Sound has always been healing and exists in many frequencies throughout nature. This is why you might find yourself winding down to relax on a sofa after a day when it has rained all day. You can find a sense of calm coming to your entire being after spending time at a retreat in a forest, hearing the wind move through the trees and the chatter of insects.
Sound has always been known to heal us, whether it be hearing a favorite sad song of ours or the voice of a dear friend on a bad day. Sound is a tool used in the world by nature and deliberately by humans to alter the state of mind. Sound healing works on the principle that everything in the world has a vibration. This vibration is then used to influence the situation at hand. When it comes to why this happens, we must look toward science.
How Does Sound Heal Our Body?
To understand how sound heals us, we must understand how our body works. Our existence is a gathering of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that occur as interactions between our neurons. These groups of neurons then interact together in unison to create electrical pulses that are known to become different brain waves. These brain waves are divided into different bandwidths, out of which five are mainly known.
These different bandwidths triggered deliberately can then relax the body and bring it to different resting states. This is where sound becomes relevant because it has the power to trigger these reactions with its vibrations. This is something that ancient monks and yogis already knew. In their traditions sound was also known to have the power to bring chaos into order.
All the current and popular methods of sound healing right now stemmed from research findings earlier in the seventies. In terms of scientific discovery, during this time, biophysicist Gerald Oster conducted research that identified the binaural beat and its influence. This allowed humans to explore syncing of the brain waves in both hemispheres to influence different bandwidths. It was this research that led to the creation of the culture binaural beat healing videos later on. People discovered they could direct their brain to focus or relax by influencing their brain’s electrical activity through sound.
Sound Healing in Different Ceremonies
In religion and other spiritual practices, this knowledge has been consistently utilized throughout many traditions over the centuries. People have used singing, songs, drumming, tapping, and pulsing sounds to bring transformation to their lives and heal their bodies. The sound, in conjunction with different breathing patterns, has brought the body healing and renewed energy. These rituals change depending on the culture.
Sound Healing Throughout History
If we go back in time, we will find these current practices originating from old traditions. For example, Chinese and Yogic traditions make use of chants and mantras while meditating or healing different parts of the body. In ancient Greece, Pythagoras would use specific harmonies in music to aid his disciples in sleeping and to re-energize themselves. If you can imagine what sleeping to your favourite song can do for you, then imagine what a perfectly softened tune carefully curated to make you feel at ease can do for your restful hours.
In fact, take it a step further for healing. An interesting way that this is already present in nature is in cats. Have you ever held a cat and had its body vibrate in your hands as it purrs? Cats often purr, to heal themselves. The frequency of their purrs has been scientifically proven to strengthen their bones and provide mending.
Sound Healing in Meditation and Yoga
In humans we can see something similar in current Vedic yoga practices, different sounds are chanted, to help you balance out your chakra. Each chakra is an energy centre in your body. Each sound is known to give off a frequency that helps open those energetic blocks in these centres in your body to allow your chakra to reign itself. For example, H-A-A-M is chanted for the throat chakra and R-A-A-M is used for the solar plexus chakra.
Sound Healing and Tibetan Bowls
Sound singing bowls ceremonies have been used in ancient tradition for over 50,000 years in mediation and rituals for aboriginal tribes. These bowls originated from 16th century China and are made from materials such as lead, copper, and silver. A mallet is used to make circular motions around the edge of the bowl to produce sound and once it is heard, the motion is slowed down.
The sound passes through the room in waves and rolls over your body to encompass your senses. These are called sound baths and can even be done with crystal bowls.
Sound Healing and Crystal Bowls
Crystal bowls though on the other hand have their own metaphysical properties that respond in accordance to each chakra. Each singing bowl gives off a different note that will then balance the chakra it is related to, clearing the energy centre. For example the musical note C responds to the root chakra and note F corresponds to the heart chakra in the body.
Benefits For Sound Healing
Sound healing has many uses when it comes to the body. Yet, one of the key benefits of sound healing that is overlooked is its lack of intrusiveness. Since sound healing does not require physical contact, it is very favourable for those who are averse to consuming something or being touched. This can be a relief for many people who avoid other treatments due to these reasons.
Sound healing can reduce stress and clear your energetic blockages. A lot of sound therapy is used to help regulate emotions and help in pain management when it comes to treatments related to PTSD, ADHD, chronic pain, sleep disorders and epilepsy.
Sound healing has been known to stimulate the immune system, calm overactive adrenal glands and increase mental clarity. Sound penetrates and transforms everything and with time this truth has only strengthened.