Everything around us, including ourselves, has a vibrational frequency. Music can be a solace and an escape, a universal art form that truly transcends barriers. Big retail houses music in stores to encourage spending, as they understand the power of music in consumer psychology. Now, medical science recognizes it as an artistic medium with dramatic health and wellness potential.
It is said playing classical music to babies relaxes them and enhances brain development. Music therapy, such a learning to play the piano or guitar has been found to have dramatic results in changing brain waves. Quantum science now tell us everything is vibration… and music is most definitely about vibration. Unsurprisingly, this is why it’s been around for a long time as a healing modality.
Sound therapy was widely practiced in Greece as a treatment for mental illnesses. It has been used to boost the morale of the armed forces, improve workers’ productivity, and invoke memory. Chanting is a known and life-changing practice…. But how does it really work?
Then and now
The origins of sound therapy date back almost 40,000 years ago, when the indigenous Australians used the didgeridoo, a long wind musical instrument, to heal. Experts across the traditional and scientific spheres suggest that this centuries-long practice could holistically impact emotional and physical well-being in myriad ways.
More and more healing centers and yoga institutes are using it to induce calmness from ongoing stress and anxiety. In addition, corporate houses have started giving sound healing sessions to their employees. Some instruments used for these sessions include Tibetan bowls, gongs, and drums.
Dr. Neha Kamboj, Founder of a Healing Centre in Bangalore, explains that when singing bowls are played together, the intermingling tones start to resonate creatively producing the most unexpected and mysterious sound and seem to impact listeners at a deep and subconscious level.
“The first and the foremost effect I see every time I do sound healing for someone is utmost peace and calmness. After a session, the mind completely declutters and does not make the unnecessary noise of negative self-talk. I have seen insomnia of many years reversing in just a few sessions of sound healing,” she adds.
Holistic and wholesome
Research is increasingly finding an active connection between healing and music. Sound healing meditations can improve areas like self-love, anxiety, digestion, anger management, chakra healing, dealing with grief, focus, and concentration, increased memory, and improved blood circulation, to name a few out of endless benefits. How does this happen?
Studies have shown that sound therapy has a remarkable impact on reducing stress and anxiety levels, improving productivity, ability to sleep better, lowering cholesterol levels, and other chronic issues. The vibration of sound reaches even the depth of bones, thoroughly nourishing every cell of the body with positivity and relaxation.
It improves focus as the mind is less prone to chatter after a sound therapy experience. This improves people’s organizational skills, thus benefitting them in their personal and professional lives.
How it works
The vibration of vocals or musical instruments interacts with our body and impacts the brainwave frequencies, which in turn heals you. You experience healing as the sound vibrations activate, detoxify, and balance your chakras, releasing stagnated energy. Dr. Neha explains the process:
“The sound waves (like ripples from a pebble tossed into a pond) spread in concentric rings into larger and larger circles through the blood, flesh, organs, and bones, relaxing them and simultaneously harmonizing and energizing them. In this way, the more than 100 trillion cells, the building blocks of the human body, receive a gentle cleansing massage. Think of it as being similar to what happens when you put jewelry or dentures into a supersonic bath. In a short while, all the dirt comes loose. The sound vibrations of singing bowls, designed for healing, release energy blockages from the body, mind, and spirit. These special vibrations are soothing enough to calm the nerves, yet penetrating enough to reach the marrow of the bones!”
The sound vibrations of singing bowls, designed for healing, are soothing enough to calm the nerves, yet penetrating enough to reach the marrow of the bones!”
The physical manifestation
It’s not only the mind that benefits from the musical therapy; research suggests that sound therapy surprisingly affects our ability to heal physically. Singing bowls are a powerful adjuvant therapy for almost any illness, thanks to its relaxing effect. Tuning forks effectively relieve chronic pain; bowl meditation can lower blood pressure, improve blood circulation, and boost your immune system. Vibroacoustic Therapy, a technique wherein sound and vibrations are directly applied to the body, is said to help treat chronic pain and provide speedy recovery from injuries. Soothing music increases the oxytocin levels in patients who have undergone open-heart surgery, relaxing them and accelerating their healing process.
Dr. Neha further affirms, “Over 5000 years of medicinal research proves that if an ailing person takes sound therapy, the millions of cells in their body start to vibrate and bring the body to perfect health in time. Many clients feel relief from pain and tension the first time they receive treatment. For others, it takes a few more sessions before they perceive a profound change.”
Noted Techniques
Designers of these therapeutic techniques require due recognition, for they have produced something that can impact our minds and bodies in ways unanticipated.
Our body is a work of proficient engineering and thus should be treated as such. Music can influence the body and mind in ways that medical professionals never thought possible until the dawn of the 21st century. While it is true that sound therapy may not have a cure for critical medical issues, but it has been built with elements that can transform you dynamically from within, and prevention is the best cure, it is said. For a practice that only heals, with no harmful side effects, perhaps it is time to give the wonders of sonic healing the hearing it deserves and let it be the answer to illnesses we never experience.
