Few can deny that sound has a visceral effect on the body. We even have a proverb that music can soothe the savage beast.
Alesha and Seth Blackwolf, of Dream Time Sound Healing in Coeur d'Alene, tune their instruments to that purpose. They play crystal bowls and other instruments to create vibrational meditation experiences. It’s called a sound bath, but no one gets wet. Instead, people lie down and let the sound waves wash through them.
Monday, the couple will perform in a cedar grove at Idler’s Rest, a nature preserve 5 miles outside of Moscow. A portion of the proceeds will support the Palouse Land Trust and the preserve.
Alesha will play about 10 crystal singing bowls, multi-toned instruments that produce several sounds at once. Gongs, drums, flutes and didgeridoo are other instruments the couple use. Alesha talked to Inland 360 about their work.
How did you begin using sound as a way to help people?
One of our first dates, we went to this sound bath/kirtan fusion (kirtan is a Sanskrit word for a musical narration that usually has spiritual purposes). It was a new concept and idea. Seth saw all the instruments laid out; we hadn’t even heard them played yet, and he looked over at me and said, ‘We can do this.’ We were just beginning to date. He’s a pretty prophetic fellow; he had this vision of us doing it. I just looked at him and said, ‘OK’ (laughs).
We started off with five instruments. I had a lot of support from teaching yoga for 16 years. With what we had, people got something out of it. We put everything we made back into it. Now we are four years into it and we have very, very high-quality instruments.
Would you explain what crystal singing bowls are?
We use crystal alchemy bowls where they take the crystals you see at the crystal store — like morganite and amethyst — and alchemize them into bowls so you can actually play the crystals. This is where the profound difference comes from. People can feel it. Every time we’ve transitioned into these higher-quality things, I’ve witnessed the transformation.
What kind of transformations?
I tell you, it’s always really good to hear people having physical relief from their bodies.
People who came in with terrible sciatica they’ve been dealing with for months, and then it suddenly goes away. It’s very mysterious; I still don’t understand it.
Other people have transforming moments where they’ll stop doing a negative behavior. Then there are these big transformations of people not living their life as they want to, and they transform into living more authentically. That motivates me more than anything, people changing their life to live the best life they can live.
How do you think the bowls motivate transformation?
Basically, the bowls entrain us to live with a higher vibration.
Entrain?
We can be entrained to follow a negative vibration or a positive vibration, and these call the attention to the positive vibration. They reharmonize the body. We are constantly getting broken down and bombarded by life. What the bowls do, and a lot of the equipment we use, they reharmonize, pull things, shift things out of place.
To describe it visually, I use a bush with dead leaves. This is how I feel people present to us; they’re just not well-groomed energetically. In our regular sessions, it’s like a shaking of the bush, and all the dead leaves fall off, and there's this sweeping and grooming process. So, it is always a clearing and encouragement for growth, in hopefully the right direction, which I’ve never seen the opposite.
Does playing for a group outside make a difference?
Acoustically, inside sounds better (laughs). Outside, we lay down on the ground, earthing. An energetic thing is already happening. We’ll be surrounded by those cedars; there’s magic in that beyond the oxygen.
Pulling people out of their busy lives at work and home and getting people into nature, it’s always a big effect on people. People do not get out enough time in nature.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Crystal in the Cedars
WHEN: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10
WHERE: Idler’s Rest, 1187 Idler’s Rest Road, outside Moscow
COST: $20 online at brownpapertickets.com
OF NOTE: Bring a pillow, blanket or sleeping bag to lay on. Arrive 15 minutes early to find an ideal spot.