Native Flute Music
The Benefits of Meditation
Many of us think of meditation as a spiritual practise that is reserved for monks that live in monasteries, but in reality, meditation is a simple and accessible practise that anyone can enjoy and benefit from. When you discover the benefits of learning how to meditate or listening to a guided meditation download, it's little wonder that meditation continues to grow in popularity every year.
The Native American flute has been reported to be the third oldest known musical instrument in the world, with bone flutes dating back over 60,000 years.
Drums were discovered first, and then various rattles were made, followed by bone whistles. Eventually, more holes were added and they were made larger. Virtually, all types of hardwoods and softwoods were used for flutes at some point in time. Flutes had many different configurations - 2,3,4,5,6,7 or 8 holes. In parts of the southern United States, river reed was used to make flutes. This reed has a natural joint that serves as a sort of barrier that helps create a chamber.
Native flutes and whistles were used for many reasons, usually varying by tribe. The Tribes of the NW Coast used bone and cedar whistles for different dances and spirit calling ceremonies. Still today, Eagle Bone Whistles are used at many Pow Wows. Flutes were used for entertainment by many tribes while travelling ; many of these songs still exist today. The Hopi Tribe had flute societies that performed powerful prayer ceremonies with their flutes. The Lakota Tribes used the flute for courting and love songs.
Like many other parts of native culture, the flute was not allowed by the government in most parts of the United States for a period of time. There were those Elders on rural reservations that kept the tradition alive, and people like Dr. Richard W. Payne, helped to re-introduce it to native societies. The renaissance began in the early 1900s from the Southwest, and started to grow rapidly in the 1960s. Until today, when the native flute is now widely accepted in most parts of North America. The instrument is so advanced that very little changes have been made in the last 150 years or so.
There are many stories as to the true origin of the native flute. This story was told to me by a Lakota Elder, Mr. Phil Lane (Phillip Brown Bear) just months before he passed on to the spirit world.
Legend of the first flute
A very long time ago there was a young man who was very interested in a beautiful young girl. He was always trying to get her attention, but she never seemed to notice him. Whenever she was present he would ride his horse proudly, but nothing he did seemed to attract her. One day when the girls were down by the river getting water, the young man went down to the river and began diving off rocks and swimming across the river, to show her how skilled he was, but again she paid him no mind. Dejected, the young man walked into the nearby old growth forest and sat down at the base of a long dead cedar tree. As he sat there thinking about this girl, a woodpecker landed on a hollowed limb that was over his head, the limb had been hollowed over time from the wind and weather. The woodpecker began to peck holes....tap, tap, tap......... along the length of this hollowed limb........ tap. tap, tap.......as the woodpecker pecked, the limb broke off and fell next to the young man, and as the wind blew over this hollow limb with the holes in it, he heard musical voices coming from it. He picked it up and found that when he blew into this limb and covered the holes, he could make beautiful, mournful music to match the feelings in his heart. He sat there for a time making up haunting melodies. The young girl heard this music coming from the old growth forest, and it was such a soulful sound that it captured her heart. She followed the sound of music into the woods, where she saw him sitting there at the base of this cedar tree playing this first flute that was given to him by the Woodpecker, and as she listened she fell in love with his music and fell in love with him. They went off hand in hand to live happily ever after. One of the more popular uses for the Native Flute was for courting, to attract a mate. The legend also says that once you got a mate, you were to put the flute away and never play it in public again, because if you played it in public again, you might attract someone else?
Phillip Brown Bear
( Phil Lane )
Drums were discovered first, and then various rattles were made, followed by bone whistles. Eventually, more holes were added and they were made larger. Virtually, all types of hardwoods and softwoods were used for flutes at some point in time. Flutes had many different configurations - 2,3,4,5,6,7 or 8 holes. In parts of the southern United States, river reed was used to make flutes. This reed has a natural joint that serves as a sort of barrier that helps create a chamber.
Native flutes and whistles were used for many reasons, usually varying by tribe. The Tribes of the NW Coast used bone and cedar whistles for different dances and spirit calling ceremonies. Still today, Eagle Bone Whistles are used at many Pow Wows. Flutes were used for entertainment by many tribes while travelling ; many of these songs still exist today. The Hopi Tribe had flute societies that performed powerful prayer ceremonies with their flutes. The Lakota Tribes used the flute for courting and love songs.
Like many other parts of native culture, the flute was not allowed by the government in most parts of the United States for a period of time. There were those Elders on rural reservations that kept the tradition alive, and people like Dr. Richard W. Payne, helped to re-introduce it to native societies. The renaissance began in the early 1900s from the Southwest, and started to grow rapidly in the 1960s. Until today, when the native flute is now widely accepted in most parts of North America. The instrument is so advanced that very little changes have been made in the last 150 years or so.
There are many stories as to the true origin of the native flute. This story was told to me by a Lakota Elder, Mr. Phil Lane (Phillip Brown Bear) just months before he passed on to the spirit world.
Legend of the first flute
A very long time ago there was a young man who was very interested in a beautiful young girl. He was always trying to get her attention, but she never seemed to notice him. Whenever she was present he would ride his horse proudly, but nothing he did seemed to attract her. One day when the girls were down by the river getting water, the young man went down to the river and began diving off rocks and swimming across the river, to show her how skilled he was, but again she paid him no mind. Dejected, the young man walked into the nearby old growth forest and sat down at the base of a long dead cedar tree. As he sat there thinking about this girl, a woodpecker landed on a hollowed limb that was over his head, the limb had been hollowed over time from the wind and weather. The woodpecker began to peck holes....tap, tap, tap......... along the length of this hollowed limb........ tap. tap, tap.......as the woodpecker pecked, the limb broke off and fell next to the young man, and as the wind blew over this hollow limb with the holes in it, he heard musical voices coming from it. He picked it up and found that when he blew into this limb and covered the holes, he could make beautiful, mournful music to match the feelings in his heart. He sat there for a time making up haunting melodies. The young girl heard this music coming from the old growth forest, and it was such a soulful sound that it captured her heart. She followed the sound of music into the woods, where she saw him sitting there at the base of this cedar tree playing this first flute that was given to him by the Woodpecker, and as she listened she fell in love with his music and fell in love with him. They went off hand in hand to live happily ever after. One of the more popular uses for the Native Flute was for courting, to attract a mate. The legend also says that once you got a mate, you were to put the flute away and never play it in public again, because if you played it in public again, you might attract someone else?
Phillip Brown Bear
( Phil Lane )
It's more than just a stress-buster
Meditation really is the ultimate stress-buster . . . and we all know that stress is one of the biggest killers in the world today, so it’s a fair claim to make that meditation saves lives.
But meditation is so much more than that. Let's face it, most of us are NOT motivated to meditate because we are trying to avoid a heart attack, we just want to live better lives . . . lives with more happiness, more love, more peace, better health and more fun. Meditation is the answer.
More than just mental benefits
It would be easy to assume that meditation is just a mental exercise and that the benefits of meditation are limited to the mind only, but stop for a moment and consider the fact that your mind and your thoughts are connected to every other aspect of your life.
Your thinking effects your emotions, and your emotions affect your physical body. You are a connected being . . . your mind, your physical body, your emotions and the spiritual dimension of your life are all intertwined.
Meditation really is the ultimate stress-buster . . . and we all know that stress is one of the biggest killers in the world today, so it’s a fair claim to make that meditation saves lives.
But meditation is so much more than that. Let's face it, most of us are NOT motivated to meditate because we are trying to avoid a heart attack, we just want to live better lives . . . lives with more happiness, more love, more peace, better health and more fun. Meditation is the answer.
More than just mental benefits
It would be easy to assume that meditation is just a mental exercise and that the benefits of meditation are limited to the mind only, but stop for a moment and consider the fact that your mind and your thoughts are connected to every other aspect of your life.
Your thinking effects your emotions, and your emotions affect your physical body. You are a connected being . . . your mind, your physical body, your emotions and the spiritual dimension of your life are all intertwined.
Psychological Benefits of Meditation
Meditation can assist in many areas that are related to your state of mind, such as:
• Increasing your intelligence
• Improving your memory
• Enhancing your creativity
• Drastically improving your ability to think clearly
• Improved problem solving abilities
• Decreasing & eliminating depression
• Decreasing anxiety
• Helping to resolve addictions
• Reducing irritability and moodiness
• Enjoying a more positive outlook
• More smiles!
Physical Benefits of Meditation
One of the major benefits of meditation is that it affects your entire nervous system in a positive way. Many of the physical benefits that result from this include:
• Reduced muscular tension
• Strengthened immune system
• Accelerated ability to recover from strenuous exercise
• Decreased high blood pressure
• Lowered cholesterol levels
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease
• Reduced strain related pain, such as headaches
• Ability to sleep more deeply and restfully
• Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing
• Reduction of free radicals - organic molecules responsible for aging, tissue damage and possibly some diseases
• Reduced levels of stress hormones such as cortisol
• Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation
Emotional Benefits of Meditation
Often overlooked are the many benefits of meditation that relate to your emotional wellbeing. People who meditate not only experience a reduction in stress, they also report emotional improvements such as:
• Improved sense of positivity
• Increased confidence
• Greater ability to give and receive love
• Elimination of panic attacks
• Greater sense of warmth and openness towards others
Spiritual Benefits of Meditation
Last but certainly not least are the benefits of meditation that relate to spirituality. People that meditate often experience:
• A greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives
• A feeling of connectedness to others
• An openness to love and to higher guidance
• Improved intuition
• A tendency to "let go" and go with the flow of life
Meditation does not have to be a spiritual experience for you, but if you so choose, then the spiritual dimension of your life may blossom through meditation. Experienced meditators often describe feeling a blissful wholeness and a deep inner connection to all life. Incredible depths of inner peace - peace that is beyond all understanding and description - lies within us all, and meditation is the key to awakening this unfathomable dimension of freedom.
Your life as a whole - The biggest benefit of them all!As you can see, meditation benefits every aspect of your being . . . mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.
Now there is a profound insight to be had at this point. . . .
How you feel and what you think determine almost every decision you make in life. Who you are in this world, and how you respond to the experiences that come your way are all influenced by the content of your mind. Therefore any activity (such as meditation) that improves the quality of your thinking and feeling will have a positive effect on your entire life path.
If you really stop to think about it for a moment, you begin to realise just how much of a difference meditation can make to how your life will turn out!
Sometimes, the line between a great success and a monumental disaster is a seemingly insignificant little moment in which you give birth to a thought and make a decision . . . the moment when you decide to turn left or turn right . . . the moment where you choose between a peaceful response to a situation, or an angry one . . . the moment when you notice the attractive smile of the person across the room, or the moment when you miss that smile, that chance meeting, that new love.
All of life is filled with these "opportunities to choose". Some are more significant than others, but all of them add up to the path that you will one day call "my life story".
So this, to me, is the ultimate gift that we stand to receive from meditation. Meditation transforms the very essence of who you are in this world. It transforms your thoughts, your feelings, your choices and also your experiences. Your success, your health, your relationships . . . every aspect of your life will be enhanced when you start to experience life through a clearer and more positive lens . . . once you start to meditate.
credits.. please visit
http://www.the-guided-meditation-site.com/benefits-of-meditation.html
So now you know a little bit about the benefits of meditation, click here to find out more about the benefits of guided meditation, or click here to step into meditation now.
Meditation can assist in many areas that are related to your state of mind, such as:
• Increasing your intelligence
• Improving your memory
• Enhancing your creativity
• Drastically improving your ability to think clearly
• Improved problem solving abilities
• Decreasing & eliminating depression
• Decreasing anxiety
• Helping to resolve addictions
• Reducing irritability and moodiness
• Enjoying a more positive outlook
• More smiles!
Physical Benefits of Meditation
One of the major benefits of meditation is that it affects your entire nervous system in a positive way. Many of the physical benefits that result from this include:
• Reduced muscular tension
• Strengthened immune system
• Accelerated ability to recover from strenuous exercise
• Decreased high blood pressure
• Lowered cholesterol levels
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease
• Reduced strain related pain, such as headaches
• Ability to sleep more deeply and restfully
• Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing
• Reduction of free radicals - organic molecules responsible for aging, tissue damage and possibly some diseases
• Reduced levels of stress hormones such as cortisol
• Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation
Emotional Benefits of Meditation
Often overlooked are the many benefits of meditation that relate to your emotional wellbeing. People who meditate not only experience a reduction in stress, they also report emotional improvements such as:
• Improved sense of positivity
• Increased confidence
• Greater ability to give and receive love
• Elimination of panic attacks
• Greater sense of warmth and openness towards others
Spiritual Benefits of Meditation
Last but certainly not least are the benefits of meditation that relate to spirituality. People that meditate often experience:
• A greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives
• A feeling of connectedness to others
• An openness to love and to higher guidance
• Improved intuition
• A tendency to "let go" and go with the flow of life
Meditation does not have to be a spiritual experience for you, but if you so choose, then the spiritual dimension of your life may blossom through meditation. Experienced meditators often describe feeling a blissful wholeness and a deep inner connection to all life. Incredible depths of inner peace - peace that is beyond all understanding and description - lies within us all, and meditation is the key to awakening this unfathomable dimension of freedom.
Your life as a whole - The biggest benefit of them all!As you can see, meditation benefits every aspect of your being . . . mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.
Now there is a profound insight to be had at this point. . . .
How you feel and what you think determine almost every decision you make in life. Who you are in this world, and how you respond to the experiences that come your way are all influenced by the content of your mind. Therefore any activity (such as meditation) that improves the quality of your thinking and feeling will have a positive effect on your entire life path.
If you really stop to think about it for a moment, you begin to realise just how much of a difference meditation can make to how your life will turn out!
Sometimes, the line between a great success and a monumental disaster is a seemingly insignificant little moment in which you give birth to a thought and make a decision . . . the moment when you decide to turn left or turn right . . . the moment where you choose between a peaceful response to a situation, or an angry one . . . the moment when you notice the attractive smile of the person across the room, or the moment when you miss that smile, that chance meeting, that new love.
All of life is filled with these "opportunities to choose". Some are more significant than others, but all of them add up to the path that you will one day call "my life story".
So this, to me, is the ultimate gift that we stand to receive from meditation. Meditation transforms the very essence of who you are in this world. It transforms your thoughts, your feelings, your choices and also your experiences. Your success, your health, your relationships . . . every aspect of your life will be enhanced when you start to experience life through a clearer and more positive lens . . . once you start to meditate.
credits.. please visit
http://www.the-guided-meditation-site.com/benefits-of-meditation.html
So now you know a little bit about the benefits of meditation, click here to find out more about the benefits of guided meditation, or click here to step into meditation now.
