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Atonal Therapeutic Chant for Healing and Interrupt

Exercise 16) Atonal and Arrhythmic Chanting

"Pythagoras once cured a youth of his drunkenness by prescribing a melody in the Hypophrygian mode in spondaic rhythm."

This exercise provides technique for self interrupt. The process can be performed at any time and at any place once the user has absorbed the methods by a little practice.

The (observed) effects are immediately of a therapeutic & healing nature and, diligently and attentively carried out, you should find that the natural and uninhibited use of the normally constrained system of vocalisation presented here, spontaneously brings about a state of internal calm and quietude within. This aural/oral activity, carried out in semi/non-differentiated form, directly negates (the extant) selective conditioning of the highly limited word/phoneme sets (learned in early childhood and repeated daily since) that normally fixate the actual physical structure of the body and nervous system; hence the unifying and stilling effects: change the oscillatory nature of a coherent structure and you change its state.

The basic form of the exercise uses the normal pitch and vowel sounding mechanisms of the chest/larynx in tandem with the usual consonant forming mechanisms of the mouth cavity, tongue, teeth and lips but in an abnormal - and therefore directly deconditioned - way. Put basically, the purpose of this exercise - although the word 'chant' is used loosely to describe it as being the best available word - is to 'sing' without sounding or repeating any recognisable tune, rhythm or words.

Background
Music has certain rules and recognisable patterns - key signature and permissible pitches within that key, tempo, rhythm & permissible rhythm intervals, melodic line and harmony. Likewise, speech has certain rules of syntax and semantic content, particular phonetic forms and a relatively limited range of prosody (rhythm). Every time you hum or whistle a tune, or speak a word, phrase or sentence, you are re-creating these pre-ordained sound patterns (on an underlying, fixed space-time grid) and re-iterating their pre-eminence in your psychic conditioning. This is not to say that speech and music are 'useless': they have practical applications - but a lot of speech and music has no practical purpose and is therefore irrelevant (follow links for more on this).
'Consciously' breaking these forms temporarily de-energises them & the effect on the disruption of language pattern is to automatically quieten the Aid mode (audio-internal-digital = internal dialogue) and bring about calm. (I used the word 'consciously'. Strangely, although the exercise is conscious act at the outset - in actually kick starting or booting the process - the nature of events rapidly transforms it into a subconscious 'dynamic' or real time behaviour once the momentum has gathered. ). Form breaking cannot occur consciously since the conscious, working in patterns, can only create more patterns).

The Exercise
In the initial stages it is recommended that you find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted and can make noise without attracting undue attention: this is in order that you can let go and really put some effort into it. Once proficient, you will be able do the exercise almost inaudibly under your breath.

Part a) The Human Digaridoo
Sitting or standing (the latter is best), take a deep breath, sound a continuous note in your lower vocal register and modulate it with the vowel sounds a, e, i, o, u.
Now take another breath and do it again and again, randomly changing the order, length and intonation of the vowels as you do. Repeat this a few times, and allow the vowel sounds to resonate in your mouth cavity. As you become competent at this, you should begin to sound like some weird digaridoo type of instrument. Practice until you feel comfortable.

Part b) Getting Some Variation
Now do it again but as you do, randomly (randomly means in time, in pitch and in length of note) alter the note you are sounding. Because you are changing the shape of your mouth cavity to sound the vowels, and varying pitch, you should now be getting a sound similar to (the nearest I can describe it in words) a Red Indian Medicine Man chanting wordlessly.

Part c) Consonants
Time now to add consonant sounds. There are basically eighteen of these thus:
b, k, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z.
There is no need to learn them all by heart (you already know them from using them in speech & ultimately they will come naturally), but in the early stages you need to practice them.
Proceed as in part b), but now add the consonants in - work through the list backwards and forwards a few times - then ignore it and just proceed at random.

Part d) Putting it all Together
Proceed as part d), but be vigilant not to fall into any pattern or repetition (you inevitably will, but be aware of it and shift as soon as you become aware). The way to do this is to let your mouth throat and chest work together to 'search' for the next sound without any interference by internal dialogue.
In particular, in the ideal case, there should be:
i) no recognisable words or major word fragments
ii) no recognisable tune
iii) no regular musical key
iv) no regular rhythm
iv) no regular pitch shifts
v) random stops of random duration
vi) random tonal slides
To make all this work together needs no special equipment - but it requires a great deal of moment to moment attention, which spontaneously creates a quiet mind.

Part e) Advanced Technique
[Print this out so you can refer to it as you do the execirse; all this series are about 'doing', so don't just sit and think or talk about it.]
The exercise thus far given will break patterns along the lines indicate in i) to vi) above but residual patterns - comprising the morphemes/phonemes that exist in any individual language - will still persist. For example, in Western Indo European (WIE) languages we have the vowel forms 'a, e ,i , o, u' and consonants 'b, k, d, f, g, h, j, l, etc'. Used together, and permitting the various pronunciations possible for the vowels, the common phonemes:
ba, ab, baa, aab, ek, kee, id, di, of, foo, ug, gu, bl, lb, kl, lk, fl, lf,
etc come into being: these phonemes underpin normal WIE language patterns, and using them in atonal chanting will not cause a complete interrupt in those patterns. To interrupt the common phoneme structure, 'non-ordinary' consonant groups and vowels need introducing, consonant groups and vowel sounds not produced in normal speech. A short list of these - others do exist - for WIE languages follows below: these will, almost by definition, feel alien to your normal language system and you may need to practice the pronunciations a little. To use the chant in the advanced version, these groups should be introduced in the technique as presented in d) above:
Consonant Groups: To aid in the pronunciation of these, use vowels of your choice to lead/trail them: (for example for 'bg', use 'ibgee'):
bg, bp, df, dk, fb, fm, gk, gq, hk, hv, kf, kq, lq, lw, mk, mt, pf, pm, qg, qt, rh, rw, tb, tp, vf, vw, wg, wm, ym, yr,
'Vowels': These represent root 'semi-continuous' forms which can be modulated with all consonants/consonant groups:
1) contract throat on steady outbreath (causes LF modulation of basic larynx sound - sounds like a growl)
2) ditto on in breath (higher frequency modulation and different quality)
3) speak through clenched teeth (HF modulation - adds hissing to root sound)
4) speak through nose (yet another modulation)
5) forceful exhalation through tightly constricted throat with or without varying constriction
6) 'hawking' (as if clearing throat) whilst simultaneously making sound with vocal cords and modulating the whole with the mouth cavity. This is known as Xoomi or Throat Singing & is fairly simple with a bit of practice
7) add 'trumpeting' or buzzing with lips to any of the above
8) add also buzzing with tongue against teeth/top of mouth to the above. With practice you can make three tone musical chords (with some interesting body shaking overtones)
Other Groups:
Since these represent short duration, rather than semi-continuous, sounds they represent neither vowels nor consonants - but they may be used as non-WIE forms nevertheless:
A) expletive breath release from throat (almost like a tiny cough)
B) as in 1) above, but short duration sound with a rising root
C) as B), but with falling pitch
D) breath catch/short frictive stop at 'word end'
E) strong but smooth exhalation through semi open lips/teeth
F) Use of Germanic, Gallic & any other vowel sets that can be made with the voice


This exercise, despite its apparent innocuous nature, is an improved (by non-reconditioning) form of the Tibetan practice of 'ngondro' (itself a sophisticated relative of mantra yoga). It is extremely potent in breaking up heavily fixated views/purifying if used diligently - either repeatedly or for extended periods at one sitting. It will not put the user 'into a trance' - indeed trance depends heavily upon repetition and fixation of state - so the exercise actually breaks trance behaviour.



Appendix
Exercise Kronos: Compound Mantric Form in Verse

As well as cliche, chant, slogan, jingle and 'motto', poetry and music contain repetitive figurative vibratory elements that enable them to modify the consciousness of the listener by persistent excitation of neurone groups.
The more a neurone group gets triggered by a particular signal, the more that signal modifies the group in its own image and thus obtains priority in memory. Accordingly when memory responds (the process which comprises the essence of 'thinking') then it responds preferentially in terms of the patterns that dominate the neurone structure (also referred to as 'islands in consciousness'). Poetic and musical forms use various repetition (=forced oscillation) techniques to take hold of consciousness. Some of these comprise:
- direct repetition of complete sound forms (individual words, phrases, sentences)
- repetition of syllable and morpheme (through alliteration and rhyme)
- repetition of pitch
- timbral repetition
- rhythm
In certain forms - especially in songs that evoke strong emotional feelings ('I will need you for ever' etc.) - the implicit asociative mantric repetition can actually condition powerful negative depressive states, 'song' being probably the most powerful mnemonic form known to mankind. Once conditioned, re-association (by the song, music or word) will re-evoke these states in the manner of NLP 'anchor triggering'.

This can also be turned around and put to beneficial use. If no 'emotional' form (or any other meaningful word form) has attachment to a complex word group, then such structured groups can be used as powerful mantric (=vibratory)interrupts.
The following 'poetic' mantra demonstrates a typical rhythmic 'verse' form with compound internal structure.[Note the overall structure & internal repetitions and compare with popular song and poetry]. As before with mantramic form, take a few moments to read and practice pronunciation of the 'poem' shown below such that you can confidently utter it without hesitation. Once you can do this, simply repeat the phrase out loud (that bit's important) at least eight times.
Try to vibrate each line as a continuous sound stream on each repetition & pronounce the whole the same way each time: the unfamiliar words don't mean anything, so don't try to make them into anything:

kah kah prela
spustle spustle chank sul
eeb plits sleple
eeb plits sleple
kah kah prela
spustle spustle chank sul
jux jux rokey mip
spustle prela rokey mip

That's it.
If you wish to use it as a standing interrupt, copy it out and carry it with you for occasional use - but always at a diferent time and in a different place. Don't stupefy yourself or make a habit or ritual of it (i.e. don't repeat it more than (say) a dozen times at any sitting).



Associated Pages

More Exercises
Language Abuse
Prince and Magician Index
Dan Scorpio Main
Neologism in Cliche
Patterning and Consciousness
Koan
ULF Pitch & Music in Rhythm
Undoing Conditioned/Habitual Behaviours
The Beginnings of Learning