Testimonials

His teaching is something that defies simple description, weaving the ancient principles of a long-held tradition of bowl-making with the powerfully vibrant influences of these extraordinary times. He has taken the art of singing bowl making, as practiced in the East for centuries and originating in the Tibetan monasteries, and brought it forward into our times, carrying on this ancient lineage but giving it a new life that is poignant and vital for our times, as so many new impulses stream into our lives, stirring us to expand the boundaries of our understanding.

When we make our first singing bowl, it is our personal bowl. In my experience the purpose of this bowl is to assist us in finding our own coherence, so that we can begin to really live from a place of being truly ourselves.

My second bowl was a totally different experience, in that from the beginning it was clearly a bowl with work of its own to do; it came through me but wasn’t ‘mine’ in the same way as the first. It was a bowl born alongside other bowls that appeared to be deeply connected to each other and to eternal themes like compassion, wisdom, transformation, unity ……. Working to make this bowl, I experienced a wonderful sense of ease, of selfless connection.

It struck me very powerfully that these bowls are not just beautiful forms or musical instruments …but they are living beings. An experience that is hard to describe until you experience the bowls’ magic.

Taking them home brings yet more magic, as we realize the work of transformation they come to do with and through us, and as we see changes taking place in our lives that reflect the intentions of the work we have done. The making of the bowl is just a beginning ! I believe that this project is incredibly important, but mainly just incredible! as it offers a powerful and unique opportunity for self-fulfillment and service in the same breath.

It gives us the experience of ourselves as makers, but also as alchemists; as we put the metal in the fire that refines and releases and softens, as we stand by while it cools until its ready to be shaped and hammered into the form of the bowl, spiraling into the center of the bowl with our hammer, into the core of our individual truths, then spiraling out again to touch the edge where inner truth meets the greater reality encompassing it.

Always holding our original intention in mind as we work, we also allow openness for change, for the formative forces that work through us from beyond our own preconceptions, to inform our work. After we have polished and refined the finished bowl, we then get to finally sound its note within the circle of participants, and create a field of sound with the other bowls that have been made.

It is a humbling thought that these bowls will live beyond us to bring their gifts… Perhaps most importantly in this process, and hopefully, we are given the remarkable opportunity to experience ourselves as facilitators in one of the most extraordinary moments in human history: (this moment, every moment).

The making of a singing bowl is an awe-inspiring process and I feel deeply thankful for having been called to take part in the project in its infancy. I am also deeply thankful for the insightful guidance of Gabriella and Quentin and Heather who carry these workshops in their individual ways with such nurturing warmth and care and closeness of attention, and who are bringing Ton’s original initiative closer to home for us, as well as taking it a step further, into a new phase …they are true wisdom teachers of the best kind, as well as honest loving friends.

“An empty bowl Has been left at the foot of the tree To receive our tears And offer them up to life again a breeze stirs .. the fire blows warm in a breath Love streams into the waiting bowl And pours itself out again Making from our tears A mantle of pearls For our hearts to wear to the ball …” Caroline Probyn xx