What are your favorite practices?

[freeform]

There's also a certain droning nasal tone that I use to resonate inside the niwan and through the 9 palaces.

Is that the Nur (sp?) practice that Max sometimes teaches?

Edited March 19, 2015 by freeform

[freeform]

Sound energy and tapping into that indestructible reservoir of power is an integral part of Buddhist metaphysics (Mahayana). 

 

Do you mean mantras? Or toning? I have only ever practiced the gayatri mantra in the past...

 

Back in the day I remember learning the organ sounds a la Chia... admittedly they did little for me, then recently I started making organ sounds (I assume) spontaneously... a lot of 'ha', 'shhh', 'ssss' sounds... That and singing, which has been a rather surprising one for me! When these come up from energy movement (rather than mental contrivances) the result is a whole world away from the Chia approach.

[liminal_luke]

Julie Henderson, pioneer of a style of wellness work she calls Zapchen, recommends humming.  I haven´t done it enough to write about it here as a "favorite practice" exactly, but what little I´ve done has been quite interesting.

 

It´s kind of a stripped down mantra practice.  She recommends humming a few basic sounds: hum, ommm, and ahhh.  Letting the vibration flow through the body.  There´s a whole workbook on the practice, "The Hum Book,"  that goes into detail about all the different ways to hum.  You can hum into any part of your body, you can hum into somebody else´s body, you can change your neurochemistry. 

 

Recommended.

 

Liminal

[C T]

 Just to give an idea, im aspiring to reach this depth in my chanting practice. At the mo, maybe 10% there

 

[freeform]

 Just to give an idea

 

Wonderful! Thank you

[Taomeow]

Does anyone work with the voice? Or make sounds or anything like that?

 

I use bells, drums, rattles, rain sticks, and erhu. 

[C T]

I use bells, drums, rattles, rain sticks, and erhu. 

No zither? 

 

 

Ancient Chinese philosophy and medical systems viewed all life in terms of Yin and Yang, the opposites of energy or matter, which are never static but in a constantly changing relationship of balance. The four seasons are a notable example of this. Others are darkness and light, sun and moon, feminine and masculine. The five elements of the universe, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, are essential to balance also. Fully cognisant of this, ancient people strived to make musical instruments, which would fulfil this need.

 

In Korea, the zither was created according to these principles. There were two types: one which is known as the female and the other the male. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese text used for divination, refers to them as instruments reflecting the ‘resilience of woman’ and ‘the braveness of man.’ Modern discontented people may object to this seeming gender discrimination or segregation, but it is a fact that the universe operates on such contrasts. It is only in the mundane visible world that we make such differences, such separations. In the ‘invisible’ world of sound and spirit, there is no real separation into genders, no attachment to differences: so, we can and must transcend such separations.

 

[freeform]

I use bells, drums, rattles, rain sticks, and erhu. 

 

Ahh interesting - sounds almost shamanic. I remember Max once brought out his huge Mongolian horse skin drum - my goodness that was powerful! I've never done anything with instruments, but I'm intrigued - can you share a little about your practices with these?

[Taomeow]

Ahh interesting - sounds almost shamanic. I remember Max once brought out his huge Mongolian horse skin drum - my goodness that was powerful! I've never done anything with instruments, but I'm intrigued - can you share a little about your practices with these?

 

Sure. 

 

I use bells for two purposes -- to open and close a taoist ceremony, and for clearing the space.  Sometimes regularly, and sometimes "as needed," I ring out the whole place, getting into all the nooks and crannies.  This breaks up any unwanted accumulations of stray energies and occasional uninvited entities.  Mostly it's prophylactic, but sometimes it's also treatment.

 

I use a drum (mine are a Tarahumara, an African, and a hapi drum which is more a musical instrument than a drum) as "the horse," a shamanic (and also taoist, for some practices) device to transport one's consciousness to a different place.  It's basically the same tool as meditation but more "focused" -- in wuwei meditation you flood your consciousness with "nothing to do" and push it out (or in) into the uncharted territory where it is "normally" too preoccupied (or too set in its ways, or too fearful) to tread; while monotonous rhythmic drumming floods it out of its comfort zone by whacking every "ordinary" thought on the head before it has a chance to drag you along its "ordinary" venues.  Hapi is for inspiration. 

 

Rattles are used with icaros (forgot to mention that I have icaros for vocalizations, a Peruvian legacy), on very rare occasions.  The instructions for the occasion come from non-ordinary places, and this is far from a "favorite" far as my practices go -- more like a spiritual obligation of sorts.  They are used on someone else's behalf, on request only (and not always -- the request must come from both places simultaneously, ordinary and non-ordinary.  Hard to explain...)

 

Rain sticks are used as either one of the previous three mentioned, and also for the opening and closing of my seasonal (winter) meditation which actually also involves a mantra (another vocalization).

 

Erhu is used to annoy the neighbors.   Just kidding.  It is the sound counterpart of calligraphy practice, a "qi finder" when I look for just the right "tone."     

[Uroboros]

 Just to give an idea, im aspiring to reach this depth in my chanting practice. At the mo, maybe 10% there

 

 

My old QiGong teacher could chant in those tonal ranges. Being in the same room when he did it felt amazing! I aspire to that, as well.

[C T]

This is on a slightly different trajectory from the above posts. --Oddly enough, and contrary to what I might have believed a year or so ago, I really like a lot of Catholic prayers. In particular, the rosary prayers and devotions that are recorded as being revealed to the saints. Three connected devotionals that I have recently given attention are for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the United Hearts of Mary and Jesus. ---I don't know if it's just a personal peculiarty but when I mentally recite the prayer and give a lot of attention to each word, I get a laser-like feeling in my heart. These are definitely things I will keep doing in the future.

Thats marvellous! 

[thelerner]

My old QiGong teacher could chant in those tonal ranges. Being in the same room when he did it felt amazing! I aspire to that, as well.

Its like he swallowed a didgeridoo!

[Uroboros]

Its like he swallowed a didgeridoo!

 

Yupp. It was exactly like that! He said the human voice is the most powerful sound producing instrument in the world. The body acts as a resonance chamber of sorts, if the body(various sheaths) are "clear" and "open" the deeper the resonance. I have experienced this to be true, for sure. The more tension, less sound/resonance.