When I first started teaching others about using sound, voice and music for health, there was not a lot of formal research and documentation about it. I am thankful for those "pioneers" of modern sound healing for their work, what I learned from them, and certainly my own clients who were willing to let me use sound along with their massage and energy sessions(Reiki, Healing Touch, Chakra Balancing, Craniosacral Therapy, Polarity, Foot reflexology and numerous hands-on massage modalities). I am still learning! The more I learn the more I see there is so much more to learn. I frequently say that sound is a vast subject, and there are so many subjects and aspects of it! Fortunately, in recent years due to the advances in technology and the increased interest in sound healing and sound therapy, hundreds of studies have documented not only that sound and specific frequencies may bring about healing and help us maintain health, but it also contains necessary nutrient frequencies. Our bodies absorb sound. We don't have to be able to literally hear something for there to be sound or for us to be effected by it. We basically only hear between 20-20,000 Hz. There are a few people who have increased hearing ranges, and there are many of us who hear less, especially as we age. We know that many animals have much greater hearing capacity than humans.
By entrainment and resonant frequencies or sympathetic vibrations, might even the cells of our bodies be restored to balance or harmony, i.e. their healthy frequency? While shamans and tribal healers throughout the ages have used quite a variety of means in healing with sound, so have ancient cultures, churches and societies used it for such purposes as controlling populations, healing and warfare. Sound is still used in this way through frequencies, types of music, specific vibrations. If you have a room full of grandfather clocks and start the pendulums at different times, within hours they will all be swinging in sync. There is a popular YouTube video showing this happening with a movable/floating tray filled with 32 metronomes. They start out all swinging at different degrees of the same rhythm. Within minutes they all are swinging back and forth at the exact same time in the exact same beats per minute. Synchronized oscillation. While this is a mechanical example, our bodies are in constant rhythmic patterns always working for homeostasis or balance.
And yes there are frequencies that are harmful to our well being. Think EMF's. Electromagnetic fields, ultraviolet rays, radiation, power lines, cell phones, microwaves, televisions, computers, other appliances. We are walking around in a sea of invisible frequencies.
Sound therapy is a collaborative effort between the practitioner and the client/patient as is any type of health relationship. When the sound therapist uses an instrument or their own voice, your being is affected by those frequencies. Every cell, every organ, every system, every layer of your energy field have their own individual healthy frequencies. If any of these areas are literally out of tune, the sound therapist's use of sound may help entrain the out-of-tune area back to harmony, at least temporarily. Sound is the energy of creation. "And God said, let there be..." The spoken word is powerful! Our sound on our breath, whether speaking, singing, chanting, praying manifests! May we be conscious of and choose thoughts and words that heal and unite rather than those which wound and divide. Love is the purest and highest frequency. God Is Love. Ah, but I've digressed....back to the practical explanation... :)
As for using sound therapy along with any other practice, I personally wish all healthcare practitioners would be trained to do so. I am not saying that any other therapy, modality or treatment is not enough on its own, but I am saying that using sound may reinforce, enhance and strengthen what other healing efforts accomplish. I have seen this repeatedly over the years in my own practice using multiple modalities. Licensed Music Therapists(4-5 years college plus internship and proficiency in musical instrument) have seen how effective music is as an adjunct treatment with patients in a variety of allopathic medical facilities. Unfortunately anyone with little or no training can call themselves a sound therapist at this point in time. There are people working to set standards and requirements for sound therapy practitioners. "Let the buyer beware," is good to keep in mind if you are considering a session with someone who offers sound therapy.
Perhaps, next time I will discuss how to choose a qualified sound therapist. For now, just know there is so much more than just whacking a bowl or beating the heck out of a gong or merely mimicking something you saw someone else do. One of my "revered highly knowledgeable and experienced" teachers explained that you can actually do more harm than good when you don't really know what you're doing, as harmless as it may seem. There is a balance to be struck. (pun intended)
All of Life Is Music....
~ Peace Through Music ~
