Why do singing bowls have a special power?

Today I recorded the longest known antique singing bowl, the one pictured above. It vibrates for more than five minutes with a single strike.

As I sat motionless holding the bowl in front of the microphone, I thought about the power of singing bowls. Why do they have the power to heal, inspire and move us?

The vibration of a fine antique is like nothing else.  They produce a uniquely beautiful sound and also provide a wonderful feeling.  The melodious tone is beautiful to our ears.  The physical vibrations are soothing to our minds and bodies.  I noticed back in the 1990's that everyone smiles the first time they experience a nice antique singing bowl in person.

More than just a pleasant feeling, singing bowls are known for their power to enhance healing.  The vibrations are extremely soothing and are used by many professionals as an adjunct to conventional medicine (see Mitchell Gaynor's seminal work The Healing Power of Sound).

Furthermore, antique singing bowls have an unmistakeable antique "mojo" that transforms any environment.  If you have ever felt the unusually relaxing feeling of a museum or ancient space, that happens in any room containing a fine antique singing bowl.

I always use the term "fine antique" because antiques are not equal.  Only a small number of antiques have the special quality, the harmonious resonance and soothing feeling.  Most antiques do not achieve true harmony.  They are dissonant, weak, unbalanced or unpleasant feeling.  Most lack the special tone and special presence. 

The better quality antiques are very majestic. The way the tones blend is like nothing else.  Singing bowls produce a low, mid and high tone.  The interaction of these tones seems to be the main factor.  The best tuned antiques produce a stunning harmony that becomes greater than the sum of its parts. It sounds like an angelic choir.  You can hear it in many of the recordings of my large bowls. They are the best because they produce this special sound.  Very few bowls achieve this pinnacle of effect, this perfection of harmony.

What is it that causes this special sound and healing vibration to happen?  Why is it beneficial?

It happens due to the relationships of the various frequencies.  Sound energy is physical energy traveling through the air.  Some vibrational relationships are more smooth, some more harsh.  Like the spectrum of sound itself, the variety of tonal relationships seems infinite.  I think of it as a spectrum of smoothness.  The better the harmony, the more smooth and round the experience.  Like choppy waves on water, a less harmonious tuning results in a more harsh experience.

I have written elsewhere including in The Singing Bowl Book about my theory of vibrational cancellation, where I explain how singing bowl vibrations stop stray "negative" vibrations in the environment.  Two vibrations can effectively cancel each other out and the physical energy of a singing bowl produces successive waves that smooth out and replace other vibrations in the environment.

However, this does not explain the antique "mojo," the unique presence antiques seem to have.  Other antique objects, buildings and places can have such a feeling as well.  What makes a place feel spiritual or an object feel old?  While supernatural explanations may seem like ghost stories, there is an undoubtedly mystical, mysterious quality to this phenomenon of presence. 

I have no real explanation for it but I refute some of the common beliefs.  I do not believe that singing bowls are alive, as some people think, nor that they house a resident spirit as some animists may believe.  I think the explanation would be more in the realm of strange physics, where time and molecular changes may imbue the bowls with the special properties. 

Time itself, I believe has something to do with it.  Age seems to be the prerequisite for the mojo effect.  Is it something to do with the other people who have handled the object, that their presence is somehow felt through the ages?  The effect seems to be stronger with some bowls than others, as though their earlier use may have contributed to their good vibrations today. 

Perhaps there is nothing to it beyond the world of physics and the physical changes the bowl goes through.  When I studied the bowls with the Archaeological Metallurgists at Oxford, they explained the long term physical process.  As the metal ages, the molecules become less active, slowing down until they reach a metastable state.  The sound becomes less metallic and more mellow over time.  Perhaps the mojo is a side benefit of this molecular process. 

I think there is another unknown effect specifically linked to time.  Time itself does something.  I imagine a singing bowl standing still as generations of people are born, live and die.  Like in The Time Machine, where the device stands still for eons as London crumbles around it, jungles grow and die, mountains rise and fall. 

The bowls keep vibrating through time and time seems to change how they vibrate and how we experience the vibration.  Perhaps it is our own perception of time that creates the effect, like an echo we hear through the ages.

I had time to think about this as the bowl rang on for five minutes.  The conclusion I reached is that no matter what the cause, singing bowls have this power to soothe and heal. They really transform people and the environment.  

The remarkable thing about their vibrational power is that it is self amplifying.  The energy produced is greater than the energy input.  A single strike of this singing bowl sends out waves of vibration for five minutes.  That is a huge return for a momentary action.  I believe this is what makes them valuable to us. 

As with sunshine, water and food, we consume energy.  We benefit by the input of energy from any source we can digest.  Singing bowls produce a type of energy that we hear and feel.  We take it in and utilize it to our betterment.  

When the energy received is greater than the energy expended, we have extra.  We can use it to grow and heal.  Singing bowls provide vibrational energy that is nourishing.  You really feel it.

There are so many benefits from these inspiring tones.  A great singing bowl is like an energy generator.  You will feel the benefits right away.  Even the recordings can be beneficial.  Enjoy the many recordings on the website and please contact me with any questions.  Please leave your thoughts on this and other articles.