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Singing bowl healing

History

     The history of singing bowls is full of mystery.

     As the bowls are called “Tibetan singing bowls”, they were/are apparently used in Tibet but it's not clear how they originally were produced or who used these bowls for healing.

     It is said that the bowls existed already before Buddha's time, that is, more than 2500 years ago. But at Buddha's time bowls were mainly used by monks for begging or simply for eating rather than for healing.

     As Buddhism spread to the countries around India, bowls were brought to Tibet, Korea and all the way to Japan. In Japan you can find the big size of the bowls at temples (called Keisu/Kinsu) or small size at family alters at home (called Orin). And they are used for rituals.

    How have the bowls for begging changed to ritual implements and further to healing tools? It is said that only high Lamas in Buddhist temples in Tibet were allowed to use them for secret rituals and other monks knew nothing about the bowls. That's why not so many things are known. But, then again, we never know all the facts.

     A lot of documents were lost during the Chinese invasion in the 1950's.

     People who fled from Tibet at that time brought the bowls out of the country as their possession in hope of exchanging them for necessities in case they would have difficulty to make a living. That's how singing bowls spread in Western countries, too.

     In Tibet they have an old shamanistic-animistic religion Bön which has existed far longer time than Buddhism. Over time Bön has been influenced by Buddhism but still remains as one religion in Tibet. According to Jansen* it's a “shamanic branch of Buddhism”.

     On the other side of the Himalayan mountains, the bowls have also been used by shamans in Nepal. These activities by shamans at both sides of the mountains could be the origin of the singing bowls as a healing tool.

As mentioned, the history of singing bowls as a healing tool is not clear. There are not many people left who can tell the stories from before the 1950's in Tibet, either.

Material of singing bowls

     They are made by metal. Generally one bowl is made from 5 to 12 different kinds of metal. In my bowls 7 kinds metals are used and each metal corresponds to a different planet:

• Gold – Sun
• Silver – Moon
• Mercury – Mercury
• Copper – Venus
• Iron - Mars
• Tin – Jupiter
• Lead - Saturn

The amount of mercury is little and it's used to eliminate impurities of the metals.

     In addition, the bowls I use are so-called full moon bowls which are produced only on full moon nights. The craftsmen purify themselves and make rituals before they start working with these bowls. The bowls have power from the full moon.

Healing

     Through the sound and vibration from the bowls, which are placed around you or on your body, your energy is harmonized. The sound from the bowls doesn't give one concrete note as C, D, E, etc but several overtones. Vibration radiated from the bowls go into your body and give a massage on a cellular level.

     70 to 80% of the human body is water. As a stone in water makes rings of ripples, the vibration from the bowls affects the water inside of your body and spreads through the whole body. Also, the sound and vibration lead you to the state in which you are in deep meditation and where a theta wave occurs in the brain (slower than alfa wave which occurs in relaxed state).

You will feel totally relaxed both physically and mentally after the session.

     There is also a spiritual aspect. It is said that bowls connect the receiver to the universe. According to a Tibetan buddhist monk, the sound is giving teaching of Buddha about broadness and emptiness.

     How it feels depends on the receiver. In the same way as Reiki, the healing power works on the place where it's needed. The practitioner decides intuitively where to place the bowls or the strength and length of the sound by observing carefully changes of the sound and the receiver's state.

     The receiver will be in a state between sleep and awake and it's not unusual that you will fall asleep. You might see some visions or have interesting dreams. It may make you laugh or cry. There are some cases where chronic joint pain is gone after one session.

     The vibration inside of your body remains even after sessions. Sometimes you still feel it after many hours. Some experience “something has started“ in the body.

I learned singing bowl healing by Mr. Shree Krishna Shahi in Kathmandu, Nepal. We call him Shree-dai (brother Shree) with respect and affection. He grew up looking at his grandfather who was a shaman. He has been working for more than 30 years as a healer (though he is not happy to be called so), teacher and musician both in Nepal and other countries.

→Kathmandu Center Of Healing

     On the other hand, when muscle tension is not released, it can cause;

- limited movability

- headache

- stiffness in muscles/joints

- sleep disorder

     I use techniques based on Swedish classic massage, PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation = static stretching), PIR (Post Isometric Relaxation) and trigger point treatment as necessary.

History

     Massage is mentioned for the first time in history in 3000 B.C. in China. 2000 years later, around 1000 B.C. massage was spread to India.

     In Europe it was Hippokrates (460-377B.C.) who described effects of massage for the first time. A Greek doctor Galudius Galenus (131-200) also wrote a lot of documents about manual medicine.

     Later in the 16^th century, effects of massage were studied in France and then in the 18^th to 19^th century, the Swedish doctor Per-Henrik Ling (1776-1839), who is known as the father of gymnastics, advocated the effects of gymnastic movements including massage. Ling's idea was spread to other Western countries and it is said that Dutch practitioner Johann Georg Mezger (1817-1893) was the person who introduced massage to academic society and developed the system which is now called “Swedish massage”.

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*For Epassi customer 10% of the price will be added to the ordinary price.

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