*Originally posted December 2023
I find it fitting to acknowledge the Winter Solstice. At my home, this is the true spirit of Christmas as the sun begins its return to earth. The sun sets around 3:30 over the mountain to the west and in general, the sun stays hidden throughout the day. At my time of writing, the next 10 days are overcast, snowy, and rainy. It is a dark place. Within that darkness, our neuroses arrive at our doorstep. The darkness is beautiful in its empty potential. Yet, it is full of hesitation, self-doubt, and fear. It is a great circus of the self and the cycles of the season. Yet, one’s awareness of the passing ebb and flow of life allows one to stay centered and not acclimate to the stresses that could possibly come along with those inept moments of self-inquiry.
One of my core philosophies when working with sound is the idea that we only use sound to find silence. The same idea is mirrored akin to using light to find darkness. Sound filters out the noise and allows one to go within themselves and witness the unfolding aspects of the self. These moments are reflective of one’s own personal journeys and where they are in their lives at that exact moment. For years I was living within my crown charka and had many highly powerful spiritual experiences. It brought upon a new state of consciousness to operate from.
When my daughter was born, we moved to Vermont and began to establish our roots. We got our hands dirty creating our garden which now houses raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, six apple trees, grapes, kiwi, seaberries, elderberries, cannabis, and six giant vegetable beds. I am grounded and those highly spiritual experiences have given way to finding God in almost every aspect of my life from stacking wood to cleaning my garage. Sound allows a certain aspect of the self to be opened…and when it is opened it can never be closed. This is something you have to be ready for, but it is a trial by fire. For wanting it to happen is the trick…because one cannot be prepared for that which follows awakening. My life is completely different from what it was three years ago. My work, my family, my home…all new and in alignment with my journey of fatherhood.
In the world of sound, many make claims that are misleading and just plain false. I am a man of faith, and sound has changed my life in every aspect. I do not need scientific proof to believe and know something is real, but people who make claims that are esoteric with spiritual nomenclature can be seen more as marketing than reality. For this doesn’t solve any problems for an individual, it only gives greater power to a practice than the self where you rely on sound to solve your issues rather than the truth that the sound is the finger pointing…directing you to where your attention should be to possibly find resolve. It doesn’t solve your issues; it shows you them. Sound doesn’t heal you; it assists you in healing. Sound is Nada Yoga or the Yoga of Sound. Yoga is union with the divine and makes no claim but can provide an aspect of holistic well-being that can fortify one’s resilience.
One of the greatest lessons sound has taught me is that stagnation can be shrouded as cyclical actions. I was stuck within a certain diet, lifestyle, and location that did not support my needs. When these aspects changed my life, mind, and health improved. For it takes great courage to change who you are and allow your earthly needs to have priority over your perceived and learned beliefs. Sound gives strength to welcome change rather than resist. In my life when I surrendered to the parts of myself I thought I wasn’t…I began to realize I am not only what I think I am, but mostly I am everything I do not think I am.
The solstice teaches us darkness is not dark and light is not always illuminating. With sound it teaches us that it is not a healer, but a teacher. The teacher illuminates the darkness and the duality of contrasting states of the self. When you are not sitting in sound or practice, how do you apply these lessons to your everyday life? For Yoga is not the time spent in practice, but the practice spent in time.
With this, spend time in silence and in darkness. If you listen to the silence and see the dark…when the sun returns, there will be new parts of the self that grew and others that were left in the darkness. Just like a tree moving into winter, limbs and parts of the tree retreat into the ground only to move higher into the tree to search for light. The limbs and leaves on the bottom of the tree do not return, for the tree reaches into the light. This is what happens to us if we allow the darkness to move into us. Parts of the self are in perpetual decay, and that decay allows new growth. Sound can assist one in allowing these transitions to be with grace rather than chaos.