The Humming Effect (Sound Healing for Health and Happiness)

Humming is one of the simplest and yet most profound sounds we can make. If you have a voice and can speak, you can hum. Research has shown humming to be much more than a self-soothing sound: it affects us on a physical level, reducing stress, inducing calmness, and enhancing sleep as well as lowering heart rate and blood pressure and producing powerful neurochemicals such as oxytocin, the "love" hormone.

In this guide to conscious humming, Jonathan and Andi Goldman show that you do not need to be a musician or singer to benefit from sound healing practices-all you need to do is hum. They provide conscious humming and breathing exercises from simple to advanced, complete with online audio examples, allowing you to experience the powerful vibratory resonance that humming can create and to harness its healing benefits for body, mind, and spirit. They explore the science behind sound healing, revealing how sound can literally rearrange molecular structure and how humming not only helps with stress levels, sleep, and blood pressure but also increases lymphatic circulation and melatonin production; releases endorphins; releases nitric oxide, a neurotransmitter fundamental to health and well-being; and may create new neural pathways in the brain. In addition, the Goldmans explore the potential of this self-created sound to assist in the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders. The authors show how sound can act as a triggering mechanism for the manifestation of your conscious intentions. They also examine the spiritual use of humming, including its use as a sonic yoga technique and its role in many world traditions, such as the Om, Aum, or Hum of Hindu and Tibetan traditions. Providing a self-healing method accessible to all, the authors reveal that, even if you have no musical ability, we are all sound healers.

JONATHAN GOLDMAN, M.A., is an award-winning musician, composer, writer, teacher, and chant master. An authority on sound healing and a pioneer in the field of harmonics, he is the author of several books, including Healing Sounds, and the founder and director of the Sound Healers Association. ANDI GOLDMAN, M.A., L.P.C., is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in holistic counselling and sound therapy, the director of the Healing Sounds seminars, co director of the Sound Healers Association, and co author, with Jonathan Goldman, Chakra Frequencies. The authors live in Boulder, Colorado.

Welcome to The Humming Effect. No doubt it took some feat of consciousness for you to pick up a book about humming. To our knowledge, this is the first book devoted to this subject-and that is why we have written it. Humming may be one of the most powerful natural abilities that we possess, yet most of us are completely unaware of it. We hope to reverse that situation.

This book is about conscious humming-that is, humming with a specific purpose or expectation, rather than simply humming with-out awareness. As you'll find out in the pages of this book, when you bring your conscious attention to the practice of humming, it becomes an extraordinary vehicle for healing and transformation. Humming is easy, and it has marvellous beneficial effects, from lowering blood pres-sure and heart rate to stimulating the release of vital hormones such as melatonin and nitric oxide. These positive results have been scientifically validated, and they promote not just physical health but happiness and a general sense of well-being.

We have been using sound as a therapeutic and transformational tool for a very long time-between us, we've put in over half a century of research, experience, and teaching the power of sound for healing. Jonathan is a leading pioneer in the field of sound healing and an expert in the field of harmonics. He is also an award-winning composer of music for healing and meditation. Andi is a holistic psychotherapist specializing in sound therapy and has worked with Jonathan in the field of sound healing for the past twenty years. While researching and writing this book, even with all these years of experience, we have uncovered surprising information on the simple act of humming. We trust that the power of humming will also surprise you.

The initial idea for writing a book on humming was to help initiate mainstream audiences into the healing power of their own self-created sound. In our experience, when people hear the words sound healing, their eyes tend to glaze over. They do not know what it is, they think it sounds esoteric, and they are uninterested in learning more. Many people immediately assume that they would have to have some musical ability, whether playing an instrument or singing, to practice sound healing. But humming requires no special skills-anyone can hum, and anyone can experience the extraordinary benefits that can result from their own self-created sound. This is not to say that humming cannot be musical, but it is not necessary. Humming is simply sound-vibrations that we all can use for healing and transformation.

The Humming Effect is designed primarily to educate readers about the innate power of humming and to give them experiences with their own self-created sound. Even if you have been working in the field of sound healing for as many years as we have, you may have been focused on vowel sounds or mantras or tuning forks or crystal bowls or unique instruments that generate special frequencies for healing. But odds are that the lowly hum has largely escaped your attention. We can guarantee that the information and exercises in this book will allow you to experience the world of humming in ways that you might never before have imagined.

**Contents and Sample Pages**