Healing with Sound

The first musical sounds for humans were the songs of the wind, the roar of the sea, the rippling dance of water over stones, the early-morning trilling of birds, and their own voices. Before our earliest ancestors wrote, they surely sang and played musical instruments, recreating the symphonies of the world around them.

At some point, they discovered the healing and spiritual elements of sound. Mano, a Navajo Elder, has said, "The drum is the Great Spirit's favorite instrument. That's why we were all given a heartbeat. . ." Drums, whether the Celtic bodhran, the African djembe, Native frame drum, or countless others, have played important roles in tribal and religious traditions.

In Tibet, bowls, tingsha (cymbals), and chanting have for countless centuries been integral to Buddhist and pre-Buddhist traditions. Some students of Reiki history believe that in Tibet the Reiki symbols were expressed in the form of sound.

From mantras to Gregorian chants, the power of the human voice has been used to create tranquility and receptivity to a spiritual state of being. Today, many practitioners of hands-on healing use vocal toning to deepen the healing effects of their body work.

Why Sound Heals

All living things are basically energy that is in a constant state of vibration affected by other vibrations.

Imagine the sound of a jackhammer or chain saw. When I do (or when I hear one) I immediately feel my muscles become tense, and my nerves begin to feel frayed.

Imagine instead the sound of a waterfall, the song of a nightingale, or the liquid notes of a harp. These sounds are like ultrasound massage to me. I feel tension spilling out of my body as I become more and more relaxed.

Certain sound vibrations help to "re-tune" us to our own natural and healing vibrations by dissolving energetic blockages. This allows us to return to balance.

The initial effect of positive sound vibrations is to relax the body and mind. Imagine someone whose heart is thumping irregularly. Her breathing is uneven; her solar plexus feels like a pretzel. Now she hears the rhythmic sounds of a drum. As she continues to listen, her own heartbeat adjusts to its pattern. Her breathing evens out, and the regular flow of oxygen returns and expands her solar plexus, promoting more deep, even breathing.

Now that the adrenal glands are no longer receiving a message of fear, they quiet their activity. The reduction in the flow of adrenaline has a positive chain reaction on all of the other endocrine glands. At the same time, the brain, no longer conjuring up responses to the fear message, becomes calm.

Now the woman's receptivity to the drum's music deepens. If she chooses to, she may go into a state of meditation, carried away on the song of the drum. She may wish to sit quietly and consider solutions to the problem that had her upset before.

Make Your Own Music

You can begin with the spoken word. Affirmations repeated aloud utilize the power of both sound and thought. Choose affirmations for things you would like to bring into physical reality and speak them aloud, the more enthusiastically the better. Say them with passion and joy.

I have found that when I need to cheer myself up, singing songs I love lifts my spirits, not just because they interrupt the cycle of spiraling downward, but because they recall associations to happy times. It doesn't matter what song it is, only that I love it.

You can get even greater benefit from singing by lying down while you sing, so you can feel the resonance of sound throughout your body. If you'd like to gives yourself a full-body vibrational treatment, do a crystal layout.

Two appropriate choices are amber, which can help to relieve depression, and herkimer diamonds, high-energy crystals which clear up chakra imbalances.

Stones that open the solar, plexus, heart, and throat, are also useful. For the solar plexus, I recommend rhodochrosite, a crystal used to relieve anxiety and peridot, which helps to foster self-esteem. Rose quartz, pink calcite, and kunzite help to balance the heart center. For the throat, aquamarine, whose vibrations echo the song of the sea, and chrysocolla, for a feeling of peacefulness, are especially helpful.

Sound Enhancements

Fountains

Torii

Having a fountain in one's home or office is a particularly beautiful way to bring the sounds of nature inside. Listening to a fountain is like sitting beside a waterfall or a swiftly flowing stream. The soothing and relaxing sound of running water helps to block out less harmonious noises. When we focus on it, we can also block out the inharmonious noises inside our own minds. For a different kind of meditation, sit or lie down and place your attention on the sound of a fountain. Imagine yourself floating in running water, its softness massaging your skin, literally washing your troubles away. As you continue to listen, think of yourself as water, always flowing always changing. Allow your changes to be and flow with them.

Drums

I have spent many relaxing hours playing my djembe. Its deep, resonant sound echoes through me, and drumming on it with my hands activates the energy of the palm chakras. While it may take years of practice and dedication to become an expert drummer, I have seen countless novices quickly learn and enjoy basic drumming patterns. Drumming helps to reconnect us to the first sound we ever heard--our mothers' heartbeats, a universal language which both symbolizes the rhythm of the universe and reminds us of our essential connectedness.

Hunting Wolf Drum

With drumming's increasing popularity, it's relatively easy to find local drumming groups. As much fun as it is to drum by oneself, it can be even more fun and infinitely more powerful to drum in a group. I've participated in drumming gatherings of 50 or more people, an experience I highly recommend.

Goddess Drum

Barry Bittner, M.D., who is conducting scientific research on the healing effects of drumming writes: "Deep within the essence of who we are there's a sound, a vibration, an emanation that expresses life from every cell. It resonates in harmony with all living creatures an inner voice ready to emerge as a vital heartbeat that inscribes a personal signature. The rhythm of life is a symphony the expression of our soul revealed by the conductor within. Our unique voice resounds through the way we choose to live. When we connect with each other and extend ourselves to one another, we share our gift. When our hands connect with a drum that vibrates with our energy, vitality, emotion, exhilaration, hope sensitivity, giving, sharing and unity, we become whole again.

For music gets through where words do not pass, when barriers separate us and when the odds are against us. It uplifts us when hopelessness darkens each day, when communications break down, when we yearn for common ground and when we need each other the most. Group drumming opens doors, enhances self-esteem, ensures a healthy workout, stimulates our minds, boosts our creative potential, makes us laugh and connects us on many levels. It also builds bridges, heightens awareness and strengthens bonds. My participation shows the world who I am, affirms that I can make a difference, and adds my unique sound to the celebration of life. Group drumming tunes our biology, orchestrates our immunity, and enables healing to begin.

Quartz Crystal Singing Bowls

While both drums and fountains have assisted humans in relaxation and healing for countless years, quartz singing bowls are a relatively recent addition to the repertoire of vibrational healing. Made of crushed and powdered quartz crystals, they combine the vibrational power of crystals with that of sound.

Quartz is composed of silicon dioxide, a compound that is also strongly present in human chemical structure. Thus, the vibrations of crystal bowls are especially powerful in re-tuning us to our own natural inner music. Like other forms of vibrational healing, such as crystals, flower essences, and Reiki, the tones of these bowls help to dissolve energetic blockages, allowing us to return to balance.

Not only do we get re-tuned, we can also become fine-tuned through playing crystal bowls. Bowls are designed to resonate to particular chakras. Thus you can choose a bowl based on which of your chakras you feel most needs to be re-balanced.

Crystal bowls also come in various sizes. Larger bowls give off a deeper sound.

Those who use crystal bowls have found that, in addition to relaxing the body and mind, bowls are especially effective when combined with spoken or silent affirmations. It is as if the vibrations of the bowl magnify the vibrations of one's positive thoughts. In addition, sounding a crystal singing bowl can be a deeply meditative experience.

Chimes

The soft music of chimes add beauty to your sound healing repertoire. Outside chimes blend in wonderfully with nature's own music. Indoor, tabletop chimes can serve ritual and ceremonial purposes. We use ours to close distant healing ceremonies and to bring ourselves present to the here and now.