--- title: "Writing: Essays by Hamid Jabbar" description: "Essays by Hamid Jabbar: quartz crystal singing bowls, the gong, yoga and the inner life, the Pranascope newsletter, and his history in Thailand and Peru." url: https://www.hamidjabbar.com/writing/ updated: 2026-10-18 language: en format: a Markdown copy of the page at the url above --- ![Hamid kneeling on a polished wooden floor among a row of frosted crystal singing bowls, circling the rim of one with a wand, a pale green wall beyond him](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/media/hamid-crystal-bowls-green-wall-1600.jpg) # Essays and Pieces Hamid Has Written *Over the Years* Seventeen pieces in his own words: on sound and the instruments, practice and the inner life, Thailand, and a newsletter he once wrote. [Start with crystal bowls](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/all-about-quartz-crystal-singing-bowls/) [Read his story](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/) ## Sound, *and the Instruments That Make It* What a sound practitioner is and what to notice before booking one, what a crystal bowl is made of, what the first time at a gong felt like, what sound looks like when you can see it, and why the ears are worth trusting. Two more are about music: a song Hamid wrote and a fifty dollar guitar. Updated September 2026 ### [All About Quartz Crystal Singing Bowls](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/all-about-quartz-crystal-singing-bowls/) > Quartz bowls are sold with a lot of story attached to them. Here is the part underneath the story: what the glass actually is, where it comes from, what the marketing words are worth, and how to tell one bowl from another with your ears. ![The paper label inside a Ryoji Matsuoka guitar, seen through the soundhole, printed in blue on cream with an ornate border and reading model M30 and serial number 21603](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/media/matsuoka-guitar-label-1600.jpg) January 2025 ### [Matsuoka Guitars](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/matsuoka-guitars/) > I bought a guitar for fifty dollars at a garage sale in Texas, played it through music school, and turned down fifteen hundred for it. Inside is a signature nobody has written down: Ryoji Matsuoka, on an instrument sold under another company’s name. September 2026 ### [What Is a Sound Practitioner, and How to Become One](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/what-is-a-sound-practitioner/) > A sound practitioner holds space with sound, for a room of people or for one person at a time. September 2026 ### [Red Flags in Sound Healing](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/sound-healing-red-flags/) > Five things worth noticing in a practitioner or a training. September 2021 ### [Greatest Mystery](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/greatest-mystery/) > Some people want to die in their sleep but not me. > I won’t go that easily. October 2016 ### [What Sound Looks Like](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/sound-looks-like/) > Ever wonder what sound waves look like? With our naked eyes we cannot see the waves of sound moving through the air for a few reasons. September 2016 ### [Learning to Play Gong](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/learning-to-play-gong/) > Although I have been a musician most of my life and studied music in college, when I realized that I wanted to learn the gong in my early 30’s I experienced a sort of primal fear. June 2015 ### [Take Time to Listen](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/take-time-to-listen/) > We as humans are such visual creatures. Our eyes are constantly taking in information as our brains work hard to process and distill the many sights into an image of our world that does not overwhelm. ## Yoga, *off the Mat* Four essays on yoga as a practice of the mind, each built on one idea: commitment, intuition, self study and the search for a purpose. September 2015 ### [Studying the Self](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/studying-the-self/) > Many people come to yoga seeking relief of some type, for example relief from physical blockages or disease, emotional turmoil, or the relentless churning of the mind. July 2015 ### [Commitment](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/commitment/) > There is a story about a farmer who is in dire need of water on his land, both for his survival and the survival of his crops. July 2015 ### [Cultivating Intuition in Five Steps](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/cultivating-intuition-in-five-steps/) > Intuition is our most powerful guide, yet most of us don’t know how to access it. June 2015 ### [The Life Purpose Problem](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/the-life-purpose-problem/) > I have studied the yoga texts and other great thought systems and nothing in these great systems speaks to the idea of finding a life purpose. ## Pranascope, *a Look at Prana* Pranascope was a newsletter of energy updates that Hamid wrote and sent out, and he held the registered trademark for the name. The newsletter is retired. This is the piece that explains it, with three he wrote for it. > “Prana is the life force energy and scope is merely a look into it.” > > Hamid Jabbar, Pranascope September 2021 ### [Pranascope](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/pranascope/) > As long as I can remember, I have been sensitive to the energy of others and what I perceive as a collective energy around us. ### Written for It May 2015 ### [Love of the Eternal](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/love-of-the-eternal/) > One of the main obstacles to happiness and awareness is confusing the impermanent with the permanent. June 2015 ### [Intense Dreams and the Solstice](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/intense-dreams-and-the-solstice/) > The process by which we are affected by the energies around us is called entrainment and it’s very simple. June 2015 ### [How it is Inside](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/how-it-is-inside/) > A teacher of mine says that “how it is inside, is how it is outside.” ## Thailand and Peru, *Written as History* Before sound there was bodywork in Chiang Mai, and alongside it years of study with the plant medicine traditions of Peru. Hamid wrote both down as history, in his own voice, as part of his story. ### Thailand: Chiang Mai and Hang Dong Northern style Thai massage, Tok Sen and the teacher who shaped both, with one essay from the same years. Essay · October 2016 #### [Wai Khru for Arjarn Jame Khemthong](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/wai-khru-arjarn-jame-khemthong/) > A wai khru ceremony in Thailand is an annual ritual during which time students honor their teachers as a way to show their gratitude. History #### [Thai Massage](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/thai-massage/) The hands came before the gongs History #### [Thai Massage Training in Thailand](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/thai-massage-training/) The way to learn this is to go to Thailand History #### [Tok Sen](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/tok-sen/) Tapping the lines with a wooden mallet History #### [Pichest Style Thai Massage](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/pichest-style-thai-massage/) The teacher who rebuilt the practice ### Peru: The Plant Medicine Traditions An account of what these medicines are and of what the traditions that hold them do with them. History #### [Plant Medicines](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/plant-medicines/) The other half of how I got here History #### [Ayahuasca](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/ayahuasca/) What the brew is, and what a ceremony is like History #### [Huachuma (San Pedro)](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/huachuma-san-pedro/) The cactus most people know as San Pedro History #### [Yoga & Ayahuasca](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/yoga-ayahuasca/) Two maps describing the same territory [See the whole story](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/about/) ## The Occasional New Piece Goes Out *by Email* The newsletter carries events, training dates and the occasional piece of writing. [Join the newsletter](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/newsletter-signup/) ### In Conversation Long conversations with Hamid on other people’s shows, about sound, minerals and plant medicine, and the show he hosts, Plant More Worry Less. [Hear the podcasts](https://www.hamidjabbar.com/podcasts/)