SimplyNumbers

Krishna Das on chanting

Chanting is a way of deepening the moment, of deepening our connection with ourselves, the world around us, and other beings. The Sanskrit chants that we sing—recognized for millennia as the Names of God—come from a place deep within each of us, so they have the power to draw us back within. If we go deep enough, we will all arrive at the same place, our deepest Being. Krishna Das ~ Chants of a Lifetime

Ganesha - Obstacle breaker

The above video is a Ganesha mantra. Mantras, otherwise known as chants, are Vedic in origin and can be very powerful in their own right. You might think of them as deeply personal, musical meditations. Their meaning and power depend on your application of them within your life. Working with them is about opening and allowing, rather than expecting immediate gratification.

There are many different types of mantras with different uses and purposes. It is a little difficult to find a precise date of the origin of mantra chanting. The teachings from the Vedas and Upanishads contain many mantras from the minds of the Rishis. The Rishis were known as the seers and brought the mantras into the world. Each one of these mantras begins with the sound of “Om” or “Aum”. This sound is said to have begun at the time of creation of the universe.

Ganesha Mantras in particular are full of the vitality, energy and power. Ganesha is known as the obstacle breaker. The purpose of chanting the Ganesha mantra is about removing challenges and obstacles from your path. You can work with this mantra over a period of time to overcome your challenges. You may wish to work with a set of inexpensive prayer beads (called mala / counting beads) to keep count of your chants, as ideally you will repeat the chant 108 times in a sitting. The number 108 is considered sacred in various belief systems, traditions and religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.

Music could help treat emotional and physical pain

“The impact of a piece of music on a person goes so much further than thinking that a fast tempo can lift a mood and a slow one can bring it down. Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors." ~ Dr. Don Knox, Glasgow University

Exciting and interesting new music research about the ways in which music conveys emotion could help with the treatment of various types of emotional or physical pain. A team, lead by Dr. Knox, has already carried out a detailed audio analysis of various pieces of music, with a panel of volunteers, who helped to identify the emotionality of the music. The goal of the research is to develop a formula that will be able to explain the full emotionality of music, and how emotion is communicated through the music.

You can read more about their work at TheNakedScientists. Host, Sarah Castor-Perry talked with the researchers involved with the music research to find out more

Music, Art and creativity

Music and Art are ways in which we can open up to the voice of our souls, especially when we are the creators. The simple act of painting, drawing, or sculpting may allow you to unlock parts of yourself, through imagination and creativity, that you never knew existed.

One artist, Howard Richman, translates his intuitive feeling about you into a Sound Portrait. Another artist, Carol S. Sakai creates Sacred Self-portraits. These artists capture your inner and outer qualities. People find their portraits helpful to encourage self-reflection.

Art, especially the art created by the artists mentioned above, can help you to begin to understand your true self. We are all vibrant, energetic beings, and understanding that we all are more than our bodies is important. Understanding your personal energy, your inner voice, and your feelings is the path to tapping into your intuition.

Moving towards these energies and emotions and accepting them will help you to better access your intuition. Often, in today’s world, we repress, or move away from "bad" or "negative" experiences and feelings and try to only have "good" or "positive" emotions and feelings. Negative feelings or emotions can provide information that something may be wrong. Because of this no feeling should be repressed. Experiencing, what many people consider "negative" emotions can help you in your journey into the unconscious and learning to develop and harness your intuition to help you make important life choices.

In your own process you might begin your own artistic exploration by simply cutting pictures from your magazines and creating collages. These collages can embody something that you wish to create in the world, or they can be concepts that you wish to embrace. Perhaps, you wish to bring about better health in your life, then you could create a collage around pictures and symbols that you find healing and soothing. Over time, you can add other symbols to the collage and create others that support your goals. You could then hang these images in appropriate places within your home to help to reinforce your goals.

In addition, you could keep a journal to record how the art makes you feel. This journal can serve as a tool for reflection to recognize feelings of doubt, insecurity, remorse, guilt or others. By identifying these feelings you can begin to seek out resources to help you to work with these limiting beliefs and help to heal them and the damage that they can create in your life.

Currently, I am working with a collage that I've created to remind me of the importance and rewarding benefits of having my own personal meditation practices. There can be times when I let life get in the way and let the desire to meditate slip away. My collage is a collection of images and phrases of rejuvenation and relaxation. I've hung it next to the chair in which I sit to meditate. One of the key phrases in the collage is "Wake up to the joy in your life right now"

For me, meditation helps me to quiet my critical voices inside, and then I can really find more time and space to appreciate the inspiring and cheering events in my life. The collage serves as a remind to this. For you, your art can serve as an important reminder to those things in your life that you cherish and yearn for more of.

Scientists have simulated the sounds set to be made by sub-atomic particles
"We can hear clear structures in the sound, almost as if they had been composed. They seem to tell a little story all to themselves. They're so dynamic and shifting all the time, it does sound like a lot of the music that you hear in contemporary composition." ~ Richard Dobson

The main goal of this unique project's is to provide the researchers with an analysis tool that allows the researchers to 'hear' the structures that make up and compose the physical universe and the world around us. It's really an exciting way to listen to the 'music of life'! Perhaps, it may have far reaching value in other fields as well, such as internal medicine or brain research.