Sound Healing is growing in popularity, and with good reason. It’s used to treat everything from low mood to insomnia, with a whole host of other benefits reported. But what exactly is sound healing, and how could it work for you?
In a nutshell, sound healing is the use of certain frequencies and vibrations to induce healing responses within the body. During a normal day, our brain functions in something called beta state; it’s how we concentrate, stay alert and react to things in our environment. But sound and vibration can be used therapeutically to shift us into alpha (where we are more creative and relaxed), theta (where we meditate) and even delta, which is the state where we sleep deeply and the body repairs itself.
Although that might sound a bit New Age-y, the remedial use of sound vibration goes back millennia. The ancient Egyptians used something called toning, which was the manipulation of vowel sounds to produce a healing effect. And in ancient Greece, music was used to treat mental disorders.
As for how it works, crystal bowl and gong master Malbert Lee notes that “the adult body is around 75% water, and water is a great conductor for sound vibration. When vibrations travel through the body, they promote circulation, energy flow and rejuvenation. The frequency of the sound synchronises with the brainwaves and activates de-stress responses in the body.”
These days, we tend to encounter sound healing in the form of voice mantra, chanting, gongs, crystal singing bowls, Tibetan singing bowls and tuning forks, to name but a few. Some people enjoy group experiences such as gong baths, and some prefer to invest in their own instruments for personal use, or use the services of a sound therapist.
Although the science around sound healing is still quite new, some of the benefits reported are lower stress, a reduction of pain, blood pressure, mood swings and even cholesterol. It is also widely reported to improve sleep.
And it’s not just yoga studios, Madonna or Kendall Jenner that have embraced it, either; even the NHS has trialled music in the use of pain reduction, with very encouraging results. On a personal note, I was asked during the first lockdown to play an online sound bath for the patients of a doctors surgery in Richmond. They asked for more as they enjoyed it so much!
Of course, all of these facts are interesting to know, but you don’t need to be aware of any of them to appreciate just how powerful sound healing can be! If you’ve ever experienced the pure bliss of a gong bath, the heart-opening joy of Kirtan (group chanting) or the deep calm produced by a crystal bowl session, you’ll already be aware of its benefits.
And if you haven’t, I really can’t encourage you enough to find out for yourself.
