Artwork by Babette van den Berg.
Everyone has heard stories about gifted beings who possess great healing powers. People seek out these gifted healers. Yet even in the best of circumstances, how much time can a great healer spend with you? One hour a day? One hour a week? What happens the rest of the time?
For optimal health, you must learn how to take care of yourself; you must learn how to clear out your negative energy and transform it to positive healthy energy. Maintaining yourself in this way will surely enhance any other therapy you are receiving.
The Six Healing Sounds practice is a simple yet powerful tool to promote physical, energetic, and emotional healing and balance. Regular daily practice of the Six Healing Sounds will help you keep in touch with the energetic and emotional state of your internal organs. Practice this exercise in the evening before you go to sleep. By clearing out negative emotions before sleeping, you allow the night's rest to recharge your energy positively. If you are healing others, you can teach them one or two of the Six Healing Sounds each session to enhance the effects of your therapeutic work.
The sounds are used to generate certain frequencies for specific healing. Each sound can generate different energy for the healing of different organs. Growing the good virtue of the organs is essential so that the negative or sick energy has less room to grow.
When practicing the Six Healing Sounds, keep your eyes open only while making each sound. Take a deep breath and smile to the organ between each healing sound exhalation.
For more details of this practice, see the book Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality by Mantak Chia.
Lung Sound
- Element: Metal
- Associated Organ: Large intestine
- Sound: Sssssss (tongue behind the teeth)
- Emotions: Negative--grief, sadness, depression
Positive--courage, righteousness, high self-esteem - Color: White, clear, metallic
- Season: Fall
- Direction: West
Position: Sit in a chair with your back straight and your hands resting palms up on your thighs. Have your feet flat on the floor about hips' width apart. Smile down to your lungs and be aware of any sadness, grief, or excess heat in your lungs. Slowly inhale, and raise your hands up your center line, with your fingers pointing toward each other. When your hands pass shoulder level, begin to rotate the palms out as you continue raising your hands in front of you and above your head, with the palms up. Point your fingers toward the fingers of the opposite hand and keep your elbows slightly bent.
Sound: Part your lips slightly, holding your jaw gently closed. Look up through the space between your two hands and push your palms slightly upward as you slowly exhale and make the sound sssssss. Picture and feel any excess heat, sadness, grief, depression, sickness, or dingy white color expelled and released as you exhale slowly and fully.
Resting Posture: When you have completely exhaled, rotate the palms to face downward with the fingers still pointing toward each other. Slowly lower the palms and bring them just in front of the chest, feeling the lungs' aura.
Close your eyes and be aware of your lungs. Smile into your lungs, and as you inhale, imagine that you are breathing in a bright white mist of light. Breathe this light into your lungs and feel it cooling, cleansing, invigorating, healing, and refreshing your lungs. Feel it flowing down to the large intestine to balance the energy of the yin lungs and yang large intestine, allowing the courage quality of your lungs to emerge. Grow more courage so that sadness and depression have less room to grow. With each inbreath, feel yourself drawing in cool fresh energy. With each outbreath, mentally make the lung sound and release any remaining sadness or hot energy.
Repeat at least three times. For the first two repetitions, make the sound aloud. On the third or last repetition, make the sound subvocally (so softly that only you can hear it). To alleviate extreme sadness, depression, cold, flu, toothache, asthma, or emphysema, repeat six, nine, twelve, or twenty-four times.
Kidney Sound
- Element: Water
- Associated Organ: Bladder
- Sound: Ch00000 (with your lips forming an "0" as if blowing out a candle)
- Emotions: Negative--fear, shock
Positive--gentleness, wisdom - Color: Dark blue or black
- Season: Winter Direction: North
Position: Move your hands to cover the kidneys. Smile to your kidneys, and be aware of any excess cold or heat in the kidney region. Then bring your legs together, ankles and knees touching. Lean forward and clasp the fingers of both hands together around your knees. Inhale, and pull your arms straight from the lower back while bending the torso forward (this allows your back to protrude in the area of the kidneys). Tilt your head upward as you look straight ahead, still pulling on your arms from the lower back. Feel your spine pulling against your knees.
Sound: Round the lips slightly and slowly exhale while making the sound ch00000. Simultaneously contract your abdomen, pulling it in toward your kidneys. Imagine any fear, sickness, imbalances, and excess cold or excess heat energy being released and squeezed out of the fascia surrounding the kidneys.
Resting Posture: After you have fully exhaled, slowly straighten until you are erect and return your hands to touch the aura of the kidneys. Close your eyes and again be aware of your kidneys. Smile to your kidneys, and on the inbreath, imagine you are breathing a brilliant luminous blue light mist into them. Feel this mist healing, balancing, and refreshing your kidneys and bladder, and picture them glowing a bright blue color. On the outbreath, imagine you are still making the kidney sound.
Repeat at least three times. Repeat six, nine, twelve, or twenty-four times to alleviate extreme fear, fatigue, low-pitched ringing in the ears, dizziness, back pain, bladder or urinary infection, or problems of the reproductive system.
Liver Sound
- Element: Wood
- Associated Organ: Gallbladder
- Sound: Shhhhh
- Emotions: Negative--anger, frustration, resentment
Positive--loving kindness, benevolence, forgiveness - Color: Green
- Season: Spring
- Direction: East
Position: Place your hands over the liver. Smile to your liver, and be aware of any anger, frustration, resentment, or excess heat in the liver region. Slowly begin to inhale a deep breath as you extend your arms up from the sides with your palms up. Raise your palms over your head. Interlace your fingers together and turn your joined hands over to face the sky, palms up. Push out through the heels of the palms and extend the arms up, keeping the shoulders relaxed. Bend a little to the left and stretch your right arm slightly to gently open the area of your liver.
Sound: Open your eyes wide (the eyes are the sensory opening of the liver). Slowly exhale, making the sound shhhhh subvocally. Feel that you are releasing any trapped excess heat, anger, illness, or negativity from your liver and that these are riding out of your body on your breath.
Resting Posture: Once you have fully exhaled, close your eyes, separate your hands, turn the palms down, and slowly lower your arms to the sides, leading with the heels of the hands. Smile, and inhale a shiny spring green mist, illuminating the liver and gallbladder. Bring your hands back to rest on the liver's aura. Close your eyes and smile into your liver. With each inbreath, breathe fresh Chi into your liver and gallbladder. With each outbreath, mentally make the liver sound.
Repeat at least three times. Repeat six, nine, twelve, or twenty-four times to alleviate extreme anger, to relieve red or watery eyes, to remove a sour or bitter taste in the mouth, or to detoxify the liver.
Heart Sound
- Element: Fire
- Associated Organ: Small intestine
- Sound: Haaaaaw
- Emotions: Negative--arrogance, harshness, cruelty, hatred
Positive--joy, honor, respect, love, happiness - Color: Red
- Season: Summer
- Direction: South
Position: Let both hands rest on the heart. Smile to your heart, and be aware of any arrogance, haughtiness, hatred, giddiness, cruelty, or hastiness in it. Slowly begin to inhale a deep breath as you extend your arms up from the sides with your palms up, as you did with the liver sound. Raise your palms over your head. Interlace your fingers together and turn your clasped hands over to face the sky, palms up. Push out through the heels of the palms and extend the arms up, keeping the shoulders relaxed. Bend a little to the right and stretch your left arm slightly to open the area of your heart.
Sound: Keeping your eyes soft and relaxed, look up through your hands. Slowly exhale, making the sound haaaaaw subvocally. Feel that you are releasing any trapped heat, negative emotions, illness, or imbalance from your heart and that these are riding out of the body on your breath.
Resting Posture: Once you have fully exhaled, close your eyes, separate your hands, turn the palms down, and slowly lower your arms to the sides, leading with the heels of the hands. As you move, inhale a bright red mist into the heart and small intestine. Bring your hands back to rest on your heart's aura. Smile into your heart. With each inbreath, breathe fresh Chi into your heart. With each outbreath, mentally repeat the heart sound.
Repeat at least three times. Repeat six, nine, twelve, or twenty-four times to alleviate extreme impatience, hastiness, arrogance, nervousness, moodiness, jumpiness, irritability, tongue ulcers, palpitations, sore throat, heart disease, or insomnia and to detoxify the heart.
Spleen Sound
- Element: Earth
- Associated Organ: Pancreas, stomach
- Sound: Wh00000 (gutturally from the throat)
- Emotions: Negative--worry, excess sympathy, overthinking
Positive--fairness, balance, equanimity, justice, openness - Color: Yellow
- Season: Indian summer
- Direction: Center (where you stand, looking out to the Six Directions)
Position: Place your hands on the body so that they cover the spleen, pancreas, and stomach area. Be aware of your spleen, and smile sincerely into it. Inhale deeply as you move your arms outward in an embrace, and aim the fingers up under the left rib cage. Place the fingers of both hands just beneath the sternum and rib cage on the left side.
Sound: Look out, lean into your fingers, and gently push your fingertips in. Exhale slowly and make the sound wh00000 from the depths of your throat. Feel yourself releasing any trapped heat, worry, mental fixations, or excess sympathy.
Resting Posture: Once you have fully exhaled, close your eyes, slowly release the hands, and extend your arms out, embracing the earth. Return your hands to the resting position on the spleen's aura. Smile to your spleen, pancreas, and stomach. With each inbreath, inhale fresh Chi to your spleen, pancreas, and stomach as a brilliant luminous yellow healing mist that cleanses and refreshes your organs. With each outbreath, mentally make the spleen sound.
Repeat at least three times. Repeat six, nine, twelve, or twenty-four times to alleviate extreme indigestion, heat or cold in the stomach or spleen, worry, nausea, hemorrhoids, fatigue, organ prolapse, or loose stools.
Triple Warmer Sound
The term Triple Warmer refers to the upper, middle, and lower torso and to the distinct metabolic transformations that occur within each area. The Upper Warmer is the area above the diaphragm, where the heart and lungs are located. This area tends to become hot and is responsible for respiration and cardiovascular circulation. The Middle Warmer, the area between the diaphragm and the navel, becomes warm and is where the digestive organs are located. The Lower Warmer, the area below the navel, is responsible for reproduction and elimination and is cool in temperature. The sound heeeee balances the temperatures of the three levels by bringing hot energy down to the lower center and cold energy up to the higher centers.
Position: Lie on your back with your arms resting at your sides, palms up. Keep your eyes closed. Smile. With a single inhalation, breathe first into the upper part of your lungs to expand the Upper Warmer, then into the middle of the lungs to expand the Middle Warmer, and finally into the lower lungs to fill the Lower Warmer. Breathing in this way creates more space inside the torso for each organ, helping to release and circulate any internal heat or cold.
Sound: Exhale while making the sound heeeee subvocally, flattening first your chest, then your solar plexus, and finally your lower abdomen. Feel the dark and cloudy color and the cold energy exit from the tips of the fingers.
Resting Posture: Once you have fully exhaled, do not focus on any emotions or purification process. Instead, just let go and relax your body and mind completely.
Repeat at least three times. Repeat six, nine, twelve, or twenty-four times to alleviate insomnia and stress.
When you have completed the Six Healing Sounds, just rest, smile, and do nothing.
Article Source:
Taoist Cosmic Healing: Chi Kung Color Healing Principles for Detoxification and Rejuvenation
by Mantak Chia.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, InnerTraditions International. ©2003. www.InnerTraditions.com
Click here for more info and/or to order this book.
About the Author
A student of several Taoist masters, Mantak Chia developed the Universal Tao System in 1979 and has taught tens of thousands of students from all over the world. He tours the United States annually, giving workshops and lectures. He is the director of the Universal Tao Center located at the Tao Garden Health Resort and Training Center in northern Thailand and is the author of nineteen books, including the bestselling The Multi-Orgasmic Man.
