17 Jul Sound Healing

Sound helps to facilitate shifts in our brainwave state through a scientific process called entrainment. Entrainment is the ability of your brain to “entrain” or synchronize to a nearby stimuli, in this case, very slow, low frequency, binaural sound soundwaves. 

Through slower sound waves and vibration, your brainwaves naturally down-shift from our normal beta state (wakeful, alert ) to alpha (deep relaxation), theta (meditative), and delta (deep sleep) brainwave states through relaxed breathing and slower sound frequencies.

Alpha brainwave states naturally lower stress levels and anxiety by relaxing the Sympathetic Nervous System (“Fight or Flight”) and activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System (“Rest and Digest”) through deep breathing which reduces overall stress on the system and retrains the body how to relax.

It has been documented that most people find themselves facing a “fight or flight” decision an average of 12 times each day. The state of “fight or flight” is an acute stress response that can adversely affect digestion, heart rate, respiratory rate, immune system, and general wellbeing.

Sound reduces the stress response and activates the “rest and digest” Parasympathetic Nervous System through deep relaxation and breathing, which reduces heart rate, improves digestion and immunity systems, creates healthier sleep cycles, increases overall health and wellbeing.
 

Sound can also activate the theta brainwave state which is a state of deep meditation. This coveted brainwave state is easily accessible and provides all the benefits of meditation: creative problem solving, enhanced emotional intelligence, identifying mental ruts and bad habits, increasing confidence, self-awareness and self-connection.

Finally, sound can assist with the Delta brainwave state which is a state of deep sleep with a lowered heart rate, respiratory rate, and metabolic rate. In this state, one hour of sound can be the equivalent of a full night’s sleep.

• Reducing and managing acute stress effectively
• Creating a calm mind without effort
• Significantly reducing anxiety and stress hormones, balancing the metabolic and digestive systems, and increasing the immune system
• Reducing chronic pain, TMJ, migraines, lowering blood pressure, reducing cardiac disease, and other stress related physical issues
• Improving sleep cycles and lessening insomnia
• Managing depression through the release of natural opiates
• Releasing trauma and emotional blockages, it has been reported to help with PTSD
• Integrating emotional experiences and feeling an integrated sense of wholeness

Meditative Benefits 

• Enhancing one’s state of presence and self-awareness through fine-tuning self-observation, ability to listen, focus, and gain attention to a greater level of detail
• Improving communication and relationship dynamics through the development of clarity, patience, and compassion
• Discovering an overlooked connection between two variables that may be vital to solving the problem
• Added concentration, increasing focus, and ability to shut out distractions creates a rise in productivity and the ability to make clearer decisions.
• Sharpening the innate intuitive capabilities every person holds.
• Enhancing the ability to know when something doesn’t feel right allows allows for new space for new decisions.
• Lessening emotional attachment to a goal or outcome which helps the development of“communal” compassion. When individuals are able to think of the ramifications of their actions, they make better decisions that are more supportive, communally oriented, and with the greater wellbeing of all involved in mind.
• Heightening presence and awareness of behavior patterns, triggers, and undesired ways of being which lessens misunderstandings and “reactive” behaviors
• Enhancing the ability to focus on mutual goals, see the bigger picture, and feel a deeper sense of purpose and vision.
• Mood elevation, feeling a deep sense of inner calm for weeks at a time. 

Vibrational sound touches our bodies on a molecular and crystalline level

The body is a network of vibrational fields and energy currents. Each individual resonates at his or her own vibration. Sound is an acoustical wave while color is an electromagnetic wave. The colors of the rainbow correspond to a specific musical note. This is in the same way that each chakra of the body correlates with a specific tone and color.

Although there is a tone and color that corresponds to each of the chakra centers, each part affects the totality. This is important to know since each crystal bowl will affect the whole body. You may feel the effects in one section of your body more deeply, but the vibrational sound will also travel throughout your entire energy field. The human body and the entire earth are made up of energy, vibrating at different frequencies. When out of rhythm, disease and disharmony result. Therefore vibrational sound healing addresses these imbalances or blockages of the energy channels.

Notes of the crystal bowls are tuned to specific frequencies found within the human body

When the sound moves through the atmosphere and touches us, it causes our cells to move in different directions at a different speed, in rhythm with the sound wave. This puts us in harmony with the sound wave. The sound penetrates into our very cells and rebalances them through oscillation and resonance. Hearing is not a prerequisite for benefiting from these healing properties. As a result, studies have shown that sound has a direct impact on the mental processes, muscles, nervous system, (heartbeat, pulse) digestive system and circulatory system. Alignment with the tones of the Crystal Bowls is one of the most dynamic forms of sound healing found today.

Using sound to heal

Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, director of Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine at the Cornell Cancer Prevention Center in NY has been using sound with cancer patients. This includes Tibetan Bowls, Crystal bowls and chanting. “If we accept that sound is vibration and we know that vibration touches every part of our physical being, then we understand that sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our bodies.

One reason sound heals on a physical level is because it so deeply touches and transforms us. It does this on the emotional and spiritual planes. Sound can redress imbalances on every level of physiologic functioning. Therefore, it plays a positive role in the treatment of virtually any medical disorder.” His research shows that the sound vibration of the bowls affects the dysrhythmic motion found in cancer cells, causing a harmonious transformation.

Crystal bowl therapy helps to balance the chakra system

Crystal bowl therapy helps to balance the chakra system and re-energize the auric field. Healing is thus made possible on all levels. Each individual is unique as to which energy center(s) require balancing. You may find yourself drawn to different tones each time you experience them.