May 2011 Essential Wellness

resources for inner peace, health and healing

www.esswellness.commay 2011

art &sound healing

Cover art: Richard Bonk

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may 2011 3

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inside may 2011

6–7 The voice can heal the planet An interview with Jonathan and Andi Goldman, sound healing teachers BY LYNN S. LAFROTH

8–9 Art is essential! By RICHARD BONK

10 What is Sound Healing? BY KAY GRACE

14–15 Painting myself healedThe story of how artist and storyteller Sarah Schaleger painted her way from illness to transformation and healing.BY SARAH SCHALEGER 16 CALENDAR

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art & soundhealing through

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USPICIOUS MIGHT

describe the day they met:

A Summer Solstice, a triple

rainbow, an introduction

by friend and fellow sound

healer Mozart Effect® author Don Campbell.

“We developed a beautiful friendship that

evolved into a beautiful love and romantic

marriage,” said Andi Goldman about her

relationship with Jonathan Goldman.

T h e G o l d m a n s — J o n a t h a n , a

renowned writer, musician, and teacher on

the healing power of sound, and wife Andi,

a licensed psychotherapist who specializes

in holistic counseling and sound therapy—

are the Soundsation Conference keynoters

at the May 20 “Principles of Sound” pre-

sentation at Normandale Community Col-

lege in Bloomington, MN. Cyndi Dale will

join the Goldmans on May 21 for an all-day

“Sound Healers Seminar.”

PurPose: to Heal aNd traNsForM tHrouGH souNd

“When I met Andi, I thought she was

the finest, kindest person I’d ever met. What

most people don’t know about Andi is that

years before she met me she was a pioneer in

the field of coaching,” said Jonathan.

It is well-known that Jonathan himself

is also a pioneer—in the field of sound heal-

ing. Andi explains, “The field of sound as a

healing modality began about 30 or 35 years

ago with a small group of individuals who

where guided to learn about and work with

sound as a healing modality and bring this

work to the planet.”

“My greatest purpose is to empower the

individual with sound to heal and transform

themselves. When I can teach and enable a

non-trained singer to use sound to shift their

lives and to make a better existence for them-

selves, that’s very important,” said Jonathan.

NaMed oNe oF Most sPirituallY iNFlueNtial oN tHe PlaNet

This spring 2011, Jonathan was named

as one of The Watkin’s Review Magazine’s

“100 Most Spiritually Influential Living

People on the Planet.”

“It is an extraordinary honor to be

included with such great people as Eckhart

Tolle, the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra,

and Oprah,” said Jonathan. “It is quite an

affirmation that my work has a real effect.”

This tribute comes well-earned. Jona-

than is considered by many to be one of the

premier sound healing experts in the world.

He has studied the “masters” in this field

including pioneers Sir Dr. Peter Guy Man-

ners, M.D., inventor of the Cymatic Instru-

ment that uses direct application of specifi-

cally tabulated sound frquencies on the body

for healing, Hemi-Sync founder Robert

Monroe who demonstrated that synchroniz-

ing the left and right hemispheres of the brain

alters states of consciousness using sound,

and Alfred Tomatis, M.D., whose Electronic

Ear proved effective in working with learn-

ing disabilities and emotional imbalances.

Jonathan’s pioneering work in thera-

peutic and transformational uses of sound

and music have appeared in many publica-

tions. Books he’s written include The Divine

Name, Healing Sounds, Shifting Frequencies,

Tantra of Sound (co-authored with wife

Andi), and The 7 Secrets of Sound Healing.

Jonathan has also produced many sound

healing recordings.

briNGiNG a World baCk to balaNCe

When asked how sound can bring our

current world of crisis back into balance he

said, “First and foremost, sound is simply

the easiest and most powerful way one can

manifest and feel the effects of healing. In

this time of great turmoil, by working with

sound, every individual can place them-

selves in a state of harmony and balance

by removing some of the stress through

sound.” He believes that sound can affect

us on the physical, emotional, mental, and

spiritual levels. “Self-created sound goes

directly into our nervous system and our

bodies. Through working with these sounds

HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd

The voice can heal the planetAn interview with Jonathan and Andi Goldman, sound healing teachers

A

may 2011 7

we do have the ability to calm ourselves

down and reduce stress—so important for

maintaining health,” he said.

From his writings he says, “I teach how

to create and use vocal harmonics, which are

sounds within sounds, in order to resonate

our body and our brain. It is my belief that

we will find out in the very near future that

these self-created sounds may be one of the

primary ways we can actually stimulate dif-

ferent parts of the brain causing direct reso-

nance of the brain using our own sounds.

These sounds not only energize our body

and our brain, but can potentially used for

healing—creating new neural synaptic con-

nections. The implications are astounding.”

Andi continues, “When we come to

Minneapolis, we’ll be focusing on what we

consider to be the most powerful aspect of

sound—the human voice. It may just be the

most powerful healing instrument on the

planet. We have a saying: ‘We Heal Our-

selves, We Heal the Planet; We Heal the

Planet, We Heal Ourselves.’”

PHYsioloGiCal eFFeCts oF souNd oN tHe bodY

“Self-created sounds have major physi-

ological benefits including increased oxygen,

lower blood pressure and heart rate, increase

in lymphatic circulation and levels of mela-

tonin, and among other things—reduction

of stress-related hormones,” said Jonathan.

“And, when we sound together with another

person, we get the release of oxytocin—

the trust hormone. Sounds breaks down

any barriers that exists between us. That’s

remarkable!” He said that sound can affect

the chakra energy systems at a deeper level

bringing those frequencies into alignment.

“Many years ago I developed a technique for

deep and profound meditation using self-

created sounds and mantras that we’ll be

sharing at the conference. It’s my belief that

we humans have an extraordinary ability—if

we work with our own intentions and sound

to create an interface with the noosphere, or

the sphere of all human thought—to learn

to shift and create miracles on the planet,”

said Jonathan. He refers us to the Global

Consciousness Project who studies this con-

cept and presents scientific data about cer-

tain events influencing the entire planet.

“Global harmonization is what this is

called,” said Andi. “We work with sound to

create healing for the planet.”

“This idea that we can interface with

our unified consciousness (the noosphere)

and can co-create reality through sound is

an extraordinary reality!” said Jonathan.

true souNd oF HealiNG is love

“Jonathan and I both embrace the love

and the light around our planet and we put

our focus on holding that vision,” said Andi.

“Our single most important message is that

the true sound of healing is Love and if we

can bring love to our planet that is the best

thing we could possibly do to be of service,

and to helping people make this earth walk

a better one for each person.”

“Everyone has the ability of rediscov-

ering the power of self-created sounds for

healing and transformation. It’s an extraor-

dinary gift we are trying to reawaken for

planetary healing,” said Jonathan.

Jonathan and Andi Goldman have a

website: www.healingsounds.com. Look for

Chakra Frequencies, Andi and Jonathan’s

new book coming out soon.

Lynn S. LaFroth is editor/co-publisher of Essen-

tial Wellness e-magazine and www.esswellness.

com. She can be reached at [email protected]

HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd bY lYNN s. laFrotH

The voice can heal the planetAn interview with Jonathan and Andi Goldman, sound healing teachers

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HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd

WON’T make a claim that

art has saved my life or in any

specific way dramatically trans-

formed me, but I feel that I am

honest in stating that my life

has arisen out of and is sustained through

creativity. In my experience, it cannot be

otherwise.

as HuMaNitY evolved so did art

A fundamental process in our expe-

rienced universe is that of the creative pro-

cess. Whether cosmic, chemical, biological,

psychological or social, there seems to be a

ubiquitous, impersonal impulse to experi-

ment, innovate and evolve—to create. As

living beings we have been instruments of

nature’s creative process and more recently as

humans, the creative impulse has taken on

an additional dimension. As self-awareness

dawned, conscious art making accompanied.

From the early cave paintings which have

utilized our growing mental capacities to

reflect on and communicate our perceptions

of our outer and inner worlds, to that rapid

rise of civilization and now technology, art

making and the creative process have served

as fundamental and essential tools.

We have but to look around to affirm

that design is everywhere, from the com-

puter we sit at to read this, to the clothes we

are wearing, the furniture we are sitting on,

the room we are in, cars, buildings, and cit-

ies—our entire civilization is dependant on

creativity, art and design. It is how we know

cultures; it is what survives and informs; it

is our legacy from the past, the foundation

of our future, and the form and function

upon which our present moment rests.

Yet in our world of craving, aversion

and delusion, we devalue art; it is typically

the first to go when we slash curricula in

our anxious reactions to a downturn in

the economic cycle. Making these obser-

vations and reacting from the heart, it is

my desire to align with nature in a direct,

intimate, and conscious manner—to serve

the evolutionary creative impulse—to be

one of nature’s artists and to advocate for

the arts as a necessary, sustaining, growth

engendering and healing element in the

lives of individuals, communities and the

natural world.

MY relatioNsHiP WitH art

Personally, my relationship with art

began as a child as an attempt to cap-

ture, understand, and express what I was

attracted to in nature, specifically animals

and their habitats. I felt an affinity with

these creatures and wanted this inter-

est to be my life’s pursuit so I planned to

become a zoologist. To fulfill this purpose

I entered a college biology class only to

sadly discover something was missing: The

artful images of nature were replaced by

scientific classification, concepts and mea-

surements. I felt what had attracted me to

nature and sustained me was mysteriously

absent. I decided to end my pursuit of a sci-

ence career, and not knowing what direc-

tion to turn decided to try a drawing class.

Though this did not make sense in terms

of practical career ambitions, I felt at home

again, able to examine and express the pat-

terns, textures, and forms in nature. Con-

current with my adolescent involvement

with nature was a blossoming interest in

philosophy, spirituality, and consciousness

and the art that reflected and expressed

such “inner nature.”

art FloWs tHrouGH Me

It seems that no matter what my

circumstances are in life and despite the

challenges that present themselves, the

creative, art-making process continues to

assert itself. It feels that it is something that

flows naturally through me and something

I am compelled to honor. It is my direct

experience that art is nature expressing

itself as the evolutionary creative impulse

through the human vehicle—in this case

through me. I am humbled and feel awe as

nature expresses herself through me.

Art is essential!Evolutionary impulse to create comes with self-awareness

I

bY riCHard boNk

may 2011 9

Richard Bonk, M.Ed, www.richardbonk.com,

is a life long artist, wellness coach, counselor,

teacher, and workshop facilitator. He utilizes

traditional counseling and consciousness ex-

panding techniques including meditation,

yoga, hypnosis, flotation tank therapy, dream

work, guided imagery, visual and literary

arts to facilitate client awareness, learning,

healing and growth. He is available for per-

sonal art commissions and workshops and

is a founding member of the Midwest Arts

in Health Network, http://www.maihn.org.

Art is essential!Evolutionary impulse to create comes with self-awareness

about tHe Cover art“acceptance Holds all” bY riCHard boNkwww.richardbonk.comThis piece is a recent commission for the Virginia Piper Cancer Institute of Unity Hospital, Fridley, MN. It results from collaborative mandala making with staff and artist Richard Bonk. Richard is one of the founding members of the Midwest Arts in

Healthcare Network: www.maihn.wildapricot.org.

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OUND HEALING is a spe-

cialized form of energy medi-

cine based on vibrational fre-

quencies. Everything in the

universe is made of energy

which vibrates at its own

unique speed or frequency. If a person is ill, in

physical pain or feels out of balance mentally,

emotionally, or spiritually, the system is not

“in harmony” or vibrating at its optimal level.

Sound healing effectively induces a state

of calm, slows and regulates breathing, low-

ers blood pressure, alleviates pain, and reduces

stress—all of which boost the function of the

immune system. Sound can take your brain

waves from active to alpha, as if you were med-

itating, or even into a theta brain wave state,

where very deep healing often occurs just

below the surface of your conscious awareness.

We are whole systems, like an orchestra

playing a symphony. Instead of cellos, violins,

and trumpets, we have our physical bodies,

our emotions, our thoughts and our spiritual

selves. What happens in one area affects all

the others, just like a wrong note throws the

whole orchestra out of harmony.

Sound healing brings the entire system

back toward more order and har-

mony, using tools,

technique and

intention in

order to release

whatever is

causing the

issue.

iNteNtioN is CritiCal to souNd HealiNG

What you and the person receiving

the sound intend, combined with the state

of being you’re in encodes itself onto the

sound. Sound contains information, and

we decode it all the time. Even if we are

unaware of this consciously, our bodies

and subconscious minds recognize and

respond to this information.

Sound healing tools and techniques

include voice (toning, chanting, singing,

overtone or harmonic singing), drums,

Tibetan and Himalayan singing bowls

and chimes, crystal singing bowls, tuning

forks, music, and laughter.

There are 3 basic ways this happens:

• Dissolving a block by matching its fre-

quency, like an opera singer who shatters

a glass with her voice.

• Releasing through sound, which creates

a pathway for unwanted energy to leave.

• Making the sound of a stored energetic

trauma left in your system is another

kind of releasing.

• Entrainment which uses specific sounds

and intention to bring you into a par-

ticular state of being, such as relaxed,

focused or energized.

Even a single tone sung at the proper

frequency, can effect change in our bod-

ies. Scientists believe this may be possible

because our bodies are made up of about

80 percent water and water is a major con-

ductor of sound. If sound helps the cellu-

lar activity move toward greater order, the

body can do its own job much more effec-

tively. More complex music affects us on a

mental and emotional level because it is act-

ing in the nervous system, specifically, the

parts of our brain responsible for emotion,

memory, and non-verbal communication.

Masuru Emoto, a Japanese researcher,

has studied the effects of music, chants,

thoughts, and words on the shape and

pattern of water as it forms into crystals.

“Thank You” creates a beautiful crystal,

while “I hate you,” creates a dark, chaotic

mess. He theorizes that since humans are

made up of mostly water, sounds, includ-

ing the inaudible frequencies of words and

thoughts have an effect on us, both posi-

tive and negative.

I encourage you to explore music and

sound for better health, reducing unhealthy

sounds (including your own thoughts!) in

your environment, and replacing them

with more harmonious ones, and to seek

out experienced sound healers and heal-

ing music to assist you on your journey to

greater health and happiness.

Kay Grace has an established private practice

offering Sound Healing and Energy Work. A

graduate of a four year certification program

in advanced energy work from Inner Focus

School, she has also studied Sound Healing

extensively with Jonathan Goldman and Sound

Accord Healing School. [email protected],

952-292-0480, www.EnergyExpress.com

HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd

What is Sound Healing?

S

bY kaY GraCe

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HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd

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ARAH SCHALEGER

embodies the archetype of

the wounded healer. A 2001

diagnosis of stage IV thyroid

cancer led to many surgeries,

chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and depression.

Using varied modalities, especially paint-

ing, Sarah transformed her life, moving

from client to practitioner. She works with

individuals and groups using art, visualiza-

tion, sound, and healing touch to connect

others to themselves and to their healing

source. This is the story of how artist and

storyteller Sarah Schaleger painted her way

from illness to transformation and healing.

CaN art Heal, aNd iF so, HoW?

I was recently divorced and suffering

from chronic pain, depression and fibromy-

algia related to my thyroid cancer. Some-

one suggested to me that I “paint myself

completely healed.” The thought amazed

and challenged me. “Of course!” I thought,

and then, “How can I do that?” I realized it

would be wise to start by painting my cur-

rent illness.

With my mind as blank as the can-

vas, I began painting an image of an eye-

shaped black hole, surrounded by shiny

copper paint. The hole was complete noth-

ingness—a void—(terror). I was painting

my experience of cancer, looking it in the

eye, so to speak. As I put on the dark cop-

per paint, I was struck by the insight that

the copper was not light (as gold paint is),

nor did it represent light. It felt instead

like darkness masquerading as light. This

realization was electrifying, because deep

down I carried a belief that cancer could

solve all my problems. I could give up.

No one would blame me.

Believing all along that by being

willing to face death I was showing brav-

ery, I suddenly realized it would actually

be far more courageous to stick around

and face my life—to look life straight in

the eye—than it would be to die. I could

now fully grasp the meaning of darkness

masquerading as light: cancer masquer-

ading as a solution in my life.

This insight helped me become will-

ing to make the choice to accept my cir-

cumstances. I asked myself how it would

feel if I were to stand in darkness and be

present to the emptiness of the void. I

didn’t blame myself for having cancer but

I realized that my depression wanted me to

slide out of life through it, which didn’t feel

very honest. This helped me form a new

relationship to the cancer and to my life. I

recognized that while I was not in charge of

the cancer, I had every right to support my

health, which included being emotionally

honest with myself. I could recognize and

face my fear of nothingness, of the void; I

could stand in it, and live with it.

PaiNtiNG MYselF Healed

These experiences carried me into

my next painting—the image of myself as

completely healed. Surprisingly, I painted

the void again, but this time it was totally

changed. This time it was full of radiant

HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd

Painting myself healedthe story of how artist and storyteller sarah schaleger painted her way from illness to transformation and healing

S

may 2011 15

HealiNG tHrouGH art & souNd

Painting myself healedthe story of how artist and storyteller sarah schaleger painted her way from illness to transformation and healing

light. The void had become a channel.

I realized that I had painted an image

of myself connecting to my life-source

energy! The process of standing in the void

and facing my fear transformed the void

into a channel of light and healing. This

transformative experience was integrated

into my awareness through the process of

painting it. I was amazed by the release and

profound transformation I experienced as I

continued painting.

Since then I’ve brought this method

to many people. Showing individuals their

inner landscape can bring to light unex-

amined beliefs while creating access to

intrinsic strength and wholeness. It offers

an invitation to embrace what is. The tem-

plate for wholeness is within us, and we

can access it in many ways, including—

and especially—art.

Sarah Scha l ege r can be reached a t

s a rah@sa rah s cha l e g e r. c om o r v i s i t

http://www.sarahschaleger.com

bY saraH sCHaleGer

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calendar MAYMaY 7Bagua Flow Introductory Workshop 3-5 pm. Register at Yoga Prairie in Eden Prairie, MN. This is the prerequisite for BaGua Flow outdoor classes.

MaY 15Bagua Flow Introductory Workshop2:30-4:30 pm. Register at Yoga Prairie in Eden Prairie, MN. This is the prerequisite for BaGua Flow outdoor classes.

MaY 20-22Harvesting Women’s Wisdom RetreatIn Stanchfield, MN. If you long to discover the “wise and wild woman” within, join our circle of women in the heart of the Tuscan countryside! Sign up by June 1st for Sept. 17-24, 2011 Retreat: Celebrating Midlife and Beyond, A Tuscany Retreat for Women of a Certain Age (45+). www.spiralexplorations.com

SEPTEMBERsePt. 10Fargo Psychic SymposiumFargo Civic Center, 10-6. Intuitive readers, holistic healers, wellness products, unique gifts. Keynote speakers. To exhibit: [email protected], 715-259-3047.FFI, Tickets: www.edgelife.net

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