When I released my first album in 1975, the concept of chakras was unknown to most record buyers. Stores wouldn’t carry an album with this title, so I had to re-title it Spectrum Suite. Because the album focused on the sound, color and chakra frequencies of the electro-magnetic spectrum, this made sense. Now that chakras have entered mainstream consciousness, thanks to the popularity of yoga and general spiritual evolution, a number of other recordings and resources are now available to assist you in tuning and balancing your chakras. The quality, alas, varies, so the overall disclaimer to this consumer’s overview is a definite caveat emptor and “different strokes for different folks.”

     Having said that, I’d like to discuss several of them. This is not a definitive list, but will provide a good beginning. They happen to be the ones I shared with my weekend workshop recently at Omega Institute in Austin, Texas. I’ll share the responses and comments of this de facto “focus group” and supplement that with my own comments. The list includes my own Chakra Suite (CD), Chakra Chants by Jonathan Goldman (CD), Chakra Journey by Anodea Judith (DVD), and Chakra Frequencies by Nicole La Voie (CD),

     According to physics (not metaphysics), every atom, molecule and organ in the body vibrates at a specific frequency. Anything that vibrates responds (resonates) to incoming vibratory frequencies at that specific frequency, or a harmonic of that frequency. The seven chakras are etheric energy centers, or as Dr. Norman Shealy refers to them, neuro-hormonal transducers, which can be resonated by specific frequencies of sound. Resonating them in a consecutively ascending manner results in a higher octave of functioning and well-being.

     My early research was conducted with the assistance and support of the legendary scientist-inventor-genius Itzhak Bentov, author of the landmark book, Stalking the Wild Pendulum. Using his proprietary bio-feedback equipment, we were able to confirm that, indeed, the chakras were affected by the keynote musical frequencies. The system that I use is based on those of the Rosicrucians and English physician Dr. Roland Hunt in the early 1900s: C = 1st chakra; D = 2nd; E = 3rd; F = 4th; G = 5th A = 6th; B = 7th. As Bentov’s own research had done, we confirmed that working in this ascending sequence activated a biologically-encoded “reflex.” Literally, your body (and chakras) already know the score!

     Of the fourteen people in the workshop, thirteen had a deeply relaxing and meditative response to the music. In these live presentations, I use a slide project to project the pure colors associated with the chakras on a screen to coordinate with, and amplify, the effect of the musical keynotes. Ordinarily, people tend to see the colors slightly differently, depending on the stress level, or lowered vibrational rate, of a particular chakra. The third chakra (solar plexus, yellow), for instance, always has the most dramatic change, which is seen when we descend back down the sequence at the end of the meditation.

     One woman, however, had a very different response. On Friday evening, she had a strong, unpleasant reaction in her throat (fifth, blue) chakra. There was nothing that could easily explain why her reaction was so different. Since I do not do therapy in a group setting, we agreed to discuss her reaction after we experienced the meditation for the second time on Saturday.

     I knew something was up as soon as she came into the workshop the following morning. Very excitedly, she said, “I know why I reacted as I did. When I got back to the room, I had an urgent phone message. My grandson, whom I’m very close to, had been rushed to the emergency room with breathing problems! He’s OK now, but I was apparently “tuning in” to his problems, in his throat area. This is amazing. I feel so much better now.”

     Amazing, indeed, but true. This is what I have seen over the past thirty years. This chakra balancing meditation “tunes one’s human instrument.” When your energy field (aura) is tuned and more coherent, your intuitive and psychic sensitivity is heightened as a natural result.

     Our experience with Anodea Judith’s DVD, The Illuminated Chakras, was the complete opposite. The visuals are stunning, the soundtrack progresses from rhythmic for the lower chakras, to more relaxing for the higher chakras. As entertainment, it is superb, but we found that it kept our attention focused on the external screen, rather than on the internal screen of our mind’s eye and chakras. I haven’t read her book and illustrated manual, Wheels of Life, but it is advertised as one of the foremost presentations of the chakra system and its interpretation and integration into a psychotherapeutic context.

     We had another quite different group and individual response to the next two CDs. Jonathan Goldman’s Chakra Chants was released in the late 1990s, and is advertised as being his bestselling album. It features sustained vocal toning, and harmonic overtones—no words, just many voices layered upon each other—with tuning forks, mantras and vowels, as well.

     The album progresses through the chakras. Each section sounded fairly similar to our ears. Some folks had a rather immediate visceral incompatibility with the overall sound; they weren’t comfortable with the dissonances between the many elements. On the other hand, some loved it right away.

     I then played samples of Nicole La Voie’s Sound Wave Energy series of CDs. Nicole is the author of Return to Harmony. You may have seen her ads in any number of magazines, which chronicle her near-death experience and subsequent focus on energetic healing. I borrowed a set for the workshop, and listened with the group.

     The first thing we noticed was that there wasn’t any music. We listened to several samples from the Foundation series as well as to several Chakra CDs. At first, we thought there was something the matter with the recordings. They sounded like a sixty-cycle electronic hum, combined with clicking sounds.

     The general reaction was, “Please stop. Now.”

     I then read the testimonials listed on her ads. These CDs seem to work for at least the people quoted on her website. Maybe one had to listen for a longer period of time to get the beneficial effect? I tried that myself, later that night. I still found them irritating, counter-productive for sleep and relaxation even though I was specifically listening to the Relaxation CD.

     Recognizing this wasn’t a strict scientific sampling, and given the time constraints (we only had a few minutes for the Chant album and the following demos), it was fascinating how immediate, and individual the responses were.

     One of the attendees brought a wonderful surprise with him. He lived in Texas, so he was able to drive to the workshop. He packed up his entire set of chakra-tuned crystal bowls! This was quite a treat as he performed a brief mini-meditation concert.

     There are a number of crystal bowl recordings on the market. We did not get a chance to listen to them together. Surprisingly, crystal singing bowls are very hard to record well. There is a wide range of quality, that’s for sure. Some are recorded in a home living room with one “ambient” microphone. Others are at least studio recorded. You can buy full chakra bowl sets at selected stores, or online at Crystal Tones, www.crystaltones.com.

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© 2005 by Steven Halpern. Steven Halpern is an award-winning composer, producer and recording artist who has touched the lives of millions around the world. He is currently celebrating his 30th anniversary and invites you to visit him at www.stevenhalpern.com.

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