Finding your sweet spot

Resonance is when one object vibrates at the same natural frequency of another forcing the second one into vibrational motion.  Not all frequencies will have this effect.  This explains exploding wine glasses or when my cupboard doors rattle during a gong bath or when you hear a noise in a car only at certain speeds.

In nature frogs use resonance to attract mates. The tree-hole frog amplifies the sound of its call by adjusting its pitch to match the resonant frequency of its echo chamber in a tree knowing that the louder their call, the greater likelihood of attracting a mate.   See how he adjusts his pitch here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Yp7w7zsRQ&t=106s&ab_channel=NathanLitjens

Other frogs sit in water and change the frequency of their calls to resonate with the surrounding water to create ripples.  The ripples serve to mark their territory and trigger louder and more sustained croaking.  One downside of creating ripples is that bats use echolocation to find the epicentre and their evening meal!
Watch the ripples being formed here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDX2NnEpRgU&ab_channel=%E6%9E%97%E5%AD%90%E6%9A%98

In sound healing we use resonance to stimulate the natural frequencies of cells, tissues, organs and emotions using a variety of instruments in order to re-harmonise prime resonance, one without blocksges where energy runs freely.  This is our objective.

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match that of the universe, to match your nature with Nature. Joseph Campbell

Once in a Blue Moon

In the 1500’s this expression meant ‘ridiculous or highly unlikely’.  We now know that blue moons are a naturally occuring phenomenon when two full moons occur in one calendar month or seasonal cycle.  On average blue moons occur once every 2 years.  Tonight’s full blue moon is also a supermoon appearing 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal .  

Ancients, mystics and sages have long believed in the power of this moon.  As the moon affects the tides, so do the waters in us rise and our sensitivities shimmer under the complete fullness of her light.  What was hidden is illuminated, and rises from our inner depths to the surface.

Three things cannot be hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth.  Buddha

Tonight we will close our eyes and slip into the other world submerging into our inner waters of receptivity and silent communication there to receive the transfer of feelings as communication from our soul.  Theperculiarbrunette.com 

The moon never beams without bringing me dreams. Edgar Allen Poe

Tonight I invite you to reflect on the dreams closest to  your heart and set considered intentions.

Full moon light shines tonight, gates break down, change enters to host life afresh. Djinn

Mother I Hear Your Heart Beat

Lightning synthesised life. These bolts, sheets, flashes and coruscations are nature’s fireworks inspiring awe, fear, respect and myths. They are electrical discharges of high voltage caused by imbalances between storm clouds and/or the ground accompanied by a flash of light followed by the rumbling of thunder.

Each flash creates electromagnetic waves that circle the Earth captured between the surface and the lower edge of the ionosphere 60 miles up. As these waves circle the earth they interfere with each other to create long standing waves.  First measured in the 1960s and named after Winfried Otto Schumann the waves have a frequency of 7.83 Hz  commonly referred to as 'Earth's heartbeat'. 

2000 thunderstorms around the world create 50 lighting strikes per second to maintain this frequency. 7.83 Hz lies on the cusp of Theta (4-8 Hz) and Alpha (4-8 Hz) brain states.  These states of sleep are responsible for improved immune systems, relaxation, enhanced cognitive functioning and more. Removing exposure to 7.83 Hz resulted in migraine headaches, emotional distress and disturbed circadian rhythms - symptoms of modern life.

 The Schumann resonance is below our auditory range we can hear it through binural beats. One way is to wear stereo headphones with differing frequencies in each ear. The frequencies are chosen such that the difference is 7.83 Hz. Your brain will only ‘hear’ the difference. When I play my gongs I create a similiar effect using planet gongs where you both hear and feel the resonance. Another benefit of multi gong experiences at Red Doors - to connect with the heart beat of mother earth.

Our brains rest in 7.83 Hz between Alpha and Theta. These states are responsible for relaxation, stimulate the immune system, reduce stress and improve cognitive functions. Removing exposure to 7.83 Hz results in migraine headaches, emotional distress and disturbed circadian rhythms.

But we can’t hear it so how can we benefit from it?

1. Binaural beats are a way of making this audible. When you listen to the resonance through headphones, your brain makes the difference between the two tones audible.  There are many SR sound tracks available just make sure you use stereo headphones.

2, Attend my gong baths when I combine specific pairings of planet gongs to create a similar effect where you both hear and feel the resonance.

Lighting creates electromagnetic waves that circle the Earth just below the ionosphere. These waves have a frequency of 7.83 Hz commonly referred to as 'Earth's heartbeat' or Schumann’s Resonance. 

This frequency lies between alpha and theta, the most therapeutic and deeply restorative states of sleep.  By playing two gongs of different frequencies I create binural beats whose difference equals 7.8 Hz.  Thus your entire body is bathed and entrained to mother earth’s heart rhythm. Pure bliss.  Join us tonight www.red-doors.com/events

Cosmic Dust

Nature is an infinite sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. Blaise Pascal

Yet, There is no chance and anarchy in the universe. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Order and structure prevail.

Plato described astronomy and music as "twinned" studies of sensual recognition: astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, and both requiring knowledge of numerical proportions.  Pythagoras identified the proportions of Celestial bodies to define the music of the spheres which Kepler later believed to be inaudible except by the soul. Boethius described it as musica mundana or musica universalis reflecting the beauty of God.

Due to the marvels of science we can now listen to the sounds of the universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzL10r8AeQ8&ab_channel=SkyNews

 It has been said that if men would but rest in silence, they might always hear the music of the spheres. Arthur Helps.

Recently I had the opportunity to meditate within Matramandir. This 24k golden orb is the spiritual centre of Auroville in India.  Ascending the walkway towards the upper chamber we transcended from  the hot dusty gardens into a white domed chamber of palpable silence. A single beam of light from the centre of the ceiling cut through the darkness to a large crystal orb surrounded by 12 white marble columns.  In minutes I felt at One, as One.

Oftentimes clients relate a similar feeling after a gong bath.  If We are all of us just stardust shaped into conscious being. S.J. Kincaid then wouldn’t we expect the  universe to affect us profoundly in all possible ways? Steve Madison

The gongs are the means to open this portal of silence to connect with the cosmic sound.

Even birds do it

Watch this video to hear this bird snore…..

All of us snore occasionally (men 2x more than women) although we do not wish to admit it.  Chronic snoring may increase your risk of certain health conditions and it is worse when you are tired, leading to a vicious cycle of disrupted or light sleep resulting in being even more tired the next day.  Frequent snoring and pauses in breathing or sleep apnea are associated with a greater likelihood of depression, decreased cognitive functioning, sleepiness during the day and greater risks of accidents .

Snoring occurs when air can’t flow easily through your nose or mouth due to relaxed throat tissue (or your tongue) vibrating on each breath.  Usually the snorer is oblivious. Some receivers tolerate it, some self-regulate with noise reducing headsets, cover their heads with a pillow or sleep in a different bedroom. Few tolerate it.  This is why prior to each gong bath I suggest that if you know you are likely to snore, to please lie on your side, otherwise I’ll be nudging your foot.

There are a number of tools, devices and apps available to help you monitor your sleep cycles to improve your sleep hygiene.  Regular gong baths are extremely effective. Our study last year of executives receiving gong baths for 20 min once a week for 12 weeks resulted in 100% improvement in sleep; 83% decrease in perceived stress and 73% improvement in overall wellbeing. 

For the next few weeks I will briefly introduce aspects of sleep hygiene in our Thursday evening gong sessions. I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Brittle and broken vs clear and strong

In the last ten years VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambivalent) was used to describe changing circumstances in the business world.  However a new framework was needed to identify emerging trends and opportunities for innovation. Jamais Cascio created the acronym BANI where-

• Brittleness could be met by resilience and slack.

• Anxiety can be eased by empathy and mindfulness.

• Nonlinearity would need context and flexibility.

• Incomprehensibility asks for transparency and intuition. 

Sounds insurmountable.  How to find a solution?
Looking to the east we see that in Sanskrit Bani means speech, or a group of people held together by the same system or methods of music.  I invite you to consider the benefits of regular gong baths as an antidote to BANI because they…. 

• Reduce stress and pain

• offer relief from anxiety

• improve sleep and release emotional blockages

• enhance mood towards positivity and optimism

• Improve focus, mental clarity and stimulate creative insights

• elicit profound physical restoration and boosts capacity

• offers deep peace and inner calm

Imagine combining gong baths in a team environment and the result of sharing this unique experience is improved communication, collaboration and morale; boosting camaraderie, motivation, productivity and creativity.  All it takes is 20 minutes once a week on a regular basis.  What are you waiting for?

Two things can't grow in one place

Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow. Frances Hodgson Burnett
 
In the book The Secret Garden the author states that thoughts are as powerful as electric batteries…. To let a sad (bad) thought get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live.
 
Her solution was to retreat to her famous rose garden where two things cannot grow in one place. FHB. Therefore when a discouraged thought comes into mind, have the sense to push it out.
 
This week, I invite you to cultivate our own garden. Voltaire
Imagine Red Doors as your personal secret garden. A place to receive the vibrations of the gongs, to let go the busy mind to be replaced with a sense of calm, hope and positivity.

Sometimes I just sit

There are days where I lose track of time, of place, of everything else, because I've been transported to another universe. Susan Isaacs

Sitting in front of a fire with the incessant pattering of light rain on the leaves outside, all is well, all is at peace. Time to moodle.  Of daydreaming, letting your mind wander, losing track of time, and, in the most severe cases... doing nothing.  Paige Britt

 Gill Edwards author of Living Magically describes moodling as gentle downtime spent with nowhere to go, nowhere to be and nothing to do. This allows us to quieten the mind, open to higher wisdom, and greater creativity. 

We turn off our computers and phones at night. This week try turning off your busy brain - you may be surprised.

Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits. A. A. Milne

when night equals day

Today we celebrate the summer solstice. In Latin it means sol– or “the sun” and sistere “to make stand.” A time when night and day are in perfect balance.  The still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath. Margaret Atwood

Here, all is green and growing, potential coming into being, the miracle of manifestation painted large on the canvas of awareness. Gary Zukav. It is a time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal. Sarah Ban Breathnach  A time of warmth, fertility and harvest.

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.  St. Francis of Assisi

Our shadows at noon are small pools at our feet. We celebrate light and honor the wisdom of the shadows. In connecting with the natural world in a way that honors the sacred immanence in all things, we establish a resonance with the seasons. Dacha Avelin

It is a time to connect with nature and to celebrate the harvest of life. Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close. Jon Ruskin

Spread your wings

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone, when the unknown becomes a better option than the known.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney  You have to take a leap of faith to realize the dream, and this is something that a lot of people aren’t willing to do. Ron Bramlett The challenging part is in the beginning. But I think the most important thing is to just do it. Start. Tom Szaky For He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Mohammad Ali

First, you leap, and then you grow wings. William Sloane Coffin

There is no going back.  Happy Trails Dylan