Singing bowls possess a mystical quality as mysterious as their ancient origins and varied uses through the centuries in both the eastern and western worlds.

In an upstairs yoga studio in downtown Culpeper, the musical objectsa type of bellare used to facilitate wellness, the objects haunting, relaxing reverberations rising and falling until reaching a crescendo so intense one might discern all the mysteries held within.

Or, as research has suggested, there is miraculous healing power in vibration.

Thats why when longtime wellness guru Margaret Leary, of Culpeper, wanted to convey her collection of seven crystal singing bowls to another keeper, yoga instructor and Pranapiloga studio owner Rebecca Elsen seized the opportunity.

I think it benefits the studio and our community, said Elsen, the Culpeper Chamber of Commerces Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016.

Leary began teaching yoga in 2000 as she approached 50, starting out in the same downstairs studio space on East Davis Street where Elsen launched Pranapiloga in 2015 before recently moving a few storefronts away. Leary acquired her set of singing bowls from California soon after, and has used them through the years to conduct workshops with students.

They are not bowls, they are beings, she said. They are absolutely tuned to healing.

Leary, who ran her studio for several years, is now a sometimes substitute instructor at Pranapiloga as she focuses more on a personal study of Jin Shin Jyustu.

I am more into the hands-on type of healing and these singing bowls need to be shared with more people, she said.

Sound is vibration and thats how the unique bells heal, Leary said. Each bowl is a different size corresponding with musical notes in line with a human beings major chakrasplaces on the body, from feet to head, that are considered sources of energy for spiritual power.

As you play it, your body seeks that sound in that particular spot in your body, Leary said. Your vibrations slow down when you are sick, bogged down, something is pulling at them. Energy can be blocked for all kinds of reasons.

The singing bowls enhances awareness of blocked energy, she said.

It makes them more aware. To me, the bowl tells you where to go, Leary said. Its a communication going on there.

For the past two years since opening Pranapiloga, Elsen has used just a single metal singing bowl in class in tune with the heart chakra. Getting the entire set opens new channels of possibilities for her clients.

I play the heart bowl and people come up to me after and say I had this most beautiful green color in my head. People report feeling champagne bubbles in their body, a lot of people cry, its a releasean energy release for them where theyve been stuck or built a barrier around their heart, she said.

On Saturday afternoon, Pranapiloga will host a Healing Sound Immersion Class led by musical alchemist Mark Torgeson who will play crystal and Tibetan singing bowls as well gong, meditative flutes & drums, tuning forks, bells and Didgeridoo. The goal of the class will be to update the vibrational frequencies in your energy system, release dated behavior patterns and clear the way for increased balance and flow, according to Torgesons website.

The most important use of music today, as I see it, is as a tool for healing and transformation, he said.

According to a 2013 article in Science Watch, Music as Medicine, about using music therapy to treat Parkinsons patients, it should not only be viewed as a cultural phenomenon but as a vibratory stimulus that has cognitive and memory dimensions.

Elsen and Leary are believers.

You dont have to believe any of these things and it still works, Leary said.

She hopes that passing on her collection to Elsen will help more people understand the importance of sound.

Not just loud blaring stuff, but the beauty, the richness of sound and how we need to cherish it more, Leary said.

Demonstrating how the singing bowls work, Elsen tapped the inside rim of a bowl three times with a mallet before moving it to the outside rim and sliding it around and around in a circular motion, keeping the striker upright and close to top as the musical tones built until the vibrations filled the room, spilling outside and through the chakras of everyone present.

Sound like that is needed to counterbalance the car alarms, the shouting, the sirens, the constant noise of modern life, she said.

Having beautiful sounds of music takes you back to that rest, Elsen said.

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Sounds of music: singing bowls heal - The Daily Progress