I have heard of them, first time that I encountered was at Five Oaks.

I have used them in small group and they were a nice change.

I have a singing bowl, a very small version that is perfect for transporting to meetings and groups.

Where did you get it Pinga?  Did you buy it or was it a gift?

hmmm, I think that I bought it at the AVEL book store.  I fell in love with it as it is so nice & small and yet had good sound for a small group or personal times.

Avel Grand River - http://www.avelgrandriver.com/

I am not 100% positive, but that is typically where I buy my church related stuff.

Once in a blue moon I also have bought at Augsburg Press.

Would you like a picture of it? I may be able to post one...though I suck at putting photos on wondercafe site.  (lol, i could send to lb who is highly skilled at it)

Seen them used in a UU context and seen them in their native context. In 2010 we visited an area of Szechuan province where there is a population of ethnic Tibetans. Oddly, these Tibetans left Tibet proper so long ago that they are not Buddhist, but follow the animist religion that predated, and heavily influenced, the Tibetan school of Buddhism.

Mendalla

Yes, Pinga . . . and I will look into Avel, I have also been looking on line.

Mendalla, thanks for sharing that info with us.

You can do that with a wine glass 

put a tab of vinegar on your finger and the gently and lightly rub your finger around the rim.

It even makes your fingertip tingle a bit 

Liquid in the glass changes the tone....

Regards

Rita

Thanks Rita - as in when Gracie (Sandra Bullock) played the wine glasses for her talent in the beauty pageant in Miss Congeniality .

Do you think it is the same sound, though?  Would this be meditative?

I have heard them. And it can have a calming, meditative or hypnotic effect. But so can other forms of music. And, as Rita just said, the singing bowl effect can be achieved with other containers, and any tone can be played. One could have an orchestra of singing bowls.

There's a store in Stratford that sells them. They sit some outside and invite the public to "play" them. They're fairly large though, not something you would carry around.

Hi Beloved:

Whether any sound has an hypnotic, entrancing or meditative effect depends not so much on the sound but on the person listening to it. When one's mind is perceptive, anything can be meditative. The pure, unconceptualized experience of one's immediate reality is always possible, and can be meditative.

The one I saw, waterfall, was fairly small - more like regular bowl size.

Arminius - a person seeking has to find what is right or works for them?

Yes, Beloved, I agree. Whatever works for you, works for you. And what works exceptionally well, works exceptionally well. Experiment and find out!

But why waste a wine glass on vinegar. It works wonderfully well with the real stuff.

I have mediated both with the bowls themselves - they belonged to someone else. And I also have some mediation CDs of my own with Tibetan bowls.

jamesk .... you are correct  .... and yummy too! ...

I have actually meditated with an nice relaxing glass of wine.....

I like to imagine that Jesus and his followers had many a good evening in conversation over a glass of wine or two 

Beloved ...... I find the sound entrancing 

I am sure with a bit of experimentation with different size glasses that you would find just the right note and tone....

Regards

Rita

I had a yoga teacher who had crystal singing bowls of various sizes. Some were quite big. They were apparently tuned to the chakra centres. She used them during meditation classes. They were quite awesome, and felt like getting an internal massage. Some people found them quite irritating though. I have been a part of a church service where a Tibetan singing bowl that was brass or something was used. It was a nice touch.

My family gave me a singing bowl several years ago.  Enjoy it.

I will have to check out itunes to see what is on there for meditations.

Ok,without the wine though :)

Do you still take yoga classes with this person? I saw some crystal ones on an on-line site. I think I might like a brass one better.

Had you indicated you wanted one, or did they just think you might like it?

My minister has one but he uses it more like a chime. 

Have experienced the "singing" aspect in yoga but not in church. 

Hi Beloved

I'm happy to see a brand new topic since when we are on the WC  7 plus years we see a lot of repetition among the topics. Its why I used to post a lot of New Age spirituality  sometime ago just to throw some variety into R and F. If I was lucky I'd get 3 replies....Arminius,JamesK, and Neo......:)... I've always gotten a fairly big lurker audience.

I'm not too familiar with the singing bowls. I did access You Tube and listen to some varieties. Sorry to say perhaps I chose the wrong videos  but I found them a bit irritating. It may be that the winter has been too long plus the art of meditation escapes me....:(

My teacher stopped teaching several years ago. It is hard to describe the sound of the crystal bowls.

Here is one to give a bit of an idea