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Experience a Sound Healing Session with the quartz crystal singing bowls, a distance healing session, or a Crystal Bath with the John of God Crystal Bed. Sessions are available in Honolulu, Hawaii and in other locations where Leigh Ann Phillips is invited to give sessions, lead workshops, or to perform. Click here to book a personal session!
The Shimmering Sounds Foundation
Leigh Ann Phillips is now the Executive Director of The Shimmering Sounds Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and promoting the benefits of sound and vibrational healing, and the advancement of this healing modality in the field complimentary and alternative medicine. All donations are fully tax deductible, as the foundation has a 501c3 sponsoring relationship with The Folk Alliance! The purposes of The Shimmering Sounds...
Singing Bowls
I am proud to offer quartz crystal and gemstone singing bowls for those wishing to integrate sound into their personal lives or their professional practice. Please visit my Crystal Bowl Website to browse available bowls.
Swearing and Negative Sound
Many people like to start off the new year with resolutions aimed at increasing health and wellness. We normally think of having better hygiene in terms of eating better and exercising more. Yet taking care of ourselves with sound is also a way to increase our hygiene.
Swearing has become a semi-acceptable way of communicating in our culture. It has become normal to add a swear word here or there. However, there are some things to be aware of when making the choice to say a word one would avoid saying in the presence of children.
Cursing is a form of negative sound. When you swear, that word literally reverberates throughout your entire body. That means that negative energy is literally being echoed throughout every cell. We all know some foods carry more negativity than others. Eat an organic salad, and chances are you will feel pretty well. Eat five chocolate bars and chances are you will have a tummy ache.
Saying a swear word is very similar. It is even processed in the brain differently. Normally language is processed in the left hemisphere, and the right hemisphere of the brain handles the emotions. There is an area of the brain called Wenicke’s area, which processes the spoken word information. The prefrontal cortex takes care of what is considered acceptable social behavior. Processing language is considered a “higher” brain function, while processing emotion is considered a “lower” brain function. Swearing is an oxymoron for the brain, as those words are actually processed through the limbic core, where we process emotions. So instead of processing profanities as raw sound, the brain chooses to store these emotionally charged words as a whole unit. This means it does not need the left hemisphere’s assistance when processing them. It can rely on the limbic core, which controls memory, emotion and behavior. So this means the basal ganglia, which controls motor functions, ends up processing the swear words.
It has been shown in studies that swearing can mitigate physical pain. My sense is people may also “feel” that it mitigates emotional pain, as most people when they swear are experiencing a negative, deconstructive emotion, such as frustration, anger or even feeling hurt, which is why the swear word is processed through the right, or gestalt hemisphere of the brain.
However, I would invite you to also look at the energetic aspect of this. It is known in the spiritual traditions, which are often ahead of the findings of the scientific community, that swearing puts out a strong wave of negativity throughout your entire body. If you notice, people who swear often usually have a higher rate of illness. It also puts out a wave of negativity out into your etheric field. If someone swears in your presence, if you pay close attention, you may feel less energetic, or even feel more irritable.
We all know the feeling of having less energy in the presence of some people, and also how we can literally be energized by someone’s positive energy. Cursing adds to this dynamic in the negativity department.
Swearing is a form of dark light. It can be seductive and even addictive to swear. It gets people’s attention because there is power in the words. This power, however, is dark. This is not a judgement. It is simply energetic. Some energies are constructive, and attractive things that bring us joy, love and compassion. Some energies are deconstructive, and bring us pain and suffering. The physical body needs a healthy balance of these energies. We see a similar balance in nature. Leaves bud, then grow, and eventually trees shed their leaves and go dormant. We as humans have cells that grow each day, and die each day. But when the balance tips itself too far and too much to the deconstructive, that is when our wellness wanes.
A good practice is to think of what you would like to say before actually speaking it. Thinking a swear word and not speaking it will not have as negative of an effect, and may be a good bridge to get to the point where it is not a verbal factor.
Warm Aloha,
Leigh Ann
Wheelchairs, Rainbows and How Sound Speaks the Truth of Heart
Today was not an ordinary day.
Airports are not ordinary places, and neither are their teachings.
Image by Cassie McMullen
Crawling out of bed, and over tweed carpet, I wrapped my arms around the handicap bar, and sunk into toasty warm water, just long enough to lather and rinse. My backpack was almost ready to be zipped, clothes buttoned, and on opening the door to the hallway, I saw James, tall, a baby boomer, slender with salt and pepper hair, through the glass of the elevator, rolling the wheelchair in my direction. Kind, warm eyes pointed towards me like a compass. I tossed him a smile back and a hello so he knew he had the right door.
Striking up a conversation at 3 in the morning is actually quite effortless, as both of us find it humorous we are awake at this hour. I ask him how it is working this shift at the Hyatt.
His answer takes me off guard.
“Well, it is exciting,” he says with a soft voice and half a smile. I wasn’t sure which side of the smile he was on.
He explained to me that this was the time of night that everyone who was drunk walking around Bourbon St. would waltz in the Hyatt, and that they would be so soaked in alcohol, that often the folks could not walk, talk, or had any idea where they were. It was the night of the walking Zombies, each Friday and Saturday. I had a feeling it was so, as the folks on the plane to New Orleans were either there for bachelor parties or they were tired of Vegas and were looking for another place to party. James was an unsung hero in the predawn hallway, just this side of Bourbon St.
It was one unusual situation after another.
Cab ride, airport, another wheelchair, TSA (even though I have TSA precheck I was told that if it was not marked on my ticket I still had to be frisked). Louis Armstrong, the wheelchair chauffeur at the New Orleans airport, serenaded me until I had my hands in the air while the “back of her hand” from the TSA officer was carving stream beds of cloth over my torso. That was at 4am.
Another wheelchair, another airport, missed the next flight, another cart, and then change of gates, another cart. Each of these steps introduces me to another young sentinel parting seas of people with a wheelchair. One young man from India, another young gal with a migraine headache, hoping someone can take over her shift. A young man whose dream is to be able to purchase a home for his family. A young man who is dreaming of being a police officer. In five to 10 minute sonnets, I am getting a taste of each person’s dream palette. I have little time, so I have to cut to the chase and find out who is being kind enough to wheel me to my next destination.
And then it hits me. I am getting the opportunity to be kind at every turn, practicing kindness and consciousness in the training program in a myriad of airports. OK, I can play this game.
The last wheelchair awaits. A tall, college-age young man with round eyes and a mysterious accent is waiting for me at the gate. His name tag says Lazreg. He is not smiling but calm and attentive. See if you can imagine this. I have two crutches, a 25-pound backpack and an ankle sticking out like a golf club. There is another woman ahead of us, pushing her husband in a wheelchair, and also trying to juggle a carry-on bag with wheels. It is way to much for her, but she is the little red caboose that could, and feels the lack of choice. I ask if I can have her bag. She lets it go, and I take the baton.
We get to the top of the ramp. The lady wheeling her husband motions to me to hand the bag over to a little girl with pretty blond hair and a bubblegum pink dress that matches her sister’s.. It is my turn to wait in the chair while Lazreg goes back down the ramp to retrieve another woman in a wheelchair. Here comes the kicker. He pushes us both at the same time, navigating between people, luggage, coffee cups, weaving in and out, until the way clears. It now feels like we lucked onto an open six-lane highway. I had a moment when I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, following the yellow brick road, it was that surreal.
I try to help push the wheelchair, but the backpack is so bulky it takes both my hands to keep that on my lap. I let go and just observe and enjoy the ride.
It turns out Lazreg is from Morocco, and that the other lady in the wheelchair, her friend who is now with us, is from Uganda. The tapestry of their lives and how they got there from Africa is told to me in chapters. The other lady is so homesick she does not take her eyes off of Lazreg. They talk story. She has lived in the United States for nine years, and has not been back since, but hopes this year will be the one she can visit her family. Her accent gets stronger as she expresses how much she misses her loved ones.
Lazreg says he has tried to get rid of his accent, but he cannot. The two ladies whimpered out loud, exclaiming, “no, no, don’t do that.” He left Morocco four years ago. He said there were only three ways out; work, university or swimming. I asked him to explain. He said there was a place to the north where the border of Spain was so close that at night you could see the lights of cars driving by. He was referring to the Strait of Gibraltar. The distance between Spain and the continent of Africa is 8.9 miles at its narrowest point. He had a friend that literally swam over in the night, but was picked up by the Spanish police and deported. He tried again, but was caught a second time. He was told if they saw him again they would shoot him. Instead of swimming, Lazreg decided to attend the university in Calgary, Canada, but, then moved to Houston because he had trouble with the cold. He is now studying in Houston, working parti-time at the airport, and also has a career as a boxer.
“I am not like other people my age in school,” he said. “I have no one here, no real good friends, no family. I have to keep myself distracted. I have to stay busy. Most people my age drink and do other things. I have no interest in that. I want more. This is the moment where I realize this moment is more than a moment. This encounter is changing my life.”
At this point he is now wheeling me to the Alamo rental car station, which feels pretty funny. Are they even going to let me rent a car?
Here is where the rainbows come in. Lazreg is waiting there right with me. He is now feeling more like a little brother than an airport employee. The other lady from Houston and her friend from Uganda are at the baggage claim.
I am wheeled up to the rental car counter, feeling very short as I look way up and see the eyes of the Alamo employee smiling down on me, with a bemused twinkle. He asks me for my drivers license.
It’s my move. I feel this utter wave of GRATITUDE. Literally, a wave of warmth pours over my skin. I have family alive and well, and I am going to be seeing them TODAY. I have Support in the Universe, unconditional SUPPORT in Houston. I feel connected deeply to people I JUST MET, and it has happened the entire day, over and over again!. I am really happy, and this wheelchair was the catalyst!. And this young man is teaching and reminding me of the power of the HEART. All of this in 20 minutes. There is no time for thoughts. I am feeling too much, and yet observing this from an aerial view, yet physically quite close to the ground.
The rental car employee hands me the compulsory contract, the one I never completely read but initial several times. I find I am writing smiley faces next to each of the places I initial. I turn to the last page and out of my fingers I draw this very large rainbow with two clouds on each side, and a smiley face inside one of the clouds. I am so happy and free I don’t know what to do with myself except write rainbows.
Smiles rippled on both sides of the counter. Lazreg wheels me towards the pick up area for the rental car. I get to pick the car. I care more about the color than the model of the car. I choose white.. That was the color of my rainbow.
None of this could have happened without the loving, gentle power of sound. The timbre of kindness is an essential ingredient in the alphabet sound soup, yet it is so easy to have a frequency in the voice that feels more like an SOS pad than a gentle hand on a shoulder. Without the warmth of the voice, and the open road of the heart, this day may have had a different story, a different ending, and a different beginning.
I told Lazreg we met for a purpose, and he agreed.
Somehow, I feel the power of the Creator is moving through me to help this man significantly. All of the people that wheeled me around airports were all sweet, kind, and honorable. But sometimes, we just have to reach out and create a miracle, aligning with the divine energies that want us to shine outside of the everyday tasks, and cast a light of support, and pray with our feet, or with a wheelchair, because we can!
If you are moved to be a part of this, please contact me by phone or email. I cannot see what this “care package” will look like, and it may have to be done outside of the nonprofit, but regardless I would like to be a cog in the wheel of manifestation for this young man.
Later that evening, I dreamt of a pink Buddha in a pink room. All I saw was a beautiful Buddha and the emanation of pink light. It was more a vision than a dream, climbing from my subconscious to the shores of my conscious mind.
Wishing you a lucky star shining in the night sky of your heart song.
me ke aloha,
Leigh Ann
Body Song: Utilizing the Power of Sound, Music and Vibration for Brain Injury via the Quartz Crystal Singing Bowls
Recently I had the privilege to be a guest blogger at TheBrainFairy.com, speaking about sound healing and the brain. They also mentioned my album, Dawn Mountain in another posting about Music as a Healing Tool After Brain Injury.
I wanted to share my blog post in its entirety as well, as it is based on a lot of the foundation of my work with Sound Healing.
“I call utilizing sound in a session a “sonic massage.” The sound literally goes through the entire body. You can literally feel the sound going all the way through. That is the vibration. With a regular massage, we bump up against muscles and other tissues. The sound and vibration are carried by something called the essentic wave. It is similar to how massage works. This “wave” works through touch and sound, which is why when we receive a Swedish massage our brain states slow. It is the same with a “sonic” massage.”
Click to continue reading:
Gary Goldberg’s Interview with Leigh Ann Phillips
In case you missed the April 9th interview and music on Gary Goldberg’s Music show on WRPI radio, you may listen to the archive below. Many thanks to Gary Goldberg for the recording!!
Mik’ael reviewed by Michael Diamond
I am so thrilled to have my latest album, Mik’ael, reviewed by New Age reviewer Michael Diamond!
Here’s part of what he had to say:
“MIK’AEL is at once worldly and otherworldly as it blends earthy instruments with heavenly vocals to create a listening experience that is both meditative and moving. This is music that was created with great intention and purpose…With MIK’AEL, Leigh Ann Phillips has created a transportive sonic journey that is sure to stir the imagination and inspire the Spirit.”
You can read the entire review here:
http://michaeldiamondmusic.com/2013/04/02/mikael-by-leigh-ann-phillips/
Much Love,
Leigh Ann
Bridging Activism and Music on Karen’s Korner
I was so honored to be a guest on Karen’s Korner, as part of the United We Strike radio marathon! We talked about music and positivity in activism, my latest album – Mik’ael, the Enochian Language, and a preview of “Tarofe” from Mik’ael.
Enjoy this archive of the interview!
Click here to download (MP3)
A Crystal Bowl Sonic Tune-Up
Enjoy this YouTube video recorded from where I live in Hawaii. The Sunset over the Pacific Ocean and the singing of birds make this video very special!
Leigh Ann Phillips on Gary Goldberg’s Music Show!
I invite you all to listen live to Gary Goldberg’s radio program which will be Tuesday April 9th at 2pm Eastern time, 1pm Central, and 11am Pacific time. We will be sharing the new songs from the Mik’ael album and other topics. Please join us and feel free to call in.
Listen Live online at WRPI.org! You may also call in to the show by dialing (518) 276-6248.
Photos from Taiwan
In early 2013 I had the pleasure of sharing sound healing with many groups in Taipei and Gaushung, Taiwan. It was such a wonderful experience! Enjoy the photos on my flickr photostream here.
Leigh Ann Phillips on Karen’s Korner
Leigh Ann will be a guest on Karen’s Korner, an online radio show –
Friday, Feb 15 – 1pm GMT, 7pm CST, 8pm EST, 5pm PST
Karen’s Korner” is part of Charlie McGrath’s “Wide Awake News”, http://www.wideawawkenews.com and the program is produced on http://www.renseradio.com, and simulcast on Charlie’s home and chat page, as well as http://www.oraclebroadcasting.com
Karen’s Korner on every Friday, for 2 hours, 1pm GMT, 8pm EST, 5pm PST.
Archives posted here by date:
http://www.renseradioarchives.com/wideawake/
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