Sitting here with my morning coffee listening to a recording I made on my iPhone of the sounds around me while I had breakfast one morning almost two years ago- mostly an amazing recording of bird sounds and songs, the occasional chewing of toast (!) and some very quiet chimes in the background. I don't remember making this recording but I titled it "Bird Song Breakfast" and it is over 10 minutes long so it must have been quite deliberate. October of 2014- so it was just after I moved into this house. It must have been one of those fall days when there were a ton of birds out in my yard because all of a sudden the sound just fades away as if they suddenly all flew off!

My life is full of sound- of course yours is too. I just happen to be acutely aware of it, maybe a bit more so than many people. Sometimes when it is quiet and an unexpected sound cuts through the ambient noise I feel it in my body- my ears, my scalp and my skin have an instant response to it- much like the way an animals ears perk up when they hear something. It is an involuntary and fascinating reaction that I have only become aware of within the last 5-6 years, although I suspect it has always occurred. Does that happen for everyone I wonder?

I had a reading from someone a few years ago who had never met me prior to the reading via Skype and knew nothing about me or my profession. He said to me at one point, "You have very big ears." Actually physically my ears are pretty tiny (I was told by someone once that my ears were like little dimes!) so that was not what he was referring to. It was the way in which I hear, which he said is similar the way a cat listens/hears- they are aware of all the sounds around them. Actually voices are what I have the most trouble with in a way. I am so acutely aware of all the other sounds around me that it is often hard to stay focused when someone is talking to me.

Self Portrait??? I didn't realize it when I did it but of course it is... Me, loving sound.

It is such a beautiful day right now. Sitting at my wooden table, listening to these sounds which I have recorded, a hint of fall in the air since last night's rain cooled things down. Perfect clear day, not a cloud in the sky. The recording has just come to an end. Now I hear the steady drone of cicadas, the wind and rustling of leaves in the trees, the clicking of keys on my keyboard, the steady rhythmic chirping of one cricket, the glass chimes on my front porch and the light metallic tinkling of a different set of chimes, staccato sparse quiet chirping of birds- and a car coming into my driveway. Time to give a session to an old friend. Perfect day!

I used to hear with my ears. Now I often seem to experience "hearing" with my whole body. I spend so much of my time working with so many forms of sound- tuning forks, acoustic instruments, crystal and Himalayan singing bowls and listening to and experiencing the vibrotactile effect of music as part of my treatments. I have always had an extreme sensitivity to sound and for many years as I have immersed myself in the field of sound healing, I have developed a tremendous curiosity about the evolution of hearing from an essential tool for survival to a sense which can transport us to realms of ecstasy.

In the last several years however I have also become aware of a new level of experiencing sound within my own body, especially peripherally. It seems to be a reactivation of this ancient instinctual awareness of sound. A door opens into the room, I hear a voice breaking through the every day ambient sounds, at night lying in bed I hear the rustle of a possum or raccoon outside and my whole body reacts. It feels as though the entire surface of my body- my skin, my pores, the fine hairs on the surface of my skin- instantly respond to these unexpected sounds.

I watch body signals and am extremely attentive to my clients response to sound and music during sound healing sessions- is it too loud? Too quiet? Is it time for a different instrument? Is the air conditioning too loud? Is the singing bowl harmonious with the music? The bass too strong? I am in a constant state of meditation and on another level on constant alert while giving a session- a very interesting balance. Often it is just an inner knowing that tells me it's time to make a change in the music or place my hand on their solar plexus.

In this moment as I am examining this process I am thinking that it is the attention to my intuition that has led me to a greater sensitivity within myself to the sounds around me. It is interesting and also sometimes disturbing to be so acutely sensitive. The gift is that it allows for a tremendous sensitivity to facilitating the healing process, allowing the body to gently finds its way back to balance through all the subtle changes that can occur during a sound healing session.