Listening with the whole body.

Sound enters through the ears
and spreads through the body.

When a low sound is played,
vibration travels up from the floor.

Near a large crystal bowl,
it feels as if the air itself is moving.

Surrounded by many sounds,
the sense of “listening to sound” can shift, before you know it,
into the sense of being inside the resonance with your whole body.

I have a name for this way of listening:

Full Body Listening

That is what I call it.

Listening with the whole body.

I have been making music since I was three,
and have always been distinguishing pitches.

Which note is it?
How high is it?
Is it in tune?

An ear that captures sound precisely
is still essential to how I make sound today.

Then I met the crystal bowl,
and a way of listening that “feels sound”
gradually grew within me.

It resonates in the chest.

It vibrates deep in the belly.

Breathing deepens.

For some reason, one particular sound stays with you.

After the sound fades,
even the silence feels vivid.

The body
receives sound in a way that differs from the ears.

I cherish that sensation, too.

Measuring frequency.
Distinguishing pitch.
Listening to overtones.
Feeling with the body.

Listening to sound while moving among all of them.

Then,
alongside “How many Hz is this sound?”
the question arises:
“How am I feeling this sound?”

What begins there is Awareness.

Listening to sound
leads to noticing your own senses.

Full Body Listening
is another experience of “listening”
that I discovered through my exploration of sound.