Looking back it seems as though my body was no longer willing to continue to hold the unexpressed emotion I was unconsciously carrying around. Often, while releasing, I would immediately realize what I had suppressed. As the years have gone by my process has changed; fortunately I am now more aware of my inner responses and there is much less unconscious stuffing. However, recently I began to think back on these earlier experiences, and the positive effects of taking a daily (or at least weekly) sound bath. How would you feel if you didn’t shower for months, years or ever? Yuck! Since our physical bodies are  vibrational as science is now demonstrating, we also need to clean them vibrationally. Our entire vibrational field extends far beyond our physical bodies (directly affecting our health, energy levels, mental, and emotional states), and cleaning it is also essential. The intentional use of sound is a powerful force for cleaning, and for creating. Best of all your own voice is all you need!

Why use sound when there are other less potentially invasive ways to do this— I’m thinking of housemates, families and neighbors?! While other types of vibrational cleaning are both effective and can be easier to use, I am focusing on sound because of certain essential benefits I will briefly mention.

The throat is the center for self-expression and creativity, and those qualities have been often been squelched in our homes and our  school systems, setting up early patterns of repression. When you allow yourself to make spontaneous sounds, you release constriction in your throat center, and you connect more fully with your power to express and create. In this period of dynamic change, we need each person’s contribution to the new paradigm that is unfolding on Earth, as the old one falls away.

The throat is also where we connect with our Power of Choice. We are often bombarded with thought forms and emotions both from others and from within ourselves, which challenge our ability to respond rather than react–particularly when fear is evoked. When we strengthen our connection to our own throats, we also strengthen our ability to be at the point of choice when faced with a challenge that could potentially trap us in drama. When we are aware at the point of choice, we have the opportunity to change our personal and collective destinies rather than live out endless repetitions of past patterns.

Now all that is rather serious and while necessary, we don’t want to dwell there because seriousness creates more heaviness, which is, after all, what we are clearing out! So let’s lighten up instead and have fun making sounds. Your inner child  is inherently spontaneous and creative, and loves to make all kinds of sounds. The wilder, crazier and funnier the better. This is a chance to be really creative and have fun–even while releasing stuck energy related to events that were not funny at the time. You will feel cleaner and lighter after you do this, and maybe younger too.

Our normal human state has often been described as “asleep” or “mechanical,” which seems very similar to being under a spell. Well how can we stay awake more often instead of falling under the spell of old patterns or habits, which cause us to disconnect from our power to choose how we think, feel and act?

A more playful perspective is that life is a game that requires us to keep increasing our skill level in order to really enjoy the game. It can be endlessly entertaining, interesting, and educational—it’s not unlike  board games for children, although clearly much more complex. Did you just choose a card that moved you forward, backward or off the board altogether? Since you’re choosing a card in every moment, whether you realize it or not,  how often can you stay connected to your Self and actually chose the card You really want to play?

Early in life I was taught to witness my thoughts, feelings and physical sensations in order to remember my Essential or True Self. I was told to “chose which radio station you want to listen to; you don’t have to listen to all the thoughts in your head!” In spite of this early advice, I could probably write a very funny book about what NOT to do when one is attempting to Wake Up. What I am inspired to share is the practice of LAUGHTER, while letting go of taking the character you play, in this game called Life, too seriously.

I am not saying that there aren’t situations in your life or on our beloved Planet Earth that call for change or that we can call it all illusion and simply sip our green tea and meditate. What I am saying is that seriousness keeps us identified with “our stories”. Under the spell of our story we are as powerful as a slug or upside down turtle, or in some cases an attacking rhino. We are either impotent or we may destroy rather than create. When we  identify with either our personal or global story, we  disconnect from our true Power/Self, and are cut off from potential creative solutions.

We are NOW poised to make a collective leap in skill level so that we can enjoy creating the visions so many of us hold for ourselves and  our world.

Although I do have a number of practices I use to “Self-Remember,” my current favorite is humor, and a sense of playfulness. The Game of Life is a set-up, as in all good games, mistakes are often the way we learn. The bonus is that there are endless opportunities to laugh, and humor evokes a lighter, happier feeling state, and the opportunity to wake up from whatever drama entrapped us. May we all lighten up together as we create a world with infinitely more Light and Laughter in it.