Sound Alchemy Integration

By Aero Coomer

Kirtan and Sound Healing are two ancient practices utilized for both collective and personal healing.  Now, every Sunday, at 4 pm, at Kalani, both modalities are offered for free to our community, sponsored by A Moveable Feast!  I had a few visits, so I’ll give you the inside scoop.

But first, what exactly is Kirtan?

Kirtan is the ancient practice of call-and-response devotional singing. Its roots are in ancient Sanskrit and Buddhism.  It has since been adopted as a multicultural expression, encompassing many religious and non-religious denominations.  Kirtan is a Sanskrit word meaning “call, recite, and praise”.

The call-and-response format of traditional kirtan creates a unique musical experience, requiring no special training or talent. This openness allows people of all backgrounds and abilities to participate, creating communities that celebrate diversity while finding common ground in music.

These Sound and Healing Kirtan gatherings naturally foster inclusive communities that transcend religious boundaries. The practice creates a sacred space where people can explore devotion and transcendence without requiring adherence to specific beliefs or doctrines. This open approach attracts seekers from various traditions, creating interfaith dialogues shared through musical experience.

Kirtan has been proven to offer profound benefits that ripple through both individual consciousness and the collective community. This sacred musical tradition creates unique physical pathways for transformation that bloom from the intersection of voice, breath, rhythm, and shared intention.

Speaking from personal experience, kirtan serves as a powerful meditative practice that bypasses the analytical mind’s constant tendency to chatter. When we engage in repetitive chanting, the brain enters altered states similar to those realized through deep meditation. The Sanskrit syllables and melodies create vibrations that echo across our brains and reshape our neural pathways.

The act of singing itself triggers the release of endorphins and oxytocin while reducing cortisol levels, creating a natural antidote to stress and anxiety. Unlike passive listening, active participation in kirtan requires a certain amount of breath control and vocal awareness, which activates the vagus nerve and promotes the parasympathetic nervous system’s rest-and-digest response. This physiological shift can lower blood pressure, improve heart rate variability, and enhance overall well-being, just from a few studies alone.

Most folks around here know what goes on at a sound healing . . . but have you ever thought about it in deeply philosophical terms?  Why does it even affect us in any way at all, let alone have such profound effects?

In the superluminous space of a sound healing session, where words dissolve and pure vibration reigns, participants often find themselves crossing territories of consciousness that defy ordinary description. The healing bowls’ crystalline tones, the gong’s cosmic reverberations, and wordless vocal expressions create numerous portals into realms where the boundaries between self and the universe have dissolved.

When we remove language from the equation, something profound occurs. Without the mind’s constant need to categorize, analyze, and verbalize experience, consciousness naturally expands into more fluid states. The singing bowls’ precise frequencies create what many describe as ‘sonic architecture’—invisible structures that seem to rebuild the very fabric of our awareness from the inside out.

Participants frequently report entering trance-like states where linear time dissolves. Minutes can feel like hours, or entire sessions seem to pass in moments. This temporal distortion isn’t mere imagination but reflects genuine altered states seen in brainwave analysis. The sustained tones guide neural activity into slower theta and delta frequencies associated with deep meditation, REM sleep, and mystical experience.

I questioned a few of the facilitators to delve a bit deeper into the “whats and whys” of their personal experiences.  First, I spoke with Tomas Mendola, who has been helping to organize this gathering for 5 years.  He said this started on the Lawn (at Seaview)  and moved to various locations over the years.  “Why kirtan?”, I inquired.

“The mantra is kind of the essence.  It’s a yogic practice.  It’s in the yoga sutras.  You can attain enlightenment in 5 ways, and the 5th one is mantra, so by far, what we are doing is the easiest way to reach this state.  So that’s why we do this and open it to the public.  So we can do this together.  What this does, is it affects them internally, their DNA, and helps them to awaken personally, and creates this clear energetic field around the planet to make this great awakening …it starts with sound healing… people get chill.. and then we do mantra.  We find resonance in our minds and hearts as one, and this brings up equanimity.”

Next, I asked Kevin Rodriguez, one of the main singers and musicians, a few introspective questions with these thoughtful responses that I just had to share:

Me: Tell me why song circles are meaningful?

Kev: “To me, song circles and kirtan are important because it’s an opportunity to be in devotion and connection together in community, through the medium of the voice. When we are singing together, we are creating resonance and coherence. I also believe that singing is like praying, and we have the potential to touch the divine in a potent way together. 

Unlike a concert or performance, these spaces are not about spectatorship—they’re about co-creation. The audience becomes an integral part of the experience. Everyone is contributing: giving and receiving, listening and expressing, holding space and being held. That kind of participatory magic weaves people directly into the heart of the experience, and you can feel it.

I believe the community can find tremendous value in opening the voice. So many of us carry old stories, wounds, and fears around being heard, especially when it comes to singing. These circles gently invite us out of the shower, out of our closed cars, and into shared expression. They offer a chance to harmonize with others, to create beauty together, and to feel like we belong—not as an observer, but as a vital participant.”

Me: How did you get into this circle of song?

Kev: “As a child, I remember being moved by the beauty of choir/praise songs in my early church days and also songs on the radio. I was touched, but I was always too shy or afraid, and inhibited to sing out loud. The only time I felt safe to sing was when others were all singing together loudly to hide amongst the voices.

On my journey, I got into singing and kirtan, and these types of experiences initially through plant medicine journeys, opening me up to my repressed natural creative potential. It happened through cacao and other sacred ceremonies where plant allies help us shed our inhibitions and unravel our stories.  We were encouraged to sing together these “medicine songs” or heartsongs – and I saw that we can use these songs as a vehicle for immense joy while awakening, remembering, feeling, connecting, and expressing- opening the heart through intention and through opening the voice. “

ME: Any A-ha moments??

Kev: “Well, it became very clear to me that if we are looking at everything as a mirror and as an opportunity to learn about ourselves and grow, that there is immense potential to be examining our limiting belief systems, and get insight into the nature of the self via our stories and inhibitions during a song circle.  “Aha” moments — oh yes! These spaces reflect us. They show us our edges. “Why am I singing so quietly?” “Why do I need to be noticed when I sing?” These are chances to explore self-worth, humility, and authenticity. Singing circles aren’t just musical—they’re mirrors for transformation.”

ME: Any lasting healing benefits to touch upon? 

Kev: “Well, I believe our unique voices all hold medicine and are one of a kind sound healing instruments. They are the external expression of our vibration and can be our very own best sound healing instrument for ourselves and for others. They say that the voice is a vehicle to open the heart, and often, there may be some trapped emotions or walls around the heart that may break open with song and voice. I have experienced many and witnessed many beautiful emotional releases in these experiences. So we have the ability to heal our wounds and stories around our voices, around our value and worthiness to contribute to something beautiful and magical. The healing powers of emotion and connection in community, because we support each other to sing as one. And the healing benefits of the pure tones and vibration, and frequencies of the sacred syllables and mantras themselves, which are scientifically proven of their potency.”

Addressing the crowd at the beginning, Tomas says, “We’re going to try to make this a oneness.   Where there is no separation from performance and audience.  This is a oneness. From that oneness, this really affects everything.”

Another way of saying it: When individuals gather to sing together, something remarkable occurs that transcends any sum of individual experiences. The shared rhythm, breath patterns, and vocal harmonies synchronize heart rate and brain waves among active participants, fostering a profound sense of unity, togetherness, and much more.

This collective progression dissolves the boundaries between self and others — in ways that can feel deeply healing, especially in our increasingly isolated modern world. Participants often describe experiencing a sense of being held by the group.  This is a place where individual voices merge into something larger than just ME.