Shamanic Sound Healing Practice....
Vince’s shamanic healing ceremony is set in beauty. A circle of seats curves to meet his own spread of sheepskin, sage bundles, and an austere buffalo skull. Laid out like jeweled inlay are his instruments of healing: the flutes, his eagle wings, the prism-like hang – a drum that resounds like a xylophone. This altar is evidence of Vince’s care and artistry, devotion to ritual. It feels like he has created it to last much longer into the future than the ceremony’s two-hour timeslot, and with artifacts more ancient than their construction. This is the sense, too, of his healing work; that it will unfold past its present intimacy and is summoned from a body of teachings larger than could be held in his physical frame. He is a self-described channel, but his deep gift is the width of that opening to universal presence, and the force of the flow coming through him to fill you.
The uniqueness of his healing ceremony is that he uses music and sound instead of spoken words to convey spirit messages. You are allowed to sit in passive receptivity, your own silence or sighs, while he circles the room and touches each person in turn with the exhalations of his flute, the reverberation of his drum, the whir and rustle of other instruments that are unrecognizable through closed eyes but carry a scent, or brush your head as he passes. Even if he is across the circle ministering a healing to another participant, the sound emanates and touches your heart, your holdings. In this way the ceremony is communal and seamless, a moving tide of individual attention and interconnection.
Musical instruments are perceived as performance tools, meant to fill rooms and the open air. When Vince blows sound down his flute with its outflow end against your skin, the marvel is a new dynamic of intimacy between musician and listener, and your good fortune at being able to not just hear but feel the resonance. The pulsing drum rests for a moment against your open hand, and the sound travels to your heart through the skin and bones of your being. There are no barriers in Vince’s presence, then, no careful detachment, not a shamanic performer and his audience. He melts into you, stirs you to open, seals what is raw, and moves on without a trace of residue of himself so that your wholeness becomes your own.
The uniqueness of his healing ceremony is that he uses music and sound instead of spoken words to convey spirit messages. You are allowed to sit in passive receptivity, your own silence or sighs, while he circles the room and touches each person in turn with the exhalations of his flute, the reverberation of his drum, the whir and rustle of other instruments that are unrecognizable through closed eyes but carry a scent, or brush your head as he passes. Even if he is across the circle ministering a healing to another participant, the sound emanates and touches your heart, your holdings. In this way the ceremony is communal and seamless, a moving tide of individual attention and interconnection.
Musical instruments are perceived as performance tools, meant to fill rooms and the open air. When Vince blows sound down his flute with its outflow end against your skin, the marvel is a new dynamic of intimacy between musician and listener, and your good fortune at being able to not just hear but feel the resonance. The pulsing drum rests for a moment against your open hand, and the sound travels to your heart through the skin and bones of your being. There are no barriers in Vince’s presence, then, no careful detachment, not a shamanic performer and his audience. He melts into you, stirs you to open, seals what is raw, and moves on without a trace of residue of himself so that your wholeness becomes your own.