Sound has been used in various cultures for thousands of years as a tool for healing. Either through the use of mantras with the Hindis, the Icaros (medicinal melodies) of various indigenous peoples of Central and South America, using the interval and the frequency of Pythagoras. These various techniques have the same intention: to move from a place of imbalance to a place of balance. Thus, sound therapy has existed since ancient times, for its effectiveness in healing our physical and energy bodies. Read on to learn more about this wonderful sound therapy.
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How sound therapy works?
Sound therapy helps facilitate changes in our brain wave state through the use of entrainment. Drag synchronizes our fluctuating brain waves, providing a stable frequency that the brain wave can tune to.
Through the use of rhythm and frequency, we can drag our brain waves and then that makes it possible to shift down from our normal beta state (normal waking consciousness) to alpha (relaxed consciousness), and even reach theta (meditative state) and delta (sleep; where internal healing can occur).
This same concept is used in meditation by regulating the breath, but with sound, it is the frequency that is the agent that influences the change.
What does sound therapy look like?
A sound therapy treatment is both a passive and participatory experience. The passive aspect is that the person becomes more relaxed by lying down and by slowing down breathing. By doing this, you prepare to become the receiver of sound. It is in this place of stillness that you participate by being more open and aware of every sound that enters. Sound helps create the path to this still place just as a mantra helps you reach the still point of meditation.
Some of the tools used are the voice, percussions, tuning forks and singing bowls from the Himalayas, among others. It is important to note that knowledge plays a very important role in our own healing. It seems to me that the tone of voice is a very powerful practice that gives us the ability to tune our greatest instrument of vibration: our own body. It is always good for the person to incorporate simple, but effective breathing exercises, and vocal toning exercises into their daily routine, to help achieve a greater sense of balance in their lives.
How we define the energy body?
If we are able to change our perspective, we can change our relationship to the problem that may be preventing us from experiencing our optimal homeostasis. Sound not only helps to induce relaxation, but it also has a way of moving through blocked areas. These energy blockage areas can be located in our physical and energy bodies, or both.
The physical body is where we experience localized pain and discomfort. The use of tuning forks, especially bone tuning forks (which vibrate at lower frequencies), can stimulate the release of nitric oxide, a free radical molecule that has been shown to positively affect the transmission and control of pain.
Which ultimately means that these frequencies help create a physiological reaction, while the sound itself helps influence our auditory system, allowing us to modify our relationship with pain.
Qi energy of our body.
The vital energy that inhabits our body is commonly known as Qi, Chi or prana. In Chinese medicine, meridians are used to identify areas that have restricted the flow of energy to our subtle and physical bodies. The body is known to have thousands of these meridian lines that are mapped through the body, in the same way that we have mapped the latitude and longitude of the earth.
This Qi energy in our body has imbalances and traumas that can finally manifest in our physical body, which is why it is important to consider healing and balance, not only from a physical point of view, but as a holistic experience. complete that includes mind, body and spirit, soul, energy body, or whatever some want to call it. Sound has the ability to positively affect our entire being.
Researcher suggests that our subtle body expands and stores our life experiences in a similar way. If we apply the frequency with tuning forks, we can help the blocked energy move, causing the stagnant energy to be recycled back into our life force.
What sound therapy can heal?
Using sound as therapy can provide results for a variety of issues, including:
- Sleep disorders.
- Anxiety.
- Depression.
- Stress management.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Depression.
- Pain management.
The sound of the environment as a stressor.
It is important to consider what kind of sound we make in our living environments. Anyone living in New York City knows how painful the sound of a subway train stops and feels. Loud sounds can raise our stress levels, create imbalances in our nervous system, lower immunity, and in extreme cases, cause hearing loss.
When we are stressed, our entire relationship with sound changes, and regular everyday sounds can become magnified and contribute to the stress feedback loop, amplifying it further. By utilizing sound therapy techniques, we can become better listeners and more aware of the sounds we make.
Many of us already have a good understanding of the benefits of healthy eating, and the same can be said for sound. This is another example where mindfulness practices like singing and vocal toning can help us find a center and touch down.
In this way, when we have those stressful trigger moments, we can be better equipped to appreciate and discern sounds more like our own constant unique symphony going on around us, rather than being overwhelmed by random cacophony.
Our body, mind and spirit always want to be moving in a direction towards balance, yet they often have too much external stimulus and noise and there is not enough time to dedicate to ourselves, which can prevent us from reaching a better state of harmony. Sound-sound therapy has a way of helping to reach the source of that inner peace that we all desire.