Read an Excerpt
The Secret Language of the Heart
How to Use Music, Sound, and Vibration as Tools for Healing and Personal Transformation
By Barry Goldstein, John Dispenza Hierophant Publishing
Copyright © 2016 Barry Goldstein
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-938289-44-6
CHAPTER 1
The Music Within
Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.
— Lao Tzu
As you shall soon see, music, sound, and vibration are powerful tools to create expansion and healing. One of the reasons that music can be such a strong vehicle for transformation is its ability to shift our emotions in a positive way. When we can transform our emotions or remove an emotional block, we open the door for healing to occur. Many of us affect our health negatively on a daily basis by either ignoring or not bringing awareness to our emotions. Ongoing negative emotions can impact our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies — even if we are unaware of them.
Even if I start my day in a relaxed state from meditating, listening to music, or playing my guitar, it's not unusual for me to get to my recording studio twenty minutes later stressed. A lot can happen in a twenty-minute walk to work in New York City! Walking down six floors of stairs, horns honking on Eighth Avenue, stepping in dog poo, police sirens, homeless people asking for money, rain and no umbrella, only one elevator working in the recording studio, the computer not booting up ... Talk about stimulating your five senses! And this is before my workday really starts.
Upon getting to the studio and checking my messages, I learn that a project that was due at the end of the week is now being moved up to tomorrow. With the inevitable prospect of an all-night recording session, I begin to feel some anxiety. I need to schedule singers to get the background vocals done and find a bass player at the last minute. It all begins to paint a not-so-pretty and stressful picture. As I dive into my work, I begin to feel tightness in my neck, and an uneasy feeling in my stomach. My emotions are beginning to affect my physical body.
In addition, I feel a bit nervous and notice my usual patience in situations has diminished. As my day unfolds, I find myself snapping at people. A situation that I normally would have let pass elevates into an angry argument. My emotions are beginning to affect my mental body.
The walk I take in Central Park during my lunch break is blown off and replaced by a phone call to a friend where I vent and relive my stressful morning. The deeper connection and faith that I usually feel while being in nature is now absent in my day. My emotions are beginning to affect my spiritual body.
After an all-night recording session, I send the final mix to the record company and release a big sigh. I notice how much stress I was holding as the sound of my breath is released, and I notice how much lighter I feel.
What if the stressful day that I had is a typical reoccurring day? The only things that change are the situations, but the stress is never managed. This ongoing unawareness of how our emotions effect our physical, mental, and spiritual bodies can lead to such challenges as lower back pain, insomnia, high blood pressure, disease, anxiety, and depression. Any one of these could make a person feel incomplete or out of balance, the feeling and state of being unhealthy.
Your challenging day may be different. Maybe you are under some financial stress; maybe you are going through a tough breakup; or perhaps a loved one has recently passed. Every one of these situations can have many different levels of stress that can snowball into challenges in our four bodies — spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical — and our overall health.
The good news is that the opposite is true as well. Positive emotional states can benefit our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. The healing process is all about moving back into balance and returning to our natural state of wholeness. Not just finding a cure, but finding our health.
Music can provide an antidote to our venomous emotional states if we become aware of the healing power that it holds. Music is more than just a song on a radio; it is a language that exists inside you, and one that you can tap into to alleviate emotional stressors that challenge your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. By using music, sound, and vibration, we can bring our four bodies back into balance, and create space for deep healing.
As you can see, I needed a tool to combat stress on a daily basis. I needed a way to come back home to my heart in a short period of time. The processes I will share in this chapter helped me to re-center and bring a knowing that as long as I have my heartbeat, my breath, and my sigh, everything is truly okay. In finding this knowing, I am able to shift to a state of gratitude where the smaller daily challenges melt away into the "sound" breathing processes. I have a path to move into the sacred process of creation with clear heart, clear mind, and clear intentions.
There is an amazing power that the sounds within us contain. We will begin to tap into their ability to act as a catalyst to release negative emotions, mental blocks, and physical stress on a regular basis. I have incorporated them into my own daily program to jump-start my four bodies in their innate ability to heal, and I have personally seen amazing results. Since I have implemented these breathing techniques into my life, I very rarely have a day like the one I shared with you earlier. I know that these breathing techniques will be a powerful transformational tool in your days and life as well! They are an invitation to you to come back home to your heart.
Internal Music
The music within, or our internal music, is always with us. It is the music that is created from our bodies themselves through three sources: the sacred heartbeat, the breath, and sigh. Each person's internal music is a unique symphony within that is calling out for us to listen and is communicating the needs of the four bodies. Internal music is also a helpful tool for dealing with daily stressors, as your internal music is always with you and available to you.
We can use the sacred heartbeat, breath, and sigh to create, cultivate, and induce our four bodies' healing patterns. Ultimately, we are the true conductors of these instruments that create our foundation for how we manage our health and quality of life.
The Sacred Heartbeat
Just as the drums and rhythm section create the musical foundation for how we synchronize and entrain to a musical piece, the heartbeat is our internal rhythm that synchronizes us to inner peace. It is this same sound that connects us to each other and to the rhythm of everything in the universe while we are in our bodies. The sound and vibration of our heartbeat is a symbol that we are alive in this moment.
By coming home to your heart, you tap into your heart's magnificent vibration and its music. The more you listen to your heart, literally, the more it speaks back to you. It sends messages to you during your decision-making processes. Maybe you've noticed an uneasy feeling in your stomach or something telling you not to move forward in a situation. Maybe you got goose bumps or chills when a song affected you in a profound way. Your heart is constantly singing a secret language to you, calling out and sending signals for you to listen. And when you do, it is life changing!
The Sacred Heartbeat Process
The Sacred Heartbeat Process is a simple but powerful meditative exercise by which you can learn to be more in touch with your heart. I like to use this process whenever I feel disconnected from my heart — especially if I have a big decision to make. Coming back to your heart and listening for its guidance can help you to have more clarity and less anxiety in the decisions you make because you are able to tap into your heart's unique intelligence.
Bring your hands to your heart, palms together, and begin to slowly breathe in and out of your heart as you bring in the intention that you are about to touch something very sacred. Like you would gently hold a newborn baby or pet a kitten, this is the energy that your hands send to your heart. Imagine your heart receiving this energy as a child receives a hug, or a lover savors a gentle caress. No matter what challenges are going on in your life, your heart is still beating and emanating its own music. Drink this in and allow yourself to feel the blessing of being alive. Take a few more moments and continue to send loving energy to your heart, allowing this process of giving and receiving to expand.
As you connect more and more with your heart's intelligence, you begin to cultivate your intuition and a "knowing beyond knowing." I define this as the ability to gain access to intelligence and wisdom beyond the boundaries of our thinking minds. You begin to know and understand what is specifically right for you because you are listening to your heart.
Using this process often, we begin to trust our intuition, and in this state of connection our heart becomes the internal advisor and conductor of what resonates with us and benefits us. We spend most of our time sorting through life situations and challenges through our mental process, without the awareness that our heart is constantly serenading us, guiding us, speaking to us; but by using the Sacred Heartbeat Process, you can reconnect with your heart and take its guidance into consideration as well.
Divine Breathing and the Power of the Sigh
If the heart is our internal drummer, the breath is the conductor that leads this internal rhythm section. As we breathe in, we receive our life-force. As we exhale and sigh, we release negative emotions and stress as we empty our vessel. Each breath is a new opportunity to hear and develop a deeper relationship with our inner music. Among this inner music, the sigh is another valuable tool for breathing exercises, as the sigh gives us further control over our breathing, and is part of the internal music we create on a daily basis.
One major benefit of working with the breath is that we can influence our autonomic nervous system in a powerful way. The autonomic nervous system is not under our conscious control, but it has the important job of regulating our bodily functions such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes. Our breath is one of the biggest influencers of this vital system, which is why it is important to connect to and be aware of our breathing. The following exercise will help you bring awareness to this bodily system and use it to your advantage.
Breathing Exercise
Slowly breathe in. Hold the breath for a moment, and then release it with an audible sigh. Try this several times. Now, bring more of a focus on each breath. As you inhale, visually direct the breath into one area of the body, perhaps to a place where your body currently feels tense or to where you normally hold tension. As you inhale, flex or contract the muscles in that area. As you exhale, let out a powerful sigh and relax that area. Continue doing this throughout your physical body, with particular focus on areas that feel tense or stressed. As you release the sound of the sigh, these areas will begin to feel lighter and less tense.
One of the main reasons we hold so much tension in our bodies is we forget how powerful the breath can be in releasing physical and emotional stress. By pausing and taking one moment to ourselves, we can utilize our breath to "address the stress" and prevent it from escalating into potentially hazardous health issues.
When we practice these breathing techniques, the breath, the sigh, and heart are in constant communication, orchestrating a sense of inner peace. As we release the sigh, not only does our physical body relax, but our mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies relax as well. The sigh is a soul sound that says, In this moment, everything is all right. By becoming consciously aware of our heartbeat and our breath, and the use of our sighs, we feel more connected to the peace of the present moment. Our heartbeat, breath, and sigh are our umbilical cord to nourishing a deeper spiritual connection.
Finding Your Unique Heart Code
As we focus more on the interaction of our heart and breath, this focus blossoms to create a deeper understanding and a more intimate relationship with our heart. In addition, we begin to see that there is a unique relationship between our heart and our brain, with each having its own independent intelligence. As we become more familiar with their specific roles, we can shift back and forth based on what is needed in different circumstances. If you overthink situations, experience a lot of mind chatter, second-guess decisions, or are locked into limited belief systems that define you, it's time to give the brain a break.
Your heart is always inviting you to shed the illusion of who you think you are and come home to who you truly are. In the center of you, within your heart, you carry your own unique vibration, your own heart code. No one else has the exact vibration that you do. This vibration carries your gifts and your authenticity, the things you are here to share in the world. This is who you truly are. Your heart code is constantly speaking to you, waiting to be deciphered, and you are the only one who can do this. The following exercise that works with the music within — the heartbeat, the breath, and the sigh — will assist you in finding this state of harmony.
Heart Song Breathing Process
Let's incorporate the sacred heartbeat, the divine breath, and the soul sound of the sigh into a powerful process that will allow you to access a more balanced, peaceful state. In this energy you will be more able to tap into the subtle language of your heart and open the door to finding your unique heart code.
This process will incorporate three sacred breaths.
To begin, stand up and gently place your hands on your heart. Spread your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart, as if they are creating the base of a pyramid that points to your heart.
Breath One
As you inhale, visualize bringing the breath in through the bottom of your feet, all the way up your legs, through the hips and abdomen, lower and mid-back, all the way to your heart. As you exhale, visualize releasing this breath out through your heart, and let the breath go with a powerful sigh.
This breath works to clear stresses and stagnant energy held in the lower body, nurturing us through each step we take on our spiritual path. It is imbued with love and appreciation for all that is. It unites us to the energy of Mother Earth that we connect to through the bottom of our feet. Visualize your feet planted and united with the earth, and feel safe and supported.
Breath Two
Now extend your arms above your head and spread them until you create a V shape, as if they were forming an upside-down pyramid that points to your heart. Imagine yourself on top of a beautiful mountain, surrounded by an expansive, unlimited, star-filled sky.
As you breathe in, visualize bringing the breath in through the top of your head, through the brain, face, neck, shoulders, upper back, and chest, and then release your breath through the heart, again with a powerful sigh.
The second breath works to release stresses and stagnant energy held in the upper body, including the mind. This breath asks us to surrender what we cannot control and opens our ability to accept guidance and ask for help. It bonds us to the energy of the Divine Father (often referred to in Native American culture as Father Sky).
Breath Three
The third breath integrates the first two breaths and balances our masculine (Father Sky) and feminine (Mother Earth) energies through the heart. When you inhale with your hands on your heart, visualize this breath coming IN through the heart and OUT through the heart, and release it with a powerful sigh.
Remember, in all three breaths we should be releasing on the exhale with a powerful sigh. The sigh acts as a sound catalyst to release the energy.
After you have tried this three-breath process several times, place your hands on your heart and continue to gently breathe in and out. Hear or feel your heartbeat. Listen to your breath. Let your inner music sing to you. ... In this relaxed state, allow yourself to simply be.
The Heart Song Breathing Process has been invaluable for me as a type-A native New Yorker involved in the music industry for twenty-five years, helping me manage my daily stresses and form a deeper connection with my heart.
Another benefit of practicing the Heart Song Breathing Process is the calming effect it has on the body. Research has shown that meditations such as these can slow our heart rate, lower blood pressure, increase circulation, aid digestion, strengthen our immune system, improve cognition, and diminish feelings of anxiety, depression, and irritability.
The Heart Song Breathing Process is one of the simplest, most important, and most powerful exercises in this book. It is the first step in appreciating music on a new and different level, by bringing a level of awareness to the music within. Once you are connected to the music within, you will appreciate the external form of music in a new way, one that is beyond art and entertainment, as a fresh and vital tool for transformation.
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Excerpted from The Secret Language of the Heart by Barry Goldstein, John Dispenza. Copyright © 2016 Barry Goldstein. Excerpted by permission of Hierophant Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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