Meditation: A Sound Practice
A patient of mine requested this article. She hadn’t heard that I had begun offering a meditation on Fridays at 10 a.m., as she hadn’t seen me for about a year. “You should tell your story”, she said. So here it is regarding the decision to offer this sound meditation.
I was walking in my neighborhood near Coldwater Creek and noticed the new signs regarding the community garden. So moved was I that my little community had begun to be involved in providing for the local food pantry and networking with other groups like the St. Louis Zoo to create habitat for the bees, that I wanted to participate. I happened to run into the caretakers of the garden who enlightened me on the projects. Not having a lot of extra time to dedicate to the garden project itself, I came upon the idea of offering a meditation that might add energy to the project from a different perspective.
In 2002, I began a meditation practice that is part of the energy medicine that I now practice professionally. It has enhanced my own life considerably. I felt it could enhance the lives of my patients as well. It involves sitting, standing, or lying quietly while breathing deeply in a relaxed manner into that area we call the “Tan Den”. Tan Den is located just below the navel.
This area is the center of our physical energy/being. When we breathe into it, that energy center is fortified. When we then breathe out from this space, that fortified energy is moved through our energetic system which is the basis for our physical form.
Kototama practice adds sound. So as one breathes out from ones physical center, a sound emanates/vibrates through the vocal cords sustaining the exhale. In the Kototama practice there are fifty sounds used in varying patterns. By doing this, it is believed, we gain a relaxation that stimulates our healing mechanism called the parasympathetic system which is an aspect of our autonomic nervous system.
Recently online news has reported on a study regarding another system’s sound meditation called Kirtan Kriya, a Kundalini yoga practice. Dr. Dharma Khalsa of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and the medical director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation in Tucson, AZ performed a small study with Alzheimer’s patients.
That study shows that twelve minutes a day of sound meditation improves memory. Good news for me since my own Father of 90 years suffers dementia and my maternal grandmother died near 100 with what seemed to be Alzheimer’s. I want to be proactive in maintaining my memory and in supporting good health in all stages of life.
Masaru Emoto in Japan studies the effect of words on water. He and his followers put words on beakers of water or speak words to beakers of water. They then freeze the water while looking at the crystallization under a microscope. Words that are positive in nature, such as the word ‘love’, form complete crystals. Words that are negative in nature, such as ‘stupid’ form incomplete crystals.
He has broadened his research to bodies of water. He and his followers go to polluted bodies of water and chant positive affirmations. They took samples prior to the chanting and then after. They find that the water is cleaner after the chanting.
And recently I saw an article about John Hutchinson, an electro-magnetic energy expert out of Canada, who is helping to clean up the Gulf near Alabama with sound. And in Russia, two scientists (Grazyna Fosar and Franz Bludorf) have research that offers proof that DNA can be re-programmed by words and frequencies.
Exciting news for one who practices sound meditation regularly and who lives in an area that recently is in the news regarding previous radioactive pollution of Coldwater Creek and potential radioactive pollution from Westlake Landfill. During our meditations I am sure to have the healing energy blanket nearby. And I wear blue lapis lazuli with the intention it protects me from potential radiation damage and resonates with our sound to rejuvenate my region.
Folk lore regarding blue lapis lazuli shares with Fosar and Bludorf’s sound discovery the re-programming attribute. Blue lapis also aids in protecting and rejuvenating DNA and RNA. I have lived in North County St. Louis Missouri all my life. It is an excellent place to live, work, and play. The people are down to earth and friendly. I want to keep it a vibrant and vital community.
And so the practice of our sound meditations are finished by sending healing energy to the body of water known as Coldwater Creek, all the lands that it touches, and all those who have been negatively impacted by the past pollution of it. We also send energy to the community garden with the intention of high nutrition and increase in harvest.
We meet most Friday mornings at ten a.m. performing the twelve minutes of sound meditation with the Kototama sound philosophy practice. All are welcome.
In the Spring through the Fall, while weather permits, we meet at the area next to the Florissant Community Garden. Bring your own lawn chair or towel to sit upon during meditation. During the winter months, our small group meets at my office (Improved Performance Inc., 895 rue St. Francois, Florissant, MO 63031, 314-921-3366).
A small donation is suggested. Please join us and begin improving your memory, gaining relaxation, and aiding North County in its healing journey.