Chapter 3

• Moving from hearing to listening

A sound can initially be heard as noise, especially if is associated with something

unsettling or is an unfamiliar sound to us. But a shift to imagining the noise as "wanted

sound", then as a vibration, we can shift from it being a noise to perhaps a musical sound.

• Populations near high noise pollution areas (living near airports, train stations, etc.) tend to

experience a higher amount of stress-related illnesses

Sound masking can help by introducing a pleasant sound over the unpleasant sound or

wearing ear plugs.

Exposure to high decibel levels, no matter what source, can stimulate stress in the form of

'fight or flight" response.

• Changing our reaction to sounds - by opening ourselves up to sound we can bend as

opposed to fighting against it.

Humming along in harmony to a noise unites us with the source of the vibration and can

be harder to reject the sound as unwanted, vocally releasing the sound from being

trapped within your body.

Really listen to the noise in a relaxed state, free the noise of any associations, then turning

the sound into something else.

We may turn the sound into the sound of the ocean and in the final process, learn to travel

on the sound and become the ocean = deepest level is called shabda or sound current

and is considered the highest form of meditation.

• Silence could be reduced to the inner sounds that are within us all and can provide one of the

most powerful vehicles for the higher self