04/02/2024
Sound is insanely powerful! In fact, the most powerful sound healing tool you have is your own voice. And it’s FREE.
Back in 1967, a group of 90 or so Benedictine monks from a monastery in south France became ill. Men who had been used to sleeping four hours a night and working all day had grown irritable, lethargic, exhausted, and susceptible to illness and disease. Over a period of time, numerous doctors were called in and not one of them could understand what was happening. It turned out, back in the mid-1960s as part of a “modernization” effort, the Second Vatican Council cut back chanting in monasteries. Chanting was firmly embedded in their lifestyle and had been for hundreds of years. It defined their days and nights and was a constant companion in everything they did. Finally, French audiologist Dr. Alfred Tomatis was called to help the monks. Knowing how important sound is to life and to the human body, when he found that their customary practice of 6 to 8 hours of chanting per day had been stopped, Dr. Tomatis immediately had them reestablish their daily chanting practice. They soon regained their health, their depression lifted, and their energy returned.
Dr. Tomatis recalled:
‘I was called in by the Abbott in February, and I found that 70 of the 90 monks were slumping in their cells like wet dishrags… I reintroduced chanting immediately. By November, almost all of them had gone back to their normal activities, that is their prayer, their few hours of sleep, and the legendary Benedictine work schedule.’
His conclusion was that Gregorian chant is capable of charging the central nervous system, along with the cortex of the brain, thus having a direct effect on overall happiness and health.
However, modern science is proving that this phenomenon does not belong strictly to Gregorian chants— you can accomplish the same with simply humming. It is of the voice, the vibrations resonating within you that are the power themselves. If you’ve read this far, give it a try. Close your eyes and hum to yourself for a few minutes, then open your eyes and ask yourself how you feel! You will thank me! 😘
✌🏼& 🫶🏼,
C
