I’m the kind of person that usually thinks bigger is better. I typically like low frequency sounds, and I’m looking for as much vibration as I can get, that’s why I was gravitating toward the 20” bowl. However, I don’t know anything about Silver Sky Imports, and I haven’t had a chance to listen this 20” bowl and experience it in person, so I’m a bit hesitant.

Also, I already know that I had a really powerful reaction to hearing someone play the 14” bowl in the store the first time. I liked it, too, when I went back a couple days later and the people at the store let me play it myself.

Anyway, so I was wondering if you have any suggestions or input that I might find helpful.

Some history or background information…

About 10 years ago I was with my wife and a friend at a gem and jewelry show at my local state fair grounds. Someone there had a couple crystal singing bowls. I really gravitated toward the larger of the two that he had there and played for me. All I know when he played it was that I liked it. I’m not aware of having any particular reaction to it other than just really liking it.

However, the next day was a Sunday, and I was delivering papers at the time. One the way home I called my wife and suggested we take a quick trip to Brown County State Park in Indiana. (We live in Zionsville, Indiana, about an hour and a half north of Brown County.) I’ve NEVER done anything like that before, and haven’t since. But the really interesting thing is how I felt that day.

You see, I’ve struggled with depression since I was very young. I just turned 50 on black Friday. Anyway, that Sunday 10 years ago, I kept commenting to my wife that I felt really good. I repeatedly said, “This must be what normal (not depressed) people feel like.” That day was such an incredible experience. My only guess as to why I had such a day where the depression felt lifted like no other time in my life was that the crystal bowl did something to me.

As I’ve continued to struggle with my depression over the years since then, I’ve often wondered if there was anything to the crystal bowl and me feeling so much better, or if it was just a fluke, or coincidence. After all these years of wondering, I finally stopped at that local store I mentioned and had a chance to listen to some bowls.

The experience I had the other week when I first listened to the 14” Solar Plexus crystal bowl was that I instantly seemed to have a smile come over my face. Then I was immediately aware that it felt like I was starting to smile from the center of my being outward. By center, I mean from below the rib cage and above the belly button. When I was telling the gentleman who played the bowl what I experienced, tears just started coming out of my eyes. They felt like tears of joy for a long lost friend of sorts. Tears of excitement of such a reunion between myself and a smile inside. And perhaps tears of sadness for all the time I’ve gone without that smile inside.

After I left the store, I called my gestalt therapist, and left a message on her machine. Not only did the tears start flowing again, but I was getting so choked up that I could hardly describe my experience. I was heading to work, and the tears gently continued until I walked through the doors of where I work.

It was interesting to later read some info on the web that the solar plexus being out of alignment can show up as relationship troubles, which I’d been having, and gastrointestinal problems, which I’d also been having. I had been having a lot of trouble with frequent bouts of diarrhea, but after listening to that bowl that day, I didn’t have a single episode of diarrhea until just over a week later when my therapist did some ‘body work’ on me.

So, it seems to me that there is something to this singing bowl stuff, and that it’s time for me to purchase one instead of just wondering if one would be helpful. Money has always been an issue that has kept me from investing in one without knowing for sure that it would be helpful. This Christmas I’m hoping to be blessed with enough money that I could swing getting a crystal bowl. (I’m also considering a didgeridoo.)

I guess that’s plenty info for right now.

Thanks in advance!

Adrian