Babies are never angry. Unhappy and hungry, of course, but not angry. Anger may be a learned emotion. - Maura O'Halloran
(public domain photo www.pixabay.com) Once a month I offer a “sound bath” sometimes referred to as vibration therapy. The end result for people is deep relaxation or “instant” meditative benefits. Some people also ex"perience pain relief. So, how does a sound bath “work”. While scientific research validates the benefits, it’s not always clear why that happens. Some clues are offered by Eva Rudy James author of Singing Bowls: A Practical Handbook of Instruction And Use. • “Bells, gongs, cymbals, as well as the bowls that come from Asia, produce far more harmonics that the musical instruments we use in the West,” she writes. • Sound harmonizes through vibrations. Christian Huygens, a 17th century Dutch scientist was the first to notice and report that two pendulums placed next to each other eventually began to swing in the same tempo. • Anecdotally, people report feeling better, calmer, more relaxed when listening to singing bowls being played. “This feeling is less strong when recorded,” James notes. • Singing bowls, gongs, bells and symbols “recreate original harmonic frequency, and stimulate the body to re-discover it’s own harmonic frequency.” • As a result, “stimulated and taken up by the powerful vibrations of the singing bowl, the body is able to tune into it’s own undisturbed frequency.” Whenever we run along after the world, we can’t see the world easily. For this reason, we first have to stop running. Then we’ll see it clearly. - Ajahn Lee
There are no divine commandments in Zen practice, no preset beliefs to adopt. Instead, you are to become fully present to the moment, to the flow of life as it presents itself. As each moment is entirely new, there can be no preset response. - Brenda Shoshanna
Sometimes you experience failed expectations as heartbreak and disappointment, and sometimes you feel rage. But at that time, instead of doing the habitual thing of labeling yourself a ‘failure’ or a ‘loser’ or thinking there is something wrong with you, you could get curious about what is going on. - Pema Chodron
It is alarming how we hold strong opinions about things we do not know, have never experienced, and do not even intend to study. - Tashi Nyima
It’s very clear from the Buddha’s teaching that we should help the poor. This is as meritorious as offering alms to the Buddha himself. - Pomnyun Sunim
“Look at me! Hear my story!” The afflicted consciousness, enjoys centrality and craves attention. - Tashi Nyima
People often assume that they will come back as people. But a human rebirth requires much merit and many aspirations. It doesn’t happen automatically. - Tulku Thondop
This is one of the Buddha’s recommendations for how you deal with unpleasant words. Tell yourself, ‘An unpleasant sound has made contact at the ear. When the sound ends, when the contact ends, that should be it.’ Anything beyond that, any commentary inside, is your own amplification, your own addition to the initial suffering. - Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
May 2024
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