QUESTION: Why does the n.o.w. System only play for 3 minutes? Can you

The 3-Minute Question is our most frequently asked, and the answer takes many forms—grab my hand and come explore with me!
PLUS, an exciting announcement at the end!!!

“Three minutes is not enough, can we have more?”
Sometimes the question comes from a non-meditator who is surprised by how they feel when experiencing the Tones, and they want the feeling to continue. Often it is long-term practitioners of meditation who recognize the potency of the Tones and would like to use them for longer sitting sessions. Beyond that, there are those who would like to listen while drifting to sleep, or rocking a newborn, or giving a massage, or during acupuncture; really for any situation where beautiful sounds can apply.

n.o.w. is something new, and it is different, and it will remain that, every single time you listen, into forever. And keep in mind something that has surprised us from the beginning: n.o.w. often reveals its brilliance, genius and functionality later. What can sometimes sound like high-handed concepts that we built into the System are only revelations and discoveries we’ve had as a result of having built it. We the makers of n.o.w. remain in awe, and we trust every component, or seeming lack of component.

The n.o.w. (New Origin Waveforms) Tone Therapy System, when used, is meant to create a specific result: the freeing from thought into mindfulness, more quickly and more deeply. We hope for it to open the doorway for you into timelessness and presence. There is a reason presence is a sought-after commodity in our lives—whether you see it as a bit of calm, or you see it as a bit of the eternal, bringing it into your life can make a world of difference (and can even make a different world).

n.o.w. is structured on pure simplicity, and it defies every attempt to make it more complicated. It aims to do its one thing: bring peace through sound, and it does this by providing an anchor to its particular tonal experience. Just listen and let the Tones be your wordless guide into wordless moments.

Before I head too far in my trip down Reverie Lane, here are governing principles that apply to n.o.w. and its 3 minutes:

The n.o.w. System has to be so easy that there are no barriers to regular use.
The n.o.w. System has to be so effective that it serves its purpose, which is to help people lead better lives.
The n.o.w. System has to be so beautiful in sound that it makes using it something that you don’t do just because it’s good for you, like swallowing a vitamin pill, but you do it because you want to–like it’s the juiciest gummie-bear vitamin ever.

These are not just good ideas, they are parts of what make the whole System work.

Beyond that, there is a fundamental reason for the 3 minutes, which is to fit full Tone sessions—beginning, middle and end—into ANY life, EVERY day, twice a day ideal, and as many times as you’d like beyond that. You can listen for hours if you want, even overlapping, but you have to turn them back on so that the system plays fully each time. More on that in a sec.

Our self-created, perceived “issue” is that the 3 minutes can be so constructive, yummy and magical, that people want more. We love the Tones too. But can it work as the n.o.w. System if it plays at longer durations?

The answer is no. I swear.

The Tones, played long, would certainly work as meditative sounds in which to bathe your subconscious, they would be calming and very helpful, or create beautiful background, but lost would be the larger potentials of awakening and connection—connection to oneself, connection to all, connection that comes as a result of regular moments in true presence.

Regular use enhances the effectiveness of the System for the user, and then also more people regularly using the System enhances a collective consciousness. It makes sense! If you are more peaceful in your day, you have more peace to share, and the more people sharing peace make for a dandy snowball effect. Let’s add to this a weighty component: What shakes peace to the core—but is more a part of life and our connections—than the reality of death? Yet, from all evidence, we need death to have life. Reflectively, the n.o.w. Tones fade at the end of their minutes of swelling composition, to decay away until fully off (ready or not), in order for the life of the tones that came before to be all they can be. I have come to see that listening to n.o.w., with its end, becomes a practice in acceptance, which is a practice in peace.

The use of the Tone Therapy System is cumulative, just as any regular mindfulness practice is cumulative. The real miracle in using the System is not how you feel at the time of use, but what happens as a result of bringing yourself to this type of stillness, regularly. That part of you who sits outside of the worry and thoughts gets a chance to put the pieces together for you, to increase the ability to find your answers. Regular doses of stillness are just that good.

There really is nothing else like n.o.w. It is a lot like a very functional tool and it is a lot like art, but is something else altogether. We learned during development to stay open and inspired, and to avoid burdening the experience with clever ideas. In fact, while recording the Tones, creator and founder Michael Joly brought himself repeatedly to a “no-mind state,” deleting any sessions where he’d had thoughts occur, or if he felt he’d tried to be influential or musical.

When I think of the making of n.o.w. and also its time length, a story often comes to mind that is attributed to Michelangelo carving David. With investigation I found the following (thanks go to quoteinvestigators.com):

In 1858 in “The Methodist Quarterly Review” was an essay comparing the methods of sculptors and poets.

“It is the sculptor’s power, so often alluded to, of finding the perfect form and features of a goddess, in the shapeless block of marble; and his ability to chip off all extraneous matter, and let the divine excellence stand forth for itself.”

In other words: in the creation of a thing simply remove all that isn’t the thing, and when all the things that aren’t the thing are removed, there you have the thing, revealed in its perfect form.

Our belief is firm that, when a person has the opportunity to release thought and step out of the world’s time-based mind structures, even if it’s only a few seconds, those few seconds share in the same timeless eternity that minutes or hours share in. To that end, time means nothing. I like to know that we kept chipping away to form as much nothing as possible.

Holy lol! This dang thing that is n.o.w.! Our partner Ruane likens the Tones to our core Universal Self and feels that is what we are hearing and why we yearn deeply to hold on, and I think she’s right.

Myself, I like to call it God in a Can.

Stay in Wonder! —Alene

AND HERE IS The solu announcement:

Now that you’ve learned the basic “whys” of the 3 minute n.o.w. Tone Therapy System, I’ll let you in on the news that solu IS MAKING A NEW TONE EXPERIENCE and a revolution yet again. It is not n.o.w., but will be its own kind of awesome, and yes, with varying listening times. Stay tuned! (Enjoy that pun for no extra charge.)

For a full 3-MINUTE n.o.w. Tone Therapy System demo, click here.

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