Health

The Benefits of Sound Healing

September 29, 2022 - By mylifestylestip

“Sound healing can assist to balance and clear the mind, leading to a renewed sense of purpose, well-being, calm, and happiness.” —Susy Markoe Schieffelin, sound healer

Given that everything has a vibrational frequency, including people, it makes sense that sound frequencies impact how we feel. That’s why particular songs and types of music often bring about specific types of emotions from us. Sound healing uses tonal frequencies to bring the body into a state of vibrational balance and harmony by synchronizing brain waves. The result is a profound state of relaxation, that helps to restore the normal vibratory frequencies of the cells in our bodies.

It may be considered new age wellness, but sound healing is hardly a new form of therapy. The ancient Greeks used music to cure mental disorders and throughout history, sound has been used to help people work faster, influence, and boost morale.

Of course, these days, sound healing can take on many different forms including gongs, wind chimes, pan flutes, singing bowls, hangs, tuning forks, didgeridoos, kalimbas, djembes, rain sticks, monochords and harps. However, many practitioners prefer to use instruments like tuning forks and gongs. That’s because these can work faster to achieve a healing effect.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SOUND HEALING?

Science is still catching up to understanding how sound heals, but the current research is promising. A review of 400 published scientific articles on music as medicine found strong evidence that music has mental and physical health benefits in improving mood and reducing stress. In fact, rhythm (over melody) can even provide physical pain relief.

One study published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine found that an hourlong sound meditation helped people reduce tension, anger, fatigue, anxiety, and depression while increasing a sense of spiritual well-being. There are many different theories that attempt to explain why sound experiences can be linked with deep relaxation and physical pain relief. One theory is that sound works through the vibrational tactile effects on the whole body. Sound could stimulate touch fibers that affect pain perception.

Over the years, sound healing has also been used to treat several conditions including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, and dementia.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

During a sound healing session, also known as a sound bath, you’ll typically lie down on the floor or a yoga mat, perhaps cuddle up with a cozy blanket, and listen as a practitioner plays a variety of instruments, bathing in the soothing sounds and vibrations. Roxie Sarhangi, a certified sound healing practitioner, describes it as a “meditative acoustic sound concert.”

In celebration of Mental Health Day, Women’s Health and Wellbeing are running a sound healing session with renowned sound healer Julian Silburn. Julian is a didjeridu player, performer and teacher with a passionate interest in Aboriginal culture and music. Julian has been taught by a number of Yolngu elders in Arnhemland and Noongar elders in Western Australia. Having collaborated with them musically and culturally over many years, he has their blessing and approval for using the didjeridu in his healing, performance and teaching work.