Have you heard about wind phones? I sought out the one at Ball’s Falls Conservation Area in the Niagara Region. I found it just off the trail among trees and rocks not far from Twenty Mile Creek. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in early October. Even though there were lots of walkers out that day, silence enveloped me as I approached the phone booth with other sounds drifting away.
The phone, which is in an open ‘phone booth’, is only attached to the wind. But it provides anyone who has experienced a loss an opportunity to express their feelings or perhaps say goodbye to someone if they didn’t get the opportunity to do so. You can dial their phone number or just pick up the receiver and speak and let the wind carry your words over the trees into the beyond.
Wind Phones began in Japan in 2010. Garden designer Itaru Sasaki constructed one in his garden to help him cope with his cousin’s death. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that killed over 20,000 people in the Tohoku region of Japan, he opened it to the public the following year. The wind phone movement is now worldwide.
After my experience with using a wind phone I’ve added it to my spirituality toolkit. I know it will help me in times of grief and when I want to enjoy a walk in the woods and a chat with a loved one the next time I visit Ball’s Falls.
Here are some links for you to learn more about the wind phone:
‘Wind phone’ in Niagara forest part of worldwide efforts to help grieving people speak to lost loved ones | CBC News
Japan’s ‘wind phone’ offers solace to those grieving – YouTubeWind phones 1[11]wind phones 2[26]
