One of the foundations of sound therapy is often described through the lens of the following formula: frequency + intent = healing. In other words, sound, joined with the intention of healing, has the power to create movement towards wholeness. In our final session of the series, featuring guest Gong Master Michael Jay, we’ll explore this formula experientially, working with the gong and metal bowls as conductors of consciousness. We’ll also touch on the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and José Argüelles, who advocate for an awakened planetary mind they call the noosphere—the time when the consciousness of the planet goes from the cosmic unconscious to the cosmic conscious. Through guided meditation combined with sound, we’ll harness the transformative power of the group mind, radiating our intention outward to create waves of harmony on Earth.

About the Power of Sound Roundtable Series
How does sound “heal”? Can sound effect change in our bodies, minds, and emotions, and if so, how? How can we harness sound to create more ease and wellbeing in our daily lives?

In this three-part Roundtable series, we will explore the therapeutics of sound, as well as its background, history, and application in the healing arts, music therapy, and daily life, and as a fast growing field unto itself. Through the lens of deep listening, we will experience sound’s inherent potency firsthand and learn how to refine our own personal sonic landscape to create a more peaceful existence.

Jessica Caplan is a certified sound practitioner, vocalist and yoga teacher. A graduate of the Open Center’s Sound and Music Institute, she has created sound experiences, retreats and trainings that weave her passions for music as medicine, and the power of community and self-connection, since 2013. Jessica teaches sound immersions and retreats at Maha Rose Center for Healing, and is on the faculty of Prema Yoga Institute, a training school for yoga teachers, where she regularly co-teaches Sound Yoga Therapy Immersion. In addition to yoga studios, festivals and event spaces, Jessica has also brought her sound work to youth at schools (Montessori School), graduate students (CUNY Graduate Center), and caregivers and chaplins (St. Mary’s Care Center, Madison, WI), to name a few. Jessica is a Reiki practitioner, and also teaches a holistic, intuitive approach to opening the singing/sounding voice, both privately and in groups. She continues her studies of yoga, sound healing, Native traditions, shamanic practices, and classical Indian music. Jessica is also the co-creatrix of SoundMind, an audio meditation series combining meditation with therapeutic sound, released in the fall of 2016.

Michael Jay is one of the first US students of Grand Gong Master Don Conreaux. He is a primary member of Conreaux’s Mysterious Tremendum performance group, and continues to study and assist his gong trainings regularly while Conreaux teaches in the US. He is a facilitator at Sage Academy of Sound Energy retreats and trainings, and is the co-director of therapeutic sound at You Can Thrive, an organization that provides free vibrational services for women with cancer. He is also a certified health coach who uses shiatsu, EFT, Reiki, and reflexology in private practice, alongside many beautiful overtone-producing instruments, such as metal singing bowls, gongs, and tuning forks.