Special Guest Expert - Anandra George: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Anandra George: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Daniel Aaron:
Does it take to create a vibrant, thriving life? First, the sad news is that Thoreau was right most people are leading quiet lives of desperation, lacking in meaning, fulfillment, and vitality. But we choose more. We choose to create extraordinary lives and the art of vibrant living. Show entertains you with inspiration, empowerment and education to create your life into a masterpiece. It's time. Let's vibe up. Aloha, y'all. Daniel Aaron with you. I'm the host and this is the Art of Vibrant Living show. I'm so happy that you are here. I'm so happy that you are interested in vibrant living. And the show, as you might guess, is all about entertaining. Yes. Inspiring, yes. And most importantly, empowering you to live your most amazing life. So here's a request, a recommendation. Be entertained, be inspired, and do something about it. As in we've got an amazing show today. You are going to so be amazed at what my guest has to share. I'll tell you about her in a moment and it's going to be valuable. It's going to be a lot more valuable though, if you say, yeah, I'm going to try this out, I'm going to put this into place in my life, act on some of what you learned today. And by the way, if you don't feel like you are living your most vibrant, thriving life yet, when would be a good now time to do so? To get on the path to it. I'd love to connect with you, so feel free to send me a direct message or email me Daniel at Daniel aaron.com and let's have a conversation and create some new possibilities for you y'all. My guest today, Andre George is a truly amazing woman. She is a let me say it this way, simply a sound expert, but that doesn't do it justice. She's lived in ashrams in India for years at a time. Um, she's had personal invitations at some of India's most revered, from India's most revered spiritual leaders to sing and teach in their ashrams. She's taught Sanskrit pronunciation and mantra meditation, and hopefully she'll correct mine in a moment. Um, with great transformational success to thousands of students from every continent, every major religion, and every major language family. I could go on. I'm going to tell you the one last thing about her. And then I'd rather you hear more from her and less from me. She developed something really amazing. The world's first 200 hour registered yoga teacher training course focused entirely on the transformational power of sound. The transformational power of sound that's worth repeating. Anandrao, thank you so much for being here. There's so much I want to ask you about and hear from you. I really appreciate you're with us. Welcome. Oh.

Anandra George:
Thank you so much for the beautiful introduction. It's it's really an honor. Happy to share whatever I've got. It's all yours.

Daniel Aaron:
Well thank you. And, you know, it's I repeated that last phrase, the transformational power of sound, in part because my life and my work is all about transformation. And and I love sound and I use it in many, many ways as part of my work with clients, my work with myself. And you have experience and knowledge in so many different aspects of sound that I've just, you know, dipped my toes into a tiny bit. So I'm excited to, to immerse in that. Um, and it's like to me, well, you know, literally sound is hidden in it, right? You know, we don't see it yet. It's always there and so powerful. Okay, I need to stop talking for my excitement level for a moment. So before we get into, you know, some of the how it works and how to benefit from it, would you tell us a little bit about how you got to it, how it became such an important thing for you?

Anandra George:
Um, yeah. It saved my life. Pure and simple. Um, I don't want to tell too much of my sad story of how challenging it was to live in a, um. Family with alcoholism and mental illness and divorce and, you know, a fair amount of chaos. Um, there was good, good stuff there, too, for sure. But, um, I was there were a lot there was a lot of fear and and trauma and instability for me when I was growing up. And, um, I leaned in somehow. I don't know how I got the idea, but I just would hum to myself, and I found. Safety inside by learning how to self-regulate my nervous system with sound. And then when I first got introduced to the possibility of playing music, when I was, you know, in the fourth grade, uh, band try out, uh, we, they just got us in a room together and we got to play whatever, got to pick up whatever instrument we wanted and try to play whatever instrument we wanted, and I. Blew my breath through the silver flute and it was like it was. It was the first moment of. Like coherence and lightness and hope and fullness and spirit. It was an indescribable. Moment that made me feel like the sound body. That was moving through me was bigger than myself. And it just it lifted me up. And in such a profound and visceral way that I, I knew that I. Yeah that I would that I would love sound and I would love music forever and um, and then, you know, life kept going on and I and I went, I ended up going back to. What I consider. The most extensive training in sound the mystical, transformative power of sound. So I went to India to study Sanskrit mantra and Indian classical music. And we went we went on from there. So that's. And then you caught us up to speed with my with my bio to this point, so.

Daniel Aaron:
Well, cool. Okay, so and doubly interesting for me because when you described, um, you know, the little bit of your childhood, um, I would me too, me too, me too. I, you know, I had, uh, checked by check there with that, and, and I don't know if it was any time before this moment that I actually consciously realized how much playing in band for me as as a little boy and all through school, how much that was soothing to my nervous system. I never made that connection before. Um, it really was, uh, something powerful for me. So thanks for making that linkage for me. Um, let's we take us a little bit deeper into going to India and the mystical side of it, because, I mean, I don't know, we've got a varied audience and and I certainly have personally, I've got a lot of experience with kirtan, and I hung around a lot of the Das's, you know, rum does or he does all these different dos dudes who talk about their experience with their gurus and singing kirtan. But I think for, you know, there's still a lot of people that that's a world like, you know, it's a very foreign world. So what was that like for you? Can you give us more of a feeling of it?

Anandra George:
Yeah, I would say that. You know, there's there's sort of two broad approaches. To the direction of sound and the intention behind sound, and what we mostly know in America and the West is sound for performance, like sound to express oneself as a songwriter or a musician, or play a piece that someone else wrote and to, you know, perform for an audience. And that's how most of us experience sound. And if we experience it in a transformative way, it's because we resonate with someone else's expression. Like we have a favorite song that hits our heartstrings in a certain way in a certain moment, and we have our associations and memories with that, you know? So we're there's a resonance principle there that is healing. Most people, I think, could count their peak moments in life, their moments of spiritual connection, joy, and include music as a key factor in that. So there's a lot there's a lot of transformative potential for sound in that way. But the other direction is sound that is intentionally exploring the dimensions within where the sound is directed at your. Listening to what is alive in you as a meditation practice, as a self-discovery, self-awareness, practice that is. Um. That is intended specifically, directly, personally for. Self-growth and transformation and the yogic. Teachings of sound, um, are to me the most. It's like the longest lineage. The long, the longest history, the longest, um, metaphysical, continuous metaphysical, scientific exploration by experts and, you know. What, like one of my yoga teachers says psychonaut like not an astronaut, but a psychonaut someone who is exploring the the psyche. And so once I. Once I experienced that. Different directional power of sound. When I was first in India, I was like, whoa, you know, first of all, this is home, this integrity, this resonance, this depth. Of direct personal contact with the. With the heart of the sound. Inside of me. That's it. I knew that that was. That was, you know, just totally changed. It changed direction for me. And, um. Yeah. So I would say I would say that a lot of people don't realize how much more there is in the power of sound. Like they love music, they love chanting, maybe they love kirtan even or whatever, but maybe they just they love the Grateful Dead or they, you know, love the church music or whatever. But there's still this kind of externally oriented direction to the sound and the. The way that I am approach it is turning that around and then going in, going within. And there are worlds within worlds within worlds within worlds, and deep, deep unpacking of layers and unwinding of traumas and beautiful revelations along the way. And it's it's, uh. It's worth knowing that that's an option. Um.

Daniel Aaron:
Wow. Okay, cool. Thank you. And that's that's a great distinction that. Yeah, it's it's true what most, most people think of as sound or the common experience, at least at least in the West, and I think mostly in the East too, is it's the somebody is performing or the radio is playing or we choose and it's, it's this coming to me, it's coming into me. And, and I resonate with those sounds or those meanings or the vibration or what it triggers in me. Right? If it's a a memory or an association or a feeling. Um, so it's like as the recipient and then what you're describing as an alternative, which is less known is or maybe not an alternative, a additional component, additional option is the generating of sound from within and the experience that comes with that. Am I hearing you correctly?

Anandra George:
Yeah I think that's a good that's a good summary. Yeah it's a it's a. It's. And it's worth noting that the. Even today in India. Mantra. And classical music is often performative. So you just because you're hearing a Sanskrit mantra or you're hearing a raga does not mean that it is Interoceptive does not mean that you know that that inner journey into the sound is what's happening for the person that you're hearing, or that that's what's happening in a group dynamic. So I think it's really important to distinguish that because, you know, just like with yoga asana as well, you know, yoga asana, the yoga shapes and postures has gotten exported to the West. And, you know, even in India, there are, um, yoga championships, competitions of who can make the shape the best way. And, you know, then there's the, the, the then there's the other approach to yoga, which is that yoga as a practice is about learning how to turn your awareness in and be with attention point as you stretch your, you know, physical body and move with your breath to maintain a central alignment even in difficult situations, you know, so very different. Approach and very different outcomes depending on the direction of your attention. Really? Yeah.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Okay. Cool. So there's many, many. You opened up so many questions.

Anandra George:
So the more you know the more you know you don't know.

Daniel Aaron:
Oh yeah. And the more excited I am to learn. So let me ask it this way then. This kind of like skips ahead and goes down a different road. How, and this is probably an impossible and silly question, but let's just see what.

Anandra George:
Those are. My favorite kinds.

Daniel Aaron:
So how does one what's the what's the most interesting, powerful, effective way of using sound or being with sound for transformation specifically?

Anandra George:
Um. Well, it has to be listening the most. The first step at changing the direction of your relationship with sound is to cultivate listening. So turn your ear and your inner attention into listening to what is actually alive in you. Mm. Um, and you can go through different stages or layers of listening, like you can listen to the body, you can listen to what the discomfort in your body is telling you. You can listen to your breath and what jaggedness or tightness in the breath is telling you. You can listen to the mind and what painful, looping thoughts are telling you. You can listen to, you know, your sense of identity and who you think you are, and the discomfort in mis misguided beliefs about who you think you are and you can listen to. You know, at the essence, your, um, your sense of communion with life. Like, are you holding yourself as separate from the pulse of life that animates everything? Or are you. You know, living as and through that. So like, I've just gone through the if you recognize the terminology, the pancha miyakoshi, the five sheaths of being from the yogic philosophy, and you would just begin to turn instead of studying them and studying through the different layers of your being. From an intellectual point of view, you would turn your listening to listen to what? Be curious. And aware of what is actually going on in this moment. In whichever of your bodies you know is presenting itself. Most, uh, loudly to you in that given time. Or you can go through the five, um, the five stages of that. Yeah. Most people, you know, it's easy to connect with the body and the breath, maybe the mind. The other the the other two layers are maybe a bit more obtuse, unless you're a long term meditator, but.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Well, so let me let me interject for a moment because you, you use the phrasing a moment ago. You know, you can you might notice which one of those layers is, uh, most voluminous. You said, you know, which is loudest, right? Yeah. Um, and so you brought a sound element to it. And I may have misunderstood that part. Of what the way I heard you describing it in the listening could, could be also described as just pay attention to or feel into or notice or sense. Right. So sense these different components of yourself or these ways that you interact with the world with. And it to me it doesn't seem like that those that process necessarily has a sound component to it. Am I missing something though, or are you coming toward that more?

Anandra George:
Uh, well, Sacred Sound is alive with listening. There is no sacred sound unless there is connection to spacious awareness of listening. And so, you know, they're like, you have to have that sense of presence and awareness and self connection to, um. The wonder and the curiosity to your deep listening state. So you asked me what you know, what's the way to get started or what's like the most powerful thing. And I would say that. Cultivating. Listening is something that anyone can do. Whether or not you're using your voice to chant or sing or tone or hum. You know you can do that. No matter where you are and no matter who you're with, that is fully within your empowerment at any time. And then. The next thing I would say is beginning to use. To become aware of where your voice is coming from. So and and using sound, using audible sound to trace from silence to full expression and back to silence, which is like using sound, you know, using those different levels of volume to explore the different. Um. Capacities of speech. So, you know, maybe this is maybe this is I hope I hope this isn't getting too complicated, you know, for for for the audience here, but. Most of us have some discrepancies between our heart of hearts. And the thoughts that we run and loop, you know, and then between our thoughts and the words that we speak, in between the words that we speak and the actions that we take. Mm. So I can't think of anyone, you know, including myself, who is in perfect attunement between heart, mind, word and deed. You know, I'm constantly like. Reassessing that and kind of trying to correct and tune myself. And I think using sound at those, at the different levels to literally trace the the distance between silence. And full expression. So, you know, exploring a mantra practice or exploring even just a humming, humming to or kind of vocal practice where you're. Feeling what it feels like in your in to be an integrity. With those four layers heart, mind, word and deed or heart, mind, word and embodiment. And to me, that's the beginning of a nada yoga practice. It's the daily attunement. And it's the end result, you know. But then I would say there is no end result because we're alive and things accumulate and we we constantly need tuning. It's like, you know, you don't take one breath and go, okay, I'm good. Your body needs to keep breathing. And so I think for me, like attunement to a musical way of being, of an attunement with, with life and with myself and with others, is is something that's it's a. It's a dance. It's not a destination.

Daniel Aaron:
100%. Yeah, that's that's great, I love that. Um, looking at the the continual tuning of thought and word and action and embodiment and the ongoing curious practice and reverence like and I one of the things I do this is one way that I relate to what you said is when I say something almost immediately now there's it's like it's like a reverb in my head. Then says, was that accurate? Did I did I say that in a way that was true to what I think and feel? Right. And and there's a lot of power in that listening. And so you said the beginning of. No, no, you didn't say it this way. You said sacred sound always involves that kind of listening. So that brings me to the question more of, you know, what sacred sound is? Something it's like that's a phrase that gets thrown a lot these days. Um, you know, like sacred geometry. Sacred sound. What what makes sacred sound? How do we define it?

Anandra George:
Well, I think everybody probably has their own definition. Um. Because my relationship with sound is that sound is my. Pathway to wholeness. Sound is my coherence with God. With the divine like. It's communion for me. And I know that it's not that for everybody. And I know that maybe people want that or they don't know how to get it. They don't know how to experience that consistency consistently yet. Um. But that's what like sound equals love equals God. Those are synonymous. They're synonymous to me. And I say, God, I know you're a minister and so you're okay with those God terms, but if I was speaking with an atheist, I would say life or nature or, you know, the power that generates the keeps the lights on in the universe, I don't know, I mean, there have a lot of different ways to say it. I'm using that word for you with with you. But so. It's a high bar. For me what is sacred sound and it's easier to define. What is not. In that sense. Like what is not is when I. Think and feel one thing and I do another. Mhm. Or I intend. This was like prior to me learning Sanskrit. Uh, the Sanskrit alphabet, when I would, um, chant a mantra, not knowing that it was not. Uh, accurate. And maybe I had an intention. So there was some sacredness in my yearning and my desire. But my embodiment did not match the. The feeling. And so there was like a jaggedness or a discord there. And, um, you know, that would be aspirational. Sacred sound by my current. You know, definition. But when, when the intention, the communion through like the the the intention and the attunement through thought and sound and the, you know, embodied audible. You know, sound creation matches at all of those levels. To me, that is sacred sound and heart mind word indeed are. And tune in. So it's a high bar, I admit it, you know. But I would rather spend my life. I would rather spend my life pursuing something that can never be mastered. Mm. Then. You know, settle for. You know, lack of integrity somewhere along the line. You know, but in in that I also, you know, like, again, I say it's a dance. It's not a. It's it's. It's. In that I give myself a lot of grace and hugs and I'm like, okay, we're a work in progress. And Andrea doing our best, right?

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Beautiful, I love that. Um, when I was a little boy on the, there was a magnet on the refrigerator in my family home that said, shoot for the moon. That way, if you miss, you'll be among the stars. So I'm a big fan of setting the the bar high, as you know, especially as you said, if we, um, don't punish ourselves for not being at the top all the time. Um, so. Oh, goody goody. There's so many wonderful things to speak about. You use the word a little while ago. Mantra. Right. And this is another one that I think gets bandied about in ways that could be confusing for people. And so part of what I'm feeling like is I want to I want to ask you really basic questions, because you've got such a depth of knowledge and experience, I suspect you will bring to, uh, lay people a, a, a nuance that we might not get in other places. So if that's okay. What what is mantra? What can you tell us about that?

Anandra George:
Yeah, it is a word that has gotten, um, appropriated for different usage. And I think, you know, if you say, like, I can do it, that's an affirmation or I'm good enough, I'm okay just as I am, you know, that kind of thing. That's an affirmation, um, which when you repeat it, has a mantra sort of effect in that it helps to protect you from your negative thinking or a different, you know, another self-sabotage belief, um, or behavior. So but the, the uniqueness of the Sanskrit mantra is. It's like nothing else. And so mantra means to set free or protect from your ordinary mind. And they're snippets form sonic formulas that have unique, um, vibratory effect because the Sanskrit alphabet is. A sound based language, not a meaning based language in Sanskrit. This the the sensation that you feel when you're accurately producing the sound is the meaning. Mm. So it's this archetypal, you know, primal sound formula that vibrates a certain pattern. In in your body mind complex while you're doing the repetition that entrains you to a state of being. So saying I can do it or I'm good enough. Has associations with, you know, representational meaning in language, and that's really helpful at one bandwidth. But the bandwidth that mantra covers is a whole. It's a very different spectrum. It's a much larger spectrum. So, um, I prefer to use the word mantra to refer to the Sanskrit mantra. Um, and the. Really the the psychological. Sound based pharmacy that is available to us in the in the world of mantra therapy and, um. And so because it deserves it, it deserves to keep that term, to embrace what it is on its own. Does that answer your question?

Daniel Aaron:
Well that's great. I don't think there is any any one answer. This. This to me, is just so fun and interesting because it's it's an exploration. And there's, you know, there are I feel like we're on a field with 40 different rabbit holes and.

Anandra George:
Oh yeah, at least.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, it's it's, it's it's awesome. So and that's one of the you brought up one of the really interesting things that is often said about Sanskrit, right, is that, that it's a unique language. And I remember hearing you can tell me if this is accurate, that it's the only language. And as I say, that I think that can't be. It's not the only one. But anyway, that, you know, it's the only language where the, the sound and the meaning are inextricably connected. Right. And we have in English, say, and other languages too. There are some words that were the sound and the meaning is linked, and there are others where it's not. Um, though there's something powerful and unique about a language that is sound, meaning connected. And I'll say more, but let me pause there. Am I on track with my what I'm recollecting and what I heard?

Anandra George:
Yeah, I think that matches. I can't say I'm not a global linguistics expert to be able to say whether it's the only language either, but it is definitely, um, from what I know of the Sanskrit alphabet and the. The structured order of progression through the sounds that each is a you know it. There is a. Well, some scrotum. The actual word for Sanskrit in Sanskrit is some scrotum, and it means literally to put together the subtle form hmm'hmm. So it is. Yeah, I'll leave that. That's that's kind of to me that's like a mic drop moment. You know, some of them means to put together the subtle form. So it is, it is a creative, uh, capacity. So.

Daniel Aaron:
Okay, cool. Really cool. So the way I hear that is put together, the subtle form that is, uh, for from, from metaphysical to physical, from energy or imagination, from ethereal into the 3D world. Is that how your what is what that what it means, as you say that that's.

Anandra George:
How I experience it. Yeah.

Daniel Aaron:
Okay. Cool.

Anandra George:
So in the sense that like in English you can say, you know, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, but you could do that for a hundred years and you're not going to be a rabbit. You're not going to become a rabbit, because rabbit means a fluffy thing with the ears and little nose. And, you know, it's it's you're not going to imbibe the essence of rabbit and be a vehicle for rabbit, you know? But if you say. Shiva. Shiva. Shiva. Shiva. After a short period of time, relatively, you're going to experience a sense of lightness and spaciousness and an awareness that pervades. Space and, you know, even your sense of body is going to be opened up to. The meaning of that, you know, is, is is the is the spacious awareness and bliss that that, you know, precedes and and comes after life. So, you know, the, the potency of the it's there's a lot more to the science of of mantra. There's different classifications of mantra. And there's so much there that I can't I won't get into here. But the essence is that like you. It has a different capacity. Hmm.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful. Okay. All right. I, um, with your permission, I'm going to, um, bring a couple pieces into our conversation that are a little bit personal to the work I do with myself and my clients. Um, and because I have a feeling that through the lens of your knowledge and experience, we will discover some new things here. One. Right. And first, though I remember when I was living in Indonesia, hearing from an Indonesian friend, I was studying the language there, which you may know, uh, has some of its roots straight from Sanskrit.

Anandra George:
Were you in Bali?

Daniel Aaron:
I was in Bali.

Anandra George:
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

Daniel Aaron:
Right. And yeah.

Anandra George:
And specifically Balinese, Hindu, Balinese Hinduism is a very interesting, uh, very interesting expression.

Daniel Aaron:
It's fascinating. Yeah. And, and for me, as a long time Yogi, when I moved there, it was, it was like familiar and disorienting because Balinese Hinduism, you know, is much like Hinduism has a lot in common with India. The language has some of its roots in Sanskrit. In any case, one of the. One of the things I, my Indonesian friend of mine that was helping me with language, said is somehow we were talking about yoga and I used the word mantra and he said, oh, in Indonesian that means magic. Mhm.

Anandra George:
Uh huh. Oh yeah.

Daniel Aaron:
I was just so excited by that. Right. Because it gave this like.

Anandra George:
Black magic or good magic.

Daniel Aaron:
It we didn't distinguish actually. And in that moment I didn't ask. And yeah black magic is a real thing there though I think, you know, a lot of the difference between black magic and white magic, say is the intention, right? So the tools could be the same. Is it a scalpel or is it a knife. It depends on the usage. Right.

Anandra George:
Totally.

Daniel Aaron:
But does that does that do you resonate with that in terms of um, mantra and magic having a connection?

Anandra George:
Uh, it's it's interesting that you say that because, I mean, in a way, if if magic means to. Make the impossible possible. Or, you know, to kind of conjure. A reality that you don't see yet, or that you want that you wish for. Um. I would say yes. There is a there there, there is a there is a potentiality for that, and therefore there is a potentiality for it to be misused. Mhm. Um, so I'm always really careful about that with myself that I want if anybody, if I'm sharing the sharp tools of especially the Sanskrit sounds in the production of the Sanskrit sounds that will attune a person to the specific vibratory and nervous system, you know, uh, aliveness that's possible that they're doing it for them, that they're doing it for. Self-transformation and not to get a certain result. So I always make that distinction with with what I'm doing. But it's interesting that you say that because when I first, um, like I first went to India 97 and then I went back in 2009, like to really dive deeper into my studies. And, um, when I first did that, I told people that I was a, you know, that I was really interested in mantra and that I was teaching mantra workshops, and I wanted to go deeper and they would look at me like. Like cognitive dissonance. Like. Because for a lot of people in India today, mantra is like a like a slick snake oil salesman, kind of like black magic, tantric mantra, you know, kind of thing. And, um, and so I got a lot of, like, really, really weird looks from people who didn't, who just had only that association.

Daniel Aaron:
Interesting.

Anandra George:
Yeah. And and even my music teacher was like, you know, she looks okay. She seems fine. Like she doesn't seem like a one of those greasy street peddler of, you know, I'm going to teach you how to, you know, castrate your enemies or whatever. Um, serious or so really, really weird stuff. You see billboards and advertisements and newspapers and it's weird. I mean, for me, it's like, okay, there's maybe there's a niche there, but I don't want to have any part of that. Um, so but but it is like giving, you know, powerful. It's a it's a power. It's such a powerful tool. It's really important to me. To have that attunement and to be using it. For self-growth and to make to make ourselves and to make the world. Um, more more coherent, more cohesive, more, um, connected rather than to get my way and get what I want. You know what I want. I don't want stuff or outcomes.

Daniel Aaron:
I'm with you. That's beautiful. Yeah. Okay. So you also said a couple moments ago you used the word being right and. Used? Uh, what was it you said? Creative, right? And there is an. And when we were speaking about some sanskritam. Right. There's something inherently creative about that language. And one of the one of the things that is inherent in my work, again, with self and with others is the knowledge, the awareness that we are always creating. Right. That's inescapable part of of being human, we're always creating the universe is continuing to expand and what we say has creation to it. Right? And even, uh, funny, I wasn't thinking of this a moment ago when I asked you about mantra and magic. The word abracadabra, right from from, uh, our Arabic. Right. Um, has has this meaning. That is through speaking. I create and most of us associate abracadabra or abracadabra, whatever pronunciation one uses for it. With with a magician. Right. Abracadabra and a pull a rabbit. Oh, wait. We're back to the rabbit. Pull a rabbit out of the hat. Right.

Anandra George:
So I never talk about rabbits, but here we are.

Daniel Aaron:
But so, you know, and and just like. And you were speaking about. The creative aspect of language and creating not what we want. And and one of the things I'm I'm always, uh, paying attention to for myself and with others is when people are speaking exactly what they don't want. Right? Which is one of the problems with complaint. Uh, and lest I go too far afield in my excitement here, I'll pause and say, what's will you say more about the relationship between sound and being and creation, if that makes sense to you?

Anandra George:
Yeah. Um. I'll talk about it from this. From the. Differentiation between which part of your being you're talking from? Mm. Um, you know, there's there's more to it than than just this, but. We're. We're often in a, in a, in a dynamic between the our brainstem, which is the same part of our brain that we share with dinosaurs and, you know, reptiles and, you know, pretty good, uh, great survival ability. Right. Honorable bow, you know, bow down to the survival skills and, um. You know, quick to pick up on threat and to even see threat sometimes when threat isn't objectively there. Um, and to, you know, be in fight, flight, freeze, defend, collapse. Right. And um, versus the frontal lobe, which is the part of us that is a bit that has the ability to be curious, to be creative, to see solutions, to see nuance, to see both and rather than either or. You know, to see the, the spectrum of possibilities that is not just dividing black and white. And so. We have the ability to create. From which aspect of our being are we? Are we creating from? Um, and I think what you said about complaining, complaining, accusing, judging, um, is coming, probably coming from that one part of us, whereas, um, expressing, sharing with a sense of listening and curiosity where the desire is for connection. And resolution, not for domination. Um, that is a really important distinction for me. Where? Because yes, you you are, you know, whatever. What you. Our primary act of creation as a human being is with our words. You know, we say what we say has impact it, and it creates the life that we live. Mhm. You know, so where where are we. Which part of us is doing the creating at any given time. Mm. And I hear that you are, you know, you're helping people tap into their greatest potential which is, you know by default going to be from, from the, the. What has the part of the the part of our evolution that makes us human, you know, that makes us ability to have the ability to to. See the big picture and find out how we can contribute to the whole. Right. Yeah. Not like. Okay, where's my little. You know. How do I protect this? My personal interest alone, you know, at the cost of others.

Daniel Aaron:
Yes. Beautiful. Well. Well said. So I'll. I'll, um, repeat something back or echo something back and see if we're on the same page. And then I'll ask you the next, the next layer of my curiosity here. Uh, what part of the way I would speak, I do speak about what you just said is we we've all got the human animal part, the primitive part, the, you know, the reptilian. And then we've all got this spirit part, and we have access to both. And so part, part of what I work on and work with clients on is say, okay, let's, let's create from this spirit part and let's from that part get really in touch with. And we could talk for an hour about how to do this, really get in touch with who is our our supreme self like our highest self, our our highest potential. And what what are the words that come from that? And what are the words that create that. Right. And and this is okay. You were going to say something good.

Anandra George:
I was just going to say that I think, you know, that. You know, for me, it's about coherence, like there isn't. I think I used to judge myself more for the part, you know what? How I would behave when I didn't feel safe. Mhm. Um, and now I look more I look at that more as okay, this is my, this is my, this is, this is a natural adaptation to something that I'm perceiving as a threat. And so I embrace that. Um, and. And yet I do want to lead with. A and training myself to the higher. You know and for me you know you're asking like well how how do we connect that or how do we what's my take on that? I think having for me having a sound based practice where I'm using the principle of mantra of melody, harmony, rhythm, where I'm using like. The the the tool, the tools, the toolkit of sound to. Practice coherence. And we know, you know that the music, playing music, doing music, not listening passively, but doing music as one of the most or only things that brings all of us, all of us on board. You know, and so a sound based practice is a way for people who are not professional musicians but can think a mantra, sing a mantra, do it. And, you know, do it repetitively, like there's there's all these musical elements that you can engage, even if you don't have an inclination to want to perform or sing for others, like you can do it for yourself, for that sense of coherence and integrity. And. I think you know, it it it, um, it's smooths. It creates those neural pathways. It keeps them, um, it keeps them myelinated, you know, it keeps the keeps the pattern. It it builds pattern. It reshapes pattern, um, into what you want. And I think that the habit of that creating a habit of that is, is, uh. As essential. Like, I don't know how anybody can. Skip over the daily action of practicing being incoherence, especially when you're trying to get from one state of being into a different way of living. You know, like you and I have had to overcome trauma. From childhood to in order to live a thriving life, you know. You I had I didn't know what that felt like. Right. And I needed to figure out. Okay, I can. I know it's possible, but what am I going to do to get myself there? You know, and the mantra and sound has just has been my. My pathway.

Daniel Aaron:
That's beautiful. Okay, okay. I'm, um.

Anandra George:
I hope I, I hope I didn't take it too far off on the tangent. No, it's.

Daniel Aaron:
It's it's great. I love what you're saying. My only limitation is that, uh, the clock is ticking, so I will ask you this. I'm sure there are many, uh, in our audience live and by rebroadcast who say, oh, I want to know more. I want to go further. So what's the best way for people to, uh, be in touch with you, find you, explore with you?

Anandra George:
Yay! Well, heart of sound, dot I n for India and directed in, um, heart of sound dot n uh my website I have YouTube channel. I'm pretty active on Instagram these days as well. Um, so you can find me any of those ways. And I have over the years, I've developed a dozen free gifts, you know, ebooks and mini trainings and mantras for peace, you know, 108 day courses like I've developed. We've just, uh, such a wealth of totally free opportunities to kind of get clued in to maybe a bit more nuanced training in this field, um, and open up some of these windows. So, um, that's just, you know, that's that's always available. That would be the way to get started.

Daniel Aaron:
And the way to access that is to go to Heart of Sound in. Mm. Yep. Perfect.

Anandra George:
Any of my socials, any of my social channels. Yeah.

Daniel Aaron:
Cool. And for y'all that are listening and not seeing Heart of Sound just like you would think.

Anandra George:
Mhm.

Daniel Aaron:
Perfect. All right. Well that uh, sadly uh, and under brings us to my final question for you. And I feel like, uh, all these questions are so big and we've, you know, we've gone only a couple three feet deep into what could be, you know, going to the core of the earth here. Um, so this question is even worse on that level because it's so big. It's so big. It's impossible, especially given the depth of your knowledge and experience, however impossible things are. Yeah, exactly. Well, and the great thing about impossible things is you, you know, since they're impossible, you can't mess them up. So yeah, the big question is this, given all of your experience and knowledge, if you had one thing only to share, if you were to distill it all down to one thing, to say to our audience in order to help them live their most vibrant, thriving life. What's that one thing?

Anandra George:
Hmm'hmm. Speak from your heart. Hmm.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful.

Anandra George:
And don't be afraid, you know. Don't be afraid to do that.

Daniel Aaron:
Speak from your heart and don't be afraid. Is that what you said?

Anandra George:
Yeah. Don't be afraid to speak from your heart and to ask, you know, and to to to learn how to say what you need. Like, I think one of the biggest problems, one of the, one of the biggest things that I see over and over again in relationships and personal, like our personal disconnect and that I've experienced in my life is, um. Not feeling, not knowing how to, to, to to ask for what I need and to, to. Um. You know, keep things. Keep things inside that, um. Are actually disconcerting or troubling me, and to have the courage to have the courage and faith in the connections. With life that it's like. You know to that it's okay to speak when I'm connected to my heart. As long as I'm connected to my heart. And it's whatever, whatever comes out, it's going to ripple out in, um, in a in a good way.

Daniel Aaron:
So. Hallelujah. Beautifully said. Thank you. I love it. Speak from your heart well, and you have spoken from your heart with us today. Um, super grateful to have this chance to speak with you, to learn from you, to, you know, get a deeper understanding of just this amazing world of sound and sacred sound. So thank you so much for being with us. And Andre.

Anandra George:
It was so fun. I really enjoyed it and I, I can I can just tell that you have you have a tremendous amount of wisdom and and. An inspiration to share with people. And I'm really glad that you're that you're doing what you're doing.

Daniel Aaron:
Oh. Very kind. I appreciate that. All right. And for y'all, our audience, you are the heroes of the story. Thank you so much for being with us, for being interested in creating and living your most vibrant, thriving life. Know. Please know that you doing that is not only not selfish, it's a gift to the world. It changes the world, right? You are in training the world to higher possibilities. Again, I encourage you to be inspired by what an under shared and even better, be empowered. Do something with it. Play with it, explore. Put it into action in your life. And y'all, thank you again for being here. We will be back soon for another show into the art of vibrant living, and I look forward to seeing you soon. Aloha! Mahalo for tuning in to the Art of Vibrant Living show y'all! I'm Daniel Aaron and may you live with great vibrancy.

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