Yin-Yang-Yoga

Category: Sound

  • Harmonic Function in Sound Healing

    Ever since I heard of the ideas presented by Leonard Bernstein in his Harvard lecture series "The Unanswered Question", I have been fascinated with the potentially proto-linguistic dimensions of music.

    As I have spent the past several years working in the domain of sound-baths and other auditory endeavors, as well as furthering my decades of yoga and qigong practice, these ideas of harmonic function have grown all the more compelling and enticing.  

    Could there be a relationship between the grounded, stable quality of the root-chakra and the 1st scale degree of any given musical key? 

    Could it be that the 4th scale degree of any musical key will stimulate the heart-chakra?

    If you have any examples of high-quality studies exploring the mechanisms of sound and its correlation with subtle-anatomy or physiology, please leave a comment!

  • 13 Minute Gong Meditation


    Mercury has relinquished its retrograde charade, and is beginning to return to its typical pace and trajectory across the night sky.
    Here is a 13 minute gong meditation, featuring the Mercury gong by Paiste.

    The beginning features alternating Flam, which gradually get pulled apart, transforming into a single-stroke roll and approximating a tempo purported to be common for Shamanic drumming practices.  This gives way to groupings of 4, akin to a Flam-Accent, before giving way to sparse Flam in closing.

    With switch of mallets, the playing centers around groupings of 5 and 3.
    The right hand carries the groupings of 5, but alternates between a rapid expression and a more relaxed pace.  The left hand performs the groupings of 3, which remain at a fairly consistent and even pace of expression.

    Lastly, the big mallets come out, and simple alternating strikes are featured.  The audio clips quite harshly through this phase, starting just before the 10:00 mark, so you'd be well in your rational-mind to forego this part of the video.