Why raising your vibration increases serendipity | Joanna McEwen | TEDxUniversityofBrighton

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Joanna speaks about the sound therapy and its importance in our lives.

Joanna is a qualified and experienced sound therapist and holds an MA in Applied Anthropology, Youth and Community. She has supported children, young people and families for over 15 years within mainstream, special needs schools, youth and community groups. She creates and delivers wellbeing workshops through the use of sound healing, music, drama, mindfulness and breath and body awareness. She works with adults and children of all ages and abilities, including those with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, and Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities. She is a trained Empowered Learning Practitioner, working with children with special learning needs.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Serendipity.

What a beautiful word! -

conjuring park serene sailing,
with a hint of good-natured fun.

Serendipity -

that chance beneficial meeting,

the unexpected conversation

that provides just the answer
you're looking for,

the perfectly timed taxi ride

that takes you past the cinema
showing the film you'd be wanting to see,

where you accidentally
knock over somebody else's popcorn

who turns out to be the boy from school
who you used to have a crush on.

And guess what?

A year later you're happily married -

serendipity.

So if that is serendipity in action,
how does it work?

How does it work?

Are there higher powers
directing the details of our lives?

Or is it just a random
coincidence of events?

Is there anything we can do to enhance
the occurrences of these positive events?

It is my proposition today

that whilst life throws
many events our way -

some positive, some challenging -

we have within ourselves,

the power and possibility
to create an environment

that enhances the probability
of these fortunate events

that make our lives
a little more plain sailing

and a lot more fun.

Before we continue,

I would like to explain

that I'm a qualified
and experienced sound therapist.

I have studied spiritual
and scientific texts

as they relate to sound and vibration.

Some of the things
I'm going to talk about today

would initially sound impossible,

but I would ask you
to suspend your disbelief

and remember in the words
of the author Paulo Coelho,

"People never learn by being told,
they have to find out for themselves."

It's about taking my words today
and relating them to your own experience,

and if enough truth resonates for you,

go out and experience it for yourself;

find out if it holds true for you.

To understand why I believe

we are able to create and influence
serendipitous events,

I would like you to consider
that we live in a vibrational universe;

you are a vibrational being,

whose cells and organs all pulsate
at a particular frequency.

Our brain pulsates
with electromagnetic energy,

affected by our emotions, our health
and our general state of well-being.

Our body contracts and pulses
at various rates,

including your heartbeat,
your stomach contracting

and the very act of breathing.

Together, they make up you,
a composite of frequencies,

and so we each vibrate
to our own personal tune.

Disease, depression,
negative behavior patterns -

these are all symptoms of a body and mind
being out of tune, quite literally.

Not only do our bodies
vibrate on a cellular level,

these vibrations do not end with this skin

but instead, continue out into space
on a vibratory continuum

being connected by an energy field
or a matrix of waves.

I'd like you to rub
your hands together really fast

and then hold them a couple of millimeters
away from each other.

Can you feel a slight resistance?

That is energy.

Nikola Tesla said,

"If you want to find
the secret of the universe,

you need to think in terms
of energy, frequency and vibration."

If an energetic force is struck

at the same resonant frequency
as another object in the vicinity,

the vibrations will cause
the second object to begin vibrating.

In terms of how you experience the world,

the energy and vibration you give off
is met and reflected back.

We can feel this on an emotional level

when we say that somebody's
on our wavelength

or we feel in tune
with a person or situation.

Why is it important?

Well, if your internal vibration
is one of anxiety, depression, anger,

the life experience you have
may very well provide you

with people and situations
that reflect this back at you,

thereby reinforcing the feeling

and so creating a circuitous,
negative experience of life.

It's a bit like tuning
into different radio waves,

depending on what frequency you emit
or decide on what station you pick up;

therefore, if we can raise and enhance
our internal vibration,

we can create a situation

that reflects back
a more positive experience of life.

So how do we create that shift?

Ancient teaching’s view
of how the world is created

is through sound.

Whilst the truth of these views
can be debated,

what is clear from modern research,
sound can at the very least affect matter.

In the 18th century,

Ernst Chladni put sand onto a glass plate

and vibrated it with a violin bow.

The sand was pulled into creative
and beautiful symmetric patterns.

This work has been continued
with the invention of the cymascope

by John Reid,

who uses water as a surface membrane
in which to imprint sound

and create a digital representation
of sound and vibration.

In the following video clip,

you will see the sound and vibration

as represented on the cymascope
of a singing bowl,

much like the one I have here.

(Singing bowl chimes)

As you can hear,

the bowl has rich and complex harmonics.

(Singing bowl chimes)

Notice the symmetrical shapes

and the similarities to those
found in sacred geometry

and within the harmonious shapes
found in nature.

Through the study of
micro cymatics and sonocytology,

we are now able to hear the difference
between a healthy and unhealthy cell.

According to Gardner Snook
of Manchester University,

the difference between a healthy cell
and a cancerous cell

is like two very large orchestras

all playing their instruments
at the same time,

but in the cancerous orchestra,
the tuba is horribly out of tune.

In the following two clips,

you can hear the difference

between the healthy pulsations
of a yeast cell

and the high-pitched frequency
of one that is stressed.

Notice the distortions
as represented on the cymascope

of the one that is stressed.

(Sounds similar to distant thunders)

(Sharp hissing sounds)

Through the latest experiments
using micro cymatics,

it has been suggested
that through the principle of entrainment,

whereby a more powerful frequency

causes a weaker frequency
to synchronize with it,

we can excite the membrane of a cell

into coherent and geometrical patterns;

therefore, if we direct harmonious sound
towards our bodies,

we are able to bring our cells
into their own optimum frequency.

Not only do we vibrate
on a cellular level,

our consciousness,
our thoughts and emotions

all have their own energetic imprint.

Masaru Emoto, in his book
"The Secret Life of Water,"

exposed water to harmonious sounds,
healing thoughts, and prayer

as well as dissonant music
and negative thoughts.

He then froze the water and took
photographs of the water crystals.

The water that had been exposed
to the harmonious sounds

and healing thoughts and prayer

created beautiful
and geometric water crystals,

and those who didn't
were misshapen or not present at all.

Many scientists and
philosophers have pondered,

Where does consciousness
and our thoughts arise from?

Whether you believe
that it is from a god-given source

or from somewhere deep inside the brain,

latest research has discovered

that it is through our
bodily responses to it,

is in quantum vibrations found
in microtubules within brain neurons;

therefore, as we have already found out,

by putting harmonious
thoughts into our brains,

we can turn our perceptions
and our thoughts

from chaos to beauty.

We've all used music
to calm and energize ourselves,

whether it is dance music
on a Saturday night

or downtempo jazz on the Sunday.

Pachelbel’s Canon was my go-to
when in the throes of teenage angst.

I’ve subsequently discovered

that the perfect fifth harmonic
as found in Baroque music

is one of the most healing
harmonic arrangements there is,

being both expansive and stable.

By creating a steady rhythm

through the use of Baroque music,
toning a single vowel,

or through the use of a gong,
a Himalayan bowl,

or through a mother
singing a lullaby to her child,

a steady rhythm can be created

that allows the mind to latch on to it,
slow down, and relax -

the left and right
hemispheres of the brain

begin to resonate to a steady rhythm,

bringing together
the more linear left side

with a more emotional and creative right;

the subconscious and
unconscious minds become aligned,

unresolved issues are released,

and you become more vibrationally coherent
and increasingly powerful.

When we say that somebody is charismatic,

what we are feeling
is their personal vibration.

When this happens, life starts to flow,
and those serendipitous moments increase.

Why?

I stand to quote the saying,

"We cannot solve problems

using the same kind of thinking we had
when we created them."

By creating a more coherent
and harmonizing

on our bodies and our thoughts,

we can change our thoughts

and so change the way
you perceive the world.

We start to see the world
through a truthful lens,

being curious of the
opportunities presented to us.

We respond creatively to situations,

taking action that perhaps
others might not

and perhaps we have not done in the past.

It is at this moment,

those serendipitous moments
that seem so random and elusive

start to become more frequent and expected

because not only are we tuned
into a more enjoyable radio station,

we become less passive and more active
as steering our course,

whereby we can live a life more expansive
and increasingly joy-filled.

Thank you for listening.

(Applause)