Hi Everybody :)

Recently the Earthmajik crew went to a presentation on Tibetan singing bowls. Although these magnificent objects date back to at least the 10th century, little is now known of exactly what they were used for. Many antique bowls were sold, destroyed or hidden during the invasion of Tibet in the 1950’s, and their cultural significance and purpose hidden as well. Today they are used in sound therapy, which is used to heal imbalances in the energetic and physical bodies. Sound vibrations can actually alter brain waves, sending the brain into a more relaxed state, and slowing down the respiratory and heart rate. I felt an incredible sense of tranquillity while listening to the different notes emitted by the bowls, which I seemed to hear with my very being, rather than just my ears. It’s an experience that’s hard to forget, and since then, I’ve been wondering why, exactly, those bowls stirred such a response in me. As an evolutionary biologist, my answer came from an unexpected (or perhaps not so unexpected!) place: the fossil record.

Modern tympanic ears are quite a recent development in evolutionary terms, showing up along with the first dinosaurs. Although a primitive ear had been present since the first tetrapods crawled onto land about 360 million years ago, both land and sea-dwelling animals mostly heard and processed sounds in a different way – by feeling the vibrations move through their bodies. This quality was retained to a certain degree even after the modern ear became entrenched in the amniote lineage. It explains why we processed the strong vibrations of the bowls in a completely different way to most other sounds - feeling them with our entire bodies, rather than with our modern, rational brains. Those sounds touched the core of what humans still are today: primeval beings who remain very much a part of Nature, despite all the technological advances surrounding us.

So this month, try and reconnect with that part of you that is still wild and free, not constrained by cities or traffic or news reports. Hug a tree, lie on a patch of green grass, watch a sunset, and stop to smell the roses.

Love and light

Nat & Cesca

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