The Heart of Spiritual Practice
All spiritual practices have within them the dedication and ability to learn to quiet the mind. The mind is difficult to quiet because it creates the loudest voice in your energy system—one that never stops talking at you, criticizing you, re-living the past, creating anxiety about the future, and blocking the real experiences of life in the present moment. Your life purpose only exists in the present moment and so, it must be felt in the present moment. As long as the mind is in charge, you cannot get enough real information to live your life purpose.
If you just sit in quiet room, close your eyes and listen, you will hear nothing for a few seconds and then a constant stream of thoughts begins. Your mind may say it wants you to stop thinking and relax, but it never lets you. This is what I call the “white noise” of the mind, and it blocks most of the other eleven levels of consciousness for much of the 
time. For over a millennia, chanting, prayer, dancing, martial arts, chi movement, mantra, emotional release and other techniques have been used to counter this white noise. But it is not easy, and only the steadfast and persevering ever make lasting changes in their mental patterns. Challenging the mental trance of everyday reality is the most difficult step for all seekers and initiates.
Crystal bowls are instant mind stoppers. The principle is easy to understand. The mind blocks most of the systems by being just a little louder than the other levels, so we can’t hear them. We only hear ourselves constantly talking in our 
heads about what we already think we know. When a bowl plays, it comes into resonance with one of the other levels of the field and enhances it, giving it a loud-speaker quality as long as the bowl that is played is actually louder than the mind. It simultaneously relaxes the mind from the frontal lobes and then deeper into the middle brain and limbic brain where music, tone chanting and vibration are felt, rather than thought about.
Crystal bowls help us to remove the dissonance of the white noise and begin the process of learning what the guidance from the other eleven levels feels like. If you want to know what normal brain function feels like, sit and listen to your 
favorite crystal bowls for 15 minutes. Then notice that you are very present, but you are not actually thinking with the normal mind state. Notice when your mind takes over again and then notice how your body tightens when it does. That tightness is a result of thinking and is what blocks your feelings. Regular use of the bowl tones retrains your system to feel more of your twelve levels of consciousness, so your mind can be brilliant, fresh and not stuck in old thoughts.
Continue to read Crystal Bowls – A New Language for Your Mind
