SOUNDtoHEAL

2011-05-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

Hatha Yoga and Sound Healing Day Retreat

Moving into Stillness

Yoga and Sound Meditation

The Day will comprise of

Nourishing and Restorative Yoga Practice

Sound Bath Meditation

Kundalini Voice Meditation

Pranayama Breath Exercises and Chanting

Rest and Relaxation

With Kim Brockett Yoga B.W.Y. Teacher

Christina Ashby - Sound Healer MCoSH

Saturday 18th June, 10am - 3.30pm

Sheepscombe Village Hall, Nr Stroud

£40.00

For details and to secure a place contact

christina@soundtoheal.com

07425 151 933

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

The Music of the Spheres

2011-05-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for coming last night. I hope you enjoyed exploring the music of our cosmos!
As requested, I am posting the sounds of Saturn with the link if you want to explore more.

Hear the sounds of Saturn:

http://www.nasa.gov/wav/123163main_cas-skr1-112203.wav

Cosmic Harmony

2011-05-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Talk and Sound Bath

with Christina Ashby

Aquarius Severn Astrology Society

26th May 2011

8.00 - 10.00pm

Isbourne Holistic Centre

Cheltenham

The Music of the Spheres

Music uplifts, heals and connects us to the eternal. How? Like Nature, Music is made up of patterns which interconnect between themselves. It is these ordered harmonic patterns that hold the fabric of the universe together.

We are all integrated musical beings co-existing in a musical cosmos. Join Christina Ashby to explore and experience cosmic music. Learn how sacred instruments and sacred harmonies touch upon our lives. See how sound is used to heal the body and re-energise and revitalise the mind and soul.

The evening will begin with a small presentation on the philosophy of sound healing, looking in depth at the affects of sound on nature, the sounds of the Earth’s mysterious audio-frequency music, and sound on the body. This will be followed by a ‘bija’ seed sound meditation and a sound bath. Bring a yoga mat and blanket for the sound bath if desired.

Christina is a trained Sound Healer and musician. She studied at the College of Sound Healing with one of the world's leading Sound Healers and Shamanic teachers Simon Heather. She also trained as a classical singer, with performance work in England and Europe and also works for the Peace and Prosperity Trust, a charity using music as a healing art form for peace in the Middle East. Christina works with groups using music as a tool for meditation and is also collaborating with other artists to create healing art music on a performance level.

Harpists in Japan

2011-05-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

The International Harp Therapy College is doing some much needed work in Japan after the terrible quakes. They are using harps in hospitals, and with children as a form of music therapy.

You can follow their blog about this work here
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?EmeraldHarpProductio/705f11b8bc/d3f724a1f9/c686752bef

My Heart's in the Highlands

2011-01-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderful piece by Arvo Part that I wanted to share. It is a wonderful example of a composer working with only a very few elements - one voice and one instrument. We use this concept a lot in Sound therapy where the repetition of one note allows the person to enter a meditative space very quickly. It also values that particular note, which somehow allows the person to feel an expansive feeling, which is inspirational, releasing and uplifting.

See how you feel as you listen to this piece.

Arvo Part - My Heart's in the Highlands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRDtrsuIEk8&feature=related

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe; (=ree)
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go. Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North
The birth place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below; (=breed dal)
Farewell to the forrests and wild-hanging woods;
Farwell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, whereever I go.

Sound Bath Meditations - 4 Week Course Feb. 2011

2011-01-12T08:51:00.000-08:00

For those who seek deep relaxation, meditation and rejuventation, experience our 60 min. sonic healing sessions. Using sacred instruments, your body will be bathed in exquisite sound, resulting in waves of peace, heightened awareness and relaxation of the mind, body and soul.

5th February - 26th February 2011

Sat. 10-11.00am
Quaker Meeting House

Painswick, Glouc.

GL6

Contact: 07871 402 785

£7.00 per session

The Arc of the Rainbow

2010-11-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Last night our group talked and meditated on the chakras and their importance in life. It was a lovely, intense and life-giving session.
The next day the skies were awash with rainbows, and my daughter and I marvelled at their beauty.
And then I wondered, could it be that in a strange otherworldly way 'Iris' - Goddess of the Rainbow and messenger of the Gods, was trying to send me a message? It struck me how the vivid colours of the rainbow match so remarkably well with the colours of the chakras, with the exact alignment of the 7 fundamental chakras along the spine. Even the radiance in colour that we see in the rainbow, is exactly how, in the Upanishads, it is told that the chakras glow with light and colour. Colour is sound that cannot be heard, extremely fine wavelengths. In mythology the rainbow is a bridge to the otherworld, to heaven. A link between this world and others. It is found in Greek mythology, and in Old Norse it is called Bifrost, a burning rainbow bridge between our world and that of the Gods. It also signifies our own raising of consciousness. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, is the elixir of life, found here on earth, if we take the journey along the rainbow bridge. It is a strong reminder of the prophecy of the 'Warriors of the Rainbow', a native American story that many believe is about our time right now.
Of course, as often is the case with me, a song came to mind, and yes it speaks of the rainbow colours of ourselves, and how important it is to trust them, and to always be present in them no matter what life throws at you.....

True Colors

Cyndi Lauper

"You with the sad eyes

Don't be discouraged

Oh I realise

It's hard to take courage

In a world full of people

You can lose sight of it all

And the darkness inside you

Can make u feel so small

But I see your true colours

Shinin through

I see your true colours

And thats why I love you

So don't be afraid to let them show

Your true colours are beautiful

Like a rainbow.

Show me a smile then
Don't be unhappy, can't remember
when I last saw you laughing

If this world makes you crazy

and you've taken all you can bear

You can call me up

Because u know I'll be there."

Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZDjnWtK1A

A Rainbow Meditation by my friend Kelvin;

http://www.kelvinheardhealer.org/oneworldspirit/index.html

Sounds of the Chakras Meditation - Week 5

2010-11-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

Chakras are energy centres in our body. They are wheel like in form and link the energy bodies to the physical body. There are 7 main chakras, and many minor chakras. They can turn in a clockwise, and sometimes anti clockwise direction. Unresolved emotions or negative thoughts will cause an imbalance in the chakras. This imbalance can lead to illness and prevent us from realising our dreams.

Each chakra is linked with a different gland and different organs in the body. Each chakra is associated with different issues we face on our journey through life. They control and energise the vital organs of the body and work like power stations to supply life energy to the whole body.
According to the Upanishad scriptures of ancient India everything in the uni - verse is made of sound. The ancient scriptures talk about each chakra having a 'bija mantra' or 'seed sound'. These sounds can be looked at as symbolic representations of the energy patterns of each chakra, and holds its essence.
As we see in 'The Law of Correspondence', the energy body and the visible physical body affect each other. By healing the energy body, the visible physical body gets healed in the process.
Try this as a cleanse for your chakras:

Sounds of the Chakras - Guided Meditation CD- Simon Heather
www.simonheather.co.uk

Try this online chakra test to see how your chakras are balanced. Lots of fun.
www.eclecticenergies.com

Healing Mantra - Shushmana Mantra

2010-10-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

RA MA DA SA- Heal Yourself, your loved ones, the Earth.

“Sun-Moon-Earth-Infinity-Infinity-I Am Thou”

Ra - Sun Energy

Ma - Moon Energy

Da - Earth Energy

Sa - Infinity, universal energy

Sa - Repeat in second half of mantra

Say - The personal embodiment of Sa

So - The personal sense of merger with Sa

Hung - The Infinite, vibrating and real

I am Thou, the service of God is within me

This mantra transforms an imbalanced and unhealthy body into a harmonious, healthy one. It burns the seed of disease. It connects you with the pure healing energy of the Universe. It can generate beneficial energy in hospital rooms and places of recovery. Those who chant this mantra will age in grace.

“Divine Intelligence, purify my whole being so I May be a perfect channel for healing energy. So be it.”

End: Inhale deeply, hold your breath and visualize the person you want to send healing to (it can be yourself). Make that image in your mind very clear and see a glowing green light around the person. Keeping that person in your mind, exhale. Inhale deeply, hold your breath and continue to send the person healing green light. Still keeping that vision in your mind, exhale. For the last time, inhale deeply, hold your breath and see the person very clearly, see the green healing light bathing the person, bathing every cell in the body. Exhale and relax.

Minutes:

3 minutes of meditation affects the electromagnetic field (aura) as well as the circulation and stability of blood.

11 minutes of meditation begins to change the nerves and the glandular system.

22 minutes of meditation balances the 3 minds - Positive, Negative and Neutral - and they begin to work together

31 minutes of meditation allows glands,breath and concentration to affect all cells and rhythms of the body. It lets the psyche of the meditation affect the 31 Gunas, all 31 tattvas and all layers of the mind's projections.

62 minutes of meditation changes grey matter in the brain. The subconscious "shadow mind" and the outer projection are integrated.

2 1/2 hours of meditation changes the psyche in its correlation with the surrounding magnetic field so that the subconscious mind is held firmly in the new pattern by the surrounding universal mind.

Days:

40 Days - It takes 40 days to change a habit. A 40 day meditation provokes the subconscious to let go of old habits of thought and emotion that hinder you.

90 Days - It takes 90 days to confirm the habit.

120 Days - In 120 days the new habit is who you are

1000 Days - In 1000 days you have mastered the new habit.

As taught by Yogi Bhajan.

"When a musical instrument is out of tune, it creates discord. Similarly when human beings are out of harmony with the divine order of things, we draw disharmony and disunity to us. Swimming against the tide, we exhaust ourselves but get nowhere. To keep yourself in tune and find your own note within the rhythm of life, you have to learn the art of vibrating the word. The more you vibrate the word, the more clearly you can reflect on the qualities of your soul. In turn, you will find that you are in harmony with yourself, and that internal harmony will be project into your life. Once you are in tune with life, life flows smoothly. You do everything at the right time and everything falls perfectly into place. All you have to do is vibrate the word so as to find your direct contact with the creator. Then keep sounding your particular note loud and clear and take your place within the vast orchestra of life. Miracle upon miracle will come about and this way of living will become normal because you are in tune with God through the power of the Word."
—Joseph Michael Levry, "The Code of the Masters"

Week 2 and 3 - Sound Bath Meditations

2010-10-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Science of Naad Yoga - The yoga of Sound

Naad is the essence of all sound. In Naad yoga, sound is used as a teacher. It is a "quantum" use of sound, because it manipulates the smallest particles of sound and energy, and focuses them to achieve the primary goals of yoga. Balance, energy, vitality and the transformation of energy into fine consciousness. We learn in Naad Yoga, that sound in itself is capable of awakening deep states of mystical consciousness that lead to healing and spiritual transformation. This works, miraculously with a gentle steady sound, not brash and loud.

How do we utilise sound for this purpose? A mantra is a sonic tool that we use for directing sound. We use mantras to work through and cut away at old patterns, like a sculptor chipping away at all that is extraneous in order to reveal the inner self, the true self. When we sing mantras, we use yoga of the tongue. There are 84 meridian points located on the roof of the mouth. The movement of the tongue, during mantras, stimulates these meridian points and therefore stimulates the secretion of neurotransmission fluids.

Repetition, pulse and timing is key to a successful mantra. It is a very good way of meditating, as any distractions of the mind are eroded by the continual sound.

Try a mantra next time you meditate.
Vedic chants - Morning
Tantric chants - Afternoon
Devotional Mantras - Evening - Like Om Namah Shivaya
www.spiritvoyage.com
www.yogamusic.wordpress.com

Sound Bath Meditations - Isbourne Holistic Centre

2010-10-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Grounding - Week 1

We start this 5 week meditation course with the theme of Grounding.

The practise of grounding yourself is an essential component to a healthy lifestyle. The process of grounding helps to connect your body's energy to the energy field of the earth. Our body has an electrical circuit running through it, which is directly linked to the earth and also to the sky. Feet are the negative pole of the body. When we are grounded energy flows through our body, into the earth and vital energy from the earth flows up into our body. Through meditation one can find a deep state of groundedness. Using the tree root meditation, helps bring your awareness into the now, not the past or future. It helps one to develop a strong sense of being.

When we are grounded and relaxed, we know what to do in each moment without needing to think about it.

Being Ungrounded

You may feel as if you are not your normal self. You may feel 'spaced out' or 'with the fairies'. You may also feel highly sensitive and moody, where problems in your life seem to build out of proportion. Thinking too much, where energy is rising to the head, is a very common occurrence in our society. We are constantly performing mental, intellectual activities in our jobs and professions, taking us away from that grounded, rooted feeling.
Most people have experienced some trauma in their life. This can cause 'soul loss', where part of our energy is no longer in our body but stuck in a past event that we haven't come to terms with. This will cause us to be ungrounded and not in present time.

Sound Bath Meditation
We will explore grounding through sound meditation. Using instruments, we will be guided into a place of rootedness, where, from the void, we ground our being.
When grounded, creative energy flows through our bodies, like electricity.

Other ways of Grounding....

Take off your shoes and walk on the Earth.
Eat lots of root vegetables, slowly.
Hold the crystal Obsidian or Smokey Quartz.
Walk in the woods, nature, and let the wind blow around you.
Stamp your feet, dance.
Sing a deep sound.

Sound Bath Meditation week 1
The Isbourne Holistic Centre
4 Wolseley Terrace, Cheltenham
Gloucestershire, GL50 1TH
Fri. 7.30 - 8.30, October 8th, 2010.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

2010-08-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, .....

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Tennyson.

Bells accompany a person from the cradle to the grave. Their sound sings for joy when we are born and resounds gravely when we die. Bells are a transitional instrument. They remind us that we are going to move into a new state of mindfulness, a moment of transition from one dimension to the other.
We hear the bells in church ringing, cleansing the earth, the rivers, the trees and the air. Their silvery tones cleanse us. Preparing, purifying the moment. Helping a person to leave behind all that is not needed in the process of transition.
Bells announce the beginning and end of meditation. The commencement and fruition of worship.
This instrument has a significance in this transitional time, symbolised by the sacred geometric shape of Vesica Pisces. The movement of the ages from Pisces to Aquarius. Much change is happening in the stars and in our lives. Bells are a wonderful healing tool to cleanse and accompany that change!

In love with crystal ......

2010-06-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

I think I am in love with my crystal bowls. Look how they glow in these pictures, they really have the most amazing presence about them.

We took these pictures in a beautiful bluebell wood, in Gloucestershire, where we hope to be soon doing an outside sound bath in a natural-formed rock amphitheatre - watch this space for dates.

Crystal bowls create a sine wave form of pure energy that travels through physical objects. The sound of a bowl can be carried up to a third of a mile away. The sound of these bowls in the woods was so powerful, there was a real cleansing feeling about it. It is thought that the quartz crystal of the bowl has an affinity with the crystalline structure of our bones - a calcium phosphate crystal called Apatite. The sine waves created vibrate the bodies cavities, which it is thought affects the crystalline structure of our bones, teeth, skull and much more. Through sympathetic vibration and entrainment, the sounds are retraining your system to vibrate to it's highest potential.

River Sounding

2010-05-24T12:31:00.000-07:00


River Sounding - Bill Fontana

I went to a wonderful exhibition this week in London called River Sounding. A sound installation that creates an acoustic journey through the hidden sound worlds of the River Thames.
The exhibition's creator, Bill Fontana is one of the world's leading sound artists. He installed the exhibition in the vaults of Somerset House, giving a very atmospheric appeal to the work. The Thames once flowed into Somerset House, which in itself is an architectural oasis in the heart of London, and well worth a visit.
I really recommend seeing this exhibition. It's unusual! I came away feeling how in an extremely visual society, we forget how much sound plays an important part in our everyday world. We are often taught that anything we can see and touch are the things that exists, that are true. This exhibition offers a conceptual alternative, reminiscent of Platonic philosophy, that anything the eye can see is a surface appearance, behind which is a complex matrix of substance and reality.

15th April - 31 May

Admission Free

Choirs Heal

2010-03-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

How to sing in a choir and have fun!!!

Choirs are back in fashion. Why? Because they bring people together, they are great for your health, and are fantastic places to socialise.

Thanks to Gareth Malone, from 'The Choir is Back' BBC, choirs are showing how music can hold a fractured community together, as well as sparking confidence and life into people of all ages.

What about your health?
New scientific studies, as well as practise based projects are showing that singing helps the body in all sorts of ways. Deep breathing and voice sounding builds muscles, pumps the blood more effectively through the body, lowers blood pressure and stimulates the production of beta endorphin, a natural painkiller. Learning new music works the brain like learning a new language. Singing keeps you young and happy.
... and what about socialising?
Well, I have made many great friends through choir and singing, not to mention the love of my life!! Who knows who you might meet in a choir.
The best bit of all, I think about being in a choir, is it is the only time you get the opportuinity to be completely bathed in gorgeous sound and harmony. It sends shivers down my spine when the choir hits a chord and holds it. To be immersed in harmony like that is great for your health and your soul. Believe me, it is a wonderful experience.
Follow the links for some interesting reading:
BBC Choirs
Health and Choirs
Best New Age Choir

Harmoniya in February 2010

2010-02-24T03:05:00.000-08:00

Photo from Stroud News and Journal

We had a great day on February 14th for World Sound Healing Day. My lovely sound healer friend and I gave a sound bath and guided meditation at the Cotswold Health Clinic in Stroud, Gloucestershire. We used crystal bowls, harp, voice and singing bowls.
I hope to do more of them in the future. We raised money for the Wildlife Trust, and did lots of healing and sent lots of love out to Gaia.
World Sound Healing Day has now been recognised by the Global Conciousness Project. noosphere.princeton.edu/

Have a resounding February. Try your own at home mini Sound Bath.....

Lie in a comfortable place on your back with a throw over you, or in bed.

Place some cleansed crystals around your body, or hold a heart crystal in your hand.

Then calmly play an Om meditation CD, or powerful affirmation CD with chanting. (best results when using soundproof headphones)

Allow the music to wash over you, and relax.