15 Jul What is sound healing?

Sound healing is a holistic therapy treatment that focuses on the body as a whole. Sound has vibratory effects on cells and organs, emotional effects on the brain and taps into our spiritual aspect. The power of the vibration, or sound is related to the volume of molecules that it moves. More powerful vibrations can be felt in the physical domain, whereas some of the finer sound vibrations may be sensed in the more subtle energy fields of the body. Mind-body communication occurs on the deepest levels of cellular function and they are not only connected, they are unified.

Our inner environment functions most efficiently when all our systems are in fine-tuned balance.  In this state of harmony, our cells, organs, hormones, and other biochemical factors work together to maintain healthy defences against disease and proper functioning of all our broader biological systems – cardiovascular, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous and immune.  The human being remains healthy through a self-regulating system of balance, or homeostasis. Once everything is in balance; healing life force energy (prana, the basic energy of life that exists in everything) can flow unhindered.

Using sound and rhythm, we can lull our brainwaves into a more relaxed state, so we enter an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Entering different ASCs is a part of our body’s daily routine and important for our well-being as the mind and body need time in lower brainwave states for optimum health. Being in an (ASC) can help us to shift physical, mental, emotional and behavioural blockages. When we are in an ASC, we bypass our rational, thinking mind and tap into our subconscious mind (our inner wisdom) which can open up new ideas and possibilities to us. An ASC can also give relief from or soften symptoms of a condition, illness or disease.

Throughout the day, we naturally move into different brainwave states which determine how alert we are. There is a direct link between our predominant brainwave state, our heart rate and our breathing rate. When we become stressed or anxious, our predominant brainwaves speed up, our heart rate goes up and generally, so does our breathing rate and our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is activated. We become more alert and ready for action which is the body’s natural defence mechanism and kicks in when it is needed, for example, when we are going for a job interview or perhaps visiting the dentist but when the body is in a permanently stressed state, our SNS is permanently activated and this can manifest as disease, aches and pains, tightness and stiffness in the body. By altering our brainwave state, our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is activated, overriding the SNS, thereby calming the body by lowering the heart rate and deepening and slowing the breathing rate. Blood pressure and blood sugar levels begin to regulate bringing the body back into balance (homeostasis) not only on a physical level but also on an emotional, mental and spiritual level.

The science of sound – each sound and frequency has its own geometric shape (cymatics), so what you see is a physical representation of vibration, or how sound manifests into form through the medium of various materials. These cymatic images are truly awe-inspiring, not only for their visual beauty in representing the fundamental responsiveness of matter to sound, but also because they inspire a deep recognition that we, too, are part and parcel of this same complex and intricate vibrational matrix.