By Sharon Quigley (from Australia)
Founder & Principal
International Academy of Sound Therapy
So many people are complaining to me that they attended a sound bath by persons unknown, playing beautiful crystal bowls but instead of a wonderful experience they expected, they came away with a thumping headache and swear they will never go back again.
Or sometimes a person attending my iSR© Sound Bath Pro or my iSRT© Sound Therapy Master Practitioner training will tell me they had really bad experience the first time they got their crystal bowls and just couldn’t connect with the sound at all, it was just way too powerful, grating and so loud it was unbearable, so they sold them!
The best way I’ve found by far to play the crystal bowls, is with a silicone coated glass rubbing stick, forget about those horrible suede covered things they make a scratchy sound which is just awful to anybody’s ears no matter how you play them.
The first problem is that so many people over play these bowls without realising the nature of the sound waves they produce. Crystal bowls will “throw” the sound – meaning the sound is 10x louder 3-5 metres away than 3 feet away where you can hear them while you are playing.
I know this because it’s the exact same effect with my husbands guitar amplifier when I’m on stage playing keyboards with the band. He is perfectly happy with volume up super loud while he is playing it just 3 feet away, and so are all of us on stage, but the folks who are directly out front of his amplifer 3-5 metres away are having their ears blasted out.
The reason is that there are crystal valves in his guitar amplifier which have the same effect on the sound waves as the crystal bowls – his guitar amplifier makes the sound waves “throw” in the same way. Not many guitar players still play with these older “valve” style guitar amplifiers so they wouldn’t understand or have experienced this effect.
When it comes to crystal bowls, its always gently, gently and its the space between the sounds that helps to create the magic and the wow. It’s a technique only few have the patience necessary to take the time to respect, but if you have the patience, you can get it very easily without too much effort.
The second problem is that a lot of people are playing 440hz tuned bowls which are more likely to produce unease and discomfort to both the player and the listener. While those who are playing 432hz tuned bowls have reported them to be so much easier for the player and the listener to relax to, which makes them so much more delightful to play.
I have proven this myself with a veterinary research study I assisted which studied the effect of 432hz meditation music vs 440hz tuned versions of the same music – with elite racehorses. Who are well known to have highly sensitive and accurate hearing along with highly developed intuition regarding what is good for their health and what isn’t. It is also well known that you can put two buckets of water from different sources in front of a horse and they will always choose the safest water to drink.
When presented with either the 432hz or the 440 hz tuned music which I composed, the results were undeniable. The racehorses were instantly attracted to the meditative music tuned to 432hz, while the 440hz versions of exactly the same music instantly repelled them, as expected.
If you invest in crystal singing bowls of your choice in 432hz tuning, you won’t be disappointed and neither will those attending your sound baths.
Blessings of healing sounds in abundance to you!
