If I Were a Parent Today… Vocal Toning for the Modern Parent

Vocal Toning

If I were a parent of young children today, Toning would be one of my go-to techniques to help reduce my child ’s stress and anxiety. As they arrived home from school, I would blast my child’s auric field with my own voice making the vowel sound “AHHHHH ” thereby dissolving the angst of the day that has gathered up like a fine dust on my child’s auric field. For their night time bath I would place one cup of epsom salt in the bath water with a few drops of lavender essential oil – to help relax and to draw out any heavy energies.

Toning, a form of sound healing, is the practice of making vowel sounds for an extended period of time for therapeutic or meditative purposes. It was developed in the 1980’s by renown sound healer, Johnathan Goldman, who discovered a healing connection between our chakras, vital energy vortexes, and vowel sounds. Self-created sounds have been shown to increase our oxygen level, lymphatic circulation, melatonin, pain reliever hormones, nitric oxide which releases oxytocin, and decreases blood pressure.

Toning can also be used to help another person, in this case one’s child. You need to know a little about the first in order to achieve the second.

The goal of Toning (and other forms of energy medicine) is to make shifts on our auric field to promote wellbeing. Toning achieves this through sound, which creates a vibration as it moves through air. We can experience the vibration by putting our hands close to our mouth as we create sound. Try it right now – “Oh” as in go: You can feel that vibration. This vibration helps clear stuck heavy energies such as negative thought forms, strong emotions, hurt feelings, sadness or disappointments. As this article explains – our auric field is a replica of what is going on inside of our self. Clearing our auric field is much easier than our ‘minds’, especially with children as their ability to express their thoughts and emotions is limited.

This next video demonstrates how to clear your child’s auric field using the heart vowel sound “AHHH ” as in ma. With very little practice your voice will become stronger and more effective. A good way to get better is to use Toning for your own wellbeing. The seven sounds associated with each of your chakras are described in the diagram below. Begin by making the “UH” sound for your root chakra and then move up to your crown chakra – making each vowel sound five times. Before each sound it is important to breathe deeply, filling your abdomen and lower and upper chest with oxygen. Also, while Toning, visualize your chakras happily spinning in a clockwise direction. After you have Toned each chakra, sit quietly for several minutes to notice. Setting an intention for your Toning session is helpful, e.g. to restore wholeness, be relaxed.

Interestingly, the vibrating sounds you are producing inside your mouth have a profound effect on your body’s two most important glands: The pituitary and pineal glands which lay just behind the upper pallet. The pituitary gland is the m aster gland, affecting all the other glands, e.g. gonad, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and cortisol. The pineal gland is considered the center of our spiritual energies. It produces melatonin, a hormone that affects our sleep. It also calcifies with age, possibly contributing to sleep problems as we age. Stimulation to these glands is like getting a deep tissue massage; it gets the molecules flowing which has biological effects.

Lastly, you may enjoy teaching your child about his/her auric field and the art of Toning. You can Tone together; toning each sound fewer times as appropriate. For young children, during bath time or right before bedtime work well as Toning calms the body and quiets the mind for a restful night’s sleep.

Paula Petry, PhD. Paula has her doctoral degree in special education from the University of Miami. Paula is the founder and honorary advisor of Parent to Parent of Miami. Paula attended Harvard’s Executive Leadership program and developed leadership programs for students and parents. She is a Light Body practitioner through the Four Winds Society and studied arts in medicine at the University of Florida, Shands Hospital.

Related: Healing with Music

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This post originally appeared on our May/June 2017 Magazine