Resonating with Tuning Forks

I took a class with Kim a few weeks ago using tuning forks. The set I ordered from India arrived yesterday: a Harmonic set of eight C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, plus an OM Tuner, all for about $100, perhaps half the price than in the US.

I played with them, mostly using C - C for balance, and D -B for unconditional love.

Our Golden, Millie was very accommodating, stood perfectly still, while I used a healing OM, the note of F for her possible arthritis and C for her leg and possible cancer. She has been tripping down stairs lately. The pendulum showed us that her rear legs, particularly her right, close to her body are ailing her. The vet confirmed the diagnosis and we are treating her with anti-inflammatories. She is hunching her spine at the rear, near her tail. If the anti-inflammatories are not effective for a short-term sprain, which we hope it is, she recommended acupuncture. I told her I'd try vibrational sound treatment, through these tuning forks, as well. I read that many pets walk away from treatment, naturally. Millie seems to enjoy it and remains in the room to benefit from all the vibrational treatments being done around her.

Mike, our 14-year-old, thinks it's cool too. I used the balancing C-C and nurturing D-B on him before he went to sleep, and brought it to our bedroom too.

Strangely, however, I woke up out of sorts this morning.

I woke in the foulest mood I'd been in for weeks. The calendar indicated it could be hormonal imbalance. Kim might advise me that I was in harmonic overload or that I just hit a sore spot. She says that if you respond with a negative reaction, don't push it too hard, but realize that it could be because you hit a chord that's your soul needs to overcome. Go back to it with the mind that it' will be good for you.

I went to the internet for answers and stumbled upon http://www.biosonics.com/

created by John Beaulieu. According to his website:

"John Beaulieu, N.D., Ph.D., is one of the foremost philosophers and major innovators in the area of sound healing therapies. A world-renowned speaker, composer, pianist, and naturopathic doctor, Dr. Beaulieu has pioneered a technique called BioSonic Repatterning™, a natural method of healing and consciousness development using tuning forks and other sound modalities based on the sonic ratios inherent in nature.

... Dr. Beaulieu is the groundbreaking author of Music and Sound in the Healing Arts and the composer/producer of Calendula: A Suite for Pythagorean Tuning Forks, a CD designed to physically align your body and create a deep relaxed state of awareness. He lectures and performs worldwide and conducts training seminars for practitioners in the healing arts."

He offers many free downloads, including harmonic recordings, such as:

http://www.biosonics.com/music/SolarHarmonic.mp3

If you are equipped to handle mp3, try meditating to this for about five minutes or so. I found it a bit disturbing at first, then remembered that Kim said "that's a good thing." And allowed myself to feel heavy and relax.

I downloaded John's instructions, A Beginner's Guide to Sound Healing with Tuning Forks

http://www.biosonics.com/images/InitialSet/BeginnersGuide.pdf and followed his recommendations.

© 2003 BioSonic Enterprises
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SOUND HEALING
WITH TUNING FORKS
By John Beaulieu, ND, PhD

EXCERPT:

Tuning forks are precise instruments that have the ability to change our inner tuning by creating a resonance throughout our mind, emotions, and body. They can do this by creating a vortex of sound that leads us into still point, which is a moment where everything seems to stop and we can retune ourselves. Our nervous system, like the string of a musical instrument, vibrates to the sound of the tuning forks.

The following exercise is a direct method of becoming aware of your present tuning in order to directly hear your nervous system change tuning when you use BioSonic tuning forks.

Beginner’s Exercise: Identifying & Aligning Your Inner Rhythms
Changing your inner tuning begins with becoming aware of your present tuning. There are many words and concepts that describe your ability to be aware of your present tuning. These include acceptance, presence, “the now,” and surrendering to what is, rather then resisting what is not.

The BioSonic method of getting in touch with your present inner tuning starts with listening to the sound of your own nervous system. To listen to the sound of your nervous system first find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed, sit comfortably, and close your eyes. Notice your breathing rising and falling and if you become aware of your thoughts just let them effortlessly come and go. When you are very calm inside listen for a high-pitched sound, something like the background sound made by a television.

The sound of your nervous system is your body’s resonance with your deep inner tuning. Listen to the sound as you would the sound of a tuning fork or a musical composition. Discover where the sound is taking you and be aware of any images, thoughts, or colors you are experiencing. As you are listening, notice if the sound changes. Sometimes you may spontaneously enter a still point (a sacred space) and return to discover that the sound of your nervous system has changed.

When we are under a lot of stress we sometimes hear the sound of our nervous system as a ringing in our ear. When we are calm it is a comfortable high-pitched sound. One way of working with ringing in the ears is to "get into" the ringing sound rather then resist it. By actively listening to the ringing sound with the right intention, we often can spontaneously move through the discomfort of the ringing sound and enter still point.

Once you have discovered the sound of your nervous system then listen and tune yourself with BioSonic tuning forks and you will hear the difference. Next notice how your thoughts, emotions, and body have changed within the new tuning of your nervous system.

Beginner Level I: Instrument, Technique, and Practice
The best tuning forks for beginners are: The Body Tuner set which consists of two tuning forks, a C 256 cps (cycles per second) and a G 384 cps, which make the interval of a fifth. The interval is called a fifth because
in our Western musical scale C and G are exactly five notes apart (i.e., C - D - E - F - G) where C is the first
note and G is the fifth note.

• The fifth note has played an important role in many ancient teachings:
  • Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu referred to the fifth as the sound of universal harmony between the
  forces of Yin and Yang.
  • In India, the fifth is believed to create a sound through which Shiva calls Shakti to the dance of life.
  • Apollo, the Greek God of Music and Healing, plucked the fifth on his Sacred lyre to call dolphin messengers to Delphi where they channeled messages to the oracles.
  • The Alchemists called the interval of a fifth crux ansata and considered it to be a transition point where matter crossed over into spirit.
  • The crux ansata, also called the anak by the Egyptians, is a still point where the earth ends and our ascension into spirit begins. For them the number five was numerlogically the perfect combination of even (two) and odd (three)
  representing the unity of heaven and earth.
  Sounding the fifth is a general sound tonic. Some of the benefits of the fifth are:
  • Alleviates depression
  • Enhances joint mobility
  • Balances Earth with spirit,
  • Directly stimulates Nitric Oxide release—
  o Anti bacterial
  o Anti viral and immune enhancement
  o Balances the heart, pituitary gland, sphenoid bone
  o Balances sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
  o Releases opiate and cannoboid receptor sites in third brain ventricle.


• Technique: The Knee Tap
  There are two methods to sound your C and G Body Tuners called the knee tap and the together tap. In both methods, hold your tuning forks by the stems with moderate pressure—not too tight and not too loose. Do not hold your tuning forks by the prongs because the prongs need to vibrate in order to create the sound.
  1. For the knee tap gently tap the flat side of the tuning fork on your kneecap. Do not hit your kneecap. All it takes is a gentle firm tap and your tuning fork will sound. It is best to tap your C 256 first on one knee and then your G 384 fork on your other knee.
  2. Bring the forks slowly to your ears, about three to six inches from your ear canal, and listen to the sounds. Note: If you do not want to tap the forks on your knees then you can tap them on a hockey puck or on a carpet.Once you have mastered the knee tap then you can do the following ear training
  exercises with your Body Tuners:


• Exercise #1
  The best way to understand the fifth is to go into the sound and experience its qualities. Find a safe, quiet place, knee tap your tuning forks, and just be with the sound. When the sound stops lower your tuning forks and wait at least fifteen seconds before sounding them again.
  


• Exercise #2
  Another method of using your tuning forks is to learn to hum their sound. Find a safe, quiet place and knee tap your tuning forks. Bring them to your ears as above and then make a humming sound that resonates with your tuning forks. If you find yourself focusing on one fork or the other, relax and let your ears find a sound that
  resonates inside the interval. Next put down your tuning forks, imagine being in the sound of the interval space and hum the resonant sound without the forks. Your goal is to create a humming anchor sound that will take you into the sound of the tuning forks without having to use your tuning forks. When you hum the sound of C and G without having to sound the tuning forks it is called toning.
  If you are working with a friend or patient then you can use both methods with them.
  They can be sitting up or lying on a table. It is important that the tuning forks be sounded in a safe healing space and that the person with whom you are working understands that they will be hearing a sound.


• Technique: The Together Tap
  The second way to sound Body Tuners is to tap them together. Hold them by the stems and tap them together on their edges, not the flat side of the prongs. You do not have to use a lot of force to get the result and play with creating an easy sounding tap vs. a banging tap when too much force is used. When you tap then together the tuning forks will sound overtones. Move the tuning forks around slow and fast in the air and listen to different tones as they get louder and softer.


• Otto 128 (I used the Om 136 which Kim tells us is more for balance, great for meditation, while the Otto 128 is used more for healing) Both of these tuning forks use weights on the prongs. The purpose of the weights is to transmit a strong vibration from the prongs through the stem. To sound your weighted tuner, hold it by the stem and tap the flat side of the weights on your knees or the palm of your hand. Next press the tuning fork onto one of your knuckles. Make contact with the base of the stem and gently press until you fell the vibration being transferred to your body. Experiment with different pressures—start light and then gradually increase until you fell the maximum vibration. Note: If you have a history of osteoporosis or have a fracture do not press the Otto128 to your bones. If you feel any pain when pressing the tuning fork to a bone then do not continue to press. Many EMT's carry an Otto 128 tuning fork to test for bone fractures. The vibration of the fork causes the bone to vibrate and if there is a fracture present, the person will experience pain. It is not as good as an X-ray, however in the field it gives a very strong indication.


• The Otto 128 is great for working with joint mobility and stiffness in joints. In general, it can be pressed to any joint. The Otto 128 can also be placed on acupuncture, trigger points, or any soft tissue area that is safe to receive pressure. Here are some very good areas to vibrate that will balance your autonomic nervous
  system. When vibrating any area never do more than three taps and placements of the Otto128 in an area because more tapping will just exhaust your tissues and you will not get additional benefit.


• Point 1: Place the Otto 128 on your sternum, your chest bone. Feel the vibration and imagine your heart softening.
• Point 2: Place the Otto 128 on your third eye—the space between and just above your eyes. Close your eyes and feel the vibration move through your cranium.
• Point 3: Place the Otto 128 on your sacrum, the bone at the base of your spine. Close your eyes and feel the vibration move through your lower pelvis. (Note: Do not use this area if you have a pace maker.)
• If you want to use your Otto128 on a very specific point then:
  1. Find the exact point using whatever method is appropriate.
  2. Place your index finger on the point.
  3. Tap the Otto128 on your knee.
  4. Bring the Otto128 to your index finger and simultaneously slide your index finger away while bringing the base of the tuning fork stem onto the point.
  5. In general, it is always good to place your free hand somewhere else on the
  body.
  


• Beginner Level II: Visualization
  Once you have mastered the basics, which means that you are confident holding your tuning forks and sounding them in all three ways mentioned above, you could add visualization. Working with visualization based on your needs and the needs of someone else you are working with will add a different dimension to your use of tuning forks.
  1. Before you tap your tuning forks, visualize what you want to accomplish. For example, visualize a positive image and feel the image in your body.
  2. Tap your tuning forks and allow the felt feeling of the image to guide your tap and resonate with the sound.
  3. Next bring the tuning forks to the ears, ring them over the body, or place them on the body with the image as your guide.


• Exercise #1: Body Tuner™ Toning
  Inhale and as you exhale hum the sound of the Body Tuners. Inhale again and as you exhale hum the sound of the Body Tuners and mentally direct or visualize the sound in a specific area of your body, emotion, or thought. For example, you can visualize your heart and allow the humming sound to resonate with your heart. Try
  putting your hand over the body area you want to resonate with and feel the sound of your humming coming into that area.


• Exercise #2: Directed Body Tuner™ Color Toning
  Find a safe place and close your eyes. Relax and take a deep breath and then exhale. Next visualize a color and inhale the color. As you exhale hum the sound of the Body Tuners. Next inhale a color and mentally direct it to a specific area of your body, emotion, or thought. Exhale and hum the sound of the Body Tuners.
  


• Conclusion
  Practice makes perfect. Enjoy playing your tuning forks and work with the exercises. You will get immediate results. And as you build your confidence, both in intellectual understanding and sonic experience, you will be prepared to understand more advanced concepts and uses of tuning fork healing.


• For more information about Sound Healing tuning forks, informational videos, books, CDs, tapes and home study courses, go to: http://www.biosonics.com/

After spending an hour with my tuning forks, I can vouch that I feel much better now, thank you. If you don't have the tuning forks, at least download the Solar Harmonic http://www.biosonics.com/music/SolarHarmonic.mp3 or visit John's site and try some of his other goodies.