I warned my partner this morning that I’m about to approach a whole new level of weird.
He cocked an eyebrow, and I explained. He stroked my cheek and said, “That’s my girl.”
Last night I was awake for a long time in the middle of the night. That’s not unusual, but it’s usually a drain on my energy, and I go through the next day feeling sluggish and depleted. But last night, I decided to try a couple of the meditation practices that I had been too scattered and busy to devote myself to during waking hours.
Well, holy shit.
How many times have you been told, over the course of your life, to “look within for the answers?” I can’t count it either. But I don’t think most of the people who were giving me that advice meant it this way . . .
Understand, I’m totally new at this. I’ve heard about the Inner Sound Current, the Logos, the Word, the Great Big Om that started this whole Multiversie thing vibrating, and I’ve longed ecstatically to hear it, but have never been able to get to a space in my head where I could. But over the past year I have learned so much, and grown so much, that suddenly I’m actually hearing tantalizing little wisps of strange music that I can’t explain in any other way.
I was walking by a tree in the park a few weeks ago, and heard what sounded like a harp playing with no attack, just the resonant melody and harmonization in a stream of sound, unlike anything I’ve ever heard before – or since, until last night, when I heard echoes of . . . something wild and far off and very strange, as I watched the greatest light show I’ve ever seen, all inside my own head.
Falling deeper and deeper into my own self, I saw billions of stars all connected by strands of blue light, and wisping or pulsing feathers of many-colored lights drawing me further in. My body felt electrified, and I could feel the strands of my own vibration moving back and forth, rising from the top of my head, reaching up through infinity and connecting to . . . who knows? Who cares? Something wonderful and pure and timeless.
There was a lake darkly shimmering and perfectly reflective, rippling gorgeously as lotus flowers made of light bloomed extravagantly in shades of rosy pink and palest violet. They rose up through the water like graceful little fluted cups, then bloomed into shapes that resembled Tibetan singing bowls.
The highway was loud last night, and at first it was distracting — but then I discovered the gift that tinnitus actually is. I could focus on my tinnitus and it would draw me inward, allowing me to ignore the engine whine and the howl of wheels on pavement. I focused on that pure, high, crystalline sound, and it pulled me even deeper into that inner space that is, I am assured by countless yogis and mystics that have been writing for thousands of years, The Real Me.
And while I was floating in this delicious space with the lotus flowers blooming, and the stars shining, and the light flowing and pulsing around me, I had no great and burning questions, needed no assurances, no comfort, no insight. This ephemeral being, in its infinity, is what we all are; this is where we came from, and what we’ll return to. There is, in fact, a whole Universe inside each one of us. Cheesy as it is, calling it the Youniverse is not inaccurate.
So I expect you’re wanting to know how I got to this amazing head-space. Since I am not a controlling and money-grubbing tool of the patriarchy, I’ll tell ya. Step by step. This is how I got there.
- Empty stomach. I had a pretty light supper, mostly veggies, and didn’t snack during the evening.
- I completely relaxed, laying on my back, and focused on feeling my energy body instead of my physical one. If you haven’t done this before, imagine laying in a vat of carbonated water. It’s very sparkly and tingly.
- I consciously willed my inner vision to look inward instead of reaching outward to explore what is beyond me. It took a few minutes, but the combination of feeling my energy body and focusing inward allowed me to have the experience of falling down into myself. The effervescent feeling kicked into high gear here, and I felt like I was being massaged with electricity from head to toe. In a good way.
- I focused on my Brow chakra. The Masters of Sound teach that the access point in the body to the Sound Stream is the Third Eye. Don’t try to get there through any other chakra because it will not happen. (The Path of the Masters by Dr. Julian Johnson, and Philosophy of the Masters by Maharaj Charan Singh.)
- I focused on my tinnitus in order to ignore external noise, and allowed it to draw me further in, and consciously relaxed and released any expectation of hearing anything specific, or anything at all.
- I allowed it to happen, and went along for the ride.
- When I felt like I needed to stop, I relaxed my concentration and simply enjoyed the show and drifted gradually back to sleep.
I can’t promise that you will have the same experience. I’ve been living in the earthly sound stream pretty intensely over the past couple of years, and the last few months particularly have been an immersion in sacred sound. I chant mantras and practice overtone singing daily. I periodically immerse myself in silence, or at least as much silence as I can get living within ear-shot of a major interstate highway. I first learned about the Audible Sound Stream a little over a year ago, and it has taken me this long to even get close.
If you’re serious about it, google surat shabd yoga and hold on to your hat. And practice. Pick a mantra and work with it daily for 40 days, 108 times morning and evening, and see what you start to hear. Listen for the “inner voice,” the undertone that sings with you. On YouTube there are several demonstrations of overtone singing, and even a couple of teachers who show how it’s done. Honestly, that’s how I learned to do it.
And of course, a word of caution: don’t go completely nuts and poke a hole in your inner ozone layer. Take it slow. If it causes you discomfort, back off, take a break for a day or so, try again. Slow and steady, gently and easily. It’s not a race, it’s a journey. Take it slow and savor the ride. We have an infinite number of lifetimes to get there.
Namaste.