Our speciality here at Sacred Sound Inspirations is working with sound to facilitate change. Sound Healing is defined as the use of various musical instruments or the voice to create sound frequencies which coupled with the intention of the practitioner have a healing and balancing effect on an individual’s mind, body and spirit. As a vibrational healing practise, it has been in existence for thousands of years, used by many different cultures and like energy healing, shamanism and other alternative therapies it is currently seeing a resurgence of popularity, being practised in many different settings such as hospitals, hospices, spiritual communities, and private holistic practise. Sound Healing can apply to sitting in meditation listening to some beautiful ambient music, being “gonged” in a gong bath, taking part in a Reiki Drum circle, toning, chanting Kotodama or mantra, receiving a singing bowl massage or perhaps a tuning fork treatment. The number of different sound healing applications is extensive, all of which have the power to heal and transform and bring a person’s state of existence into a place of harmony and health.

Although a lot of the traditional instruments used in sound healing have remained much the same and are used as they would have been in ancient times, and in natural settings like at festivals, outdoor ceremonies, sacred sites and other places in nature, they have also been introduced into lots of modern-day environments. The use of sound to create transformation can be traced back to the dawn of time. Traditional peoples around the globe considered sound to have enormous creative power. The term “Nada Brahma”, a Sanskrit phrase with roots in Indian Vedic spirituality is used to explain that the world was created from sound and that all of creation is sound and vibration. Many of the worlds Creation Myths are centred around the creation of our planet originating from sound.

Sound was used by ancient Shamanic cultures in the form of drums, flutes and rattles for a variety of purposes. Sound helped to create altered states for communication with Deity. It accompanied rituals, ceremonies and celebrations such as births, marriages, deaths and rites of passage. It would be used to celebrate the planting of crops and for gathering in the harvests, as well as being used during war as an encouragement to go into battle. It was also of course used for healing purposes, and the ancients utilised this fundamental force of the Universe regularly for healing.

Ancient Egyptians had a long tradition of using vowel sounds which they considered sacred, as well as incantations to cure disease. The teachings of Hathor, one of the most important Egyptian Deities, stated that sound was the original basis for creation. The Hathor teachings state the human form is made up of energetic wave patterns which create a complex series of harmonics with our energy field emitting sound which corresponds to the wavelength of different organs. Should we have any blocked energy within our fields, the Hathor teachings stipulate that specific sound frequencies can shift the block, resulting in the person experiencing repressed thoughts, emotions and memories and creating powerful transcendental change. It is believed that many Egyptian chapels and burial chambers such as the Kings Chamber within the Great Pyramid were created to work as sound chambers for special sound ceremonies. The pyramids were consciously created as high vibrational sacred spaces. Their structures display that the Ancient Egyptians understood the power of sound for healing as well as creating altered states.

In Ancient Greece, Pythagoras, the mathematician and philosopher was considered one of the early fathers of sound healing, considering it to be a panacea for many ills if used in the right way and his students used instruments such as the flute and lyre as well as sacred chant to bring about healing. He discovered musical intervals through the use of the monochord, an instrument which we use a great deal in our own healing practise here at Sacred Sound Inspirations. Pythagoras was credited with the phrase The Music of the Spheres or Musica Universalis, the concept that regards proportions of the movements of the planets and other celestial bodies such as the sun and moon as a form of inaudible music and considered music the link between the Divine and humanity, which we too believe and was the inspiration behind our Harmony of the Spheres Gong Master Practitioner Programme.

In Native America, songs and drumming along in some cases with dance, were used to invoke Spirits, heal the sick or request rain and sound played an important part in their culture. The drum, in particular, has been used by not only shamanic cultures but in many spiritual, religious and healing settings the world over.

A history of sound healing wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some iconic sacred sites which have unique acoustic properties suggesting that the ancients used sound in their ceremonial rituals and healing practises. Stonehenge in the UK is made up of the Preseli Bluestone, a stone considered to have sonic properties and known as a lithophone. The sounds that the bluestones make imitate drums, gongs and bells. In July 2013 the bluestones at Stonehenge were tested and demonstrated their sonic qualities, indicating that it held importance as a prehistoric soundscape. Other ancient sites around the world such as the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni in Malta or Newgrange in Ireland also have incredible acoustic properties.

As well as sound playing a hugely important role in healing throughout the ages. In more recent times, the mystic, prophet and medical intuitive Edgar Cayce predicted sound would be the medicine of the future. Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher and esotericist also predicted that sound would feature importantly in future healthcare, saying “There will come a time when a diseased condition will not be described as it is today by physicians and psychologists, but it will be spoken of in musical terms, as one would speak of a piano that was out of tune. “Interestingly their medicine of the future is actually becoming more the medicine of the now as orthodox clinicians find ways of using sound to heal the body in hospital settings, and a wide range of different clinical sonic applications such as the use of ultrasound machines and the use of sound for diagnostic purposes, fetal monitoring, as well as procedures such as lithotripsy (breaking down of kidney stones) cataract surgery, acceleration of bone healing in the case of fractures, removal of tumours through focused ultrasound and soft tissue injuries are being utilised. Sound waves are used to improve spinal alignment, treat spinal cord injuries, herniated discs, scoliosis, osteoarthritis and headaches. Exciting research has demonstrated that using specific resonant frequencies can shatter cancel cells. At the time of writing these studies are still at the research stage, but it holds some exciting expectations for the future. The Tomatis Method is another way of using sounds to stimulate the brain and help with learning disabilities and has had amazing results throughout the world. Some Scientists have demonstrated that certain frequencies can bring about healing in DNA. And it’s not just through orthodox applications that mainstream medicine has discovered that sound can have a healing effect. There are many scientists and doctors in our current times who are incorporating sound healing work in their own medical practises using instruments such as singing bowls.

The reported benefits of sound healing are numerous; stress and pain reduction, improved sleep, deep relaxation, a shift in consciousness resulting in changes in old patterns of behaviour, clearing the energy body of lower vibrational energy resulting in better energy flow, facilitating emotional release and uncovering deeply repressed thoughts and emotions on the subconscious level, creating a feeling of wellbeing, allowing a deeper connection with one’s Higher Self, greater intuition, balancing both the energy and physical bodies enabling an individual to better cope with life’s challenges, increased creativity, motivation to make healthy lifestyle changes, working at a deep cellular level, clearing of toxins from the physical, stimulating circulation, regulating hormones, and strengthening immunity. Recipients of sound healing report mystical and spiritual experiences, enabling a deeper meditative state, an expanded awareness and a sense of wholeness. Other physical and mental/emotional effects can be a slowing of the heart rate, a lowering of blood pressure, regulated breathing, lowering of pain, reduction in anxiety and depression and other mental health conditions and not forgetting insomnia relief! Is it no wonder that sound healing in both orthodox and more traditional environments is becoming such a popular healing modality.

So how does the body heal through sound? Everything within this Universe has its own vibrational rate, including sound. A sound vibration travels through either liquid, gas or solids at varying rates known as frequencies, the slower the vibration is the lower the frequency, the faster, the higher the frequency. Sound travels as small waves of pressure through the air at a speed of 740 miles per hour. We hear sound waves provided by vibrations of air molecules. Sound waves have a frequency which can be measured in cycles per second, commonly known as Hertz. When a sound is made, the waves are captured by the pinna within the outer ear. Concentrated sound waves are sent along the auditory canal to the tympanic membrane, also known as the eardrum. As the waves strike the eardrum, they cause it to vibrate at the same frequency. These vibrations from the eardrum pass through the bones of the middle ear which vibrate in turn and into the inner ear through the oval window. The action of the oval window causes fluids in the cochlea to create waves where they disturb the basilar membrane. Inner hairs attached to the basilar membrane convert the waves into electrical impulses that are transmitted to the brain by the auditory nerve. These inner hairs move in the Organ of Corti fluids and translate the fluid movements to chemical messengers that can, in turn, be converted to electrical impulses the brain understands. The brain, in turn, sends messages to the rest of the body nudging it towards homeostasis.

Resonance is the natural vibration of an object, there being two types. Free resonance occurs when an object vibrates as it comes into contact with a frequency exactly matching its own. Forced resonance occurs when one vibrating source produces vibrations in another object, albeit of a different frequency. The vibrations from one object may change or entrain the other. The physical body responds to many different frequencies. Our organs, bones and body tissues have their own specific frequencies at which they resonate. For optimum health, they should resonate in harmony and balance. However, this is often not the case, and disease occurs. Because the body is in a constant state of vibration, if a sound healer projects the correct resonant frequency, the vibration of the sound waves will affect the vibration of the cells and the energy at a cellular level can be changed and bring damaged cells back to wholeness, and healing occurs.

Another important effect sound has on a person is with entrainment. Entrainment is where more powerful vibrations from one object effects change in another, causing it to synchronise with the original. This can be seen with two or more metronomes when being set off at different times and rates, if they are in the same environment, eventually they will synchronise. We say that entrainment represents the synchronisation of two or more closely related rhythmic cycles. One fabulous example of entrainment is at the UK Reiki Drum annual share event held each year. We have around 60 Reiki Drummers in one room, and for one session we do Reiki Drum Healing with recipients lying on treatment tables for about 90 minutes. There are six drummers to a treatment table, and one by one, members of each group receive a drum healing. Even though for each session, there are about 50 people drumming at any one time and they all start each session drumming in their own unique rhythm and timing, after a very short period everyone entrains and the drumming synchronises.

In the physical, our heart, breathing rate and brainwave activity all entrain with each other. Sonic entrainment of brainwaves can also occur with specific sound frequencies influencing our brain waves, and this is a fundamental reason for people having the powerful visions and deep processing of the Reiki Drum Journey and Gong Baths. Another instrument we use regularly is the Peruvian whistling vessels. The entire cranium of those blowing the whistles acts as a resonating chamber and blowing them collectively creates binaural beat frequencies. They are an excellent example of a shamanic tool that utilises sonic entrainment for the brain. It is not uncommon for brainwaves to move into the Alpha and Theta state and occasionally Delta when receiving sound healing inducing deep relaxation, altered states of awareness, visions or sleep. Through this brainwave entrainment, an individual will have access to information not readily accessed in their everyday Beta state. Through this realised information, the individual can work things out on both an emotional and mental level, often arriving at a very different awareness than previously. This, in turn, can create healing.

Of course, sound has a significant impact on our energy body. Lifeforce is responsive to thoughts and emotions. The flow of life force energy becomes disrupted when we accept negative thoughts or emotions caused by stress. These negative thoughts and emotions attach themselves to our energy field and cause the disruption of the vital force, thereby diminishing the function of the physical body. There are times when major traumas and significant negative experiences will damage our energy field beyond our normal ability to repair it, and it is at these times we may benefit from Sound Healing. Our energy centres (chakras) are ordinarily tuned, balanced and aligned during a sound healing session, or alternatively, it is possible to focus intention on one particular centre, i.e. the Root chakra. Some sounds have more of an affinity with certain chakras, although again, all can affect the entire energy body. Each of the seven major chakras has specific musical notes, seed mantras and vowel sounds associated with it. This has led to much controversy within the sound healing community, basically because playing one instrument with an intention to balance the whole person will affect the entire energy system. However, another fundamentally important aspect of sound healing is intention, and it is intention which governs the process, so if the intention is to heal root chakra issues, then that will be what takes place. By focussing our intention on a specific chakra, any energy causing an imbalance or block within that centre will be released during the sound healing. Emotions or thoughts which are blocking the flow of energy in that particular energy centre will come to the conscious awareness of the individual, be processed, and a more balanced outlook will result. Any physical imbalances resulting from resistance in our thoughts and emotions are rectified at a cellular level, allowing the body to return to health.