Customer Reviews

Singing Bowls: A Practical Handbook of Instruction and Use

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a teacher of yoga and meditation since 1972, I first ran across these sensational Tibetan Bells (Singing Bowls) around 1985. Since then I have acquired nearly a dozen well-tuned bowls, and use them extensively in my own personal meditations, in leading group meditations, and to aid in spiritual healing.

Having collected legend, facts, and lore on these bells for many years, I was excited to find so much of what I had already learned-- plus a whole lot more-- was finally collected in one convenient and well-ordered form.

Ms Jansen's book has been a great aid in helping me to better understand both the physics and the spirituality behind the phenomenal effects that my clients and I have experienced from playing these bells. I highly recommend it to anybody who may be thinking of purchasing a Tibetan Bell, as well as to anybody who already owns one or more of these devices and wants to maximize their experience of the bowls.

I assumed a "practical handbook" would have a bit more information on, well, the practice. The only section of the book that actually explains how to use singing bowls is a whopping 22 pages long and much of that covers how to choose a singing bowl (by your intuition and how a bowl sounds and feels when you strike it near different parts of your body - fabulous, if you know a seller who will let you manhandle their merchandise). The instruction that is given can mostly be summed up by one word. Experiment. That's about the end of the practical section of instruction and use.

Most of the beginning of the book is history. It's very interesting history if you can get past the fact that it's delivered in a boring and rather vague manner.

I was so excited when I bought this book, but it was a severe disappointment. I didn't learn a single thing about using my singing bowl that I hadn't already learned from idly messing with it. I learned a bit about singing bowls from a historical perspective, but there has to be a more thorough, better presented book out there on the subject. I do not recommend this book.

As the new millennium unfolds, I think that this phenomenon (the influnence of sound on our sense of tranquility) is going to play a progressively more important role. When/if that happens, perhaps someone will write a "better" work on this subject. Frankly, I tend to doubt it. 1.2 million Tibetans who MAY have known the answers have so far been slaughtered by the Chinese, and the end is nowhere yet in sight. Of those who still remain, none seems able (or willing) to comment. In another generation, no one who knows the truth may survive.

I have several bowls, the largest of which is slightly in excess of 14". This bowl is capable of producing (in my consciousness, at least) the low C pedal of an organ. Since the organ pipe required to produce that tone is over 30 FEET long, as a mathematician I understand that this is physically impossible. In this book, Ms Jansen explains to you why it IS spiritually possible.

An excellant book. I found lots of useful information for my Doctorial Dissertation. Janson discusses sound and how sound can heal especially when using Tibetan singing bowls. Singing bowls give a gentle massage to all of the body's cells,and the full range of harmonics help to stimulate the body to facilitate the healing. Sound can kill as well as heal, and the Tibetans are masters of the use of harmonic vibrations as explained in the book. Janson provides practical information about using the bowls.

This is a good book for discovering the history of Singing Bowls, how they work and how to choose one. It also has a section on Tingshaws, Bell and Dorje. If your looking for a book on how to use them for healing then you should get the book "Singing Bowl Exercises for Personal harmony" by Anneke Huyser

The book informs people of the need in Western society to use these Bowls for Meditation & cleansing the Body & the Soul in order to release & open the door to further spiritual development. ( I Teach Meditation useing these Bowls )

This book is good for people who doesn't know anything about singing bowls, and want to know what is it all about. However, if you are trying to get some basic skill for using singing bowls, This book provide too little infomation about this.

Small book,doesn't have complete Singing Bowl info, but a good short overview of a complex topic (including tingshas, Tibetan bells).
I have since ordered other books, to round out my knowledge. I found this easy to read book to be a good introduction to the topic.

I needed the info for a short story that I am writing, was extremely helpful.