TrueSoundHealing.com

TRUESOUNDHEALING.COM

Sound Healing

NEW Deep Relaxation Session for 2009 now available!

Over the years, the practice of meditation has been increasingly important and central in my life. I have practiced a wide variety of techniques and methods for relaxation and meditation. Sitting meditation, breathing deeply, stilling one's thoughts, and holding a centered focus on one's breath has proven itself to be the most useful practice I have found for experiencing peace within myself. As I practiced stilling my thoughts and staying centered, I found that sound in one's environment can play a large role in the experience of meditative practice. Even music composed for relaxation or "new age" music often has emotionally evocative tonal elements that color the experience, and often provides more of a distraction of focus rather than a deepening. At the same time, music had always played a major role in my life and I felt I had gained a lot from my experiences listening to all varieties of it. I wanted to understand what sounds would be conducive to meditation and remaining centered.

In the Spring of 2003, I enrolled in the MFA program at Mills College, Oakland CA, in Electronic Music & Recording Media. Mills had been suggested to me as a next step at a workshop I attended by Pauline Oliveros, of the Deep Listening Institute, who was a Mills graduate. The purpose of her foundation and music was to connect the practice of meditation with the composition and performance of music. The expanded pratice of "deep listening" felt natural to me; a form of meditation through observing sound in one's environment, much as a candle flame might serve as a visual focus for centering the mind. As I began to study music as a healing or meditative modality, I learned about traditional uses of music to induce trance states and altered states of consciousness, dating from thousands of years in the past up to present advances in technology. Some of the most interesting work I first came across in my studies was that of Robert Monroe and the Monroe Institute.

Robert Monroe found that by applying a steady audio signal at slightly different frequencies in the left and right ear, the difference between the frequencies would produce a synchronization in the hemispheres of the brain and a shift in the frequency of the listener's brainwaves in resonance with the applied sound. For example, if a 200hz tone was played in the left ear, and a 210hz tone in the right ear, the listener would experience a "pulsation" in his perception of the sound, and his brain would start producing more balanced activity centered around 10hz, the difference between the signals. The synchronization of the brain hemipheres and presence of alpha brainwaves (brainwave activity between ~8-12hz) is characteristic of Zen monks or anyone experiencing a natural meditation state. With this technology, Monroe and others found that the brainwave states conducive to meditation, as well as sleep, enhanced memory retention and other brain states, could be induced through the listening to these special tones which were termed "binaural beat frequencies." For a more thorough explanation of this technology, please read my MFA thesis posted in the Writing section, entitled The Use Of Sound For Control, Healing and Empowerment.

Based on my research with which I wrote my thesis, I began creating meditation recordings using simple, soothing binaural beat frequencies combined with natural environment recordings and instrumental improvisations. Each recording I have produced focuses on a different brainwave state and intention for the meditation. I have most frequently used binaural beat recordings to facilitate relaxation and sleep, and have also used it as a meditational aid to stimulate and focus on the Chakra energy centers of the body. I have recorded positive affirmations and guided visualizations to play alongside the tones in meditation. Binaural beat recordings have also been used in lucid dream induction, memory enhancement or "super learning" states, and stimulating alertness and focused energy. I have observed my own meditative practice deepen and have experienced many paradigm-shift experiences in my perception of the world and my self. I have always found the sound healing meditation recordings to be safe and calming and have never experienced any adverse reactions. Binaural beats are a safe and natural way to balance the hemispheres of your brain and help the experiential learning of meditative brain states. The benefits and experience of meditative states continue after use of the recordings. It is a continuously unfolding process.

My recordings feature almost all, if not all, the same technologies used on the more expensive productions available and I can confidently state that, based on the research I have done, the results should be basically identical. I have decided to offer a selection of my recordings for free on the internet, and request that if you find them helpful in your own experience to please consider donating to our Paypal account. Your donation will grant you access to even more exclusive sound healing meditation recordings (including a Chakra Balancing session and positive affirmation meditation) plus DJ Tanuki dance mixes, with printable cover art and liner notes.

(NEW): Deep Relaxation Session
length: 60:00

This recording is based on a binaural beat session I have been using to help sleep every night for the past year or so. It is a combination of three layers of binaural beats which gradually change over time, stimulating alpha and theta waves, which can help induce a very deep relaxed meditation and/or sleep. I have added two layers of NI Absynth tones, and a field recording of soft rain recorded in Japan back in 2001. The session is meant to be played at low volume, probably around 10% or even less for sleep, and can be played on repeat. For casual listening (or massage?) and to appreciate the full frequency effects it can be played louder. Give it a try, binaural beats really work!

download:

Harmonic Stress Reduction Meditation
length: 55:00

A soothing meditation for relieving tension, calming down and stilling the thoughts, or relaxing to sleep.

Three binaural tones create a shifting healing vibration, slowing the listener's brainwaves from the awake state of beta to the relaxed state of alpha and then down into the deep meditative states of theta and delta. A series of soothing frequencies slowly shift in tone, unfolding a series of distinct harmonic states. The main tonal centers are C, E, G and B, which are used to stimulate and harmonize the root, solar plexus, throat and crown chakras. Pure tones played in combination bring energy systems into a more harmonious alignment and allow energy to flow more freely. At the end, the listener is gently brought back to a relaxed alpha state.

A fourth tone voice pulses very slowly at a slightly higher pitch, focusing on these specific frequencies:
0.5hz "very relaxing, against headache" (Megabrain Germany), "for lower back pain" (AlphaStim research survey)
1.0hz "feeling of well-being, pituitary stimluation to release growth hormone; overall view of inter-relationships; harmony and balance" (Megabrain Germany)
1.45hz "tri-thalamic entrainment format. According to Ronald deStrulle, creates entrainment between hypothalamus, pituitary and pineal. May benefit dyslexics and people with Alzheimer's." (Sonic Entrainment, by Jonathan Goldman, in Music: Physician For Times To Come an anthology by Don Campbell)
2.5hz "pain relief, relaxation" (Megabrain Germany), "production of endogenous opiates" (Octaves and Windows, Equinox, April 1988)

Affirmations can also be played/spoken during the delta periods of the recording, allowing deeper entrainment into the subconscious mind.

download:

Heart and Crown Chakra Energizing Session
length: 33:00

A centering and focusing session, perfect for half-hour daily meditation practice, helping to wake up, or focusing at work.

Two binaural tones maintain a steady pulsation around the notes of F and B, traditionally associated with the Heart Chakra and Crown Chakra in the human energy system. The intent of this meditation is to awaken and balance these Chakras and create harmony between them.

The tones create a combination of 7hz and 14hz.

A singing bowl, composed of the Tibetan "seven sacred metals", is toned at the beginning and end of the recording to ground the listener.

download: P>

For access to more sound healing meditation recordings, in higher bitrate with printable covers, as well as other DJ Tanuki dance mixes, please consider donating to my Paypal account.