The Music Within

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.

— Lao Tzu

As you shall soon see, music, sound, and vibration are powerful tools to create expansion and healing. One of the reasons that music can be such a strong vehicle for transformation is its ability to shift our emotions in a positive way. When we can transform our emotions or remove an emotional block, we open the door for healing to occur. Many of us affect our health negatively on a daily basis by either ignoring or not bringing awareness to our emotions. Ongoing negative emotions can impact our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies — even if we are unaware of them.

Even if I start my day in a relaxed state from meditating, listening to music, or playing my guitar, it's not unusual for me to get to my recording studio twenty minutes later stressed. A lot can happen in a twenty-minute walk to work in New York City! Walking down six floors of stairs, horns honking on Eighth Avenue, stepping in dog poo, police sirens, homeless people asking for money, rain and no umbrella, only one elevator working in the recording studio, the computer not booting up ... Talk about stimulating your five senses! And this is before my workday really starts.

Upon getting to the studio and checking my messages, I learn that a project that was due at the end of the week is now being moved up to tomorrow. With the inevitable prospect of an all-night recording session, I begin to feel some anxiety. I need to schedule singers to get the background vocals done and find a bass player at the last minute. It all begins to paint a not-so-pretty and stressful picture. As I dive into my work, I begin to feel tightness in my neck, and an uneasy feeling in my stomach. My emotions are beginning to affect my physical body.

In addition, I feel a bit nervous and notice my usual patience in situations has diminished. As my day unfolds, I find myself snapping at people. A situation that I normally would have let pass elevates into an angry argument. My emotions are beginning to affect my mental body.

The walk I take in Central Park during my lunch break is blown off and replaced by a phone call to a friend where I vent and relive my stressful morning. The deeper connection and faith that I usually feel while being in nature is now absent in my day. My emotions are beginning to affect my spiritual body.

After an all-night recording session, I send the final mix to the record company and release a big sigh. I notice how much stress I was holding as the sound of my breath is released, and I notice how much lighter I feel.

What if the stressful day that I had is a typical reoccurring day? The only things that change are the situations, but the stress is never managed. This ongoing unawareness of how our emotions effect our physical, mental, and spiritual bodies can lead to such challenges as lower back pain, insomnia, high blood pressure, disease, anxiety, and depression. Any one of these could make a person feel incomplete or out of balance, the feeling and state of being unhealthy.

Your challenging day may be different. Maybe you are under some financial stress; maybe you are going through a tough breakup; or perhaps a loved one has recently passed. Every one of these situations can have many different levels of stress that can snowball into challenges in our four bodies — spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical — and our overall health.

The good news is that the opposite is true as well. Positive emotional states can benefit our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. The healing process is all about moving back into balance and returning to our natural state of wholeness. Not just finding a cure, but finding our health.

Music can provide an antidote to our venomous emotional states if we become aware of the healing power that it holds. Music is more than just a song on a radio; it is a language that exists inside you, and one that you can tap into to alleviate emotional stressors that challenge your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. By using music, sound, and vibration, we can bring our four bodies back into balance, and create space for deep healing.

As you can see, I needed a tool to combat stress on a daily basis. I needed a way to come back home to my heart in a short period of time. The processes I will share in this chapter helped me to re-center and bring a knowing that as long as I have my heartbeat, my breath, and my sigh, everything is truly okay. In finding this knowing, I am able to shift to a state of gratitude where the smaller daily challenges melt away into the "sound" breathing processes. I have a path to move into the sacred process of creation with clear heart, clear mind, and clear intentions.

There is an amazing power that the sounds within us contain. We will begin to tap into their ability to act as a catalyst to release negative emotions, mental blocks, and physical stress on a regular basis. I have incorporated them into my own daily program to jump-start my four bodies in their innate ability to heal, and I have personally seen amazing results. Since I have implemented these breathing techniques into my life, I very rarely have a day like the one I shared with you earlier. I know that these breathing techniques will be a powerful transformational tool in your days and life as well! They are an invitation to you to come back home to your heart.

Internal Music

The music within, or our internal music, is always with us. It is the music that is created from our bodies themselves through three sources: the sacred heartbeat, the breath, and sigh. Each person's internal music is a unique symphony within that is calling out for us to listen and is communicating the needs of the four bodies. Internal music is also a helpful tool for dealing with daily stressors, as your internal music is always with you and available to you.

We can use the sacred heartbeat, breath, and sigh to create, cultivate, and induce our four bodies' healing patterns. Ultimately, we are the true conductors of these instruments that create our foundation for how we manage our health and quality of life.

The Sacred Heartbeat

Just as the drums and rhythm section create the musical...