Looking After Your Instruments – Physical Cleanse
In the past, when I tell people I clean my singing bowls by giving them a bath, they often ask if I join them in the bath too. I hope this post clears that up.
The bowls (or your sound healing instrument of choice i.e. gongs, crystal bowls, tuning forks, drums etc) go through an intense journey from creation to manufacture to transportation to arrive in your hands. As an energy instrument, they require a clearing process, much like how you would treat a deck of angel cards or crystals.
The cleansing process is the start of your bonding with your bowls where you’ll get to know your bowls by look, feel and all whilst the energy exchange is being communicated through both of you.
The bowls get to know you as much as you get to know them. And it makes a huge difference to the healing session when you go through this cleansing process.
What can we do to clean our sound healing instruments?
There are two ways I regularly cleanse my bowls. Physically and energetically.
Physical Cleanse
Contrary to first glance, these bowls are not made from brass. Come to think of it, I haven’t worked with any sound healing instruments that are made from brass.
My singing bowls each have seven metals in each bowl, not one of them is brass. So I’m begging you, with lots of love, please do not use Brasso or any chemical cleaning products to clean your bowls. They will likely tarnish and ruin your bowls and instruments.
Giving them a bath is a good place to start. Here’s what I typically do with mine:
- Add fresh lemon juice to a luke warm water in a sink, bath tub, or outdoor tub. (The amount of lemons will vary for how many instruments you have to clean and the size of the lemons. When I clean all of my 30-ish bowls, I use 6-12 lemons depending on the size and juiciness of the lemons.)
- Use an old cloth or dedicated bowl cleaning cloth to clean the bowls.
- Dry all residue with an old towel and leave out to air dry the last little bits that might have been missed.
You can watch a video of this process here.
Some other natural cleaning “products” you can use are:
- Essential oils (make sure you dry the bowls thoroughly otherwise the oil makes them slip and slide right out of your hands).
- Turmeric root (use with gloves or you will have yellow hands and fingernails for days).
- Ocean or natural spring water (dry thoroughly again, especially in saltwater as the salt can eat away at the metal).
TOP TIP: Don’t use boiling hot water, metal is a conductor for heat and they will be too hot to handle!
You can clean them after every session if you wish and if you have time. I give mine a bath as and when I feel they need it.
REMEMBER: The bowls can break if stored carelessly, so please be sure to wrap them up in a scarf, sarong, muslin cloth, or similar for their protection when you’re on the move.
While this is a physical cleanse, you’re also physically cleaning them energetically in the process…are you with me? There are, however, other more dedicated ways to energetically clean your bowls.
The Bonding Process
The bowls want to be played! And the sound can change dramatically depending on the energy around them, including from what they are picking up from you and your emotional state – listen to their reflection of you, they know you better than you think they do!
First of all, try to display or have them out somewhere that you often go and can access them easily to be around your energy daily. Maybe making it a part of your daily routine to spend 5-10 or more minutes a day with them. They will reward you with peace, joy, balance, and awareness in your heart and each moment.
But be aware of the environment they’re in. If they’re in a sacred space where you spend a lot of time meditating, doing yoga, laughing, dancing, they will do all of those things with you personally and in your sessions.
However, if they’re being kept in an environment that is dark, busy, stressful, hostile, they will also be collecting this energy that will then be transmuted into your healing sessions with clients.
Wherever you chose the keep them when you’re not using them for sessions, aim to strike them every day to cleanse yourself and the energy of the space around you.
There is a constant energy exchange going on with all matter. The bowls are no different and they know what’s happening.
The more you get to know your energy instruments, you will come to understand what they need and when.
Patience
The bonding process will continue to unfold for you and your healing instruments at their own divine pace and time.
I’ve had my bowls for years and every time I clean them, I notice something new. Because these bowls are individually handmade, each bowl’s physical appearance has a unique character, like a fingerprint.
They also sound so different after their cleanses. To me, that’s because we’ve bonded during the cleanses and they’re full of the loving intention I used to cleanse them with. They love being clean and clear. You will hear it. And they look like sunshine afterward too.
My bowls and energy instruments are my closest teammates. They’re a part of me and I’m a part of them. It’s the very least I can do for my bowl besties.
If you think your bowls or instruments sound “out of tune”, try giving them a physical and/or energetic bath, treat them with the love and respect they deserve and then see what they have to tell you.
Let me know if you try it!
CCx