The Tibetan healing session
The second system, put to work. Longer than the Vedic session, built on the other note map, and shaped differently — it does not end where it started.
This is the session the tradition reaches for when someone arrives carrying stress, worry or a mind that will not stop.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to run a Tibetan session, and you will understand why it circulates where the Vedic session descends.
The note map, again
| Chakra | Tibetan note |
|---|---|
| Crown | B |
| Third Eye | E |
| Throat | A |
| Heart | D |
| Solar Plexus | G |
| Sacral | C |
| Root | F |
Which gives the sequence you met in Lesson 3.1 — F C G D A E B going up, B E A D G C F coming down.
Set your bowls out in this order before you begin. Working from a map you half-remember, with someone lying in front of you, is how mistakes happen.
How long
Sunita's notebook is specific: thirty minutes minimum, forty-five standard, sixty maximum.
Longer than the Vedic session, and the reason is structural — this one passes through the body several times rather than once.
The session
1 — Tingsha first. As always. Two or three, softly, circling the person.
2 — Sound all seven bowls, clockwise, three rounds. Before any chakra work begins, go around all the bowls with the mallet — clockwise around your layout — three times through. Quietly. This wakes the whole set and fills the room before anything is directed anywhere.
The Vedic session has no equivalent step. It is worth noticing that the Tibetan approach begins by establishing a field rather than by starting at a point.
3 — Begin at the crown. The B bowl. Then work down through the body — E, A, D, G, C, F — two or three strikes at each, full silences between.
4 — Return upward. From the root back to the crown: F, C, G, D, A, E, B.
5 — Repeat. Down and up again. How many passes depends on your session length — two full cycles in thirty minutes, three in forty-five.
6 — Extra attention at the third eye and crown. The notebook singles these two out. On each pass, give them an additional strike or a short period of gentle rimming that the other five do not get.
7 — Finish at the crown. Not the root. This is the structural difference between the two systems, and it matters.
8 — Silence, then tingsha. Three minutes of nothing, then one tingsha, then wake them as Lesson 3.9 describes.
On the source. The notebook's Tibetan instructions are written compressed, in a few lines, the way notes are written by someone who already knows the sequence. What you have above is a clear reading of that passage. If Sunita expands on it, we will update this page — and if you learn it from a teacher in person and they order it differently, follow your teacher.
Why it circulates rather than descends
| Vedic | Tibetan | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | One descent | Several passes, up and down |
| Starts | Crown | All bowls, then crown |
| Ends | Root | Crown |
| Length | About 30 minutes | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Emphasis | The root, where it settles | Third eye and crown |
The Vedic session ends at the root because that is where energy is understood to leave, through the legs and into the ground. It is a session that discharges.
The Tibetan session ends at the crown, having moved up and down repeatedly. It is a session that circulates.
Whether or not you take the energetic account literally, the difference in effect is real and you will feel it. A Vedic session leaves someone heavy and grounded. A Tibetan session leaves them lighter and clearer — which is what you want for a person whose complaint is a mind that will not settle, and who has to drive home afterwards.
Working on the back
The notebook records a second Tibetan form, worked with the client face down, with a different bowl arrangement on the back.
That belongs with sound massage in the next lesson, where the whole business of working the spine, hips and legs is covered properly. For now, keep to the face-up session above.
When to use this session
Someone arriving with stress, worry, tension they cannot put down, a week of poor sleep, or a mind that will not stop.
The notebook also lists depression. Depression is a medical condition treated by doctors and therapists, and a sound session is not treatment for it. If someone tells you they are depressed, you can absolutely give them a session — and you should also, kindly, ask whether they are getting support, and encourage them toward it if they are not. If anyone describes hopelessness or thoughts of harming themselves, stop the session talk and help them reach professional support that day.
Practice
Run a thirty-minute Tibetan session on the same person you gave the Vedic session to in Lesson 3.3, on a different day. Do not tell them what is different.
Afterwards, ask one question: how does this compare to last time?
Most people describe the Vedic session as heavier or more grounding, and the Tibetan one as lighter or clearer, without being able to say why. That is the most convincing demonstration of the two systems you will ever get, and it costs you nothing but a second session.
Common mistakes
- Using the Vedic note map by habit. The commonest error. Lay the bowls out in Tibetan order beforehand and the problem disappears.
- Finishing at the root. The Tibetan session returns to the crown.
- Skipping the three opening rounds. They are not a warm-up; they establish the field the session works in.
- Running past sixty minutes. The notebook sets that as the maximum. Longer is not more.
- Giving equal attention to all seven. The third eye and crown get more in this system.
- Treating it as the treatment for anxiety. It is a support alongside care, not a substitute for it.
How do you know you got it right?
You can write out the Tibetan note map from memory, you ran at least two complete passes, and you finished at the crown.
And the person you worked on described it as different from the Vedic session without being prompted. If they did not, run it again with slower strikes and longer silences — the two systems separate more clearly at a slower pace.
Something to sit with
Two systems, both centuries old, disagreeing about which sound belongs to which part of a person — and both producing something worth having.
Does that make you trust the tradition less, or does it tell you something about what the practitioner is actually doing?