Sound healing: sound you need to feel

As long as musical instruments have existed, sound has been used to influence our state of mind. Guest blogger Viënna explains how she uses sound herself in her Sharana practice. Her clients report a wide range of remarkable effects.

Not hearing, but feeling

You’ll probably recognise this: you’re feeling a bit down, a cheerful song comes on the radio, and you immediately feel a lot better. The opposite can happen too: you’re driving home and you hear a song that reminds you of a loved one who has passed away—and out of nowhere, the tears start flowing. But that’s still only about sound entering through your ears. Sound healing takes it a step further. You sit or lie in a room where live sound is created with musical instruments. You don’t just hear the vibrations—you feel them too.

Does it work?

The benefits clients report back to me include: relaxation, a calmer mind, an improvement in mood, a reduction in pain, symptoms and discomfort, reduced anxiety, reduced depression, improved sleep, and improvements in concentration, focus and cognitive functions. What I often notice myself when I give a sound-healing session is that people and animals ‘drop off’. The tension literally melts away and they fall asleep—even if, right before the session, they were still sitting there waiting and grinding their teeth.

How does that work?

One possible explanation is that the fluid in your body starts to vibrate along with the instrument’s vibrations. Sounds are created by changes in pressure, where the length of the sound wave determines the frequency. In general, large objects produce long waves with a low frequency, and small objects produce short waves with a high frequency. Resonance is the phenomenon where an object starts vibrating along with an external vibration. The idea is that resonance occurs in your body—which is about 70% water—with the instrument. The work of Masaru Emoto is interesting in this regard:

As old as the world

Using sound to achieve a particular physical or mental effect can be found all over the world. Among Native Americans (shaman drum and flute) and Aboriginal Australians (didgeridoo), sounds were used to enter a trance and travel to other worlds and dimensions. In India and Tibet, mantras and chants are used in the practice of yoga and Buddhism to resonate with spiritual energy. In Africa, medicine men still use the rhythmic sound of the djembe to work themselves into ever deeper states of ecstasy.

How I heal

Metal and crystal singing bowls, gong, drums, didgeridoo, handpan, kotamo, harp, shruti box, harmonium, tanpura, tuning forks, kalimba, Koshi chimes and flutes. In the photo you can see even more. Each instrument has its own sound and frequencies, which means each instrument also has a unique effect on the body. I support the dying process and the birth process, I use it for (premature) babies, in childcare and care institutions, with elderly people with dementia, in disability care, at care farms, and for animals. I also use it for certain complaints, such as tinnitus.

Curious?

How do you experience music and sound influencing you? Let us know below in the comments.