The Secret Magic of Singing Bowls: Educating Our Attention Through Spectral Analysis

Thursday, May 15, 3:30, Room 1425

Abstract: I have often experienced the potency of singing bowls in my own practice with clients. Mitchel Gaynor, MD in his book The Healing Power of Sound (2002) described significant results using singing bowls with cancer patients. From where does that potency come, and how can we learn to harness it? This workshop will start with a sound meditation allowing you to experience the qualities of crystal and metal singing bowls. Then, we will dive into better understanding their sounds and why they are so potent. My research goal is to help educate our attention to hear more deeply into these powerful, and often mysterious instruments we use.

I have had some strange, mysterious, and unexplainable experiences with a few of my bowls that have led to this research. I will demonstrate some of the hidden qualities of crystal and metal singing bowls, recorded individually and in combinations, and then analyzed in software. These tests help us better understand and determine what is real (acoustic), and what appears to be magic (psychoacoustic) in their sounds.

The sound of singing bowls have two general features. First is the tone, or combinations of tones that they produce, and second, how those interact with each other. The first feature, perceivable tones, can interact, particularly in metal bowls, to produce low frequency oscillations (LFOs), or ultra-low frequencies, that we experience rhythmically as beating. These LFOs have been shown to be potent for brainwave entrainment to induce meditative states for maximal benefit to the experiencer. Spectral analysis can reveal these qualities.

Sound healing is a rapidly growing field surrounded by copious amounts of modern mythology. My research endeavors to demonstrate not only how signature instruments in many sound practiceswork, but why they are effective in the sound healing context. There are still many unanswered questions, however, and so this work continues in a never-ending quest for deeper understanding.

Spectral analysis of my magic blue alchemy crystal bowl