence —a silence as vast as a universe. We are afraid of it...and we long for it.”