Cymatics is the science that deals with the systematic study of the periodic manifestations of the acoustic range and the effect of vibrations on matter. This term derives from the Greek kymatika (κυματικά) and refers to the “study of wave phenomena”.
This particular discipline, which represents a portal to the invisible world of sound forms, was elaborated by the Swiss physician Hans Jenny who, in the mid-twentieth century, through scrupulous experimentation and acute observation, was able to articulate a complete phenomenological conceptual basis on the morphogenetic effects of sound waves on matter. Much of his work was inspired by the work of Ernst Chladni, a Viennese physicist of the 17th century, who, making a metal foil, sprinkled with fine sand, resonate with a bow and applied it to the sound box of a violin, noticed that the sound energy acted on the sand and shaped its structure, drawing on it geometric figures characterised by a regular shape and symmetrical lines that changed as the height of the note changed. These configurations are still called “Chladni’s figures”, which is known for having established the experimental principles of acoustics, systematically documenting them in his book Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges (Discoveries on the Theory of Sounds).
To conduct these experiments, Dr Jenny used a variety of devices: sound oscillators, microphones, sophisticated photographic equipment, recordings of classical music and spoken voices. He observed that the shapes and figures that were produced on sand, iron filings, water and others, when subjected to sound vibrations, had a certain predictability. Dr. Jenny demonstrated that vibrations produced geometric shapes, spheres, crystals and even spirals in the shape of galaxies.
With the study of Cimatica we have the proof that vibration, sound, influences matter. It unequivocally demonstrates the relationship between form and frequency, a relationship that is the basis of everything that exists. Sound generates forms, recent experiences on wave movement confirm a link between waves, substance and form, also concerning all organisms. All the studies and experiments carried out with the use of wave frequencies confirm studies and experiences dating back to ancient civilizations according to which every sound, therefore every vibratory wave is in connection with a form in space, generated and kept alive and moving by it. From the same awareness comes that famous Pythagoras’ assertion that geometry is “crystallized music”. Scholars have shown us multiple forms, some of them geometric, known to us as symbols, crosses, stars, etc., are produced by various types of vibration. So, if every sound, wave, movement, thought, feeling, create shapes, we too are continually creating shapes, because we have the same vibratory nature.
If actually thinking that sound produces visual forms seems normal, the interesting fact is that often the drawings produced correspond to the Yantras, i.e. a ritual design of Vedic culture.
The Yantra is a “tool to support” (Yam – support and Tra – tool) but is also described as the energy in the visual form.
You have certainly seen it many times, maybe even without knowing what it was.
Yantras are drawings that, especially in traditional yoga, can help us to concentrate during a particular meditation, or they can be considered symbols of some divinity, or of a specific element as a chakra.
Usually they are geometric shapes inserted in one or more circles, all inserted in a square… with strange sides; like the one you can see below:
You know Mantras too, they are those “chants” that you may have heard during a trip to Asia; they are sentences, more or less long, that are repeated 108 times or multiples during Japa meditation practices, they are a kind of prayer, some serve to bring good luck, others serve to attract the energies of a specific deity, others may serve to purify your energies or to protect you.
Mantra, from Sanskrit Man (thought) + Tra (instrument) , we can translate it literally as an instrument for thinking but it is also described as energy in sound form.
For each (or almost) aspect of life, or for each deity, we can have a Mantra and a corresponding Yantra, we can say that Yantra and Mantra are two ways of seeing (or feeling) the same energy.
In all this, we meet the Cymatics.
Thanks to this theory, in fact, we can connect these two aspects of yoga, confirming at the same time the validity of what Vedic culture has been telling us for millennia… and yes, yoga and science are more intertwined than you might think… 😉
