Join Hamid and Lindsey for a beautiful extended Memorial weekend retreat/training at the Sheep Rock Ranch near sacred Mount Shasta. This will be an initiation into the world of the Sound Practitioner. Explore the history, spirituality. science, and practice of sound as used in yoga, meditation, and therapy. We have created a special retreat style training where those interested could be fully immersed into the world of sound, along with a daily yoga practice, organic vegetarian/vegan food, nature and community. 

Learn more about Sheep Rock Ranch

About Shasta:

Mount Shasta, located near the Oregon border in northern California, holds the distinction of being one of the world’s preeminent sacred mountains. It is recognized as an eligible Native American cultural and cosmological property on the National Register of Historic Places. Artifacts found in the surrounding area conservatively suggest at least 11,000 years of human habitation, designating this region as one of the longest-occupied areas of North America.

Mount Shasta’s vast antiquity and mythic relevance places its significance on par, historically and categorically, with other sacred sites found among the world’s oldest known civilizations, including the temples and pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, the the Mayan Pyramids and Machu Picchu. 

Today experts recognize that these “sacred sites” around the world influence human consciousness and other living organisms in a number of unusual and remarkable ways. They have become colloquially known as ancient “power spots,” places where people commonly experience unusual phenomenon such as UFO-related activity, portals into other dimensions, consciousness-altering experiences, and other paranormal-phenomenon. 

When one enters into a sacred site of so-called “powerful energy,” the mind, body, and spirit are instantly affected. The energy at these places can be felt, sensed, dowsed, photographed, and measured with scientific instrumentation.

About the training:

Sound Practitioner Training is designed for both teachers and students who would like to begin using sound in public or private settings, or for those who are simply drawn to sound and wish to learn more. Sound Therapy and Sound Meditation (also sometimes called Sound Healing) are a range of practices used to bring about physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual changes using sound. Participants will learn the fundamentals of Sound Meditation and Sound Therapy and learn to deliver public and private sound sessions. Yoga and meditation teachers will learn how to incorporate sound therapy and guided meditation into their classes.

Participants in this training receive Certification as a Sound Practitioner (Level I). Yoga Alliance teachers receive 25-hours of Yoga Alliance CEUs.

All instruments are provided for use during training but students who own their own gong, flute, bowls, or other instruments are encouraged to bring them! Assistance in purchasing instruments is provided for students interested.

Your Hosts:

HAMID

Hamid works with individuals and groups, facilitating healing through the modalities of sound, plant medicines, bodywork, yoga, and meditation. Every teaching is provided in deep reverence to the original teachings, while integrating a multidisciplinary philosophy. Eastern philosophical systems, Western scientific methods, and the various shamanic lineages are all trying to teach us something about the nature of existence and consciousness.

Hamid has spent the better part of his adult life exploring Eastern philosophical and practical systems of Yoga, Ayurveda, Buddhism, Thai bodywork, Japanese energy work, Amazonian plant medicines, and other traditional healing methods. Hamid continues to learn on a daily basis. Hamid’s formal Western education includes a Doctorate degree from UCLA and Bachelor of Music degree from NYU. He holds the highest available designation with Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 500, certifying over 500 hours of training and 2,000+ hours of teaching. Hamid co-created the 200-hour and 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training Programs at Urban Yoga and co-directed the program from 2014-2017. He holds certifications in Thai Massage, Thai Foot Massage, Tok Sen, plus hundreds of non-certifiable hours of study with his teacher, Ajarn Pichest Boonthumme, all obtained in Thailand. Hamid studied Western massage in the Therapeutic Massage Program at Phoenix College. Hamid studied the plant medicines Ayahuasca and Huachuma (San Pedro), as well as other plant medicines, in the Peruvian Amazon and Sacred Valley of Peru.

As a musician, Hamid has been playing various instruments since his youth. He attended NYU on a music scholarship. His primary instrument in college was the guitar, with a secondary focus on electronic music, both analog and digital. Since 2012, Hamid has been studying gong, singing bowls, flutes, percussion, and the human voice in the context of sound meditation and ceremonial contexts. He regularly conducts Sound Practitioner Trainings in the Phoenix area as well as private lessons.

LINDSEY

Lindsey Kraten has been on an incredible personal journey towards finding a healthy balance for her body, and ultimately, her life. Through this transformative journey, she continues to gain a deeper understanding and connection to nature, embracing all the gifts the natural world has to contribute to her vital health and well-being. The more connected she is with the natural world, the more aligned she feels in herself, empowered and grounded to take on the world one moment at a time.

Singing and playing music have always been a huge part of her life, ever since youth. She has always been drawn to playing and experimenting with different instruments. During her travels in India, she realized the incredibly profound healing power of sound vibration. Her 5 week teacher training course involved daily chanting of mantras in Sanskrit. She felt a very profound shift in her connection to her own voice, encountering a deep sense of liberation through singing sacred mantra. Lindsey wanted to know and explore more into this realm of sound vibration and eventually completed her Music, Voice and Sound Healing certification under the instruction of Silvia Nakkach at the California Institute of Integrative Studies in San Francisco in 2016. Since then, her private and public sound healing offerings have began to evolve into something very beautiful and profound. 

Lindsey has been practicing yoga for 12+ years now and received her 200hr teaching certification in 2013 from the Prakash Deep Ayurvedic Institute in Raiwala, Uttarakhand, India. She received 60hrs towards her 500hr Jaya Yoga certification with her teachers Stephanie Adams and Adi from Flow Yoga in Hood River, Oregon. She continues to study and guide her community through yoga to this day. 

History & Theory of Sound Therapy

• History of Sound in Yoga and Shamanic lineages
• Use of Sound in Meditation and Therapy
• Science of Harmonics and Overtones
• Importance of Non-Equal Temperament
• Use of Sound in Working with Chakra
• Responsible Use of Terminology: Sound Healing, Sound Bath, Gong Bath,Gongmaster, Vibrational Healing, etc.
• Physical Effects of Sound: Nervous System, Vagal Nerve, Cellular Responses, Brainwaves
• Use of Sound in Ceremonial Settings
• Conducting a Sound Class or Private Session

Gong

• Types of Gongs and Cultural Uses
• History of Gong and Metallic Overtone Emitting Instruments
• Energetics of Gong Playing
• Gong Meditation
• The 39 Gong Strokes
• Friction Mallets (Flumies)
• Hand Gong Techniques
• Caring for the Gong
• Selecting Gongs

Singing Bowls

• Types of Bowls: Crystal Types, Metallic
• Energetics and the Chakra
• Playing Techniques and Styles
• Use of Drone
• Vocalization and Bowls: Toning, Chanting, and Talking Bowls
• Binaural Playing
• Selecting and Assembling Bowl Sets

Drums

• Shamanic Journeying Styles
• Use of Frame Drum in Meditation
• Powerful Rhythms
• Playing for Yourself and Others
• Invoking the Medicine of the Drum
• Use of Other Percussion Instruments: Shakers, Rattles, Wave/Ocean Drums, Rain Sticks, and Tingsha

Vocalization

• Finding Your Voice Even if You Think You Can’t Sing
• Mindful Singing and Chanting for Meditation
• Overtone Singing
• Singing and Chanting with Shruti Box and Bowls

Flutes

• History of Flutes
• How to Play Native American Flute
• Introduction to Other Flutes: Overtone Flute, Bansuri, Neh
• Playing Flute with Other Instruments