For my birthday this year, I asked my husband for a crystal singing bowl. You can see me playing it in the photo above. More and more research has been showing the physical and emotional benefits of healing through sound. Benefits can include reduction in stress, better focus, reduction in pain, and so much more. We can experience the benefits in an indirect way when we attend church or a concert or we can seek out specific types of sound to accelerate healing in targeted areas of our life with a sound healing practitioner.
I hope this article helps you reflect on where sound has been healing for you in your life and gives you ideas to explore sound healing in a deeper way.
Sound Healing With A Group
When I was a kid, I went to church twice every Sunday. A lot of my experience at church was boring as a child. There was always a congregational prayer listed as an item on the agenda for the service. Before I knew what the word congregational meant, I thought it meant long and boring. As an adult of course I can appreciate that it was a prayer for individuals in our congregation, but as I kid I did not. So where am I going with this? What I want to highlight is that amidst the boring parts, the thing I loved the most about church was the music and singing. My favourite memory was every Christmas when the congregation sang the song Glory to God with the organ and the piano. It always moved me to tears when I heard the passion and heart from a group of 200 people. The congregation sang it in English or in Dutch. Here is one version below.
Singing with a large group of people can be a very healing experience for both adults and children, especially with a song that everyone loves. If I were to guess, I would hypothesize that when we sing a song with a large group, our chakras open and our connection strengthens to eachother, the divine, and the earth. Just think of a concert you went to and the feelings evoked as thousands of people sang the lyrics to a song. The first concerts that come to mind for me are with Sarah McLachlan singing Your love is better than Chocolate or the band Radiohead singing Karma Police. I have never seen Coldplay live, but I think it would be a lot of fun to do so. Here’s their hit Paradise at a concert in Paris.
Sound Healing At Home
Beyond listening to great music in our homes, there are things we can listen to in an intentional way to improve mood, decrease stress, decrease pain and vibrationally lift us up as we heal emotional wounds. Have you ever been in a room and even though no one is in there, you can just feel ickiness or an unfinished argument in the air? Sound can be used to clear a space.
Binaural Beats
Binaural Beats are when two slightly different frequencies of sound are played into each ear creating another sound in your brain. So you put on your earbuds and a different frequency is sent to each ear. Research has been showing it can improve anxiety, balance mood, decrease pain and more. Here’s an article that includes the science behind binaural beats and 9 different ways they have been helpful for people.
Where Can I Find Binaural Beats?
It’s easy to listen to binaural beats for free. Simply go to Youtube and search for it and you will find a plethora of options. Spotify also has binaural beats available in its catalogue and I’m guessing Apple Music would have it too.
Acoustic Brain Research
Tom Kenyon is a psychotherapist and healer (among many other things) who has scientifically studied the impact of sound on healing. Over the years he was a psychotherapist he’d start to encompass sound into some of his sessions. He started to study the healing benefits of sound. Here is a post to learn more about science of sound healing in general. Similar to binaural beats, research is showing benefits of reduction of stress, improving relaxation and focus and so much more.
Where Can I Find Tom Kenyon’s Music
You can either get a cd or download his music from Tom Kenyon’s store.
Dreamtime Medicine
I was lucky to meet Callie Whitworth at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. Every year our school had an evening of artistic performances. Callie always sang, and I wasn’t the only one wowed during our last year when she found something deep inside her and went to where her music wanted to take her. I’ve tried playing binaural beats & Tom Kenyon’s music to my kids and by far their favourite is Callie’s voice.
Where Can I Find Callie Whitworth’s Music
To listen to a sample of Callie’s music or buy her cd Vibrations in the Wind, you can visit her website Dreamtime Medicine.
Sound Healing Sessions With A Practitioner
Once you’ve started to explore sound healing, it can be a wonderful experience to see a practitioner who devotes an hour to personalize sound healing to your needs. Once you open this box, you will find that there any many different types of sound healers available in your geographic area. Here’s a few to get you started.
Toronto
Lianne Graham
Located on Bloor Street West, my friend Lianne has expanded her Reiki practice to include sessions that include the use of tuning forks. Different tuning forks are used at different points and chakras on the body. Tuning forks combined with Reiki? Sign me up. You can find her at LianneGraham.com.
Texas
Dreamtime Medicine
So Texas is large, but if you’re close to San Antonio, you can find Callie Whitworth and her beautiful studio. Callie combines Brennan Energy Healing with the sound of her voice. I was lucky enough to receive a session this past spring that left me wishing I lived closer. You can find her at DreamtimeMedicine.com.
Ireland
John Reilly
For my European friends, if you want an option that’s closer to you, I’d encourage you to try a sound healing with my friend John Reilly in Dublin, Ireland. John is also a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. He always brought his set of Tibetan singing bowls to each week in Florida and gave sound healings to individuals and groups. He places the bowls at different points and chakras on the body to create an incredibly healing experience. You can find out more about John at OpenSourceHealer.com.
Hamilton
Yoga & Sound Healing at De La Sol Yoga Studios
If you practice yoga, an easy way to experience the benefits of sound can be a session at De La Sol Yoga Studios in Hamilton. Peter Monos leads the group in a gentle Yin Yoga while playing his Tibetan Singing Bowls. I always leave each session feeling both relaxed and re-energized. You can find out the class schedule at De La Sol Yoga Studios.
Sound & Spirituality
Sound can also be used to help us on our spiritual journey using the methods above or in many other ways. In my next blog post I will share about some of my experiences with sound & spirituality from journeying to Nepal to experiencing a group event with Tom Kenyon this past October.
What types of experience with sound healing have been healing for you? I’d love to hear about what you enjoy the most.
