Portal of Sound

I have always loved music and musicians who can take you on otherworldly trips with their passion and complete immersion into the journey of sound they are creating, bringing you into sympathetic vibration. Years ago, at my storefront, Thieves Boutique on Queen St. West in Toronto and during the annual art event, Nuit Blanche, that takes over the city streets all night long, the very talented and passionate Dr. Draw was playing his violin with his band of troubadours playing didgeridoo, drums box and cello, lit up in the window like mischievous forest elves. He transported all to another planet, like pure spirit energy moving and transcending the mundane. Or on the beaches of Tulum where Leo Prakash sat cross legged playing sitar on a Persian rug next to his friend playing guitar and another playing flute, as we all sat on bean bag chairs in the sand, under the stars and the beautiful music lifted us into the stratosphere, floating in being with musical notes. Or on New Years Eve at a Church Venue in Hamilton where the galactic magician, David Hickey, took us on one of his Crystal Journeys as we lay on the floor on yoga mats, blankets and pillows while he moved seamlessly through his gongs, crystal bowls and Persian santoor, with the deftness of a magician, expanding us into a new dimension of possibility through deep cellular transformation of sound, where you could be no place other then the place of pure consciousness. Least to say, a musician who feels into the sound with such presence and passionate awareness, and becomes the sound, moves me, and I am sure others, in a way that cannot be expressed through words, it becomes otherworldly. This is where freedom exists, where transformation can happen because of a letting go and being left with the only choice of being present in what is. Music is healing. So yes, I love music, I love that sound healing has come into my world, finally instruments that felt natural for me to use because they require a meditative mind and presence, like yoga.

I had been to sound baths that were so healing and magical, but being able to have the right to play these instruments of sound vibration myself, felt like a fantasy that was not available to me… Until one day after a series of challenging life circumstances and a breakup, that had me moving 5 times in 2 months, and brought me from Toronto to Guelph to take refuge with my ever nurturing and kindness angel friend, Gisele, in her home with another new friend, Eva. My first weekend there, Eva invited me for a walk to pick up her paintings at an art show at Silence, were Gary Diggins is based out of, with his room of hundreds of instruments, he is an international multi instrumental artist, a therapist and sound healer and offers these amazing group participant sound journeys called Sonica’s (I highly recommend checking them out). Well, that weekend he was offering a workshop on how to facilitate sound journeys and sound experiences in order for people to do their internal healing work. He kindly invited me, to join in as a welcome to Guelph. The portal opened, with gratitude and awe, I walked through. My new housemate Eva was also a sound healer, her room was filled with gongs, dulcimers, chimes, xylophones, steel tongue drums, rattles and more. Well that room was just magic and healing for me. We were both processing breakups, I was also busy with TCM school in Toronto and driving back and forth everyday, but we would get on the Gongs and work out all our emotions, making sounds that reverberated into space and our cells, sometimes deep and building, sometimes sounds of whales in space, sometimes we would journey so deep and loud that I feared we would shatter the skylight above, while other times, the gentle sounds of chimes or harmonium and chanting would sweeten the heart. Whatever it was, I loved it and was so grateful for this opening. Then one day Gisele came home with a set of crystal bowls for us along with some magical Koshi Chimes, and I knew I was in deep and the universal energy of life was making this gift to me in such an easy way, as if gently nudging me along a path that I had no idea I have the right to, nor where it is going, but I will stay present with this portal. Sometimes in life we are fighting so hard, hustling so hard, working so hard to make things happen, and sometimes things that you don’t even realize can be a reality for you show up in ways that are so in flow, that you just have to say yes.

Now that I have moved to Cedar Healing Arts, I have continued on the journey with sound, using my bowls, gong, and chimes with other instruments that are being added to the journey of sound along the way, I love to play them after a yin yoga class, sending participants into a live journey that is cellular in its effect, taking them to depths of relaxation they did not know was possible, or on longer sound journeys where in the deep relaxation, a safe container is created; for buried emotions or attachments that no longer serve are able to vibrate up and be released. Or to at least open the heart to the possibility of sweetness and magic. I have started using the sound journeys with Eight Extraordinary Meridian Daoist Stone and Tuning Fork Ceremony on clients for deep work with the spirit that helps clear karmic patterns and open up blue prints of the soul. This journey keeps opening for me in unexpected ways.

One day I asked my friend Cheldon, of Slow Pitch Sound, to come a record a session so I could use it in my shiatsu treatments… he came with other ideas. We set up the mics and recording equipment and recorded the sounds separately, then went out in nature and recorded streams and waterfalls and wind, then he put it all in a program so we could layer the sounds and play with them, we did this on spring equinox , creating Early Awakening. Close your eyes , put on your headphones and let the sound take you away. Be moved into a deep relaxation meditation that calms your nervous system and allows you to have full body and mind relaxation for ten minutes.

Allowing the body to experience deep relaxation gives the infinite intelligence of our bodies and subconscious minds space to heal, replenish and re align with our vital life force. I have found in my classes and practice that yin yoga, mediation, sounding allow the body to release tensions people may or may not have realized they were holding on to and it allows a deep release and deep energetic sigh. You can use this song whenever you feel like you need a reset or a moment of deep relaxation.

much

peace + love,

Sonja