Definition: “Tantra”—the field… the interconnecting web that unites all reality; “Sound”—vibrations, the substance that makes up this web.

As always, this column deals with the power of sound to heal and transform. We’ve written on a variety of topics everything from using sound to create harmony in relationships to creating harmony on our planet

In this issue of Mystic Pop, we’d like to share with you an interesting and semi comical story that happened to us regarding sound that we’ll simply call “Traveling through Space & Time”. We thought many of our readers would be able to relate to this experience first hand, thus we trust it will be interesting! It demonstrates the extraordinary power of sound to shift our consciousness—perhaps to the level of changing our very perception of time and space. We trust it is comical because it happened to us—supposed “experts” in the field of sound. We should have known better!

We were on our way, driving from Boulder to Santa Fe for the 2nd International Sound Healing Conference. There, we were to present a pre-conference workshop together, “Frequencies of Healing,” and then during the actual Conference, Jonathan was scheduled to give a keynote: “Creating Harmony in the World of Sound Healing” as well as a workshop: “Basic Principles of Sound Healing.” (Sound Healing, incidentally, is beginning to hit mainstream. Recently, several gatherings have attracted more than 500 people each, and more gatherings are scheduled this year. In the 1930s, the psychic Edgar Cayce predicted, “The medicine of the future would be sound!” It looks like we’ve finally reached the future).

We had recently inherited our son’s Ipod after buying him a more updated version for his new college life. Even after loading on all the CDs we owned, we had used only half the storage left on this device. There’s something like 80 days worth of available recorded material on the Ipod. If technological expansion continues to occur as has been happening, soon they’ll apparently have Ipods big enough to have all the music in the world on them! The only question of course is, when you’ve got that much music, who plays disc jockey for you?

The trip from Boulder to Santa Fe was approximately 450 miles. Usually people make it in one day, but we like to experience it as a road trip, stopping at our favorite places and doing it as a two-day trip. Thus, the Ipod was ready, with more than enough sounds for what would probably be use for 16 hours—8 hours there and 8 hours back.

In truth, the first hour of the trip was spent listening to the local talk radio. One of our senators had called for the impeachment of our vice president and this was too juicy a topic for us to miss. By the time the show was over, we had traveled beyond Denver and we were probably over 60 miles and 60 minutes closer to Santa Fe. We decided it was time to plug in the Ipod!

We don’t have every song in the world, but we’ve sure got quite a few. We even have books on tape and instructional CDs on there as well. We decided to listen to one of our favorite audio series—“The Adventures of Jack Flanders”. This is a radio show made on ZBS in the 1980’s and 90’s, which featured stories of a young adventurer exploring various mystical places and topics. Whoever creates these has extraordinary knowledge of spirituality as well as psychic phenomenon. Within the first half hour of the particular “adventure” we were listening to, there had already been information on Pythagoras, the relationship between sound and sacred sites as well as a number of other intriguing thoughts and concepts; all couched within an amazing adventure story. It makes for great listening. And by the way, whoever created these recordings used actual sounds recorded in the various mystical places such as Bali and India. Given the esoteric knowledge contained on these recordings, including information about sound, it’s a good bet that these recordings are probably supposed to put you into some sort of trance or altered state.

About half way through what would have been the first CD, it began to feel like we had achieved this desired altered state. Jonathan, who was driving, wanted to pull over to the side of the road and simply listen to the rest of the recording. Andi’s eyes were getting tired and she was beginning to feel sleepy. Jonathan looked at the odometer. It seemed like we had been driving for many hours since this recording had been on, but in reality, it had only been a half hour, and we’d only gone thirty miles. We, however, continued listening.

Finally, another half hour went by and another thirty or so miles. That first volume was not yet done, but Jonathan was. “I can’t do this!” he said. “It feels like we’ve been driving for hours and hours! But we’ve only been going for about an hour since we’ve been listening to this!”

“I know,” Andi replied. “It’s as though we’ve been traveling through time and space in an altered dimension!”

“It’s as though this recording has warped time.” Jonathan acknowledged.

“Or at least our perception of time,” Andi reminded him.

We decided to stop the recording and put on something different, so for the rest of the trip we listened to up-tempo music. Suddenly things felt back to normal and it sure seemed like we got to our destination within the usual amount of time.

This was rather humorous for the two of us, because considering our knowledge and experience of sound, we know that a phenomenon called “entrainment” occurs when you’re listening to music. Your heartbeat, respiration, and brain waves will all synchronize together. Frequently, they can, and will synchronize to external sounds. This can be excellent—particularly if you are feeling stressed out and want to use music for relaxation. Your heart rate, brains waves, and breathing will all slow down (which is great, unless you’re driving over miles of long, straight, sparsely driven roads).

On the back of many of Jonathan’s CDs, there’s the message: “Do not listen to while driving or operating heavy machinery.” This is because being in a soporific state is not useful for maintaining attention. Nor is it recommended! So, we never listen to his CDs while driving. We don’t listen to other CDs by our colleagues designed to assist meditation and relaxation either. It just doesn’t work. (There was no such message, however, on the “Jack Flanders” audio recording we were listening to on our trip which created such an interruption of time/space). If we hadn’t stopped the recording and listened to something else, we feel we’d still be traveling on our journey to New Mexico!

In Jonathan’s forthcoming book, The 7 Secrets Of Sound Healing, he relates a similar adventure with using sound while driving—only this time it’s about using up-tempo music in order to stay awake and focused. It’s a good story that demonstrates an important principle about the power of sound which is that sound can be used consciously to induce different states of consciousness depending on what is needed. Readers of this significant book will no doubt find this anecdote useful, and it’s one that we obviously need to remember next time we take a long trip together with our Ipod.

Jonathan Goldman, M.A., is an internationally renowned writer, musician and teacher of sound healing. The author of several books including Healing Sounds and Tantra of Sound (co-authored with his wife Andi), his award-winning recordings include Chakra Chants and The Divine Name. Jonathan is founder of the Sound Healers Association and CEO of Spirit Music. Andi Goldman, M.A., L.P.C., is a writer, teacher, sound healer, and licensed holistic psychotherapist. She is the director of the Healing Sounds® Seminars and the Sound Healers Association. Together Jonathan and Andi have dedicated their lives to the path of service, helping to awaken and empower others with the ability of sound to heal and transform.
Website: www.healingsounds.com