What Is Sacred Sound

Ancient sages, masters and enlightened communities for thousands of years have known and understood the significance and importance of sacred sound. The scientific and new age world is only now catching up with this ancient philosophy. Ancient civilizations revered sound so deeply, that they believed it called the universe into creation.

The creative voice of God I heard resounding as AUM, the vibration of the Cosmic Motor. AUM the blissful comforter is heard in meditation and reveals to the devotee the ultimate Truth” - ‘Paramanhansa Yogananda - Autobiography of a Yogi’

"Before its incarnation the Soul is sound. It is for this reason that we love sound" -‘Hazarat Inayat Khan – The Mysticism of Sound and Music’

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”- ‘John 1:1 - St James Bible’

These ancient and revered communities have been working in harmony with and incorporating sacred sound into their ritual, ceremonies, rites of passage, mediations, celebrations and healing philosophy as far back as the dawn of humanity. Sacred sound has been interwoven into these people’s psyche as a means to heal, understand and transform the body, mind, heart and soul. The variety of sacred sound instruments or tools worked with by ancient civilizations is extremely varied and extensive and the emergence of sacred sound as a holistic or complementary therapy in the western world highlights the importance of sacred sound as a powerful healing and transformational tool for the 21st century. Sacred sound tools from across our Mother Earth have been brought together with the help of global travel and worldwide communication in order to unite the knowledge, wisdom and experience of ancient tools, instruments and voice techniques for the greater good of humanity and to understand ourselves at a deeper level.

The difference between sound and sacred sound is extremely important in the understanding of sound as a therapeutic system. Sacred sound incorporates a multitude of tools and instruments as well as the voice, toning and mantras for sacred purposes. Working with one or more of these mediums with the attitude of dedication and devotion invokes the energy of the Divine. The sacred sound instruments, tools, tones and mantras it is believed were themselves originally created and infused with Divine intention and therefore they contain within them this intention which when played or created manifests divinity. Sacred sound therapy is a system, which is holy (not just in the religious sense but in the spiritual sense), it is something, which is blessed, sanctified, revered and hallowed. Therefore when working with sacred sound through right intention we are invoking the Divine, which allows healing, or transformations to take place.

How It Works

Working with sacred sound whether that is as a therapist or for your own personal journey can bring about immense changes on every level of the being including, physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual. The use of sacred sound tools creates pure forms of sound vibrations, which feed and strengthen our being as a whole. This is through the pure clear sound waves emitted from the sacred sound tools and which wash through each level of our being. The sacred sounds’ vibrations of pure energy build up in each part of the being and therefore reinforce us as whole beings. Sacred sound is a vibrational body builder and cleanser. It allows old, stagnant and unhealthy energies to be cleared away and transformed/replaced with new, clear and harmonic vibrational energies.

Sound is all around us and in each moment we are totally and completely surrounded by sound, which emits from the movement or vibration of all matter visible or invisible to the human senses. These sound waves wash over us at every second, of every minute, of every hour, of day and continue to vibrate endlessly in the universal sea of consciousness.

It is now believed by scientists that everything contained within the entirety of the universe is in a state of vibration, from the minutest molecular particle to the largest planetary systems. The vibrations emitted, are largely undetectable to the human ear, whose average hearing threshold in a young person is measured between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. This range often decreases to around 15,000 Hz before middle age and even further as we get older. The hearing threshold can also decrease due to other outside influences such as noise pollution or associated illness.

The ear is the organ of hearing and balance consisting of the outer ear which is a flap called the auricle or pinna and the auditory canal. The parts of the ear, which in the main are functional, are the middle and inner ear, which the skull encloses. The middle ear is made up of three tiny bones, known as the auditory ossicles, and the Eustachian tube which link the ear to the back of the nose. The inner ear contains within it the spiral shaped cochlea, the semicircular canals and the vestibule, the organ which gives balance.

Sound waves enter into the ear and travel through the auditory canal to the tympanic membrane (eardrum), where they are then converted into vibrations, which are then transmitted via the ossicles to the cochlea. These vibrations are converted by millions of microscopic hairs into electrical nerve signals, which are interpreted by the brain. The way in which we hear music is when the ear drum vibrates within a certain frequency range, which means that low pitched notes are caused by low frequency rates and high pitched notes by high frequency rates. Sounds or vibrations, which the human ear cannot detect, are defined as UHF (Ultra High Frequencies), which are sounds above our hearing threshold and ELF (Extremely Low Frequencies), which are sounds below our hearing threshold.

There are many living creatures on this planet that have a greater hearing threshold than humans and who can detect frequencies at a far greater rate than humans i.e. cats, dogs, Bats, dolphins and whales, etc. For example dolphins and whales use vibration or sound as a means to communicate over great distances with the whales’ songs and the click of the dolphins traveling effectively in the medium of the water of the seas and oceans. Dolphins hear up to 180,000 cps, which is nearly ten times higher than humans as well as having the ability to project vibration or sounds to a greater degree than humans. Sound is a waveform that travels through matter and is commonly associated with air, but sound will travel readily through materials such as water. Sound is a compression waveform created by the vibration of an object and is characterized by its amplitude (loudness), wavelength/frequency (distance/rate), and velocity (speed). Some insulating materials can absorb sound waves, preventing them from penetrating either partially or completely. Sound is not only perceived through the ear but can also be felt in the physical body, this can be demonstrated easily when standing in front of a large speaker playing loud music, where the vibrations emitted from the speaker vibrate throughout the whole body.

Colour of Sound Institute offer unique Sound Healing courses which incorporate rediscovered and ancient Sound healing techniques and tools from many indigenous and ancient civilisations from every corner of the Earth. For a full course prospectus and course details please view Rachael's website at www.colourofsound.org