The five touches can be expressed as standard dynamic markings in music and can be learned through the use of specific exercises without any prior musical training required. They can be played with any instrument, including the voice.

Learning to play the motifs with these touches provides you with a method to connect more directly with your emotional self, which in turn allows you to feel more deeply whatever music you may play or enjoy.

Manuals

As part of learning the Sound Touch method of sound healing, we provide the Sound Touch CD and instruction manual. The CD presents 21 motifs and 12 Life Themes, combinations that Arden commonly uses in the Personal Music and her compositions. The manual provides detailed information about the application of the motifs and Life Themes and how to play them.

The Sound Touch CD is also available with a booklet, which is a shorter version of the manual, describing only the motifs and associated listening exercises.

You can buy the Sound Touch CD with one of two versions of the instruction manual.

The abridged version explains the purpose of each motif or Life Theme and suggests enhancement exercises that help integrate the effect of the motif or theme.

The complete manual provides more detailed information on the use of the motifs for both individuals and musicians, the exercises and when Arden includes the motifs in the Personal Music compositions. In addition, we include a section for musicians and non-musicians alike, showing how to play the motifs on a keyboard represented in both musical notation and graphical form.

If you choose not to follow the exercises in either manual but only listen to the CD, you will still benefit from using Sound Touch. From repeated listening, you will gradually notice a growing awareness of yourself. First, it will help bring your focus back to you rather than the people or things around you. Then, you will gradually become more aware of what’s going on inside of you – mentally, emotionally or physically – which, in turn, allows you to be more receptive to your own thoughts and feelings.

Your experience of listening to Sound Touch will vary depending on a number of factors:

· How often you listen;

· whether to just one motif or the whole CD;

· your emotional state or level of personal awareness;

· your general state of health and how much you control your expression of emotions;

· and how rapidly your nervous system responds to sound stimuli.

Initially, some people find the motifs a bit strange, not at all what they are accustomed to listen to. This is due to the simple harmonic structure due to the predominance of the open intervals of the octave, perfect fourth and perfect fifth, as well as the lack of intricate harmony. Some reject them, then suddenly shift into a different state of consciousness, and afterwards not want to listen to anything else for a while.

It is important to keep in mind that the reason for listening to Sound Touch in this way, as with other titles in the Inner Sound series, is to receive the vibrations from it as deeply as you can rather than listening to the music to be entertained.

This is music to feel and absorb with the mind, the body and the spirit.

If you want to include sound healing at some level in your life, you do not have to follow a dedicated programme of listening with enhancement exercises. You can still listen to Sound Touch as background music, as you would listen to the radio, at home, at work, or in your car. The effect will be cumulative but not so noticeable in the short term.

We suggest you listen to the complete CD about 4-5 times per week for 4-6 weeks to receive a lasting benefit. You can maximize the benefit of listening this way by using headphones.

If you find any of these sensations uncomfortable, you can ease them by listening to the CD for shorter periods of time or less frequently until they eventually pass. Such reactions can indicate conscious psychological defenses against change – even though consciously you may want the changes to happen - and indicate that the motifs are touching blockages.

You may not be consciously aware of any change at any level even after listening for six weeks. If this occurs, keep listening. You are probably the type of person where energetic shifts take longer to notice. We have had people who listened to this music for several months without noticing anything in particular and then, all of a sudden, they become aware of quite distinct differences and changes in one or more aspects of their life.

In total, there are four quite distinct ways of using the Sound Touch CD, all of which will enhance any type of personal development you are doing or have done in the past. If you are at the start of your journey of self discovery, self healing or greater self awareness, you can use the Motifs and Life Themes as a place to start.

Alternatively, you can follow these four methods in a progressive way, following one stage with the next to embark on a powerful journey of self discovery through sound.

All four methods have the additional effect of increasing your ability to feel and receive the vibrations of any type of music you normally listen to and enjoy.

Four Methods:

1. General listening to CD as background music. This requires the least amount of focused time and you can expect to experience results on average between 4 and 6 weeks as the effect is more subtle and will take longer.

2. Take each motif and listen for approximately 5-10 minutes a day for 19 days. The effect is more intensive. Depending on the motif you will have to complete certain exercises e.g. visualizations, breath work or a specific movement, while listening.

3. The third method gives you the added possibility of working with the twelve Life Themes, combinations of certain motifs, to focus on special issues.

4. In the complete version of the manual only, you can learn how to play the motifs on a keyboard whether you have musical training or not. This last method allows you to enter the exciting world of making your own music, which adds a new dimension of sound healing.

If you decide to follow all four ways, one after the other, each has a cumulative effect, building on the previous segment to create a solid experiential foundation for sound healing.

Whether you have spent years in personal discovery, are just starting or just want to deepen your experience of music, you will find a way to use this CD to suit your goals in the amount of time and energy you have available.