20/08/10

As humans, we are full of space. We are more bound together by the gaps between our molecules than the fibres which surround them. This is difficult to remember when we are stressed by life's demands. At times like this, our minds can feel weighed down by problems which appear really dense.
At Performance Frequency, we work with Sanskrit mantra. Sanskrit is the language of energy. It doesn’t matter what you believe: Sanskrit is hard-wired into our systems and works with our systems. It works directly on the body’s chakras or energy centres. Mudras (specific positions or gestures) help sound to come through more strongly:particularly helpful when we work with people involved in Performing Arts or corporate presentations, who need their voices to carry. As mantras hold frequency, we can change our own frequency, by saying a particular mantra. Saying a mantra, or chanting, is associated with relaxation and calm. Working with laughter, sounds of the belly, fear and anger are all part of the range for which we can use the tools of sound. We can work directly on our organs and start detoxing them. We can fire up our system and become energised by sound. Working with mantra, is like working with electricity: increasing our fuel and firing our get-up-and-go.
Working with voice opens up so much within us. The voice is the centre of creativity for the whole body, so any creative talents already open will become enhanced and previously dormant talents may emerge. Working with the voice in this way, increases our ability to be receptive and allows inspiration to flow more readily. It is an excellent approach for writer’s block, or more mental work requiring input. Voice is unique to us as individuals and when we use it we simultaneously reveal our emotions, spirits and thoughts.
The more attention we pay to sound, the louder silence can be become. When people voice sound, they are left with space. Some people cannot bear to be in silence, living with the constant noise of iTunes, tv, radio, or the Internet. Silence is not always clear, but can hold a lot of sound. When two people have had an unresolved argument they sit together in a silence full of noise, in which the argument continues, unvoiced, discomfort in the air. The same can happen in our bodies, or in our cities – places where the silence holds no peace. Or there are places we visit where we can feel bathed in the silence of a place, and its very quiet can give us deep nourishment.
I encountered such a place in the West of Ireland, living in a valley in County Mayo. I was training in a form of body psychotherapy, known as Biodynamic Psychotherapy, when I came across chanting with The Naked Voice Foundation. After a couple of years of studying both methods, I stopped training to be a Psychotherapist and decided to become a Naked Voice Facilitator instead. Following the sound practices developed by the Naked Voice’s Founder, Chloë Goodchild, I became increasingly sensitive to the deep silence that pours from that valley in Mayo, which created in me a sensation similar to moving underwater - a place so still, that it feels possible to feel the very pulse of the earth, as it beats; a place where the land’s history is visual, lying in ridges in the hills and where Famine is held strong in bog, rock, field and road. I began to hear the energy of the land gathering and forming into songs, wanting to be sung.
Performance Frequency would like to make a sound offering to Coventry, in a unique project called Sounding Cov. This community project will involve as many people as possible chanting for 11 hours, followed by one hour of silence. We will be working with the muscle of Sanskrit mantra, to honour the heart of Coventry.
Performance Frequency is working on a number of different projects including: Sounding the Great Hunger (working with rural land), Sounding Cov (working with urban land) and Sound Tools (working with people). For details about our projects see www.performance frequency.com, email info@performancefrequency.com or phone Sara 07876 298613