We are all sound....so what is sound healing and how can it help us?

Welcome to this very brief introduction to sound healing. When I first started training the history of sound healing blew my mind. The connections between the universe, Hippocrates, Pythagoras, what I already knew from Reiki about energy all made so much sense, but also astounded me.

Sound healing works on the understanding that everything in the universe comprises of vibrating molecules. These all vibrate at different speeds and in different ways (99.9% of an atom actually comprises of space). Without delving too deeply into this everything is formed from this vibration and as the vibrations become denser we see material matter being created from the ether to the rocks and trees in front of us.

We are able to hear sound via vibrations in these molecules and the way we hear these sounds depends on their amplitude (bigger amplitude = louder sound), wavelength and frequency. We can therefore affect the vibration of molecules by using the vibrations created by sound through a process called entrainment. You might have heard of this in relation to matching someone else's nervous system i.e a long hug from someone whose nervous system is calmer than your own can entrain your own nervous system and thus your breathing pattern to feel more relaxed. Horses are excellent at doing this. Therefore the different frequencies of sound can alter the vibrations of molecule, including those within us. You can see the impact of sound on molecules by looking at how sound affects water molecules. When you then consider that humans are predominantly water, you can see how this might affect us as well.

We can utilise different musical intervals to create different healing affects. Harmonious

notes such as Perfect fifth (C + G) can help us feel relaxed and calm. Whereas dissonant tones such as a C + D can feel uncomfortable, grinding and help us to release blockages. Practitioners use both to aid the healing journey of those attending a group sound bath or 1:1.

Sound healing can take place as a Sound Bath (many people laying comfortably in a room with a practitioner playing a rage of healing instruments) or 1:1 usually on a massage couch or the floor. Practitioners utilise a range of instruments and may focus on just one such as gongs, crystal bowls, tibetan bowls, tuning forks or they may combine multiple instruments into one session including the healing voice, koshi chimes, shakes and rattles, ocean drums, ocarinas, flutes, Tinghas, Shruti boxes, harps, the list goes on, each with their own special resonance and healing qualities.

This only touches on the surface of the knowledge within sound healing and I must thank my tutors at the Sound Healing Academy for instilling their knowledge in me and guiding me through my studies (Currently Level I with an aim to complete the full diploma soon), plus the knowledge from books such as those by Dr John Beaulieu whose work is fascinating. His work may be of particular interest to those working in the performing arts due to his collaborations with John Cage.

I hope to offer sound baths in the near future but in the meantime can offer some sound healing within Reiki sessions. Please get in touch if you are interested.