Through In, Throughout
In the book OUR VIBE-A Sound Healing Journey I wrote about reconnecting with a friend after more than two decades, and how she presented me with a tape of some meditation music recordings I had made back in the early 90s. I explained how at that time I was first getting into exploring the relationship between music and meditation and how I recorded various pieces of music using a variety of percussion instruments, a Tibetan singing bowl, cymbals, drums, bells, a Roland Juno synth and a Tascam Four-Track recording machine. And I wrote about how I was pleasantly quite surprised with what essence those recordings seemed to have captured.
The pieces of music on that tape were untitled. I don’t remember why they were never titled, maybe I just couldn’t find the suitable titles at the time.
There was one piece of music in amongst the recordings that really interested me. I remember it was an attempt to reflect an interest I had at the time to explore meditation and music to assist with movement. I feel the seeds of my interest in the Tai Chi (Qigong) that I have since practiced and taught for many years happened at that time, and like any seed, when left to its natural process it grows. I also wrote in OUR VIBE how for several years I have played Hotel Ambient by Moby in one of my weekly Qigong groups.
I played this piece of music from the tape a few times in the following months of having those recordings coming home to me, and then the idea arose that perhaps the piece could be re-recorded, refreshed and updated. And if it could be done, it might serve as a useful piece of music to accompany some movement meditation practices that I now do.
And so inspired with this idea I knew just the man to approach. His name is Alex and he’s someone I have known for many years and he is also someone who has played and performed in the Mosaic Orchestra, a group of musicians who have been exploring and creating amazing essence music for over four decades.
I had worked with and performed with Alex in the past and also recorded some music and gongs, and he had both the musicianship and suitable studio where any new recording of this ‘old’ music could be attempted.
I phoned Alex, shared my idea and intention and he happily agreed to help. We set a date and few weeks later we got together in the studio and within less than three hours the music was recorded and the title Through In, Throughout revealed itself. It was as if something from the past got rescued and brought into the now.
On the approach to the recording session the more I played the original recording, I also started to get a sense of what was possible. And the idea that the music could be used for flushing through, cleansing and restoring afresh the aura and other systems in the human made sense, and this related to the idea of something being through in, throughout.
With such ideas fizzing away in us Alex and I sought out the sounds and instruments that would reflect our aim.
The Instruments
There’s a gong that opens the music. The particular gong used is called a Feng Gong meaning wind. It ushers in what is to come, and for this music a sense of what does the wind carry-something from the future maybe? It certainly announces that something is on its way. Remember the effect that gongman known as ‘Man-with-the-gong’ had at the beginning of those old RCA movies!
There is a synth that has a wave-like moving sense to it and this is a constant feature throughout the music. It brings to my mind the nature of Salisbury Plain and the way the hills have an undulating formation about them. And this creates a sense that is different to being in a valley or elevated high up on a mountain. Which suggests how different terrains can affect that which it comes into contact with. This synth is meant to evoke the sense of movement, soft and gentle, and a sense that it keeps going, keeps moving, like a stream.
There’s a rattle which also helped to create a specific effect. The particular rattle used on Through In, Throughout was a gift from my daughter Josie. She brought it back from her adventures travelling South-East Asia.
Rattles are an old instrument and have been used time and time again throughout history. Picture the Shaman, dressed in their regalia and in ceremony shaking the rattle.
Think of the effect the rattle snake has when it rattles its tail. It causes an effect of warning and repulsion, which might suggest something about why rattles have been used by the shamans. Rattles have also been used to break up and disperse energy that has become coarse and static like. Static in the sense of there is no movement and movement keeps things fresh. Think how often we place an ornament on a shelf, in the beginning it is clean and interesting, but then as time goes by and it doesn’t get cleaned the dust builds up and this all reflected of the energy that it attracts. So, the rattle in Through In, Throughout has about it the idea of dispersing and flushing out such unwanted and out of date energies in our auras.
There are two types of chimes used in the music, one a traditional orchestral chime which sounds lovely and then there are some Koshi chimes, which create a gentle magical sound. Their effect is close to that of the rattle but with a softer approach. It’s as if they disperse and clean away, they soften and leave the listener feeling calmer but also enlivened. This can be very causative in the restoration of the levels in the aura.
It’s interesting to consider the use of bells and gongs throughout history too, and it’s as if the lyrics in the 1950’s song by the Four Aces ‘those wedding bells are breaking up that old gang of mine’ wasn’t too far away from the truth.
There is also a bass guitar and an acoustic guitar and other synth sounds, each intended to create different effects and serve the music in different ways. More of this is written about below.
The Movements
There are multiple ways that Through In, Throughout can used alongside movement and it’s hoped that the listener will experiment and explore a variety of ways. To give some idea, there are three Tai Chi Qigong movements that could be used. These have such wonderful names as: Creating Ripples, Separating the Clouds and Balancing the Chi, and some more information about these is written below in the next section.
The Practical Process
Step One-Find a place and pause. You can be stood or seated. Take a few moments to adjust your posture so that you are comfortable and feel at ease. Feel the connection of your feet to the earth.
Step Two-Here comes the three gong strikes. The gongs usher in the start of the process. A suggestion for this step is to take three breaths, a gentle and steady in breath and a soft relaxed releasing of the breath, one to go with each of the three gong strikes. And use this time to centre you and signal to you that you will be willingly entering a process that requires your concentration and containment for the next six minutes.
Step Three-This is where the koshi and other chimes enter. This suggests shaking off gently and waking ourselves up. Shake shoulders, arms, legs, and feel the muscles and bones having a release from tension.
Step Four-This is where that ‘moving’ synth sound enters and where we join the flow of the stream. It’s as if we allow ourselves to surrender to the cool, clean current of the stream and off we go, to where, well, that is unknown, but we trust all will be well and perhaps we go to meet the future.
Step Five- This is where the bass guitar enters. This is the bone, the close in part of us, the inner structure and scaffolding of us upon which the rest of us hangs. The bass here is slow, so when we try to be harmony with this it, our movement will need to be slow. And it’s the bone so less curve like but more straight and shorter like much of our skeletal formation. This is the Balancing the Chi movement.
Step Six-This is where the rattle also comes in. The rattle providing that focus on breaking up and dispersing the unwanted and no longer needed coarser energies that can build up in the aura. The imagery of the rattle snake and the way its tail shakes might help to assist with this intention.
Step Seven- This is where another synth sound enters. This is a sound that carries a small jerking style movement, created from the writs and using the hands. Not hard or over vigorous but smaller and gentler and this can be causative to help charge and energise the aura.
Step Eight- This is where the music introduces a gentle bubble sound with a rhythm that carries with it a sense of blood coursing its way through the veins (the arterial and venal pathways) and throughout the whole body (physical and energetic). Here is where the focus is on the cooling and regulating and cleaning of the blood. The movements to assist this is done by creating circles (maybe circles the size of a dinner plate) with the hands and move the hands around the aura as if smoothing and soothing something. This is the Creating Ripples movement.
Step Nine. This is where the nerve level can be focussed on using the Separating the Clouds. The use of the hands to gently wipe and smooth out the area in the aura that connects with the nerves. It’s here that one might visualise the smoothing out of a tablecloth and how that happens. The idea of removing lumps and bumps and leaving something that looks pristine and neat and tidy.
Step Ten. This is where there is a sense of slowing down and quieting happens that the gentle guitar strum helps to evoke. This might serve as a section where the sense of awareness of self to self gets stronger. A kind of gathering oneself to oneself, a coming home to self.
From this point on as the music continues the hope is that the listener will be immersed in the music and enjoy being with the music as they perhaps respond to whatever part of the music seems to have more value or importance in the moment. This meaning that in that moment the listener might need to focus on the nerves more than the bone. The music ends with the koshi and chimes and here it might simply be a matter of returning (although having travelled the stream) to where one started in a relaxed posture with some gentle breathwork and then even some final shaking off before exiting the process.
The music is six minutes long and this should allow enough time to engage in a process that is effective and brings results. Of course, if a person wishes to repeat the process and play the music over, this is fine too. In busy times with so much making demands upon us, the hope is that a person will create a six-minute space without a sense of pressure.
Now, what is important is to not be rigid and fixed but be more like the flowing stream. What this means is that we don’t need to follow a sequence as such and go step one, step two, step three and so on. This is a personal experience and if we can be in the now with-it ad be current with it, it might be necessary to spend more time with the nerve level and then next time you might find you need to spend more time with the rattle sound. The music is a layered experience that reflects the idea and nature of something that is through in, throughout. The meaning being that there is a great deal happening all at the same time, and at any moment there is much possibility and a vast number of connections in function.
It is hoped that you will enjoy the music along with the exploring what is possible when it comes to blending and experimenting with music and music and meditation. Be free with it and move with the current of the stream!
YOUTUBE LINK for the music Through In, Throughout
(110) Through In Throughout - YouTube
https://youtu.be/PM47NP3Dxqg?si=M5jOrTeLG2ATtF_g
Contact www.club-chi.co.uk for more info on the Tai Chi Qigong movements.
