Blog
Mantra Therapy First Aid Kit: Sound Therapy Survival Skills Everyone Should Know!
Just the other day a student in the most outrageously horrible situation I've ever heard (worse than a TV drama!) called to GUSH about how the Heart of Sound skills had changed their life and made it possible for them to navigate it with awareness, responsiveness, and grace.
In contrast, I've also seen situations devolve into unnecessarily tragic outcomes because people didn't have these simple sound survival skills that we teach in the Sound Yoga Training Course.
This Mantra Therapy First Aid: Masterclass is my effort to distill the MOST...
The Healing Power of the Medicine Buddha Mantra
I feel in love with Tibetan mantras on my first trip to the HimÄlayas in 1997. I trekked (in plastic sandals, silly 19-year-old me!) to Namche Bazaar then to the Tyangboche monastery. There I was blessed with an audience with the 80+ year old Rinpoche Tyangboche and his gaze, his voice, cut straight through the fuzz in my chaotic mind.
I felt, for the first time, the clear still infinity that is the result of a long-time sound-based meditation practice. It inspired me from then on to make inner knowledge my priority (over other "normal" goals like partnership,...
Why Are Mantras Chanted 108 Times?
Have you ever wondered why mantras are traditionally repeated 108 times? In all of my years of teaching Sanskrit mantra meditation to beginners and at workshops & festivals all over the world, this is one of my most common frequently asked questions. Normally, I just say that "it's traditional" because to delve into all of the reasons why mantras are changed 108 times is kinda nerdy, and to some people, kinda woo-woo! (And I like to keep things fact-based, evidence-based, and rational when I'm working with the therapeutic power of sound and mantra.)
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High on Kirtan? The Good Drugs our Brains Make When we Chant with Dave Stringer
The Neuroscience of Kirtan Chanting
I had a lovely conversation with Dave, who is a Grammy nominated producer, musician, songwriter and Kirtan leader. He explains the good drugs our brains make when we chant, whether we believe in it or not.
Dave Stringer, a Grammy-nominated producer, musician, and songwriter, is widely recognized as a leading voice in the modern Yoga movement, including sound healing, mantra chanting, and nÄda yoga. As both a captivating singer and profound public speaker, he merges the worlds of neuroscience, yoga philosophy, and art into a...
Chanting for Peace in the Middle East: Can Sound Healing Help?
I attended a memorial for the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack last night, and it was REALLY good to be with community and feel the ripples of pain and prayers and hope for peace.
It’s easy to become numb and overwhelmed by the staggering numbers and each human being’s story is so… human. Shutting down is an evolutionary efficiency mechanism to enable us to survive, and I forgive myself that luxury sometimes.*
Right now I have friends, students, and friends of friends who died at Nova, who have fled Gaza, Northern Israel, and Lebanon, who are...
Mantra saved my life: Suicide prevention sound therapy
The only reason I travel!
Outside of Frankfurt today someone threw themselves in front of a train.
So I’m an hour late to my destination.
Or a decade late, if we might have had a chance to help them feel connection, hope, empowerment, and that warm feeling of okay-ness that spreads from within… when the mantra sounds are tuned in to listening sensory pleasure and the voice vibration is massaging the heart.
Travelling is tiring and can be overwhelming. There’s nothing in the world I really want to see, no food I really want to taste.
But people, I want...
What's the difference between a Mantra and an Affirmation?
I can't tell you how many people have asked, "What's the difference between a Mantra and an Affirmation?" It's such a great question, since the terms Mantra and Affirmation commonly get used synonomously when in fact they're distinct.
The word "mantra" has been appropriated for different usages. For instance, saying "I can do it" or "I'm good enough, I'm okay just as I am" are affirmations. These affirmations, when repeated, have a mantra-like effect as they help protect you from negative thinking or self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors.
However, the uniqueness of...
What defines "Sacred Sound"? What's the best way to start?
When asked about the best way to start or the most powerful approach, I believe cultivating listening is something anyone can do.
