What is Sound Healing?

by Kay Grace, CAEH

Sound Healing Sessions, Training & Retreats since 2001

Sound healing is a form of energy medicine based on vibrational frequencies. Everything in the universe is made of energy which vibrates at its own unique speed or frequency, which means that everything is sound, whether it’s audible to us or not.

A primary principle of sound healing is that symptoms and suffering, whether physical, spiritual, mental or emotional, first occur in the Human Energy Field, and the stronger this dissonant or chaotic energy becomes, the greater the impact it will have on the person. When we change the energy field, symptoms and behaviors also change.

If a person is ill, in physical pain or feels out of balance mentally, emotionally or spiritually, the system is not “in harmony” or vibrating at its optimal level. Sound healing brings the entire system back toward more order and harmony, using tools, technique and intention.

On a physical level, sound healing effectively induces a state of calm, slows down breathing, heartbeat and brainwave activity, lowers blood pressure, alleviates pain, and reduces stress, all of which boost the function of the immune system. Harmonic singing and other forms of sound healing have been shown to enhance memory, charge the brain’s cortex, and even teach and entrain the brain to restore and replace weak, dormant or missing frequencies. Sound can take your brain waves from active to alpha, as if you were meditating, or even into a theta brain wave state, where very deep healing often occurs just below the surface of your conscious awareness.

The Journal of Advanced Nursing reported that listening to classical music for one hour a day for one week reduced chronic pain by up to 21 percent, and depression by up to 25% in people with a range of conditions including rheumatoid arthritis. Mozart’s music has been found to reduce the electrical activity associated with seizures in people with epilepsy. A leading New York oncologist uses Crystal and Tibetan singing bowls and Hindu Sanskrit chanting to help cancer patients; in his book, “The Healing Power of Sound,” Dr. Mitchell Gaynor discusses the amazing results seen by integrating music, vocalization, crystal singing bowls and meditation into patient care.

Sound and music can help you shift from one state of energy to another, from feeling tired and depressed, to feeling more calm, energetic and happier.  Intention is critical to sound healing. What the healing practitioner and the person receiving the sound intend, combined with the state of being you’re in encodes itself onto the sound. Sound contains information, and even if we are unaware of this consciously, our bodies and subconscious minds recognize and respond to this information.

Sound healing tools and techniques include Voice (Toning, Chanting, Singing, Shamanic sounding, Overtone or Harmonic Singing), Drums, Tibetan and Himalayan Singing Bowls and Chimes, Gongs, Crystal Singing Bowls, Tuning Forks, Music, and Laughter.

There are 3 basic ways this happens:

~ Dissolving a block by matching its frequency, like an opera singer who shatters a glass with her voice (destructive resonance).

~ Releasing through sound, which creates a pathway for unwanted energy to leave. Making the sound of a stored energetic trauma left in your system is another kind of releasing.

~ Entrainment which uses specific sounds and intention to bring you into a particular state of being, such as relaxed, focused or energized (constructive resonance).

Even a single tone sung at the proper frequency, can effect change in our bodies. Scientists believe this may be possible because our bodies are made up of about 80% water and water is a major conductor of sound. If sound helps the cellular activity move toward greater order, the body can do its own job much more effectively. More complex music affects us on a mental and emotional level because it is acting in the nervous system, specifically, the parts of our brain responsible for emotion, memory and non-verbal communication.

Masuru Emoto, a Japanese researcher, has studied the effects of music, chants, thoughts and words on the shape and pattern of water as it forms into crystals. “Thank You” creates a beautiful crystal, while “I hate you,” creates a dark, chaotic mess. He theorizes that since humans are made up of mostly water, sounds, including the inaudible frequencies of words and thoughts have an effect on us, both positive and negative.

So, how can the average person use sound to improve their everyday lives?

• Don’t bite your lip or hold your breath if you’re in pain- groan and make sounds to release it!
• Speak the truth with kindness and awareness.
• Sing often, whether you can carry a tune or not.
• Use your voice for self-healing and wellness: Tone a simple vowel sound like AH, OH, EE, add your intention (like peaceful, capable, confident, gracious) and sing for at least 3 minutes, to shift your energy quickly and easily.
• Play music which feels good at least an hour a day – calming, energizing, peaceful.
• Pay attention to your sound environment, changing what you can, and harmonizing with those sounds you cannot change, by singing or playing music which is in harmony with it.
• Your thoughts are inaudible sounds and have a very powerful effect on you, so pay attention to them, and weed out the thoughts that don’t support you.

Sound is at the heart of every creation myth, bringing spirit and intention into physical form, and is an incredible tool for healing and manifestation, so explore, and seek out experienced sound healers and healing music to create well-being, vital health and greater harmony in your life.