Valentine’s Day and World Sound Healing Day
Valentine’s Day is celebrated in countries around the world on February 14th and is named for a Christian martyr from the 5th century.
It has also been suggested that, just like Christmas, Easter etc., it is a ‘re-packaging’ by the Christians of a much older tradition. The ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia was observed on February 15th. The (pretty intense!) rituals performed on this day were to clean and purify the city, protecting it from evil spirits with the aim to support good health and fertility.
Nowadays, it is put forth by companies selling their products as the day of romantic love. The day you ‘prove’ you love your partner by giving them flowers and cards and ‘be romantic’!
I know a lot of people who roll their eyes at the mention of Valentine’s Day and I get it. The fact that we are being sold the idea that this is the day ‘you must be romantic’, the expectation created, kind of lessens the potential romance level to me! 🙂
However I appreciate the sentiment of making it a priority to do something special to show someone you love that you care. I’m hoping that everyone requires that their partners makes that a priority more than once a year! Yet with the busy way life in the collective runs, perhaps setting up one day where people will be reminded when walking past card shops and on the websites they visit to ‘treat’ their partner, may have merits.
I would suggest broadening the idea of what ‘treating’ your partner means. I see a lot of people feeling pressure to spend huge amounts of money on big presents or trying to get reservations at expensive restaurants. These things aren’t romance. These are not connecting to your partner. Absolutely they can be vehicles with which to do so but are not in of themselves romantic ideas.
There are lots of inexpensive or free things you can do that can be hugely impactful for the one you love.
Think about what your partner truly needs or wants- we all want to be heard, to be seen and to get reassurance that we are, especially by those closest to us. Think about truly nurturing your partner.
If your partner is the primary caregiver for your children, perhaps you could give the gift of a day without the responsibilities of everyday life. You take the children out for the day facilitating your partner to be able to be on their own, doing whatever they would like to do. Perhaps have a baby-sitter organised for a few hours in the evening so that after their ‘me’ day, you both get the chance to truly connect. This could be a weekend day if you can’t take a day off work, just make a voucher stating what your gift entails and follow through.
And I encourage those without a partner to do something special for themselves. Make a really conscious effort to see what area of your life could do with some nourishment and fulfill that need.
Perhaps you’ve been feeling exhausted and know you need good sleep; de-clutter your bedroom, put on fresh sheets, light some tea-lights, turn off the phone, put on some music or a guided meditation for relaxation and go for a nap or have an early night.
My favourite thing when I’ve been in relationships on Valentine’s Day has always been the card. I truly valued the thought and effort gone into the words chosen and the image on the front- be it drawn or bought.
Perhaps write a note for your partner, telling them all the ways you are thankful to have them in your life. Truly think about the ways they support you and are there for you.
This year, I am writing myself a card, creating a ritual out of it and writing all the things I want to hear and acknowledge. I am also writing a card to a friend to thank them for all the ways they support me and how grateful I am to have them be part of my journey. I urge everyone to think beyond the idea of just making the effort for your romantic partner, instead also thinking of including yourself, friends, family or perhaps making a few cards with messages of love and goodwill and leaving them in random places as you move about your day.
Perhaps write a card to a friend who you can see is struggling with the idea of how wonderful they are. Maybe they don’t feel seen or valued by those closest to them. Tell them that you see them, you value them. Speak of the many wonderful gifts and awesome talents that this person brings into the lives of those around them. Give loving words of encouragement and support.
I like that on Valentine’s Day, there is a collective engaging with the idea of love. It has become synonymous with the idea of romantic love but as I said, I think we could expand this and just see it and honor it as a celebration of LOVE. Love for self, love for partner, love for family, love for friends, love for our pets, love for plants, love for Earth, love for the Universe…
This collective dedication can be harnessed in an impactful way.
World Sound Healing Day is on February 14th and has been utilising this collective dedication of all those coming from a space of love for 15 years now. As I have done for the past few years, I will be joining in with the AHing session at 12pm my local time.
The intention set forth by the Sound Healer’s Association is to create and project the AH sound “with the energy of compassion and love, sending a sonic valentine to Gaia, our Mother Earth.”
The purpose is to –
Heal Our Planet
Heal Our Waters
Raise Our Consciousness
For those of you who would like to join in the sounding group I have created but cannot be with us in person, you can use this track to tune into our vibration. Use it to ‘AH’ along to wherever you are Tuesday at 12pm your local time- or indeed, anytime throughout the day. Please also feel free to download it to use as a support in your sounding or a track for relaxation at any time of the year!
May we all come from a place of huge love, deep compassion and positive intentions for ourselves, each other and the future of our beautiful home, Mother Earth- not just on Valentine’s Day but every day.
With love and light,
Laura.xo
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For more on World Sound Healing Day, visit http://www.worldsoundhealingday.org/
If you choose to download and re-post any images or music, please give a link back/name credit. Thank you.
5 comments on “Valentine’s Day and World Sound Healing Day”
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Resounding Power 
Your words literally chime in the Valentine spirit, Laura. As you have rightly observed, the day ought to be commemorated as a celebration of love, instead of limiting it to mushy romantic sentiments with the commercial element that runs in parallel with it. The universe is born out of Kama (Sanskrit for ‘desire’), or the attraction between matter that evolved into millions of beings constituting an eco system existing in interdependency and interconnectedness. Love is the word that captures the gamut of it all. We exist in the wholeness of love and perish into the elements constituting the whole. The AH you mention is part of the primordial sound of Om, which is a combination of three sounds, A U and M; in other words, Aum makes Om, the first sound in the Vedas. My valentine wishes to you…xx.
Hi Raj. Yes! As I was sounding for this particular recording, I was connecting to my ‘AH’ as ‘A’ from AUM in relation to it being the Earth part of the (three worlds) triad. It is rare these days for me not to use Om alone while I am chanting, unless I am doing the bija mantras through chakras or doing a totally different type of sounding, so it was a really nice experience. I intend to repeat and expand on it; working with relating the sound/feeling/thought/beyond to the ‘A part’ of each triad and then moving onto U and then M the same way as I found it so profoundly beautiful and rich with learnings and new experiences. Thanks for sharing your thoughts- I love your sentence “We exist in the wholeness of love and perish into the elements constituting the whole.” I may have to quote you next time I am presenting the concept of separation from the whole to students, always love to have new metaphors and quotes to help people engage and that is a good one!! You are a profoundly eloquent and captivating writer, even when it’s just in the comments and I thank you for it!xo
Go ahead, Laura. You are free to treat my words as yours…😋
I’ll take any excuse to celebrate love, but I don’t really limit it to just romantic love. I love many people and want them all to know!
Same here Jay- and I am sending you much love on this Galentine’s Day! In other news, just saw you are on Twitter because of the Tom Hardy pic you posted- I thank you deeply for this beautiful gift 💗 🙂