Humming Giraffes

“Someone discovered the giraffe hums
at a harmonic rate of 92 Hertz,
voice thrumming the tower of spine
and trachea once thought to be silent….”
”Ode to This Small Joy”- Maria Calabretta Cancio-Bello

After reviewing almost 1000 hours of sound recordings in three European zoos, Angela Stöger at the University of Vienna, Austria…   picked up a weird humming coming from the giraffe enclosures in all three zoos at night. (New Scientist, Sept. 17, 2015). To hear the giraffes,  click https://soundcloud.com/new-scientist/giraffes-hum. I understand that horses also hum when they are gathered together and sleepy. Who knows what other species do the same? Perhaps the rhinoceros  hums, too, only no one gets close enough to hear.

What is good enough for a giraffe is good enough for me, so I decided to experiment with humming. My mentor said, “When you are feeling depressed, hum a tune,” and he told me how humming had helped him when he was a new arrival to this country and alone in New York City.

I am feeling disheartened these days since we are in danger of losing our country, so I am trying humming, and I find that it really works to lift the spirit. What’s more, you don’t have to keep a tune or remember any words. Nothing comes between you and your own sound energy.

I notice that humming sends energy directly to the brain, so perhaps it also helps to enlighten our mental functioning. I haven’t been doing it long enough to notice any difference, but I do feel happy when I hum. Perhaps if we all hum together, we will change the dynamics of the energy scene in our family, city, state, country, world!

Happy Humming,

Dorothy