All About Sound Therapy

serenitystonesvt
4 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

What exactly is Sound Therapy?

Sound Therapy is one of many alternative wellness modalities you can pursue for stress reduction and energy healing.

Instruments such as tuning forks, crystal bowls, Himalayan or Tibetan metal bowls, chimes, bells, drums, and harps are utilized to create meditative, healing, and restorative soundscapes.

Frequencies (hertz), harmonics, and overtones play a key role in the therapeutic quality of a sound healing/journey/bath.

The Many Names of Sound Therapy

Sound healing, sound journey, and sound bath: these phrases are interchangeable, and so it can be confusing to know what to expect!

In my work, this is how I loosely delineate the different names of sound therapy:

A sound bath is all about deep relaxation. A practitioner plays their chosen instruments in ways that induce a deeply meditative state. The “bath” part of it is simply that the participant is awash in the rolling waves of harmonic sounds coming from the singing bowls and/or other instruments.

A sound journey is more of a guided experience in which a practitioner will lead participants through a guided visualization while playing their chosen repertoire of instruments.

A sound healing session is conducted with sound therapy instruments as part of an energy healing session. Metal singing bowls are utilized this way: the bowls are placed on and/or around the client and the sound waves, pitches, harmonics, and tones are used to break up stagnant energy so higher vibration energies may flow again, aiding emotional, mental, and physical wellness. Tuning forks and quartz singing bowls are employed similarly.

However, healing can occur during a sound bath or a sound journey, and a listener may experience an inner journey or visualization during a sound bath or sound healing.

Hence, the interchangeable names of sound therapy!

An important thing to note is that sound therapy utilizes frequency, tone, and harmonics differently than a song or musical piece. While a song or musical composition has melodies, harmonies, and timing constructed in a way that our brains follow along and even predict, sound therapy allows notes, harmonies, and frequencies to flow more loosely and naturally so as to quiet the mind, induce deep relaxation, and allow the frequencies of healing and high vibration energies to flow into our subtle energy body (aura, chakras, etc.) for healing, recovery, recalibration, and restoration.

How does it work?

Sound healing works through a process called “entrainment.”

When two independent frequencies are in close proximity to each other, they shift into whichever of the two frequencies is stronger. They synchronize.

For example, quartz crystal singing bowls vibrate when played, and these vibrations are energy. The tones of the bowls are broadcasting into the room, bathing listeners with their frequencies. Add the harmonics and overtones coming from the bowls, and you have waves of sound washing gently over you in a sound bath.

Sound vibrations work well with our human body because we are composed of a similar mineral as quartz: silica. As well, being approximately 70% water, and with water easily attuning to emotional and musical frequencies, sound therapy is an excellent way to recalibrate our physical, emotional, and mental states.

For further reading about silica and the human body, see this post: Silica: The Structural Mineral for Strength, Healing & Vitality - Ask a Naturopath

For more information about water and frequency, see the work of Masaru Emoto, scientist and author of The Hidden Messages in Water: Masaru Emoto – Office Masaru Emoto

A listener’s body and mind will come into and out of synchronicity with the frequencies of the bowls as one deepens into the sound bath.

Intention + Frequency = Healing

A sound healing, sound journey, or sound bath is also about intention: the intention of the participant and the intention of the practitioner.

My Wednesday sound baths at Sweetwater Yoga Studios carry intentions of peace and relaxation.

Sound healings, so called because each one has a different healing intention, are one Sunday a month at Sweetwater Yoga Studios.

What can you expect?

A sound bath is a deeply relaxing, passive experience. You enter the studio, get comfortable on a mat with blankets and pillows, and allow the vibrations of the quartz crystal singing bowls to wash over you.

You allow your body and mind to surrender into the peaceful, relaxing journey and the healing intentions of the sound bath.

Your mind, body, and emotions shift into a recalibrated, balanced state. A harmonious state.

As you may guess, a sound bath quiets the nervous system and recalibrates your PNS (parasympathetic nervous system—the “rest and digest” mode) and SNS (sympathetic nervous system—the “fight, flight, or freeze” mode).

It is the sound wave frequencies slowing down your brain waves into deeply restorative delta and theta states, thus activating the PNS and your body’s self-healing and repair systems.

How do you know a sound bath is right for you?

Ask yourself these questions:

*Am I experiencing sleepless nights or low-quality nights of sleep?

*Am I feeling overwhelmed?

*Is my mind often racing with thoughts?

*Does my body ache with tension?

*Do I have a hard time slowing down and relaxing?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then indeed, a sound bath is something that will support you!

A one-off sound bath or sound healing can be quite beneficial, but to really affect change in your PNS and SNS, try attending sound baths on a regular basis and notice how they affect your mental state, your inner sense of peace and joy, and your physical health.