POWERFUL
FORCES
IN OUR LIVES Sound and Music by Rev. Mary Blocher The first time I ever heard a group of Lakota elders from Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota drum and sing sacred Sun Dance songs in their native language, a profound sense of peace and inner knowing flooded my being. I had no idea how to interpret the words that were being sung. It really didn’t matter. The songs touched a primordial chord within my soul and I felt healed in body, mind and spirit in that moment. Later, when I lived on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, I had the privilege of attending a Native American church ceremony and heard the sweet sound of peyote chanting accompanied by the pounding beat of the water drum. Again there was a sense of peace and healing surrounding the experience. It comes as no surprise that for centuries Native Americans have known the healing properties of sound. It is now a known fact that drumming can relieve tension and pain with its heartbeat-like rhythm.
forces in our lives. With today’s modern technology, we have at our disposal these ancient practices that can bring healing in an instant. We can go to YouTube on the internet and be connected to a myriad of healing songs from various religious traditions. We can easily purchase cds which have been designed to send out certain healing vibration tones. Tibetan singing bowls, crystal bowls, flutes and drums are readily available and at our disposal. Imagine what might be possible if we begin to bring into our life this vibrational force to bring healing to ourselves and our planet. Rev. Mary Blocher was ordained as a Unity Minister in 2005. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Indiana University. Prior to entering the ministry, she was a special education teacher for 24 years. Nine of those 24 years she lived and taught on the Navajo Reservation where she learned first-hand the traditions, customs, and spirituality of Native Americans. Please see ad for Unity-Leesburg this page.
Sound is so important that it is even a part of the creation story. In Genesis 1:3 it says, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light; and there was light.’" Later in the New Testament it tells us that “In the beginning was the Word.” In the beginning there was sound! Even if we don’t believe the Bible is an accurate account of the creation story and believe that the world began with a Big Bang, we have to admit that the world was still created with sound. Sound has been used as a catalyst for healing throughout history. It doesn’t matter if sound came from a native shaman, a Christian priest, an Islamic Imam or a Jewish cantor. Sound has brought us closer to that which we hold scared. Sound healing is based on vibrational frequencies. The premise of sound healing is that everything in the universe is made of energy which vibrates at its own unique speed. Sound healing is a form of energy medicine or vibrational therapy designed to have a measurable effect upon organs, tissues and well-being which changes the way a person functions and responds. It is clear to us that sound and music have always been powerful Velocity Magazine THE MAGIC AND HEALING POWER OF MUSIC AND SOUND | September • October 2011
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