Sound therapy

In last week’s blog post, I started to delve into sound therapy.  In this week’s post I am going to look deeper into what exactly it is and mention some of the different therapies used today. 

Sound therapy is based on the sympathetic resonance principle.  This principle is derived from the resonance / vibratory rate of an object.  In a nutshell; sympathetic resonance is when one vibrating object causes another to vibrate in harmony or match the others’ vibration-rate.  For example, when an opera singer sings a certain melody / note, that melody / note can shatter glass.  Another example is when a vehicle passes your house and the windows rattle.

Many of the older cultures still use sound therapy today as a form of treating an illness or dis-ease.  Xhosa women, Turkic races of Mongolia and Tuvia, Tibetan lamas all use people to sing more than one sound at once.  Using sound and intention, the vibrations of the sound / notes become faster at a cellular / molecular level.  This, in turn, raises the frequency and, the higher the rate of vibration, the larger spaces are created between the cells.  When this is less dense, negative / intrusive energies are prevented from sticking to the cells, thus, healing can occur much faster.

Today sound therapy is used by many healing modalities, including medical practitioners.  It is known to help for various ailments namely:  to relief anxiety, stress, improves concentration, enhances creativity, improves vision (both physically, mentally and spiritually), balances the brains’ hemisphere, restores equilibrium in the endocrine system, relieves headache- & sinusitis, induces an alpha brainwave / deep meditation-state, increases energy and balances the aura and chakras.  Therefore, it helps with the cleaning up of the organs and glands, clears your mind so that you can be more in tune with your intuition and can, according to research done by the late Edward Cayce, help with serious illness as well.

Interesting is that you can do sound therapy using your own voice.  Humming, chanting and toning are all ways to rebalance yourself.  When you are doing this, you become more relaxed and centred.  This is also an easy way to get more oxygen into the body as you deepen your breathing, due to the muscles becoming more relaxed and, in the end, it stimulates the flow of energy / breath. Remember how a song you like, uplifted you; especially when you were humming away? That is the same effect – music, like everything else, is energy and vibration.

Scientists did numerous studies and could prove that sound and music affect a person’s brainwaves, metabolism and physiological responses; creating profound cellular change.  Why?  Because the Universe is made up of a movement of energy and vibration; not just atoms and matter!  In a study about sound, it was proven that sound moves matter and create forms / shapes (snowflakes and raindrops all have patterns when you look at it under a microscope, as well as plant cells).  When beautiful music is played, the forms are beautiful, but when hard rock / heavy metal is played, the forms are all mis formed.  In Yoga and in meditation, the sound “om” is used as a way to relax the mind and body.  When looking at it closely, it forms a circle, that evolves into concentric squares and triangles! 

Everything we see and don’t see, think, feel and say, has a frequency.  Our bodies, organs and every living being, has cells that are made up of energy.  As explained in my previous article, when we are out of tune, we cause an imbalance in our bodies or, a dis-ease.  Diet and lifestyle, as well as our thoughts, words, and the music we listen to, can play a huge part.  In Yoga and other “alternative” practices we learn about chakras (energy bodies) that runs parallel to our spinal cord. 

These energy bodies transfer energy (also known as prana / chi) via the nadis and meridians to our organs, bones, skin, blood vessels, and so forth.  These chakras act as energy wheels / energy centres, that feds the whole body with life-force.  Most of you probable know that our bodies are made up of 70 – 80% water.  Sound travels much further under water than on land, thus, the sounds that dolphins and whales make can be heard miles and miles away from where the animals are.  These sounds penetrate on a cellular level and today, many people swim with dolphins as their sounds can produce healing and positive changes.  Lastly, scientist have proven that the memories that are stored in the body’s mitochondria, is a muffled sound and denser energy, whereas an overactive chakra has a hollow sound and is higher in volume.

Before ending today’s blog post, I quickly want to look at music therapy.  D. Lane (PhD) from Ohio, USA, noted that a 30-minute music therapy session boosts the immune system and increases salivary IgA.  Playing lullabies to new-borns in intensive care, not only relaxes them but premature babies are discharged up to 2 weeks earlier!  M. Thaut (PhD), Fort Collins, USA, noted that rhythmic music (where there is a 4/4 beat) is a powerful healing tool to treat Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, as well as strokes.

Whether it is music that you listen to, joining a drumming group, or going for Tibetan singing bowls-session, one thing is for certain.  Energy is all around us and it plays a huge role, not only in our healing and transformation-journeys, but also in the Universe and Nature itself.  When the music stops, we tend to think that that is the end.  However, it is not.  Those melodies penetrated our minds and bodies on an energetic, subtle way.  Energy vibrates for a much longer time after the last notes have been played or sung.  Therefore, when we use sound / music as a means of therapy, the effects stay with us for a longer period.