Where to set all the singing bowls
Twelve bowls around one person is a different practical problem from seven. They have to be reachable without leaning over the client, arranged so you never lose track of which is which, and set down in an order that survives you being tired at the end of a long session.
This lesson covers the arrangement itself, both versions of it, and the order to buy the extra bowls in if you are building up.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to lay out a twelve-bowl set in either the Vedic or Tibetan arrangement, and know which sharp to add to your set next.
The principle
Bowls are laid out in note order along the length of the body — the lowest note at the feet, the highest at the head, with everything in between in sequence.
Get this right and the layout does your remembering for you. You never have to think about which bowl is which, because position tells you. Get it wrong — bowls grouped by size, or by which came out of the bag first — and you will spend the session searching.
feet C · C♯ · D · D♯ · E · F · F♯ · G · G♯ · A · A♯ · B head
Two details the notebook is specific about:
- The C bowl is a big bowl. At the low end of the scale you want mass, as Lesson 1.3 explained. This is the one that sits on a cushion at the feet and does not move.
- The crown bowl is the small one. Highest note, smallest bowl, closest to the head — and near the head, small and quiet is always correct.
The seven anchors, and the five between
You already know where the seven main bowls go, because they are the seven chakra positions from Course Two:
| Position | Vedic note | Tibetan note |
|---|---|---|
| Above the head | B | B |
| Beside the brow | A | E |
| Beside the throat | G | A |
| Beside the chest | F | D |
| Beside the navel | E | G |
| Beside the pelvis | D | C |
| At the feet | C | F |
The five sharps then take the spaces between those seven anchors — C♯ between the feet and the pelvis, D♯ between the pelvis and the navel, and so on up the body.
How precise is this? The notebook records the twelve-bowl arrangement as a sketched diagram rather than a written list of body positions, so the seven anchors above are certain and the exact placement of each sharp is our reading of her drawing. It follows the principle she states — note order along the body — and it is how the layout works in practice. If she gives more precise positions, this page will be updated.
Vedic and Tibetan arrangements
The notebook draws both, and the difference is not the positions — it is which bowl goes in each position.
The body is laid out the same way each time. What changes is the note map, exactly as in Lesson 3.1. So a Tibetan layout has the F bowl at the feet where a Vedic layout has the C.
Lay out for the system you are about to use, before the client arrives. Not during. Twelve bowls and two competing maps is precisely the situation where a practitioner loses their place, and doing it in advance removes the problem entirely.
Setting up, practically
- Work in an arc, not a line. Bowls along one side of the mat, curving so that everything is within arm's reach from where you kneel or stand. You should never lean across a client to reach a bowl.
- Heaviest bowls on cushions, on a firm floor. A large C bowl on bare boards will buzz, and on carpet it will go dull.
- Space them by a hand's width. Closer and they ring against each other; further and you cannot reach the ends.
- Mallets where you can find them without looking. One in hand, spares in a known spot.
- Set out low to high, always in the same direction. The habit is what protects you when you are tired.
- Check the order once, out loud, before the client comes in. Ten seconds, and it catches the one bowl in the wrong place.
Which sharp to buy next
The notebook does not give a buying order, so this is our practical suggestion rather than her teaching.
Add sharps from the head downward. The reason is that this tradition puts most of its emphasis at the top of the body — the Tibetan session gives extra attention to the third eye and crown, and the brainwave work in Lesson 4.7 concentrates there too. The upper sharps get used more.
| Order | Bowl | Sits between |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | A♯ | Third eye and crown |
| 2nd | G♯ | Throat and third eye |
| 3rd | F♯ | Heart and throat |
| 4th | D♯ | Sacral and solar plexus |
| 5th | C♯ | Root and sacral |
Bought one at a time, that spreads the cost over as long as you like, and each addition is usable on its own rather than only as part of a set. If you already own bowls of uncertain note, check them with the frequency analyser first — some people discover they already own a sharp and had it filed as something else.
Practice
- Lay out every bowl you own in note order along an imaginary body, lowest at the feet.
- Mark the gaps where a sharp would go with something — a folded cloth, a card.
- Kneel where you would work and check you can reach every bowl without shifting position or leaning across.
- Photograph it. Do this once and you never have to think about the layout again.
- Then do it a second time in the Tibetan arrangement, and photograph that too.
Those two photographs on your phone are worth more than any diagram we could draw, because they show your bowls, your room and your reach.
Common mistakes
- Laying out by size instead of note. It looks tidier and it will lose you the session.
- Setting up while the client is on the mat. Do it before.
- Mixing the two arrangements. Choose the system first, lay out second.
- Bowls too close together. They ring against each other and it sounds like a mistake because it is one.
- A big bowl straight onto a hard floor. Cushion, always.
- Reaching across a lying client. Uncomfortable for them and it breaks the session.
How do you know you got it right?
You can lay out your full set from memory in under two minutes, in either arrangement, and reach every bowl without moving your feet.
And you can say what sits between the throat and the third eye without counting on your fingers.
Something to sit with
The layout is the only part of a session that happens before anyone arrives, and it decides how the whole thing goes.
What else in your practice is really being decided in the preparation rather than in the performance?