Singing Bowl Gift Sets For the Meditation Enthusiast

Beautiful Singing Bowl Gift Sets – A Special and Unique Gift Idea

Singing bowls are an excellent aid to meditation and can make the experience much richer and enjoyable. If you are looking for a gift for a spiritually-minded friend or relative, or anyone who has in interest in the exotic and unique, consider gifting them with a singing bowl gift set. It’s gret for beginners and experienced meditationers alike and at the very least, will be sure to be a conversation-starter.

4 Inch Singing Bowl Gift Set

This singing bowl gift set consists of a relatively small 4 inch singing bowl made of copper and other mixed metals, hand made in Nepal. Included is the cushion, striker, and an embroidered satin carrying bag – everything to get them started with playing and enjoying their singing bowl.

4 Inch Tibetan Dragon Box and Pillow Singing Bowl Gift Set

Another great option for a gift set is this Tibetan singing bowl set, that features a beautiful dragon embroidery on the cushion and accompanying carrying box. The striker is included with the set along with a 4 inch diameter singing bowl. This set is definitely elegant as well as exotic. For the newbie to the world of singing bowls, the set also includes a brief information card about this beautiful object.

For more gift sets, singing bowls and meditation gongs, check out our Meditation Gongs Shop –

Designer Himalayan Singing Bowls? Donna Karan Singing Bowls to be Launched

Donna Karan Himalayan Singing Bowls to be Offered by Lenox

Donna Karan, the New York designer known for her sleek, minimalist clothing is now launching a line of tableware in collaboration with Lenox, the American tableware company. This line of tableware will include a set of Himalayan Donna Karan singing bowls.

The line of Donna Karan Himalayan singing bowls, is not merely based on hype or cheaply manufactured goods. Donna Karan intends for these singing bowls to have an soul and energy. The bowls, made of 6 metals, will be genuinely hand-made in Nepal – while one person rotates the bowl over a coal fire, three other people will hand hammer it to perfection, ensuring the quality of each bowl’s beauty as well as sound.

Presentation, of course, won’t be lacking. Each singing bowl will come in handcrafted rice-paper boxes, also made in the Himalayas.

Donna Karan took the inspiration to produce these bowls from her own personal collection of singing bowls, and the spiritual connection she feels to them, so very much care was taken to make sure that these singing bowls were made with care, love, and genuine authenticity.

Look out for the Donna Karan singing bowls to start being produced in May 2011.

Where to Buy Tibetan Singing Bowls and Meditation Gongs

Find The Best Retailers to Buy Tibetan Singing Bowls, Meditation Gongs, and More

Tibetan buddhist singing bowls and meditation gongs can be a great enhancement to your meditation practice. As such, it is very important to buy a high quality singing bowl for your practice from a reputable retailer. Read on to find out where to buy the best tibetan buddhist singing bowls and meditation gongs online that are affordable and high-quality.

1. Amazon.com - Amazon, the world’s largest and most reputable online retailer has tons of tibetan singing bowls and meditation gongs for sale. Choose from a wide variety ranging from the smaller 3 inch singing bowls to ones in the 10-inch and upwards range. Meditation gongs and singing bowls are available for purchase both directly from Amazon itself and third-party retailers that have been approved by Amazon.

My Amazon pick? Try this beautiful 4 1/2 inch Tibetan Singing Bowl Set, complete with mallet and matching gold embroidered cushion.

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4 Simple Tips to Caring For A Tibetan Singing Bowl

Learn How to Clean and Take Care of A Tibetan Singing Bowl

Many people use tibetan singing bowls for meditation, healing, spiritual and musical practices. You may have become skilled in the art of playing it, but have you considered that knowing how to care for your tibetan singing bowl is equally important? Here are a few easy steps to make sure that your tibetan singing bowl will retain its beauty and value for a lifetime.

1. For a simple cleaning, all you need is a mild soap and warm water. Put warm soapy water into the bowl, wipe with a soft cloth and rinse. Wipe the bowl completely dry after rinsing, to ensure that any residual moisture does not damage the bowl’s metal. For a more heavy-duty job, you can use an orange oil based cleaner. Weekly cleaning of your tibetan singing bowl will keep it in optimal condition.

2. To retain the beauty and shine, you may polish your bowl with a soft cloth and any commercial metal polish that can be used on bronze or brass. Be sure to test the selected polish on a small area of the bowl to ensure that it doesn’t damage the patina. Regular polishing will keep your bowl from tarnishing and will maintain an attractive sheen.

3. For storage, keep your singing bowls in an area that has a moderately warm temperature. Warmer temperatures increase the flexibility of metals, making the tibetan singing bowl easier to play. Do not expose your bowl to extreme temperatures for extended periods of time.

4. Take care not to drop your singing bowl or hit it with any other metal objects . This could scratch, or even worse – crack your bowl, permanently ruining its sound and beauty.

Follow these simple tips on how to care for your tibetan singing bowl and it will surely stay beautiful and useful for a lifetime.

Choosing A Singing Bowl: How to Identify an Authentic Antique Singing Bowl

How To Identify and Choose Genuine Antique Singing Bowls

There are a countless variety of singing bowls available on the market today – some being produced in recent times, while others are hundreds of years old. Antique tibetan singing bowls are valued for their quality, sound, and historical value. When looking to purchase a singing bowl, having adequate knowledge of how to identify a genuine antique singing bowl with greatly aid you in your search to find the perfect singing bowl for you.

Appearance
Antique singing bowls generally tend to be simple and plain in appearance, with very little in the way of intricate designs or carvings. They may have abstract decorations like lines or circles on their surface, outside the rim, or inside the bottom of the bowl, but anything more complicated than that is likely a new bowl. Do not be fooled by bowls that look hard or rough on the outside – most likely, these are newly produced bowls that have been made to look old to fool the uninformed consumer. Antique singing bowls tend to be an average size of 10-12 inches, and rarely any larger.

Material
Traditionally, antique singing bowls were made of 5-7 metals, including precious metals such as gold, silver, or iron. Many antique singing bowls do not have a perfect mix of metal alloys, making it common to see streaks or spots of one particular metal (like copper or silver) standing out more on the surface. Due to the cost of including precious metals in the production of singing bowls, modern singing bowls tend to be made of only one metal, usually brass or bronze.

Sound
The sound quality of antique singing bowls can never be matched, because as the age of a singing bowl increases, the quality of the sound increases as well. Fine classic antique singing bowls have a very rich, warm and mellow sound to them, with strong resonant harmonic overtones. If a bowl sounds tinny, flat, or disharmonious, it is more than likely not an antique.

Identifying true antique singing bowls is not always an easy process, but with these simple guidelines to keep in mind, your search will become a bit easier.

How Tibetan Singing Bowls Work to Heal the Body and Mind

Explore the Healing and Rejuvenating Properties of Tibetan Singing Bowls

Tibetan singing bowls have been used traditionally for spiritual and healing purposes since ancient times. These bowls are in use now for stress-relief, meditation, yoga, and other applications. Many wonder exactly how tibetan singing bowls work in healing one’s body and mind, but the secret is primarily in the way they sound and the vibrations they emit.

Vibrations

It is believed that everything in existence today vibrates at a certain frequency, including our human bodies and its internal organs, as well as our inner energy systems, like the chakras and our auras. When everything is vibrating at its own optimal, unique frequency, we function in complete health. Disharmonious vibrations, often caused by stress or unhealthy environmental conditions, are said to cause illness and disease. Tibetan singing bowls, which produce pure vibrations, are capable of correcting these imbalances. The pure vibrations of the singing bowls resonate with the optimal frequencies of the body and gently correct any blockages and imbalances. This is why it is particularly effective to place singing bowls directly on the body – so that the vibrations are in an optimal position to affect any internal imbalances.

Sound

Aside from the vibrational qualities of singing bowls, they also heal in a simpler way. As humans, we are exposed to many unnatural and discordant sounds – the rush of traffic, television chatter and other electronic noise pollution, and countless more random and unpleasant sounds of modern-day living. Tibetan singing bowls produce sounds that are calming and pleasing to the brain. The bowls produce tones that are pure and naturally harmonious and resonant with each other. The effect of listening to this type of music calms the mind, much like listening to nature sounds would. A calm mind naturally produces a healthier body, making it less susceptible to illness and disease.

Tibetan singing bowls are a unique, powerful, and natural instrument for healing, which is why the tradition of using them has survived for centuries.

Advanced Techniques for How to Play Tibetan Singing Bowls

Tips And Instructions for Playing Tibetan Singing Bowls

Learning the basics of how to play a tibetan singing bowl is a relatively easy process, but this instrument is capable of producing even more varied and interesting sounds with the right technique. The wah-wah technique and the water technique are two methods that will make playing a tibetan singing bowl a more enjoyable and interesting experience.

Wah-Wah Technique

To begin this technique, start by singing the bowl in the basic way – by running the mallet around the rim of the bowl until it produces a steady, even sound. Then, release the mallet from the bowl. At this point, the sound should still be reverberating even after you have removed the mallet. Lift the bowl to mouth level, and mouth the syllables “wah-wah.” You do not have to say the sound aloud, as the simple act of just opening and closing your mouth is what modifies the sound of your singing bowl. Experimenting with varying the space between your mouth and the outside rim will  change the sound, and you may also notice that if you turn the bowl, there will be spots where the sound is naturally louder than others. You can even try mouthing syllables other than “wah-wah” to see if they give a different effect.

Water Technique

For this technique, you need to put a bit of water in the bowl. The amount of water needed will vary with the size of your bowl, but a good start is about 3/4 inch of water, being careful not to get the rim of the bowl wet. Too much water will interfere with this technique, so be prudent when filling your bowl. After you have added an adequate amount of water, sing the bowl using the basic around-the-rim technique. Once the bowl has starting singing with a clear, even tone, pull the mallet away from the bowl. Then gently begin tilting the bowl and swirling the water. If done correctly, this will produce a sound that sounds something like dolphins singing.

These two techniques, when done correctly, will produce beautiful and unique music from your tibetan singing bowl that you may have never heard before.

Choosing A Singing Bowl: Consider the Sound and Size of Your Singing Bowl

Learn How To Choose A Quality Singing Bowl

Singing bowls come in a wide variety of ages, styles, shapes, and sounds, making the task of choosing a singing bowl quite difficult. From modern to antique, big to small, dulcet low tones to sharp high tones, and crystal singing bowls to Tibetan singing bowls, the possibilities are endless. In learning how to choose a singing bowl, two related factors you need to take into account are the sound and size of your singing bowl.

Size of Your Singing Bowl

Singing bowls come in a wide variety of sizes, in an approximate range from 4 inches all the way up to as much as 20 inches. Consider whether you plan on traveling with your bowl or not. If so, you may opt for a smaller bowl in the 8-10 inch range that is easy to lift and carry around. If not, you may enjoy permanently keeping a larger bowl, such as a 16 inch, in its own special dedicated location. For a good compromise, opt for a bowl in the 11-14 inch range.

Tone of Your Singing Bowl

Keep in mind that in general, the pitch of your singing bowl is inversely related to the size of the bowl – smaller bowls produce higher pitched tones, while larger bowls produce deeper sounds. Think about what tones resonate with you before picking a bowl. Consider your favorite songs or musical instruments. Are you generally attracted to low, more warm and mellow tones or sharper higher-pitched tones?

Lots of online retailers will also provide recordings of how their specific bowls sound to make your search for the perfect singing bowl easier for you. A high-quality bowl will have tones that linger for a while and that sound clear, rich and pure. Pay attention to how the sound of the bowl you are listening to makes you feel. The ideal bowl will have a sound speaks to you on a deeper level, resonates with you and that you can enjoy listening to on a regular basis.

These two simple factors of sound and size are extremely important, and should be given extra consideration when you are in the process of choosing your singing bowl.

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How To Play A Tibetan Singing Bowl

Tips and Instructions for Playing Singing Bowls

Tibetan singing bowls are an excellent tool for meditation, relaxation and healing. When played properly, they produce resonant, harmonious sounds that are quite pleasing to the ear. Learning how to play a singing bowl requires a few simple steps and takes only a minimal amount of practice to master.

Holding the Singing Bowl:
Hold the singing bowl in the palm of your hand. Make sure that your fingers are flat and not curled around the bowl. Hold the singing bowl at a level that is comfortable for you. Common positions include near heart level, stomach-level, or resting in your lap if you are sitting down.

If the singing bowl is too large or heavy to hold comfortably in your hand, place it on a hard, flat surface like the floor or a table, making sure to place a soft cloth underneath.

There are two main basic techniques to playing singing bowls. They are:

Striking the Bowl:
With a padded mallet, simply strike the rim of the bowl. This technique produces a sound that resonates for a while after the initial strike. Make sure to directly hit the rim and not the sides of the singing bowl, as hitting the sides will create a muddled sound. Increasing the strength of your strike will produce a louder and more powerful tone, but be careful not to hit the singing bowl too hard, as it will produce a dissonant, unpleasant sound.

Singing the Bowl:
With your hand relaxed and close to the singing bowl, firmly hold a wooded, unpadded mallet against the rim. With a constant and even pressure, slowly rub the mallet against the rim of the bowl. Keep doing this until the sound of the bowl reaches a strong, full tone. A rattling sound coming from the bowl means you are going too fast and may also need to apply more pressure.

After the bowl reaches a full tone, you can vary the speed of the mallet to modify the sound – a faster pace will produce a more active tone, while a slower speed will make it less intense. You can also experiment with how you grip the mallet as well as the angle you hold it to produce different sounds and to find a style of playing that is comfortable for you. Try playing the bowl in different ways until you find the perfect balance of mallet angle, speed, and pressure that produces a sound that lasts indefinitely.

With these simple techniques, playing singing bowls becomes simple, fun, and relatively easy. Practice playing your singing bowl on a regular basis to produce beautiful, harmonious and relaxing music.