Tibetan Singing Bowls
How To Use The Sessions
The use of headphones will provide a more personal and intense effect, and will avoid affecting those around you. Find a comfortable place to be — one where you are least likely to be disturbed. If the environment is a little chilly, we suggest you have a blanket over you as your body temperature may drop. A glass of water may be needed at the end of the session.
When you begin to listen to the session, your mind will probably start to wander over to everyday things in your life. Try to keep returning your focus to the sounds in your head; this is normal and is the learned art of any type of meditation or hypnosis.
After about six minutes of undisturbed listening your brain should begin to entrain toward the given frequencies. You may have strong visual reactions or strange feelings of altered consciousness. Try not to panic and bring yourself out of the states, allow any images to come into your mind – go with the flow.
It’s useful to keep a diary for you to jot down your experiences after each session for later reflection.
It is not advisable to use this audio if you are epileptic, prone to seizures, or pregnant. DO NOT use this audio while operating any sort of machinery, or while driving.
About the Tibetan Singing Bowls
Singing bowls (also known as Himalayan bowls, rin gongs, medicine bowls, Tibetan bowls or suzu gongs in Japan) are a type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell.
Rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle, standing bells sit with the bottom surface resting. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound. Singing bowls were traditionally used throughout Asia as part of B÷n and Tantric Buddhist sadhana. Today they are employed worldwide both within and without these spiritual traditions, for meditation, trance-induction, relaxation, healthcare, personal well-being and religious practice.
Singing bowls were historically made in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, Japan and Korea.[citation needed] Today they are made in Nepal, India, Japan and Korea. The best known type are from the Himalayan region and are often termed Tibetan singing bowls.
Ancient Origins of Singing Bowls
In Buddhist practice, singing bowls are used as a support for meditation, trance induction and prayer. For example, Chinese Buddhists use the singing bowl to accompany the wooden fish during chanting, striking it when a particular phrase in a sutra, mantra or hymn is sung. In Japan and Vietnam, singing bowls are similarly used during chanting and may also mark the passage of time or signal a change in activity.
Singing bowls are played by the friction of rubbing a wooden, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to produce overtones and a continuous ‘singing’ sound. High-quality singing bowls produce a complex chord of harmonic overtones. Singing bowls may also be played by striking with a soft mallet to produce a warm bell tone.
Singing bowls are unique multiphonic instruments that produce multiple harmonic overtones at the same time. The overtones are a result of using an alloy consisting of multiple metals, each producing its own overtone. New bowls can also produce multiple harmonic overtones if they are high quality bronze, but many are made from a simpler alloy and produce only a principal tone and one harmonic overtone.
Both antique and new bowls are widely used as an aid to meditation, and as a tool for trance induction. They are also used in yoga, music therapy, sound healing, religious services, performance and for personal enjoyment.