This beautiful post was written by my teacher Chrystal Nathal, and I am sharing it here with her permission to help you understand why I am using these Tibetan Singing bowls in my sessions and why I feel so drawn to them.

Sound has been utilized in various cultures for thousands of years as a tool for healing. Whether through the use of mantras as with the Hindis, the Icaros (medicine melodies) of various Indigenous peoples from Central and South America, or Pythagoras’ use of interval and frequency, these various techniques all have the same intention: to move us from a place of imbalance to a place of balance.

How does it work?

Sound helps to facilitate shifts in our brainwave state by using entrainment. Entrainment synchronizes our fluctuating brainwaves by providing a stable frequency which the brainwave can attune to. By using rhythm and frequency, we can entrain our brainwaves and it then becomes possible to down-shift 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 utilized in meditation by regulating the breath, but with sound it’s the frequency that is the agent which influences the shift.

What is it like?

A sound therapy treatment is both a passive and participatory experience. The passive aspect is that you become more relaxed by laying down and slowing your breath. By doing this, you prepare yourself to become the receiver of sound. It’s in this place of stillness that you participate by becoming more open and aware of each sound that comes in. Sound helps create the pathway to this place of stillness the same as a mantra helps you to arrive at the still point of meditation.

Some of the tools I use are voice, drumming, tuning forks and Himalayan singing bowls. It’s important to note that awareness plays a huge role in our own healing. I find that vocal toning is an incredibly powerful practice that gives us the ability to fine-tune our greatest vibrational instrument: our own body. I always encourage clients to incorporate simple, but effective breathing exercises and vocal toning exercises in their daily routine, to help bring a greater sense of balance into their lives.

How do we define the energetic body?

If we are able to shift our perspective, we can change our relationship to the issuethat may be preventing us from experiencing our optimal homeostasis. Sound not only helps with inducing relaxation, but also has a way of moving through areas of blockage. These energetic blockage areas can be located in our physical bodies, our subtle bodies, or both.

The physical body is where we experience localized pain and discomfort. Using tuning forks, especially osteophonic tuning forks (they vibrate at lower frequencies), we can stimulate the release of Nitric Oxide, a free radical molecule that has been proven to positively affect pain transmission and control. Which, in short, means that these frequencies help to create a physiological reaction, while the sound itself helps to influence our auditory system, enabling us to modify our relationship to the pain.

Our “subtle body” is our energetic body. This body is where our life force energy exists, commonly referred to as Qi, Chi or prana. In Chinese medicine, meridian points are used to pinpoint areas that have restricted energetic flow to our physical and subtle bodies. The body is known to have thousands of these meridian lines that are mapped out through the body, in the same way we’ve mapped out the latitude and longitude of the earth.

The subtle body holds imbalances and traumas that can eventually manifest in our physical bodies, which is why it’s important to look at healing and balance not only from a physical perspective, but as a complete holistic experience that includes mind, body and spirit.

Sound has the ability to positively affect our whole being. Eileen McCusick, author of Tuning The Human Biofield, has been exploring the theory that our subtle body acts as memory storage. For example, a tree has rings that extend outward as the tree grows. McCusick suggests that our subtle body expands and stores our life experiences in a similar way. If we apply frequency with tuning forks we can help blocked energy from past experiences move toward the energetic filtration system of each chakra, so that the stuck energy can be recycled back into our life force.

What can sound heal?

Using sound as therapy can provide results for a variety of issues including:

Sleep disorders
Anxiety
Depression
Stress management
PTSD
Depression
Pain management
Is our environment a factor?

It’s important to consider what kinds of sound we take in from our living environments. Anyone who lives in New York City knows how painful the sound of a subway train screeching to a halt feels and sounds. Loud sounds can elevate our stress levels, create imbalances in our nervous system, lower our immunity and in extreme cases, cause hearing loss.

When we are stressed, our whole relationship to sound changes, and regular everyday sounds can become magnified and contribute to the feedback cycle of the stress, amplifying it even more. By utilizing sound therapy techniques, we can become better listeners and more aware of the sounds we take in.

Many of us already have a pretty good understanding of the benefits of healthy eating, and the same can be true of sound. This is another example where mindfulness practices like chanting and vocal toning, can help us to find a center and feel grounded. In doing so, when we do have those stressful trigger moments, we may be better equipped to appreciate and discern the sounds more as our own unique symphony constantly happening around us, rather than feel overwhelmed by random cacophony.

Our body, mind and spirit always want to be moving in a direction toward balance, yet we often have too much outer stimulus and noise and not enough time to dedicate to ourselves, which can prevent us from achieving a better state of harmony.

Tibetan Singing Bowls naturally cause chakras to self correct. The sound waves, in the form of sine waves run correcting frequencies to the unbalanced chakras, bringing them back to normal functioning.

The overall balancing effect of the Tibetan Singing Bowls, enhance and support the corrective rebalance on each chakra. The result is balanced chakras which then in turn enhance cellular and systemic healing throughout the body that is facilitated by the theta rhythms.

Sound healing is like giving water to the garden. When our body is healthy, it resonates in a frequency of 64Mh. The sound of the bowls is between 200 ~ 500 Mh.

Weak and sick cells in the body cannot stay in such high frequency; therefore sound healing is also used for detoxing and support illness treatments.

 

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THE SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS OF A REGULAR YOGA PRACTICE

Increased flexibility – increased muscle strength and tone – improved respiration, energy & vitality – maintaining balanced metabolism – weight reduction – increased cardio and circulatory health – relaxation – calming the nervous system – reduce anxiety, depression & stress – protection from injury – better sleep – improve posture – prevents cartilage & joint break down – protects the spine – increases bone health – drains lymph and boosts immunity – regulates adrenal glands – increased focus and clarity of mind – improves balance – releases tension – supports healthy digestion – Increases self esteem – gives inner strength – helps in recovery from injury, addiction and trauma – increased awareness and intuition – supports connective tissue – happiness and many more.

SOOOO EXCITED

This just happened. I just bought a whole set of 12 beautiful hand made genuine Tibetan Sound bowls to learn playing and implement into my yoga sessions – guided by my beautiful friend & angel Chrystal Nathal who fluttered into my life so unexpectedly.

I love, love, love the sound Tibetan Soundbowls and so excited about the learning, growing and sharing this healing facility soon, once I am brave enough to use them in public.

Meditation is one of the best and easiest practices you can implement in to your life to bring more balance and clarity. It doesn’t cost any money, you don’t need special equipment and you can do it anywhere.

From “A woman’s book of Meditation” by Hari Kaur Khalsa

If your mind is tired, you may feel physically tired, and vice versa. When you feel tired, think thoughts that will uplift and inspire you. For example: “If I keep up with this, I will feel the benefits of meditation and be more focused in my life.” Then return your focus to the particular meditation technique you are practicing.

If your mind is overexcited, think thoughts that will calm you down, thoughts that trigger the expansive and vast qualities of the mind. For example: “I am meditating to create peace in my heart, peace on earth, peace in this universe.”

Try not to over-concentrate. If you notice your face in a frown or your body tensing up during meditation, you may be over-concentrating. Take a moment to relax your mind and body as you hold the posture steady. There is an art to balancing the concentration and relaxation involved in meditation. Seek this balance as you practice.

If concentration is difficult for you, try meditating for shorter periods of time. Start with as little as three minutes and build up from there. Success in meditation practice will come if you start where you are, have realistic expectations, and have patience with the process.

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I personally really like to hold a crystal in my hand for meditation and place a nice calming or uplifting essential oil on me. I like to sit on my yoga bolster and I practice meditation with closed eyes. I find with those nice rituals around my meditation I am already bringing myself into a calm state of self-care. I usually don’t give myself a fixed time frame to do meditation, using my intuition to see how much feels good every time I sit.