When you read these words, do you hear them in your head?

IMG_3941Yes?

Congratulations! You just unveiled a phenomenon called “aural imaging”.

For Beethoven it was the hard-practiced ability of aural imaging that allowed him to compose entire symphonies despite his deafness. He could hear the music in his head. We — musicians — can practice silently, run through entire concerts and presentations.

Aural imaging can be a very powerful tool — when you take your time to listen. Because everything we think, we say, we plan resonates at our inner ear before it comes alive. When you listen, you can order your thoughts, and you can create mental holographic images, so to speak, of everything in your mind.

When we think that the usual state of mind is chaos, we immediately understand the power of listening. This is why the ears are considered the “gate to the soul” by many eastern philosophies and religions. Because they connect us to the outside world, to each other but also to our true-self.

We all have an inner voice, we all have something inside, something worth listening to, and our ears have the ability to connect us to that thing; to our thoughts and to our intuition.