As much as I keep trying to just “jump in” with my experiences, it’s tough trying to tell a story without some background. Along those lines, here’s a few things I’ve studied to get me to where I am:
- Self-hypnosis (in multiple styles)
- “transcendental” meditation
- Trance work
- Shamanism
- Various disciplines commonly referred to as “magick”
- Neuro-linguistic programming
- binaural tone technology
- breathwork
- Reiki
- EFT
…and many more.
Each has been a step in the direction of understanding myself, the world, and the interactions between them.
Presently, I am studying the Higher Balance curriculum, and I am developing more than I imagined. Before I proceed to some of my more current experiences, let me share a realization I had a couple of months ago:
A while back, I was inspired to make use of the Quantum Light Breath as a meditation practice. As I worked with it and allowed myself to open up more, I suddenly heard what (at first) I thought to be tinnitus. Initially, I panicked, as I’d never heard of this kind of reaction before.
Being the geek I am, I did some quick research via the web. There wasn’t a lot of documentation, some medical reports of tinnitus linked to breathwork. The reasoning given was that massive hyperventilation triggered a case of tinnitus. The problem was, I wasn’t hyperventilating. Granted, I was breathing deep and very consciously, but nothing like what was being described. It continued to happen when I was practicing the Quantum Light Breath, until I tapered down in pursuit of other techniques.
Fast forward a little under a year, and I find out. I’m not going to try to explain it here, as there’s a whole class on it taught by a better teacher than I. What I will share are some of my experiences with these tones.
The tones of sound are not a simple mechanical flaw in the ears, as they respond to mental action. It is an acquired skill, but I have learned to isolate a single tone (normally, there are countless tones overlapping), and then “play with it”. I can move the tone around so it seems to be coming from any direction, and so on. Presently I’m learning to isolate multiple tones and move them as well.
The thing that really surprised me was an episode from my childhood. My dad loved to listen to Simon and Garfunkel, and I heard “The Sound of Silence” more than a few times. I didn’t get the rest of the lyrics being so young (5-8 years old, we’re talking), but the concept of silence sounding like something intrigued me.
I started spending time just listening when there wasn’t any noise, trying to actively hear silence. At first, it seemed to be almost a roaring sound, but I kept listening. Eventually, the roaring gave way to the same tones I hear today. Of course, being a little kid, I didn’t know what to do with it. I got the impression that something was wrong, so I clumsily making pointless noise. Eventually, I distracted myself and didn’t hear it anymore. This episode lay forgotten until a few months ago.
I’ll be updating more as I figure out how to express my experiences without resorting to jargon.
