Most of us go about our days, living in a world that is flying by... full of running around to all the daily activities of life between work, school, and family. Barely having time to stop and think, let alone have time to take a break to just breathe and listen to the world around you. We spend our days ignoring the random sounds around us, the cars passing by, the birds out the window, the kids playing down the street. Some would probably say at times, they are so involved in the activities going on around them that they forget to even listen to what is being communicated to them from spouses, and loved ones. We turn these sounds into a blanket of dull white noise that our bodies don't even respond too unless we make a active choice to stop and listen. If we stopped and listened more, and became more in tune with our natural surroundings, trained our brains to listen and observe the sounds we are hearing from within our minds and body without any judgments, we could enliven parts of our bodies, minds, and souls to the healing powers of sound.
The History Of Sound Healing:
Sound healing has been around for centuries and used throughout multiple cultures to heal and enliven our bodies and souls. Music is one of the most emotive creations on earth and even it's name comes from the Greek "Art of the Muses," the goddesses who embodied and inspired art, literature, and knowledge of mankind. Music wasn't invented or discovered, but rather is something innate in us all that we all use to express ourselves in some way. We use music for entertainment, celebrations, ceremonies, expression, leisure, communication, and even healing. For thousands of years, humans have been using sound healing as therapies to cure many ailments and music is probably the one thing that truly connects all of humankind from every walk of life to all corners of the earth.
Shamans of ancient Indigenous tribes and native Americans used both song and dance to heal the sick, Ancient Egyptians shamans used music therapy in their temples. In ancient Greece, Apollo was the god of both music and medicine, and Aristotle and Plato claimed music affected the soul and the emotions. In the centers of ancient knowledge such as, Greece, Egypt, and India sound healing was considered a highly developed sacred science that was used to reach higher levels of spiritual consciousness.
Today, sound healing is used as a natural alternative to modern day medicine. It is drawn from ancient practices that help to create balance and alignment within the physical body, chakras, and etheric fields. There is a wide range of therapies that use sound to treat the physical and mental conditions affecting the body, mind, or spirit of the patient. These can include therapies that assist in releasing emotional, psychological, spiritual, physical, social, mental, and superficial modalities — to improve the health of the patient.
Sound is used for a variety of medical uses: meditation, relaxation, the listening of specific audios/frequencies to decrease pain, increase productivity, boost neurodevelopment, stress reduction, improve sleep, and increase consciousness. There are a wide range of techniques from simple sound massage to what is termed “sound surgery” where sound is utilized inside the body by placing highly precise frequencies of sound within specific organs. There are a lot of different forms of sound healing, below are 8 different techniques of sound healing that are worth looking into (1).
Healing with singing bowls/gongs: crystal or Tibetan bowls
Sonic acupuncture: tuning forks used in place of needles on the acupuncture meridians
Binaural Sounds: Alpha, Beta, Theta, Delta (Great website for Binaural audios to enjoy, http://idoseraudio.com/)
Multidimensional music
Psych geometric music
Shamanism chants
Healing with the Voice-Over toning, Buddhist Vedic mantras/meditations -Om Mani Padme Hum
Sacred Geometry: combining sound & visuals
Using sound can heal many parts of the body and can be used as an aggressive form of sound surgery to support reducing dis-ease in the body. Recently, researchers have been doing a lot of research on using sound healing to destroy cancer cells and it is 'now being used more and more to help restore tissues to a healthy state of being by resonating the frequency of healthy tissues. Doctors have now figured out the resonant frequency of healthy organs. By applying the correct frequency to a diseased organ, the organ is en-trained into a healthy state of vibration.' (1)
How Does It Heal:
Almost everything we experience in the universe is simply our perception of waves, no matter whether it is sound, electromagnetic, matter, or mechanical waves it is affecting our bodies and energy fields daily. 'The basic principle of Sound Healing is that of resonance; every object is in a state of vibration and therefore creates sound. This includes the various parts of our body, such as our organs, muscles, bones, even the water molecules in our body, etc. If these parts of our body are vibrating at their normal, healthy frequency, we call this state “health”. If a portion of our body begins to vibrate at a frequency which is not harmonious to us, we call this “dis-ease”. It is possible to use sound to project the correct resonant frequency of that part of the body which is vibrating out of harmony back into the body, causing it to return to its natural frequency and return to a state of health. This projection of sound can be done through electronic instrumentation or through using the human voice.' (1)
"When sound waves reach our ears, they are converted into electrical signals that travel up the auditory nerve into the auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes sound. Once sound waves reach our brains, they trigger responses in our bodies. This process alters our emotions, releases hormones and chemicals that affect both our bodies and our moods, and triggers certain impulses (for example, singing and dancing)" (3). That's why music is so healing and uplifting to us.
Neurological research has shown that listening to music and specific sound frequencies can improve our moods, increase creativity, and productivity by 'flooding our brains with dopamine — the happy chemical. It also releases oxytocin, a natural painkiller and hormone that allows us to bond with and trust people — it is most commonly found in mothers during labor. (3)' Music has been shown to reduce stress, change our moods, brains, and bodies... It is a powerful healing energy not to be tossed a side as some coaks that is ineffective because how do you know it doesn't work unless you try it and see the results for yourself!!
Healing with sound can improve and help support in reducing many ailments including, but not limited to:
Psychological/Psychiatric and behavioral disorders including autism, depression, learning disabilities, and developmental troubles
Anxiety disorder
Stress
PTSD
Pain
Reduce inflammation
Mood swings, or negative emotions, such as sadness, aggravation, anger, self-pity, and heartbreak.
It can also bring about:
Clarity and balance
Relaxation
Improved memory and concentration
Improved sleep (both in quality and quantity)
A stronger immune system
Improved creativity
Heightened awareness, both of the self and the environment
How it helps CF: Cystic Fibrosis:
I was introduced to sound healing from a acupuncture friend, she mentioned that in Mexico they are doing therapies that are using sound healing frequencies to remove and reduce bacteria/viruses in the body by playing specific frequencies that destroy the bacteria/viruses because the resonating sound is vibrating in the same frequency as the bacteria's or viruses frequency; and they can not vibrate and survive at this frequency and so are destroyed, for example how an opera singer can shatter a wine glass if they hit the right frequency in vocal tone. I was intrigued to research what frequencies the bacteria MRSA and Pseudomonas resonated at to see if listening to these in small increasing doses would help to reduce or eradicate my colonized bacteria in my body. I am doing more research on this now, and starting to practice with different frequencies from the rife sound system and looking to practice this with a trained sound healer. Here is a great website for rife frequencies and more information on how to use it here. You can find a great sound medicine frequency here I like.
Awesome YouTube video on Rife machine destroying bacteria below.
Squarewave Research 2003 - Rife Machine Killing Bacteria
After, researching about all the benefits that sound healing could do for me, I dove in with an open mind and heart ready to heal. I was drastically absorbed in it's amazing healing properties. I have since found, an amazing, group sound healing practice that I go to twice a month to be bathed in the healing sounds of Tibetan singing bowls, crystal singing bowls, and gongs. The healer "Supernova Sarah" from Supernova Energetics puts set intentions into every session and guides the sound with those intentions of healing and improvement for growth. She explains the process, things that you might in counter while on your sound journey, and how to tune back in to your inner self by finding your breathe if your mind gets lost. Most of her guidance is based off of astrological moon phases and she describes these at her sessions to shed light on what the energies of the universe are vibrating in at the time which normally co-insides with her intentions for the sound bath and what she recommends for you to set your intentions on during the session.
As, I arrive I set up my comfy meditation spot, with a big blanket in the grass, a small pillow, and a big jug of water. You can stretch, do yoga, and start to relax into the mood of the slow relaxation of the calm energy around until the session begins. Once it begins most settle into their preferred meditation posture, sitting or laying down. I lay on my back and slowly find my breathe, calm my mind, and focus on the slow breathe or the energy in my hands. After, ten minutes in to the sound healing you can feel the vibrations take over your mind and body. Most of the time, I feel as I am folding into the earth, but my mind and body are flying or hovering just above.
Every person, has a different experience on their sound journey from seeing vivid colors, shapes, and even visuals to deep emotional/physical energy releases of crying, and coughing. For me, I become extremely relaxed, my body finds a slow rhythm of breath, and at certain frequencies of sound my body begins to cough and then it suddenly just releases the energy and I stop coughing as if a evil spirit has been released out of me. During the session I am very aware of my body, and energy fields around me that sometimes create tingling feelings, intense warmth in my palms, and colors/shapes behind my eyelids. Some journeys are very hard to describe the feelings that you experience, but all I can say is it's like being a sleep and dreaming, but you are awake.
After, the sound bath your body is calm, relaxed, and I feel as every muscle in my body has released the tension that it was holding, what most holistic healers would describe as the stagnant energy your body holds onto and causes discomfort if you do not release it on a daily basis. The inflammation in my lungs is completely gone, and the ease of breathing without restriction has disappeared, my lungs have returned to a healthy state. I do not have to fight the urge to not cough when I exhale the last bit of air from my lungs as the spasms and inflammation in my lungs have calmed and dissipated.
For me, the sound healing has drastically helped reduce inflammation in not only my lungs, but my entire body; and has begun to heal the asthma like spasms I have every once in awhile when I find it hard to exhale my breathe. I have found it to be an amazing alternative healing method not only for my body physically, but has helped me to reach a higher state of consciousness, and I believe if I did this even more I would find even more benefits of the process. I intend to continue my journey of sound healing and encourage you to try it for yourself, what do you have to loose?
For more details on group or private sessions in sound healing with Supernova Energetics, check out her website or on Facebook for upcoming events.
For more resources on Sound Healing check out the Sound Healers Association here.
Resources:
Globe Institute of Recording & Production. 2018. Viewed 8/18/18. <https://soundhealingcenter.com/love/whatis/#Healing>
Faena Aleph. 2018 Viewed 8/18/18 <http://www.faena.com/aleph/articles/eight-healing-techniques-with-sound/>
MindValley. January 2018. Viewed 8/18/18. <https://blog.mindvalley.com/sound-healing/>
http://www.royal-rife-machine.com/index.htm
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