Sound and Vibration
In the same way that organs in the body pursue amalgamation, seeking to create perfect communion with every new cell, so the body in its entirety seeks harmony with its environment and the surrounding world of which it is a part. Increasingly, this is becoming harder to do.
Today’s lifestyle unfortunately entails living with noise. The etymology of “noise” derives it’s meaning from the word “nausea”, and we all know what it feels like to be nauseated. Everyday, we are bombarded by stress-inducing sounds. Loud “obvious” noises include lawn mowers, construction trucks, airplanes, ambulance sirens, police sirens, and crowded bars. Other subtler noises such as the buzzing of your computer hard drive, a faulty rheostat or overhead florescent light, cycle at frequency below audible range (16,000 cps) and are considered by some to be “dirty noise”.
Dirty noise has become the newest form of stress causing frequencies. These are the vibrations and sounds that we cannot hear, but do feel. Research has concluded that exposure to these (very low) frequencies for long periods of time can cause depression, anxiety, nervous tension, and irritability, not to mention headaches, nausea, and sleep disorders. Noise pollution is among the most pervasive of toxic pollutants to which we are exposed.
Sound is vibration, most notably perceived by the sense of hearing. Vibrations usually travel to our ears through the air; the hair cells along the folds of the ear help convert puffs of air into nerve impulses sent to our brains, where the impulses become sound.
Everything vibrates, from the smallest of molecules to the very universe itself, and where there is vibration there is sound. However, the human auditory system is somewhat limited in its perception of this “symphony of life”, because the human ear can only hear sound vibration within the range of 19 to 20,00 cycles per second (cps). Our perceptual awareness and certain thresholds determine our experience of the world and what is “real” in different ways.
While literally everything vibrates, different things vibrate at different rates or frequencies. Some frequencies are perceived as light, some as sound, some as color, and some as solid matter. The rate that something vibrates determines how dense it is and what we perceive it to be.
For example the Earth has it’s own vibrational frequency. Although it varies slightly depending on geographical locations, the earth’s “sound”, called the Schumann Resonance, is measured at 7.8 to 8 cps, which is the exact range of the Alpha wave rhythms of the human brain. The “Alpha state” is a highly desired state of subtle awareness preferred by seasoned mediators from all over the world, and it is suggested that meditation causes a subtle entrainment with the earth’s own electromagnetic field.
Research in the field of meditation, and relaxation techniques are now showing outstanding results in lowering blood pressure, relaxing the heart and reducing mental fatigue.
Subtle background sounds such as a babbling brook; a rainstorm or the ocean surf has a strong effect on our ability to relax. These “natural vibrations” are, in effect, sounds that soothe the tension of a stress-producing world.
The internal world of our brain communicates within and without through pulses, frequencies, and electric currents.These pulses can easily be re-routed (away from a stress response) by using a more dominant frequency or pulse through external stimulation such as the background sounds of nature.
In my work with Brain Acoustics (also known as Neuro-Audiology) we work to bring your nervous system back into alignment with your brain. The result of which is a visible change in behavior related to your reaction to stress and other effects thereof.