Let go of stress with the Sound Healer and his Himalayan singing bowls
An atmosphere of sanctity hovers around Jason Katz before a sound journey. He asks people to take off their shoes before entering the room; a gesture of reverence associated with a holy place. The experience itself, which begins with a guided meditation, feels holy and transformative.
The bowls still the mind. “The mind stops thinking in response to frequency,” Katz says. Frequency travels well in water and since the human body consists of 70-80% water, we’re very receptive. “When we’re in the uterus, we hear sound. A foetus hears its parents’ voices and outside noises through the amniotic fluid. This is also how whales communicate in the ocean,” he says. “They emit frequencies over hundreds of kilometres. The bowls themselves emit about three frequencies.”
Himalayan bowls predate Buddhism, having been founded by the Bon people in Tibet. “The Bon were shamanic in practice and master metallurgists,” he says. “They were the founders of the seven chakras, connected to the seven planets. Each bowl is made up of the seven elements, corresponding to the seven planets: The sun is gold, the moon silver, mercury copper, iron, zinc, tin, etc. Each metal corresponds to the chakras.”
Katz displays a reverent relationship with each of his bowls. “My teacher taught me to treat my bowls as sentient beings,” he says. He attended daily sessions with Alice Hoehler for
two years before she felt he was ready to take the work forward. “She taught me the subtle nuances of the bowls, what they sound like, how to combine them.”
Each sound journey is tailored to the setting and the group. “I respond to the ambient temperature of the space as well as to the energy of the group. I intuit what people are thinking and feeling and I play the bowls accordingly. No sound journey is the same.”
Katz brings his sensitivity to energy into his practice. “I can sense energy and I use this in massage and in individual and group sound journeys,” he says. “I can pick up blockages because the pitch goes out of tune.”
He’s a facilitator of healing, not a healer, he insists. “The body heals itself if given the right atmosphere and frequency, but we’re so wound up we don’t give ourselves the time.”