The Healing Power of Sound Therapy
What is meant by sound healing?
Sound healing helps to establish a therapeutic environment to rebalance the nervous system and promote deep relaxation, and emotional release by the usage of specialized sound frequencies.
It involves the usage of some special instruments, tones, music, as well as other sonic vibrations so that the body, spirit, and mind become healed and balanced. Ideally, sound healing helps to create a meditative or hypnotic brainwave state that allows access to more profound levels of healing and inner wisdom.
History of sound healing
It is a fact that many cultures have been using singing and music to heal the spirit and the body since ancient times.
It is believed that Native American tribes were of the notion that some particular sounds were endowed with healing abilities.
On the other hand, ancient Egyptians believed that it was possible to treat illness with the help of musical incantations.
Sound vibrations were also used by the ancient Indians for calming the mind and getting rid of stress.
Pythagoras, the well-known Greek philosopher, is called the “father of music”, and he was the first person to prescribe music as medication.
This philosopher explored the manner in which it was possible to use harmonic frequencies for the purpose of healing, and he applied these principles to music, family, architecture, personal development, government, friends, and so forth.
The neurological effect of binaural beats was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove in the year 1839.
Some American physicians discovered that it was possible for music to enhance the circulation of blood and improve our thought processes.
Sound healing benefits
People have used sound healing for many years across the globe to heal physical as well as mental conditions.
Below, we have talked about some interesting benefits of sound therapy that should be useful to you.
1. Improved sleep
We will be able to sleep peacefully at night after hearing some relaxing music before going to bed.
Listening to soothing music will help us to fall asleep within a short span of time and we can also remain asleep longer.
The reason for this is that our slow brain waves are responsible for triggering the relaxation response effectively. We can wake up from our sleep feeling refreshed because of the fact that sound therapy can help to minimize stress.
2. Deep relaxation
It is possible for our body to release some happy hormones such as dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, norepinephrine, and oxytocin while listening to soothing sounds.
These chemicals can help to make us happy and they can also uplift our mood significantly.
Moreover, it’ll be possible to minimize our heart rate and blood pressure which will help to encourage deep states of relaxation.
3. Relief from pain
The human brain will send signals to the body not to generate some particular hormones while we suffer from physical discomfort.
It is possible for the pain to become aggravated because of the fact that these hormones can result in inflammation within our system.
However, the human brain will release endorphins while listening to soothing sounds, and this can help to get relief from pain by blocking the effects of the inflammatory hormones.
Sound healing session types
You will come across various types of sound therapy treatments available right now.
These are as follows:
• Chanting and kirtan – In this case, a group of people will be singing and chanting mantras. Apart from being an awesome meditative experience, kirtan will likewise help a person to connect with the divine and spiritual community.
• Guided sound meditations – This kind of sound therapy is common at present where some particular instruments are played by an expert musician.
He is going to play the identical note again and again until you are able to reach a state of profound relaxation.
In spite of being familiar to you, these notes are arranged in a different way.
• Sound baths – This sort of sound therapy can be considered to be the most common at present.
In this case, several musicians will play temple bells, gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, as well as other percussive instruments. It is a meditative experience where one will lie down while enabling his mind and body to be full of soothing sounds.
It will help us to enter into the state of meditation where it is possible for us to concentrate on the vibrations and instruments around us instead of our thoughts.
• Acutonics – This type of sound therapy involves placing several tuning forks on different parts of the body to stimulate trigger points, acupuncture points, and/or locations of discomfort.
The intention of the practitioner will be to restore harmony within the system and release blockages by stimulating these points using high-frequency sound waves.