Riding the Energy of Love

Feeling lots of positive changes as I shift along with the changing seasons. The fire is going and I'm eating a breakfast of a hot baked apple with cashews, brown rice and cardamom. Decided to do a cleanse in preparation for a retreat and my body is so grateful and thanking me in every moment! Sleeping deeply and dreaming well.

Preparing for a Healing Sound Journey tonight at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Newport. Looking forward to it as always. Thinking about some of the different aspects of a sound journey and what makes it work. Being open, deep listening, willingness to let go of any agenda and follow guidance. I think ultimately we are riding the energy of love and healing on the waves of sound vibration. And through the medium of sound we are able to extend that vibration.

Also, in terms of my preparation and set up there is an element of an art installation. It should not only sound beautiful- it should look beautiful. Every instrument has its own perfect spot where it wants to be and is aesthetically harmonious within the context of the setting.

That being said, functionality is an important element- certain instruments need to be within easy reach and yet there needs to be enough space to be able to move around comfortably and get up and walk to another instrument, like a gong, which isn't resting on the floor and may be played standing up.

So, the sound journey is an expression of love, maximal during the time in which it occurs, in the form of a sound and art installation- that's the way I see it!

The Vibration of Wholeness

This afternoon I went for a walk at Sachuest Wildlife Preserve in Middletown, RI- one of my favorite places to walk. At a certain point I stopped and made a conscious effort to feel the vibratory frequencies of all the different elements around me- the dirt and gravel path on which I was walking, the air, the blue sky, the clouds, the different varieties of plants, trees and shrubs, the pounding surf, the birds, the rustling of unseen animals in the bushes near the path. I stopped, breathed, tuned in all of my senses, and took it all in- and in that moment realized that the synergistic effect of all these frequencies was
                    
                      ME
                         
                               feeling HAPPY
                                       
                                              wholistic resonance

Vibroacoustically Yours

 

I just spent an hour on a sound table listening to the album Pagan Saints by Flesh & Bone, a beautiful collaboration between Peter Kater & David Darling. I say listening- which I was, but you must understand that "listening", on a sound table, means not only hearing the music with your ears but experiencing it as a vibrotactile sensation as the music resonates through the whole body. In this moment I am enjoying the resulting quietness of my being. My mind has slowed down. I feel calm and present to my Self.

The experience of vibroacoustic therapy is, in and of itself, both profound and incredibly enjoyable. The vibrations of the music pulsing through the body drop you into a deep state of relaxation very quickly. Different music obviously has very different effects- some music will take you far away and you lose all bodily awareness and sense of time and place very quickly. Other music will be a more kinesthetic experience and you may be very present to the physical sensation of the musical rhythms and vibrations.

Vibroacoustic sound therapy affects the bioenergetic system on all levels. Intention can be a huge factor as well. The sound is delivered to the body not just through the ears but also (and primarily) through skin and bone conduction (tissue conduction). Given that the body is composed of 60-70% water, which is one of the best conductors of sound, there is a powerful somatic response.  I have facilitated and observed hundreds of vibroacoustic sound healing sessions and the first response typically happens within 45- 90 seconds. The body of the person on the table seems to suddenly sink in as they let go and relax effortlessly. Remember, the music is literally massaging every cell in the body so this goes much deeper than physical touch.

Physical touch is a powerful complement to this therapy however. When the first wave of sound hits it can potentially be disconcerting or disorienting especially for someone who has never experienced it before. When the therapist and client together are joined in an intention, the work is that much more powerful and a light touch may be all that is needed to reassure the person on the table that they are in a safe space. There is also a synergistic blend of sound and energy that occurs with hands-on work that enhances and deepens the whole experience.

I have been feeling distracted by technology lately- too much time on the computer and the phone. I find it compelling and somewhat addictive but not always pleasant. Meanwhile I have so many tools at my fingertips that I can use to create more peace in my life and have been asking myself lately why I do not use them more. Today I decided when I got home, before I did anything else, to just lie down on the sound table for a while. What a shift! My mind feels more clear, more focused and on some level less frantic, although I don't think of myself as frantic.

I feel like now I can sit and just enjoy being, instead of doing, doing, doing and chasing after the instant gratification of the technology I have at my fingertips.

Solar Cells and Singing Bowls

This makes such perfect sense.

Buddhist singing bowls could inspire highly efficient solar cells

By Nick Lavars
September 14, 2014

9 Comments

Dr Niraj Lal says that the way Buddhist singing bowls interact with light mimics the way they capture sound

While the unique shape of Buddhist singing bowls is vital to the creation of their signature sound, a researcher from Australia National University (ANU) has used their design as the inspiration for a new breed of solar cells. In completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge, Dr Niraj Lal found that just as the bowls cause sound to resonate, miniaturized versions can be made to interact with light in much the same way, inspiring solar cells better able to capture sunlight.
Previous research has established that light behaves differently when working at the nanoscale. Downsizing his bowl-inspired cells to this level, Lal, now working at ANU, was able to demonstrate a device with the ability to capture significantly more light and convert it to electricity.
"Current standard solar panels lose a large amount of light-energy as it hits the surface, making the panels’ generation of electricity inefficient," says Niraj. "But if the cells are singing bowl-shaped, then the light bounces around inside the cell for longer."
Niraj calls this process "plasmonic resonance"" and says his nanobowls perform at four times the efficiency of flat solar cells in the lab, which when made from single materials such as silicon have an efficiency of 25 percent.
Improvements have been made on flat, single structure solar cells by way of tandem devices that stack a number of cells on top of each other. With the cells made from different materials, each with their own light absorption properties, the device is able to catch a wider range of the solar spectrum, enhancing its overall efficiency.
We saw the value of this approach earlier this year, when researchers produced a multi-material, four-junction, four-terminal stacked solar cell that achieved efficiencies of 43.9 percent.
Niraj and his team are now exploring ways that the nanobowl design can be incorporated into these tandem structures. "If we can make a solar cell that ‘sees’ more colors and keeps the right light in the right layers, then we could increase efficiency even further," he says.
The team's research was published in the IEEE Journal of Photonics.
Source: Australia National University via Science in Public

Revving Up

It's Friday, and I'm feeling good. It's been a full week and I have a sense of forward motion, for which I am grateful. My friend Morgan and I are ready to start teaching our class together on Mindful Yoga & Sacred Chant next Tuesday. We have talked about it for so long but there seemed to be one obstacle after another- Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha! The engine just wouldn't turn over. Suddenly it has kicked in and energy is moving!

I met with a therapist today as there are some things I really want to work and move through and that felt really good. He was clear and perceptive and I feel like I'll be able to do some good work which I am excited about. Time to peel away another layer...

I have a couple of different people to talk to next week as far as getting some more work out there- one who wants me to lead a chanting meditation at her office for a group of people and another who markets small businesses and might help give my business a jump start in this area. She is very interested in sound healing so partial trade may be an option too which is kind of nice.

I gave a lovely woman a session today at my house, which has really been my plan since I moved in- getting my business going here in my house. I moved in last October but there has been so much upheaval between getting the house and healing space set up followed by holidays, birthday, travel and being sick for three weeks that it has been a very slow start. She was one of the people who came to the chanting group last Saturday. I didn't charge for the group last week because their usually their donations go to the soup kitchen at the church, and I was very comfortable with that; and through that event I have at least one new client so it was well worth it. I loved that she felt her health issues were as she put it, "A problem with resonance." It's nice to work with someone whose operating premise is that restoring health is a matter of restoring harmony. Usually that's my line and it's definitely what I am good at!

Newport Community Chanting, Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI World Sound Healing Day- February 14, 2015

There was a time when I was fearful of offering my work for free and there are several sides to that. One is that I knew it was important for me to begin to make a living at what I do and know that I was accomplished enough at it to feel comfortable charging a reasonable wage- and then the other side of it, which is learning to let go and trust- and being able to discern which is the way to go in any given moment and set of circumstances.  I have definitely learned that the more I give fearlessly, the more comes back to me in ways I cannot anticipate or predict. The universe is so much better at that stuff than I am!  This was definitely one of those instances where I offered something for free (more accurately, gave what I would have made to the church) and now it is coming back to me with new clients as a result.

I'm also working with several oncology patients through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital and starting to get more and more new patients each week. It's definitely another case of giving without concern for the return. The patients- oncology, caregivers, and senior citizens- get massage, sound healing, acupuncture, lymphatic drainage, and various other alternative therapies at a highly discounted rate. The therapists get a portion of that and in terms of monetary remuneration it isn't much, but it is such great work. When I am there I do massage, craniosacral therapy and sound healing with tuning forks. The clients are so much in need of the work and so appreciative that it is always such a pleasure working with them. All of these people, most of them women, are very proactive about their health and doing everything they can to stay balanced, which is a beautiful thing. In the beginning I thought, "I must be crazy to travel as far as I do for this work to barely make enough money to cover my gas!" but I love working with these people so much. And it is so thoroughly appreciated and that in itself is a huge reward. I only go out there one or two days a week so there are plenty of hours left in the week to make up the difference.

Oh, and tomorrow night I get to take my youngest son Nic, who just turned 34, out to dinner for his birthday to a fabulous restaurant in Bristol, RI. He is a foodie and has been aware of the restaurant, Persimmon, for quite some time but never been there. I, on the other hand, have- and I know he will love it! We have been trying to go for two weeks now but again... obstacles! Yep, the energy is finally starting to move!

My son Nicolas Hardisty and I