Kalimba Magic NEWS

Sound Journaling and the Sansula
by Kathryn Rambo, BC-MT

Kathryn Rambo, BC-MT

My friend's son, 41 years young and a veteran of Desert Storm, was just diagnosed with cancer. She herself is a survivor of many things, including cancer and later a horrible car accident.

She called me right after her son called her with the news. She was in tears and asked if she could stop by to talk. We talked (she talked, I listened) for a long time. Together we rode the roller coaster of emotions that parents feel when something like this happens to their child, no matter how old they are. There was grief, fear, sorrow, panic, shock, and the feeling of complete and total helplessness (after all, as parents, we are supposed to be able to fix this!).

Eventually she said she felt calm enough to drive home so she could call her 39 year old daughter to tell her the unexpected news. She said she felt she needed to journal about this, to "get it all out on paper" rather than letting it spin hopelessly inside her heart and head.

Later that evening I called her to see how she was doing. She told me at first she was going to journal about this but instead decided to do what I will call a "sound journal".

Pocket Sansula

She rested her pocket sansula on her solar plexus and played and played and played. She said the music she made was first the song of panic, and then it transformed into the song of fear. Fear transformed into the song of helplessness and then into the song of sorrow and grief. At last she said it transformed into a song of release and then faith. The faith that the Divine is holding her and her son in the heart of the Divine and it is all taken care of.

Intuitively she held the sansula over the solar plexus, an energy center of raw emotions like frustration, fear and anger. It is said that obstructions or blocking in this area can lead to the inability to control and express feelings in healthy ways. It is also said that this is the center where we take in other's feelings. (Ever notice how you cross your arms to 'protect' this area when someone is arguing with you or being highly critical of you?)

Keeping this energy center open and balanced is key to our emotional health because it helps us express our feelings in positive ways vs. swallowing them and letting them eat us alive! When out of balance, emotions are raw and uncontrolled. This is also the center of self-esteem and empowerment. Because this energy center responds quickly when life hands us something that causes us to feel threatened (like her son's cancer diagnosis) it is important that we have a way to return it to a state of homeostasis. When in balance we radiate expansiveness, warmth and joy.

She said she gave in to the waves of emotions. She intentionally gave a music voice to her feelings, deeply feeling each one as she played. She discovered that giving voice to one emotion healed it making room so that the next voice/emotion could express itself, eventually resting in release, faith and deep trust that All That Is is present and is holding her and her son in healing hands. She said she felt a deep and profound peace that she would not have felt if she had used the written word.

Somewhere I read a quote that says "Music gives us a voice when there are no words". I don't know who the author of that quote was but this is certainly a perfect example! Next time you have no words, play instead. Play all the feelings. Record your music, listen to it. Our English language has few words for expressing emotions. I read somewhere that these total only about 90 words, minus slang. No wonder we are at a loss for words when someone asks how we feel! Let music be those words when you have none!