Posts In: singing bowls

9/3/2018 UPDATE! This offering is currently on hold!

A couple weeks ago, I held an open house. It was so well received I am going to continue the practice to make the bowls available to people seeking a sanctuary from the daily stresses of life…or to just be. 

You are cordially invited to drop in to my studio every Friday between 9am and Noon!

I’m calling it Open House, Open Heart. Come in and meditate, sit with the bowls, learn how to play a bowl, shop bowls, have a cup of tea, talk to me….whatever you need… my door is open! Open your heart and take time to nurture your wellbeing. 

Open House, Open Heart will be available every Friday indefinitely, unless I have something else listed on the Events page. I will keep it in my schedule on the website and let you know if I can’t make a week.

The Singing Bowl Studio
at 293 Central Park West, between 89th & 90th

I honestly had no idea what to expect when I was invited to facilitate a group meditation deep in the woods of the Catskill Mountains.  Carting my bowls up the drive, I’m greeted by the statuesque Melinda, her friendly dog and a brown rabbit hanging out near the front door. The rabbit seems oddly relaxed, vacillating between twitching and stillness. It’s staring at me and I’m curious as to why it’s not bolting with an active barking dog so close by.

“I think it’s the same one I saved”, says Melinda, as we both stand watching the rabbit watching us.

About a year ago, she spotted a rabbit caught in a fence on her property, its leg wrapped and tangled in wire. She managed to tenderly free it, without injury. Ever since then Melinda has become accustomed to its frequent, fearless visits into her garden and on the back porch. While setting up the bowls inside, I watch as the bunny stares at me again, now through the glass of the studio door.

This is a good omen. This is going to be a special night.

I could have stayed in her studio for hours, days…The silence was delicious. In every corner and crevice were layers upon layers of texture, paint, simplicity, complexity, handwritten messages, paper, brushes, beads, teeth, and rocks; laying among found objects haphazardly placed just so.

Being here brings out a deep sadness as everywhere I look I’m reminded of a friendship lost long ago. In this same moment, in an instant of a breath, I welcome the peace of the birth of a new kinship, a connection freshly formed.

As Melinda watches on, another part of me is tenderly freed.

melindastickneygibson.com

“How do singing bowls actually work?”

This is a common question that’s asked at every event I attend. One practical answer to this complex and multi layered question is through the energetic principal known as Entrainment.

Singing bowls work to restore balance and harmony in a person’s whole being. Much like a musical instrument, in time the human body can become out of tune and stuck in a state of dis-harmony. This in turn can lead to dis-comfort, dis-cord and eventually dis-ease.

Entrainment is the grounded concept that works alongside its mate Resonance. As you may know we are all vibrating at a unique frequency. When two beings meet, they begin resonating and coming into alignment with one another, otherwise known as Sympathetic Resonance. Entrainment or Affected Resonance occurs when a higher, pure, more powerful vibration meets a lower one. When this happens the lower vibration will being to sync with the higher vibration. This effects positive, dynamic change in the lower vibration to meet the pattern of the stronger, more vibrant, light- filled vibration.

Think of the last time you were in the presence of a great spiritual Teacher, Master or other being. Did you feel differently afterward? A high vibration Master utilizes Entrainment naturally and just by being in their company a shift begins to happen deep inside. The example I like to use in workshop classes is this; it’s like sand on a plate that’s just been shaken. You are the plate, your issues are the sand rising to heal and the teacher is the force facilitating the loving shake. Energetic vibration is utilized to dis-lodge and bring to the surface that which needs to be released, cleared and healed.

Singing bowls work in a similar manner and are the simplest way to communicate with a being on a deep, cellular level. When placed on the body, the high vibration of singing bowls work in partnership with Entrainment, Intention and Love to heal long standing root issues, bringing the body back to a state of ease and harmony.

Recently I had the opportunity to self heal and reflect spending quiet time at the beach. The skies were overcast with an occasional appearance of the sun peeking through a gray cloud. It was quite an experience, being the only soul on a beach miles long, communing with the seagulls, terns, soft sand, the sky and the bluest of blue ocean that seemed to stretch onto infinity.

This time reminded and connected me of the reason why I love working with singing bowls so much. When I speak though the bowls there is need for no words, no language other than that of Liquid Language of Light and of Love. Transformation and reflection possible without every the need to utter a single word. A language first learned early on, rediscovered and recently remembered in the bluest of blue eyes of my beautiful Teacher.

A place so still, so serene in Trust and Faith I could walk up to a young doe, placing my hand on her head, stroking her behind her ears as her mother occasionally looked up from her morning meal.

How to put into words watching the sand dance in my bowl as I play then forming mandalas when it surrenders into silence. The jumping of sea water from my bowl as I place it on my husband’s knee, sore from the joy of years of bouncing twins on it.

Energy… it’s everywhere. It’s in our homes, offices, workplaces…even in our cars. It’s in the places we tend to spend a lot of time in and as a result can sometimes become stuck or stagnant. You’ll witness stagnant energy manifest in a number of ways; frequent arguments, tiredness, accumulating clutter, and an overall feeling of negativity are just some of the signs that point to stuck energy accumulating in your environment. Singing bowls are used to shift, remove and cleanse stagnant energy to create a clear, calm, serene and peaceful surrounding. It’s literally a breath of fresh air that rings and sweeps through your entire space to harmonize and reconnect with the soul and energy of the Universe and the Divine.