Sound comes from silence. Obvious right? Except, when was the last time you heard silence? In daily life, it’s virtually impossible to escape biophonic (biologically produced), geophonic (earth-based) and anthrophonic (human-made) sounds, let alone our inner thoughts. Even deep within sensory deprivation chambers, people hear the sound of their own hearts beating and blood pounding in their ears. For most of us, silence has no practical meaning. It’s not part of our immediate experience of reality. And yet, it lurks behind, within and between everything we hear. Sound meditation is a means of exploring the relationship between sound and silence.

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The space between words gives us time to process what’s being said. The ability to tune out irrelevant sounds allows us to focus on what we want to hear. In music, selecting certain notes over time is how we craft melodies. What is omitted contributes to balance and harmony. The human ear only hears within an audible range of approximately 20-20,000hz. That’s a tiny fraction of the total sonic information in the known universe. In that sense, you could say we’re practically deaf. Microphones are designed to capture sound only within the audible hearing spectrum. One benefit of live sound meditation is that none of the overtones or subtones produced by the instruments are lost. These vibrations, though inaudible, can be sensed by the body in other ways. As we practice listening and feeling more deeply, these subtle vibrations become perceptible.

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Silence implies stillness, a lack of vibration, and yet we’re never still. Our bodies constantly perform complex processes such as breathing, blood circulation and cellular regeneration, even while we sleep. Our planet itself is spiraling through space at incredible speeds. Stillness is almost contrary to life.

That is, until we stop seeing things as binary.

A string has two ends, but it is one string. Sound and silence exist on the same spectrum. They are not absolute, but relative. A sound is only loud or quiet insofar as another sound is louder or quieter by comparison. Therefore silence is not an end to be reached, but a horizon that recedes indefinitely.

Why should one approach silence? For the same reason one should listen in a conversation - to be able to understand and respond. Why should one practice stillness? To observe internal and external processes. Exhaustion, anxiety, insomnia and other conditions can be the bi-product of an inability to rest the body or quiet the mind. When you’re depressed, that’s exactly what you need -- deep rest. Sound meditation offers restoration.

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Savasana or ‘corpse pose’ is a yogic posture in which one lies flat on the ground and consciously relaxes the entire psycho-physical system. Thoughts, emotions and the body are calmed with intention and awareness. Yoga nidra is one systematic method of guided meditation which helps the practitioner accomplish this by scanning the entire body from head to toe and relaxing even the smallest muscles in the face, fingers and toes.

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There are many forms of meditation. The etymology of meditation is “measured contemplation” and its root word “medi” means “middle.” The very practice of centering oneself in meditation is an aspect of yoga, which can be translated as “union.” Here “union” refers to the transcendence of dualistic thinking and a general movement from individual to universal consciousness (or interdependence). Separating the subject (the meditator) from the object of meditation creates a false division between oneself and the rest of the world. Sound baths are aptly named because the participant is immersed in sound, and from that place is able to connect with a more integrated experience of the moment.

Dualistic perspectives are defined by contrast like past and future, birth and death, light and dark, sound and silence, stillness and motion. Sound itself is depicted as a sine wave with peaks and valleys. We live in a world where suffering is enmeshed with polar opposition -- having and not having, winning and losing, pain and pleasure. Binary thinking is behind all wars between us and them, men and women, rich and poor. It is further mirrored in the inner conflicts we wrestle with: shame and desire, judgement, regret and the rest of our psycho-somatic illnesses which the Tibetan medical tradition call “illusion disorders.” Conflict is like a stone thrown into a pond, rippling out and affecting the environment. Meditation allows the muck to settle so tranquility can be restored.

We are so accustomed to listening to our illusions that learning to silence them is a powerful medicine. However, this apparently simple task is easier said than done. Many people are addicted to thoughts, emotions and actions. They are oversaturated with words, inner monologue, music, media and electric light. The body's inbuilt technology of circadian rhythm is disrupted by these behaviours which affect sleep cycles and the endocrine system’s ability to properly regulate hormones. Exposure to certain sonic frequencies (delta .5 -- 4hz, theta 4 -- 8 hz, etc.) promotes restful states, detectable in brain scans during REM sleep, for instance.

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Silence and stillness are excellent recalibrators. However, sitting still without “doing” anything is challenging for many people. Sound meditation can help acclimate a person to the practice. It also provides a safe place for people to connect with repressed emotions which may need to be felt in order to be healed. This relatively passive approach to sound healing places the listener in a receiving position while they practice various forms of yoga and meditation.

By contrast, singing, chanting, playing instruments and/or dancing is an active engagement of sound on the part of the practitioner. Active sound meditation can be done alone or in a group setting. Vocalizing, moving or playing a simple instrument such as a rainstick, chime or crystal bowl gives the mind something to focus on other than one’s persistent psychological feedback loops. Healing songs and mantras often invoke peace, health, protection, nature, beauty, love and so on.

Both passive and active approaches promote wellness by selecting calm states, simultaneously reducing agitation. Over time, consistent reduction in agitation makes it easier to penetrate deeper states of silence and stillness for longer periods of time, further enhancing the benefits.

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So what? Is the point of meditation to reach a silent, formless, thoughtless void? Is it to retreat from society to some idyllic utopia while the world burns? Harmony with others begins with inner harmony. If there is no peace in oneself, how can peace exist in the world? If we can first calm our own minds, understand our own feelings and master our own vices, it will be much easier to access peace in a world full of triggers and temptations. Ideally, the insights gained through sound meditation are applied to daily life.

It is possible to be peaceful towards an aggressive person. It is possible to love someone who hates you. Harmony is the universal solvent of discord. As the saying goes, you can’t fight fire with fire. At a certain moment, one must see the reflection in the mirror and break with unhealthy patterns. The mystery of vibration teaches us that no matter what frequency causes turbulence, the one who is balanced maintains equanimity in mind, body and speech.

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I offer you this poem, may it be a telescope to point you into deeper skies:

Mastering Darkness

What happens when you stare at the sun?

It burns. But everyone wants to see light.

And darkness? Look at it. You begin to see

light that doesn’t burn -

a gentle spectrum, quiet and still.

Nothing to be afraid of.

But light? Watch it rightly.

So does sound deafen

while silence opens you to hear

subtler things.

- Adrian DiMatteo