Om Sound Current
“Sound Currents” is a bit of a blend of a traditional Nada Yoga practice using mantra as a constant flow of sounds and contemporary musicians who explore vibration to effect external and internal pulses through a variety of instruments. For 1 hour you will be bathed in a constant vibrational frequency of sound. This constant flow will drown all external noises and focus your mind and calm your spine.
I’ve been researching, cultivating and mapping music to frequencies for some time now. As a personal healing I listen from 2 – 4hrs a day of sound current. I’ve also been playing subliminally vibrational sounds in my classes to see if it increased my awareness and energy while teaching and or had the same effects on the ability of the students to feel centered, energetic and calm during their practice. It works!
NADA
Nada Yoga – or called the sacred sound - shabd = word - is a process of uniting the individual mind with cosmic consciousness through the flow of sounds.
The Nanda is represented in writing as a crescent or semicircle - Ardha Chandra as in the sacred syllable OM = the absolute.
The nada is thought to originate in the center of the spine, what the Chyana-bindu Upanishad calls the fiddlestick. It is said to be the inner sound or vehicle, which will transport the yogin beyond the ocean of phenomenal existence. When it is audible TO the yogin, the network of psycho-energetic currents become purified as this constant flow of sound works to drown all external noises and focus the mind.
Sound or Nada meditation is the most powerful path to self-realization. The reason being that of the 5 elements (panchamahabhuta) which form the microcosm of the body and the macrocosm of the universe, the element of space is the most primal. Space is connected with the ear, and the ear is the receptacle to sound. In that way sound is ht eprima experience of all. It is also the most accurate of the 4 senses. In the mother's womb the first sense organ to develop and mature is the ear, and the sensation of the sound is the last to disappear during the dying process.*
This sound manifests in a variety of ways: the sound of a conch, the ocean, waterfalls, big drum, a bell and to a higher degree the sound of a bamboo flute, a bee humming or the absolute sound the (Negha-nada) a thundercloud.
The Hamsa Upanishad speaks of ten modes of the inner sound, these phenomena’s are described as follows: tremor of the head, the profuse production of the ambrosial nectar of immortality- amrita, the acquisition of secret knowledge, higher speech (Pare-vaca), the ability to make oneself invisible and to see infinitely.*
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika mentions the explosion of (inner) sound – Nada Sphutatva, as a sign of perfection OR when the river of consciousness is impeded by the ego, Nada or special sounds can remove the obstruction allowing the river of individual consciousness to unite with its source, the ocean of pure consciousness.*
MANTRA
For this practice I’ve also chosen to use the repetition of certain mantras. The practice of mantric recitation is one of the earliest components of Yoga and it is one of the more useful tools the yogi’s use for vibration and focus.
Mantra from the root “to think” and the suffix TRA, suggesting instrumentality, thought or intention expressed as sound. It can denote “prayer, hymn, counsel and or plan”.
OM is the absolute sound.
The Kula-arnava-Tantra defines it as follows. “Mantra is so called because it saves one from all “fear through pondering (manana) the luminous deity who is of the form of “Reality” however, this is only one of the purposes to which mantras are put. They are also frequently employed as simple magical devices to achieve worldly ends.*
A mantra can be a single syllable bija or seed sound or a string of phonemes that have no apparent meaning, it can also consist of a whole meaningful sentence, as in the case of the ancient “Gayarti mantra. Some mantras correspond to different deities. Kali = Krim…
SCIENCE
NASA has been measuring a frequency that the earth emanates from space consistently now for 50yrs, it is known as the Schullman Resonance. The interesting thing about this is that every single living creature on our planet, even if they are consciously aware of it or not, are being affected by this frequency. *
It been proven that certain frequencies nourish the brain or what is called psychoacoustics. Sustaining a rhythm or vibrational tempo of 100 beats per minute for approx 5 minutes relatively loudly, can actually cause your heartbeat, your breathing, your digestion, your brainwaves, and certain body pulses to remember and respond.*
One technique, known as melodic intonation therapy, uses music to coax portions of the brain into taking over for those that are damaged. In some cases, it can help patients regain their ability to speak.*
“The gravitational field will ultimately be disclosed as ultra high-frequency tensegrity geodesic spheres. Nothing else.”
Buckminster Fuller. 3/8/73
REFERENCES
The Shambhola Encyclopedia of Yoga. Georg Feuerstein.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The Yoga Tattve Upanishad
Nikola Tesla
Alex Theory
Buckminster Fuller
The Resonance Project
The Power of music to affect the brain
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/01/136859090/the-power-of-music-to-affect-the-brain
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The Hamsa Upanishad