All language subtitles for Psychedelica.Series.1.13of14.Sound.Healing.and.Sonic.Psychedelics.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> Researchers in the
1960s began noticing that

by introducing music to
psychedelic therapy sessions,

the anxiety and emotional
stress would alleviate.

They would report that
the feelings and visuals

of the experience had more
profound meaning to their life

and circumstances.

Classical and world music
was found to be more

universally appreciated.

However, the preferences
had a wide range

due to people's personal
history and present mood.

But it's not simply music that
causes a profound alteration

of psychedelic states.

Simple sounds and
vibrations can deeply

influence the unfolding of an
altered state of consciousness.

What if there were
simple sonic techniques

we could employ in order to
navigate the ever-changing

and often intense phenomenon
of a psychedelic journey?

What if the understanding
of vibration on the body

could give us a glimpse of
why music and psychedelics go

together so well and why
our shamanic ancestry has

been using sonics and
psychedelics together for ages?

>> Music and sound can not only
enhance psychedelic journeys

but can initiate psychedelic
experiences without anything

else.

There are many traditions
throughout the planet

that in order to enter altered
states of being will simply

use sound.

Whether it is their voice, or
drumming, or bowls, or bells,

or some sort of other
instrumentation,

this basically alters
all sorts of aspects

of the brain and
our consciousness.

The instruments
that have been used

to achieve altered
states of consciousness

have been multitude,
myriad, and many.

Probably the most popular, of
course, has been the voice--

shaman and priests
and various types

of practitioners using
different mantras,

making different tones,
speaking in different tongues,

altering different
states of consciousness,

literally shifting
the vibrational

frequencies of the space,
within and without,

using their own voice.

>> Vibration plays a role in
many of the world's religions,

especially in their stories
of how the world began.

In Genesis 1, verse
2, God's spirit

moved across the
face of the waters.

The Cherokee wisdom-keeper
Dhyani Ywahoo

states that in
their creation myth,

"from the mysterious
creator came forth

a sound, the fundamental tone
of the universal song underlying

all manifestation."

Native American Peyote Church
Roadman Kuauhtli Vasquez

recounts the creation
myth of his ancestry

and how sound or vibration
played a vital role.

>> They say that in our culture,
the creator spirit wanted

the world to begin in motion.

So he told the old
coyote to go to the ocean

and take one of
those conch shells

out and make a
trumpet out of it.

And when he blew it,
it started creating

this spiral wave of sound,
which sounds kind of like ohm.

So the old coyote
blew it, and this

started everything vibrating.

So when you speak,
you're vibrating

at a level of the mind.

Like, you understand
what I'm saying

if we speak the same language.

Sometimes when I hear people
singing songs, I can visualize.

I get a feeling of what
they're singing about.

So singing is another
form of communication

that supersedes the mind.

You don't really have
to understand the words,

but you get the feeling.

>> This is where yogis, just
like other shamanic traditions,

actually start to use sound.

So there's an understanding
that sound is vibration,

and that vibration is at
the essence of everything.

And usually our awareness
is caught in all this noise

and sound of the outside world.

A lot of times,
it'll be a mantra.

And what's important to know
and understand about mantras

is that mantras are vibrations.

They're not things
that we make up.

They're actually sound
frequencies and vibrations

that are already part
of this physical world.

And so as yogis start to hone
their awareness in, detach

from the outside world, the
awareness starts to pull in.

You can actually start to hear
more subtle frequencies, more

subtle vibrations,
more subtle sounds.

And this is where
the yoga tradition

will say that we're
starting to tap

into different levels
of consciousness.

We start to move beyond
the thinking mind that

identifies us as this
body, as this person,

as our experiences.

And we start to drop
more into a state that is

beyond the mind, a state of--

instead of individual
consciousness,

we start to merge with
universal consciousness, which

is really the essential goal,
if you will, of all yoga.

>> Yogis using mantra seems to
be different than speaking from

the intellect.

Oftentimes, plant
medicine enthusiasts

will structure their ceremony
or journey with a focus

on using as few words
as possible, as they

can be irritating and
distracting except for when

those words are sung.

The vocal apparatus of the
human body is very complex.

The power comes from the lungs.

The vibration comes
from the vocal box.

And the resonation comes
from the throat, nose, mouth,

and sinuses.

Speaking comes from the
same range of anatomy

as does singing.

But the active use of
them is as different

as walking is to dancing.

The greatest difference
is the psychological state

one is usually in when singing
as opposed to speaking.

The very act of singing,
opening the throat

and holding extended
notes, directly

affects the nervous system
through the vagus nerve.

>> So the vagus nerve,
extremely important nerve,

wanders through
your entire body.

People who are
stressed out and sick

have poor vagal nerve tone.

Sound is one thing that
can affect it, particularly

vibrations, vibrations
created through sound,

which means that when
you sing, when you hum,

when you chant, when
someone around you

is singing and
humming and chanting,

when you're listening
to very good music,

you actually see an improvement
in vagal nerve tone.

And an improvement
in vagal nerve tone

specifically affects your
heart, the electrical signal

of your heart.

And so, absolutely, sound
can affect vagus nerve tone

in a very profound manner.

>> In over 25 years of
studies coming from HeartMath

Institute, it has been found
that the heart sends far more

information to the brain
than the other way around.

The heart, in fact, influences
emotional processing,

attention, perception, memory,
and even problem solve.

And under a psychedelic
state, all these faculties

are highly influential in the
way the experience will unfold.

So how does an act
as simple as humming

have such a deeply relaxing
effect on the body?

>> We found that the hum
literally is a sound that is

probably the most powerful
vibroacoustic tool that exists.

When you close your eyes and
[HUMMING],, it's more powerful.

As soon as you open your
mouth-- and of course,

the ohm, if you like,
is based on the hum.

If you go (HUMMING) ohm, but
it's just to go [HUMMING],,

as soon as you open
your mouth, the sound

begins to escape
through your mouth.

But if you have
your mouth closed,

it's totally a
vibroacoustic experience

causing a massage
on a cellular level

and causing different organs,
bones, and tissues to vibrate.

And when we project our
intention onto the sound,

that can really
affect it as well.

So it can really affect
our nervous system.

And this type of thing
has been used for eons,

ever since, if you like,
one made a holy sound,

or one made a sacred sound, or
one did a prayer to the divine,

or one did a prayer
to the animal kingdom,

or one emulated the
sounds of jaguar,

to when one emulated
the sounds of all sorts

of different creatures
on this planet.

They've been using
sound to travel

to different states
of consciousness

since the beginning.

The voice is our
primary instrument.

And I think even before
we spoke, we made tone.

And in fact there
are, if you like,

legends of us singing
the language of the birds

before we ever spoke.

>> Researchers like
Michael Harner,

who wrote "The Way
of the Shaman,"

focus on animal movements and
sounds in shamanic traditions

to enter altered states.

He says that shamans
in ecstatic trances

will not only mimic the
movements of animals

in their dances but
use animal noises

to connect with these
specific power animals.

And to back up Jonathan
Goldman's claims,

Shigeru Miyagawa,
professor of linguistics

in MIT'S Department of
Linguistics and Philosophy,

coauthored a paper showing
direct correlations

between bird songs and
human speech patterns.

But how can vocalizations
induce states of consciousness

that open us up to the nature
around us as the shamans did?

Perhaps it must be understood
that most everything

we do in our bodies
involves movements.

In her TED talk,
Amy Cuddy explained

how putting hands up in
victory pose or hands on hips

like a superhero caused
testosterone to increase, which

gives a sense of
strength and power,

whereas the stress
hormone, cortisol, drops.

By using the voice,
the throat opens up

and resonates in the chest right
where the vagus nerve travels.

If singing, and even prosodic
speaking, increases vagal tone,

this would affect the heart,
lungs, gut, and much more,

causing the nervous system
to prompt an altered state

of consciousness.

Even beyond the words
that are being sung,

the intention behind them,
including how and when

they are used, seem to
make all the difference

in the shamanic traditions.

>> So there's a way to
communicate through songs not

only among humans but to
everything that exists.

So that's why I say you
can sing to the sun.

You could sing to the earth.

You could sing to peyote.

You could sing to iowaska.

So what you're doing is
you're singing gratitude.

You're singing love.

You're singing appreciation.

You're singing the
desire for information.

You're singing this unifying--

creating harmony through
music, through playing songs,

through singing songs.

This is a language.

Singing and songs, whether
they're with your voice

or whether they're
instruments, is a vibration

of spirit communication.

It's a whole different
sensory perception.

I mean, if you're in a
ceremony and you're just

sitting there
listening to songs,

once the songs come
from within you

and your voice is
activated, you're

like in another dimension.

It's a total new dimension.

Then you're, things-- it's like
it activates more information.

>> Whether the sounds are
self-produced or listened

to, ancient civilizations
have used sonic manipulation

to induce expanded states
of consciousness since

the beginning.

As noted in Steven Kotler and
Jamie Wheal's book "Stealing

Fire," Greek cathedrals
were built with walls

close together in order to
create a sound that mimics

the flapping of angel's wings.

The 1,100-year-old temple of
Kukulkan in Chichen Itza was

built so precisely that if
you were to clap at the base

of the pyramid, the echo
will come back to you with

the chirping sound
of the national bird,

the sacred quetzal.

The ball court on the
same temple grounds

would also echo seven times
before the sound would escape.

The Greek Telesterion, the
Peruvian Chavin de Huantar,

and other ancient
underground sites

have been found
to be constructed

for their unique
acoustic properties.

Even in the 5,000-year-old
mortuary temple

of Malta's Hypogeum Hal Saflieni
is said to have not only housed

elongated skulls and
stories of the paranormal,

but this is the oldest
prehistoric underground temple

in the world and is said to have
been created for sonic rituals.

Archaeoacoustic researchers
have found that ritual chanting

in this ancient sonic chamber,
which deactivates the language

center and shift's hemisphere
dominance in the brain,

effectively causing states of
consciousness related to mood,

empathy, and social behavior.

It seems that our
ancient ancestors

revered the use of sonics as
well as psychedelics in order

to bring about
religious-type experiences.

Sound healer Kimba Arem
employs the knowledge

of sonic resonance on the
body, and even experiences

deeply expanded states
of consciousness herself,

with the use of one of
the oldest instruments

on the planet, the didgeridoo.

>> So the didgeridoo definitely
has these very meditative,

calming-type frequencies
encoded in it.

I was once involved in some
research where they actually

hooked me up to a
brainwave monitor.

And you can actually
see the brainwaves

that you're creating.

And so you can see the feedback.

And there was one
that said gamma.

And I was asking
them, what is gamma?

And they said, well, we
don't see that often.

It's usually Buddhist
monks who have

been meditating for all of
their life can get it up there.

It's like above 35 hertz.

It's kind of an
unusual brain state.

But this technology
was so we can

learn the feedback of the
brainwaves we're creating

and how to affect
them and try to--

like a biofeedback experience.

And while I was playing the
didgeridoo, the gamma one,

this little ball goes up to the
top, showing the highest level.

And then as soon as I stopped
playing, it goes back down.

So I start playing again,
and it goes back up.

I couldn't touch it otherwise.

So I was able to tap
into some frequency,

but only while I was
doing this breathing

pattern with this sound.

>> As the didgeridoo is believed
to be over 40,000 years old,

other wind instruments in Europe
have been discovered that date

back even farther.

The mammoth-ivory
flute was found

in a cave in southern
Germany dating back

almost 44,000 years.

In present-day Slovenia,
the Divje Babe flute

was discovered and dates
back to 67,000 years ago,

making it the only musical
instrument associated

with Neanderthals.

Iegor Reznikoff,
ethnographer of music

at the University
of France, found

that there are cave paintings
roughly a kilometer deep

and all throughout the
Arcy-sur-Cure caves with bone

whistles and flutes found there.

Reznikoff and his team
studied the acoustics in caves

across France
painted by early man.

They found that up to
90% of the paintings

were directly at places
where the acoustics were

best for ritual and
mind-altering ceremonies.

These dates coincide with Graham
Hancock's work on the clues

that we have about
ancient rock and cave

art and their connection with
shamanic or expanded states

of consciousness.

>> The oldest traces we have
are in the range of 30,000

to 40,000 years old.

It goes much younger as well.

There's much more recent
rock and cave art.

You can find it in many
different parts of the world,

whether you're looking in
Indonesia or Europe or South

Africa or Australia,
as a matter of fact.

And very important,
very detailed work

has been done on this imagery.

And I want to pay tribute
to Professor David Lewis

Williams of the University
of Witwatersrand

in South Africa, who is the
originator of the notion

that this art was
inspired by altered states

of consciousness.

David began to put
that idea forward

with particular reference to
South African rock and cave art

back as early as the 1970s.

There's really no other
way, satisfactorily,

to explain them except to say
that what we are looking at

is likely the work of
ancient shamans who

are doing what shamans still
existent in the world today

still do.

Because shamanism, the
essence of shamanism,

is a deeply altered
state of consciousness.

And while there are
a variety of ways

of getting into a suitably
deeply altered state

of consciousness which
don't involve substances--

for example the Kalahari
Bushmen in Southern Africa

achieve an equally powerful
altered state of consciousness

by dancing for 24
hours around the fire

and becoming deeply
dehydrated and falling

into a rhythmic
trance-like state.

>> Vocal and wind instruments
are just the beginning

of the instruments used
to induce altered states.

The drum-- the earliest
known drums are roughly 8,000

to 10,000 years old, with one
reference to a 37,000-year-old

drum made with elephant hide.

Drumming has been
an integral part

of many shamanic rituals dating
back many thousands of years.

>> One of the explanations that
we have based upon contemporary

clinical research is that people
are able to deliberately induce

these kinds of experiences,
special people.

And when they do,
there's a breakdown

in the integration of a specific
part of the brain called

the temporal parietal junction.

And what the drumming does
is it basically overwhelms

this part of the brain.

When the brain gets
repeatedly stimulated,

it eventually habituates.

It no longer responds
to the signal.

And this part of
the brain apparently

habituates by disintegrating
these different parts

of the brain that normally
all function together.

So all of a sudden,
the sense of our body

is no longer tied
to the visual field,

the perception of
the environment,

or the sense of self.

So we're able to have
these experiences

of our body traveling
to other places

because the brain is no longer
integrating the real body

sensations with the environment.

>> Rhythm may be one of the
most powerful sonic tools

for affecting the
human organism,

particularly for affecting
our nervous system.

Slow frequencies, slow
rhythms, basically

cause us to calm down--

are having our brain
waves and our heart rate

and our respiration slow down.

The sound is going into our
ears and affecting this.

Fast rhythms will cause us
to want to get up and dance.

It's really that simple.

If you use slightly
out-of-tune frequencies,

you find that it
really helps induce

deep states of consciousness.

Tibetan bells that people
hit together-- tingshas,

as they're called--

if they're well-made, will
fall right within the state

called theta, which is really
one of the really wonderful

states where very much shamanic
and deep inner-traveling

work goes.

And yet at the same
time, there are

a lot of really
fast rhythms that

are used by many different
indigenous people,

to including those in Africa,
that put people into trance.

>> When listening to a
rhythmic drumbeat that goes

on and on throughout the
night, usually in a group,

the most common response is
for the listeners to get up

and dance, to move their bodies
and express the rhythm back

to the group.

And to further elaborate
on the power of music

to bring groups
together, author of "This

is Your Brain on Music,"
Dr. Daniel Levetin, found

that people who listen to
music out loud together

spark stronger
relationships, often

causing people to spend more
time with loved ones, more time

hugging, making love, cooking
meals with one another,

and even close the distance
of physical proximity

between housemates.

Perhaps this is why
we see a high emphasis

on communal bonding
amongst tribes

who take psychedelic
plant medicines

and dance and sing as a group.

>> In this ancient
city, in Tenochtitlan,

people would come from
the entire confederation,

which was from Canada all
the way to the tip of South

America.

They knew the same
dances, the same beats.

There's thousands
of these dances--

dance to the earth, dance to the
rain, dance to the ego, dance

to the corn.

They're the same dances danced
by an entire civilization

across an entire
continent that were

done at certain precise moments,
like the equinox, the solstice,

the eclipses, the new
moons, the full moons.

People are doing
the same movements

to the same vibration--

humans interacting.

This is very powerful.

People are singing and
dancing and taking medicine.

This is like
geometric progression.

>> The fact that music and
psychedelics pair well and go

hand-in-hand with dance and
community gatherings says a lot

about the nature of
psychedelic experiences.

Many people express how
the world around them

dissolves its
barriers and becomes

one continuous phenomena
under a psychedelic state.

The inside can become
indistinguishable

from the outside.

This seems to be seen in the
complementary relationship

between psychedelics and
music, music and dance, dance

and community,
community and harmony.

All communities seek to quell
disputes and foster cooperation

just as the trillions
of cells in the body

cooperate to make up the super
organism that is the human.

All these phenomena
are seen in culture

since the dawn of
the modern era of man

and were not separated
into individual categories

like they are today.

And one reason the
experiences of psychedelics

can be so meaningful
when paired with music

is shown in a recent discovery
by the neuroscientist Mendel

Kaelen at the Imperial
College of London.

He found that the interaction
between psychedelics and music

increases information flow
going from the parahippocampus

to the fusiform cortex.

Once personal memories and
contextual associations

from the
parahippocampus are sent

to the fusiform,
or visual, cortex,

the visions that emerge from
the psychedelic experience

becomes much more personalized.

Because music increases
this information flow,

the tone of the music may
have a dramatic effect

on how those memories are
relived in the moment.

Could this be the basis to
shamanic traditions creating

music during
psychedelic ceremonies?

>> So why is music so important
here in the context of using

psychedelics?

We're getting this opportunity
to move our sense of self

and being into this
visual space that's

provided by the integration
of these deep processes

of the brain.

Some of the other
kinds of effects

that are achieved through
the use of psychedelics

have more to do with
psychodynamic processing.

So on one hand, the
psychedelics are

going to stimulate you
to deal with issues

about past trauma,
repressed memories,

your emotional concerns
and preoccupations.

But what happens
with that information

depends a little bit upon
the interpersonal dynamic

and the processing
of that information

so that you're able to make
more effective use of it.

>> As many psychedelic
researchers today,

such as Roland Griffiths
at Johns Hopkins University

and Mendel Kaelen at
Imperial College of London,

have created personalized,
psychotherapeutic playlists

to amplify personal journeys
of the participants--

however, the use of music
in some iowaska as well

as other psychedelic
ceremonies also

put emphasis on the
silence after the song.

And for modern sonic
explorers, listening to silence

has taken on new methods.

>> There are even these things
called anechoic chambers that

are so quiet there's no
external outside noise.

You can literally hear your
heartbeat, your respiration.

If you listen hard
enough, you can

begin to hear your brain waves.

And in fact, there
is a level of yoga

called Shabd Yoga, which is--

or Nada Yoga.

And this is oftentimes utilized.

But there also is
just listening.

The yoga of listening is
so very, very powerful.

And oftentimes, it is an
inner listening that occurs.

So our nervous system is
affected by the sounds

that we listen to, but it
can also be really affected

by the sounds that
we don't listen to

and we listen to internally.

>> It has been said by many who
enter anechoic chambers that

the silence is deafening.

There is so much noise
present internally

that it becomes
unnerving for the novice.

However, some
long-term meditators

claim to hear harmonics and
melody within the silence.

This phenomenon is different
from musical ear syndrome

in which faint, musical
auditory hallucinations occur

frequently.

Maharishi Shiv Brat Lal
wrote that "various sorts

of sound currents reverberate
in the human system from which

the initiate has to pick up
the right one and listen to it,

otherwise he will go astray."

Swami Vyasanand is quoted as
saying, "Only the central sound

has the power to attract the
consciousness to the center

and carry the soul to the
center of a higher realm."

And even Maharishi
Mehi, in his book

"Philosophy of Liberation,"
warns that there are misleading

sounds due to the gross
vibrations in the body.

The true central
sound is distinct

and is the same vibratory force
that organizes the cosmos.

As many within sacred
circles believe

that shamanic traditions
and psychedelic experiences

amplify sounds
from Mother Nature,

could this inner sound
be a wave current

that shamans and meditators
tune into in order

to reach expanded
states of consciousness?

>> The sound of nature, and it's
called the Schumann resonance.

It was discovered in the 1950s.

And it literally
is, if you like,

the frequency of the ionosphere,
the electromagnetic field

of the Earth.

And it's based upon the speed
of sound going around the Earth.

And it's around 7.83
cycles a second.

And this falls right
within that theta range

that I was talking about that
helps induce shamanic states

of consciousness.

And what's very,
very interesting

is that, oftentimes,
you'll find that crickets

and a lot of other
creatures of nature

will oftentimes be
making sounds that

are very, very close to that.

That's quite important.

So what happens
is when we listen

to that, or the
waves of the ocean

rolling in and rolling out,
they're also attuned to this.

And this basically slows
down our heart rate,

our brain waves, our breathing,
putting us in tune with nature.

And by putting ourselves
in tune with nature,

we're able to, if you
like, travel to higher

realms of consciousness.

>> The music of nature, the
harmony of the higher realms

of consciousness, the music
of the cosmos might be exactly

what shamanic traditions
tuned into during psychedelic

ceremonies, which were always
rooted within and surrounded

by the elements and
creatures of the Earth--

all of which are attuned to and
harmonizing with the symphony

that Mother Nature composes.

If the set and setting
for sacred ceremonies

are carefully constructed,
and the sounds

of ritual instruments as
well as nature are present,

perhaps the healing capacity
of these traditional practices

can be amplified.

And maybe the world will come to
understand the power of sonics

and psychedelics.

Up next, our journey
into psychedelica

wraps up, exploring
how to produce

psychedelic states
of consciousness

naturally from within.

[MUSIC PLAYING]