Resonance: The heart of change.
Are you in a rush to change?
Sometimes we’re so eager to get where we want to go that we have a hard time honoring where we are.
But sound teaches us that before we can shift energy — we have to resonate with it first.
What is resonance?
Resonance is a term we tend to use in a figurative sense, but we may not be aware that there is a scientific mechanism at play.
When we speak of resonance, we’re usually expressing the feeling that something has “struck a chord” within us. We might notice an opening. A pleasant charge that relaxes, expands or inspires us somehow. We may feel more joy, warmth, understanding, safety, confidence, or motivation.
Resonance catalyzes something deep and mysterious within us. But what is actually going on?
Resonance in action
The best example to illustrate how resonance catalyzes change is that of the opera singer and the shattering crystal goblet. You’ve likely seen spoofs of this, but it is actually a thing. So how does it happen?
It comes down to frequency, resonance and energetic capacity.
When the opera singer sings a note, she’s generating a sound frequency with her voice — that part’s easy to understand. But we may not be aware that the crystal goblet has a frequency too.
The subatomic quantum waves that organize into the atomic and molecular structures of the crystal emit a subtle, yet measurable, vibratory frequency. Your ears can’t hear it, but it’s there.
(Remember these are subatomic waves. Waves vibrate, and that which vibrates makes sound. Even seemingly solid objects are vibrating at a remarkably subtle level.)To make the glass shatter, the opera singer needs to match the frequency of the crystal goblet with her voice. When she does this, both the opera singer and the goblet are resonantly “locked in” which makes the transfer of energy possible. As the opera singer — having stronger energetic capacity than the glass — directs her sound energy, it is absorbed by the crystal goblet. Once activated by the directed energy, the crystal goblet begins vibrate and sound with greater intensity. Until the surge of energy becomes too much for the capacity of the glass to handle and it shatters.
The example above shows the power of sonic resonance to catalyze real, actual change. The tuning in process of resonance creates the connection that makes it possible to exchange energy and create transformation.
In this case the goblet itself shatters because it’s glass form couldn’t hold anymore energy. But we — as evolving, organic beings — won’t “shatter” because we can hold more charge. That said, sound energy breaks down limiting patterns so we can breakthrough to a more vital and well feeling state. In the words of sound healer Eileen McKusick, sound energy charges our battery, so to speak. It helps us become more high-voltage.
Fast-tracks and fragments
Fragments of self
When we approach change, too often, we miss the step of resonance entirely.
Instead of tuning into our center and allowing change to emerge from the inside out, we tend to force it on ourselves from the outside.
Usually we do this because we’re not sure how to access our center in the first place. Or, because the noise of the mind, or expectations of the external world are louder and more demanding than the small quiet voice within.
We hope that by chasing achievements, optimization and fast, visible results, we’ll gain the firm sense of self, stability and appreciation we crave without the patient, mysterious work of going inward.
But approaching change this way just reinforces the fragmentation that diminishes us and keeps us from knowing our center in the first place. Resonance work by contrast is patient, quiet and integrative. It can be a radical act in a culture that largely demands us to speak first and listen later — or act first, think later and feel never.
A paradigm shift
If you feel stuck in approaching change in this way, you’re not alone. Operating in this way is something we are deeply conditioned to do. Just as our culture tends to see everything as a collection of static “things” that have to be produced, controlled, packaged, priced, promoted and consumed as fast and furiously as possible— we are taught to manipulate ourselves in the same way.
But the biggest shift comes when we recognize that this fragmented, product-oriented viewpoint of ourselves and our world is not the truth. It’s simply a mental construct. One idea amongst many.
We can open up our mind and heart to other ways if we choose to.
The practice of sound helps transcend the constraints of unhelpful, outmoded mind-constructs into new ways of viewing ourselves and our larger whole.
As sound helps you shift your awareness to a deeper state of consciousness, you’ll be able to better identify those energetic habits that are keeping you stuck, dividing you, causing you pain or twisting you into something you aren’t.
Then, we can resonate with those calcified ruts in order to send fresh energy to break down the limiting patterns and transmute them into new pathways for the energy to flow in a way that serves your most integrated wellbeing.
Heart-centered change
Resonance isn’t just about breaking patterns. It’s key to understanding the heart of YOU. Our hearts, the most powerful emitter of electromagnetic energy in the body, are the bridge between the many aspects in and around the self.
Whereas the mind tends compartmentalize, evaluate and tell stories, the heart weaves the seemingly disparate threads into a web of authenticity and coherence.
Resonating in with the heart isn’t fluffy. It’s not about blissing out and just doing whatever makes you happy while avoiding the “real world.” That would be irresponsible, flighty and hedonistic. When the heart is engaged — not just the demands of the mind, ideals or ego — you can hold and harmonize duty as well as dreams.
Discovering where you naturally resonate helps you claim your innate rhythm, growth path and power. That way ALL of you can continue to evolve and emerge as a coherent whole.
As you engage in resonance and sound work, you may find that those seemingly disparate, or lost parts of the self have more in common than you realize. As you begin inviting them home, claiming them, and reweaving them into coherence, you may be delighted to see them harmonizing together to form fresh ideas and opportunities. You may notice a fresh surge of energy and feel more resilient to distraction or dis-ease. Challenging habits, relationships or situations may begin to soften or fall away as your inner and outer worlds become more in sync.
Rather than appraising yourself from the outside, start by appreciating what’s within. Listen for what’s there, greet it like a friend and explore your possibilities.
So how do you begin?
You can begin today. To get going, you might ask yourself:
When do I feel zings of resonance?
What do I feel naturally drawn to?
When, where and with whom do I feel most in sync with myself and my life?
What lights me up?
What inspires me?
What animates me?
Let the answers flow. The point is to allow the answers to be true for you. Meet yourself where you are.
Come home to yourself.
Go deeper with sound. I invite you on immersive, interactive sound journey that will help you get beyond your mind and into your heart.
Feel this experience. When you listen — listen with your skin. Listening with the skin takes you beyond simply hearing and thinking, and takes your full being on a ride through 5 movements:
Connect. Ride the gentle waves of harp and breath. Allow the steady breath, in patterns of 4 and 8, gradually guide your heart beat and brain waves into alignment.
Deepen. Dive into your center. Resonate with your deepest, truest self with the unison interval crafted with the monochord and the voice. Chant along with the OM mantra to encourage union with all energies of the self.
Thaw. Melt and flow. Feel and heal. F# minor helps us arrive at deep inner peace, and loving self-realization. F# major helps nourish and cleanse the kidneys and excretory system — helping us "let go and let flow." The bija mantra "YAM" helps us cleanse the energy of the heart, and invites the element of air to refresh us.
Crystalize. After thawing pent-up emotional energy, allow yourself to align, cleanse and ground. Channel refreshed, cleared emotional energy into the here and now, aligned around your highest vision for well-being. This track is inspired by Dr. John Beaulieu’s interval protocol for grounding. In it you’ll hear the unison interval, octave and perfect 4th.
Pulse. Affirm and seal your work with deep, grounding drums. Let each pulse guide you into the inner world of your heartspace. Aligning, protecting, and invigorating your whole field. Feel the pulses emanating back out, radiating your coherent sound signature into the space around you.