Sound, music, breath

For the entire first half of the day (I think I fed the hour parking meter 4 times!) I had the luxury of having a lengthy and awesomely invigorating conversation about all kinds of environmental issues, storytelling and digital era ways of mobilizing communities to action, with an old friend. Jennifer Galvin is a documentarian and educator, to say the least, with PhD's in marine biology and public health. Her film "Free Swim" addresses in a beautifully unique way, how the "disconnection with one’s natural environment underscores many of today’s global health challenges." Mainly we were connecting the dots between all the movements out there that address this symbiotic human-environment relationship. Sound pollution came up as one issue that affected both of our projects which I think is currently beyond society-at-large's collective realm of consciousness. And the ramifications are profound, at least potentially, what we don't know.

A recent landmark victory won by Russian environmentalists, with a coalition of Chinese and U.S. environmentalists, stopped the oil and gas exploration in Siberia to save an endagered specie of the Western Gray Whale, where the noise pollution generated from these projects could potentially wipe out them out. It's a major win, but it also can prove temporary. More on that story can be found on Russia Today. Environmental noise pollution in our waters grows as our machine, gas/oil and military activities increase. This poses a serious threat to so many species of underwater animals. And the fact that we know more about outer space than we do about what's happening in our waters, provides no comfort. Water is our crucial ally to surival on this planet, which includes the maintenance of our oceans and the life in it.

So this investigation of noise pollution is just the tip of the iceberg. How will what is happening to animal species mimic our own well-being? What does this mean about our exposure to electro-magnetic fields through everyday objects and public spaces, and the introduction of new and more wireless devices? What are the ramifications of all these new kinds of vibrations to the planet?

I think about Sanskrit mantras where the sound of the word, is what the word means. So you say the mantra, and that is the vibration, the "thing" you are evoking in the universe. You say it 50 times, that's more of that vibration or "thing" you're creating. The ancients' acknowledged this realm of subtle vibrations. It's the realm of animals, insects and plants. But there's this drive that existed, which mirrors that capitalistic drive, of human civilization's drive and will to be with perhaps a new set of priorities? Or old priorities that gained momentum? And comes with serious tunnel vision, where we're out of touch. We're collectively disconnected from a conscious awareness of the sound/vibration realm, among other realms. We're just not listening. And that this drive of civilization spiraled upward, outward and forward motored by fear (and perhaps too much heartbreak?), creates this extreme imbalance. Like taking yin and yang out of it's womblike circle projected into linear space. (Sidenote: I love in the movie "Contact" starring Jodie Foster, how intergalaxy travel changes from a projectile rocket, to a womblike globe, and all the things it symbolized, including the shift of the idea of here/there separation to travelling within.)

Anyway I've been thinking a lot about sound and vibration these days. Discovering horses in the wild having the ability to hear 100 yards away the adrenalin-induced quickening heartbeat of their predator. How does our own heartbeat, a vibration generator, not affect the spaces we travel through, the people we come across? It is mainly as an actor and yogi, that I have had the gift of the opportunity to investigate this in a very personal, non-intellectual, experiential way, in my study and work on voice/breath, and through accent studies (and being a linguaphile), the creation of sounds with all the amazing tools we are born with. The vibrations you feel are mind-numbing, in the best possible sense, and fascinating. More on that later. Anyway, today's entry is devoted to the exploration of sound, breath, and ultimately the music that comes with faith. In the meantime, a singalong to the video posted above...

Sailing heart-ships... through broken harbors... out on the waves in the night...
Still the searcher... must ride the dark horse... racing alone in his fright...
Tell me why, tell me why... "Tell Me Why" by Neil Young