Six Healing Sounds
 Just about everybody in the modern world has to deal with some sort of stress. Health professionals have placed stress as an underlying factor in a wide range of diseases.
The Taoist way of dealing with stress is to perform the Six Healing Sounds. The Six Healing Sounds are so simple and easy to perform that they seem almost too good to be true. I have found the Six Healing Sounds to be the most valuable technique of all the many spiritual practices I ve learned so far.
A lot of techniques require months and years of practice before any noticeable results occur. Thankfully, that s not the case with the Six Healing Sounds. They work first time, every time.

Recycling and Transforming Negative Energy
Everything is energy. When Taoists confront negative emotional energy, rather than seeking to destroy it or to dump it out, they use techniques to transform negative, sick energy into positive, loving, healing energy.
The primary methods employed are The Inner Smile 1 and the Six Healing Sounds.
Negative emotions are stored in the body s organs. Over time, the accumulation of the negativity erodes the organs health and effects the person s disposition.
The Six Healing Sounds work to transform the negative energy stored in the organs and to transform them into healing light. That works better than holding onto negativity or dumping it out onto someone else because such emotional venting only serves to pass an emotional virus onto another and, via the law of karma, eventually that same negativity will be revisited upon the person who sent it out in the first place.
When negative emotional energy is transmuted, it can then be circulated through the Microcosmic Orbit to send healing energy throughout the body.

The Lung Sound
Fear is stored in the lungs. The lung sound transforms fear into courage.
Position: Sit on the edge of your chair with feet shoulder length apart. Place hands palms-up on your thighs. Raise both hands above your head, palms-up, with fingertips of each hand touching the tip of the other. Look up.
Lung sound: Place your tongue behind your closed teeth and, with a long slow exhalation, made the lung sound “SSSSSSSSSSSS” (like the sound of steam from a radiator). 2
Visualization: Return your hands to the palms-up position on your lap and smile to your lungs. Imagine a white light shining upon your lungs, surrounding them. Concentrate on feeling the virtue (power) of courage.
Repeat two more times (a total of three), including the hands position and visualization.

The Kidneys Sound
The kidneys sound transform the emotional energy inside the kidneys into gentleness and generosity.
Positions: Sit on the edge of your chair with feet shoulder length apart. Place hands palms-up on your thighs. Lean forward and clasp your hands around your knees. Look up:
Kidney sound: Form an “O” with your lips as if preparing to blow out a candle. With a long, slow exhalation produce the sound “WOOOOOOOO.”
Visualization: Return your hands to the palms-up position on your lap and smile to your kidneys. Imagine a blue light shining upon your kidneys, surrounding them. Concentrate on feeling the virtue (power) of gentleness and/or generosity.
Repeat two more times (a total of three), including the hands position and visualization.

The Liver Sound
The liver sound transforms the emotional energy inside the liver into kindness.
Position: Sit on the edge of your chair with feet shoulder length apart. Place hands palms-up on your thighs. Raise your hands palms-up over your head and interlock your fingers. Lean slightly to the left. Look up.
Liver sound: Place the tongue near the palate and, with a long, slow exhalation produce the sound “SHHHHHHHHHH.”
Visualization: Return your hands to the palms-up position on your lap and smile to your liver. Imagine a green light shining upon and inside your liver, surrounding it. Concentrate on feeling the virtue (power) of kindness.
Repeat two more times (a total of three), including the hands position and visualization.

The Heart Sound
The heart sound transforms the emotional energy inside the heart into love, joy and happiness.
Position: Sit on the edge of your chair with feet shoulder length apart. Place hands palms-up on your thighs. Raise your hands palms-up over your head and interlock your fingers. Lean slightly to the right. Look up.
Heart sound: With the mouth wide open, exhale a deep breath slowly and produce the sound “HAWWWWWWWW.”
Visualization: Return your hands to the palms-up position on your lap and smile to your heart. Imagine a red light shining upon and inside your heart, surrounding it. Concentrate on feeling the virtue (power) of love, joy and/or happiness. Know that the red light is burning away and transmuting any hatred emotion or self-pity into the virtue emotions.
Repeat two more times (a total of three), including the hands position and visualization.

The Spleen Sound
The spleen sound transforms the emotional energy inside the spleen into openness, fairness and justice.
Position: Sit on the edge of your chair with feet shoulder length apart. Place hands, fingers of each hand touching the others, palms-up, under your left ribcage. Inhale and with breath held, slightly push the sides of your hands in and slightly up, under the rib.
Spleen sound: While moving the hands under the ribs, place the tongue near the palate, and with a long, slow exhalation, produce the sound “WHOOOOOOOO” from the throat, like the sound of an owl.
Visualization: Return your hands to the palms-up position on your lap and smile to your spleen. Imagine a yellow light shining upon and inside your spleen and pancreas, surrounding them. Concentrate on the virtue (power) of openness, balance and fairness.
Repeat two more times (a total of three), including the hands position and visualization.

Triple Warmer
Lie flat on your back, if possible. With your mouth open, exhale slowly as your produce the sound “HEEEEEEEE.” Imagine a huge rolling pin flattening out your body from the forehead down to the toes. This will balance all the energies activated by the other sounds and help relax the body fully.
Repeat two more (a total of three) times.

Daily Practice
Along with the Inner Smile, the Six Healing Sounds should be practiced daily. Regular practice recycles more and more negative energy. Negative emotions need not be dreaded for with the use of the Six Healing Sounds they can easily be transformed into refreshing vital force.
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1) See my “The Tickling of the Ant.”
2) For details of each sound see Mantak Chia s Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality