Sound and music can be really powerful tools to help you on your healing journey. Sound vibration and music can be used to cleanse, channel, and recharge your energetic body (energetic channels), along with helping to soothe and heal inner wounds.
Sound and music are transformational tools that you can use to shift stagnant energy, and I’m excited to share these techniques with you!
Can You Do Sound Healing On Yourself?
Yes, you can do sound healing on yourself if you’re confident with the techniques and practices. However, sound healing with an experienced sound healer is also a very powerful practice, and in some instances can be preferred.
It is very different when someone else is doing sound healing for you because you can truly let go of the conscious mind. When you are receiving sound healing you’re not having to consciously think about what you are doing—you’re simply in a state of full surrender and receiving the healing treatment.
Receiving sound healing from another, and doing your own practice are both beneficial healing practices. But both have their pros and cons, so I highly recommend trying both. You’ll probably find that you prefer doing some techniques alone, and some are better practised with an experienced professional.
If you’re interested in learning how sound and music help to support your holistic health and healing, then check out my article on how you heal with sound and music.
What Are The Best Healing Sound Practices?
There are a variety of different healing sound practices, and they can be used for different types of nourishment. Some can easily be practised alone, others are more powerful when being conducted by an experienced professional sound healer.
Irrespective of which type of sound healing and music you use for healing and release, you want to focus on moving your conscious awareness into a sound meditation.
It might take some practice, but you’ll want to truly focus on the music and the sound vibration, and allow everything else in the world, and your mind, to melt away and disappear. Cultivating a strong meditation practice, in general, will help you to achieve this, so you can practice doing a variety of different meditation techniques to build your ability to focus and concentrate.
1. Sound Meditation
You can enter a sound healing meditation using a musical instrument, or your voice, or you can listen to a piece of music designed for sound meditation. You can play a musical instrument such as the drums, piano, or guitar, or you can choose to sing. Any instrument that you like can be used.
You don’t necessarily need to go into a repetitive rhythm, a variety of different types of songs can be deeply healing. The most important aspect is that the music is matched to the type of healing that you are aiming for, combined with your conscious awareness being in a state of meditation during the sound healing session.
If you’re interested in how you can use singing and your voice for healing and empowerment, then you can check out my other blog article here for more vocal techniques.
2. Singing Bowls
You can create a sound bath by using a metal, Tibetan or crystal singing bowl. Singing bowls are really great for sound healing because they emit very strong vibrations and resonance which has a powerfully healing effect on your energy body and chakras. The vibration from singing bowls helps to cleanse your energy channels and realign you with your best self.
A medical paper by the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that Tibetan singing bowls can help to decrease stress, depression, anxiety, and blood pressure, whilst improving a sense of well-being.¹
Singing bowls are a great form of sound healing that you can do alone or with an experienced sound healing professional.
3. Tuning Forks
Tuning forks are great for sound healing but you need to go to a tuning fork specialist to get the real benefits of tuning forks because they are much harder to use properly on yourself.
Tuning forks vibrate at different frequencies, also known as hertz. And different hertz frequencies can be used for different types of healing and chakras. Tuning forks can either be placed on the chakras or specific parts of the body to stimulate healing, relaxation, cleansing, and energetic realignment.
4. Chanting And Devotional Singing
Chanting has been used for centuries in religious and spiritual ceremonies, such as the Gregorian chant. A medical journal by Frontiers in Psychology notes that clinical research into chanting suggests that it contributes to lower stress levels, an increased sense of well-being and better moods.²
Chanting is a great form of sound healing that you can easily do in a group or alone. There are a variety of different chants that you can use. Some chants are specifically designed for different chakras and others are designed to pay homage and respect to different spiritual philosophies and deities.
Devotional singing is similar to chanting but it is also very different—however, there are overlaps between the two. Chanting is comprised of mantras, prayers, and specific vibrations to target the energy channels and chakras.
Whereas devotional singing, such as kirtan, bhajans, and hymns are often sung in reverence and homage to religions, spiritual philosophies, ancestors, deities, spirits, and Higher Consciousness or God.
You might be familiar with the difference between hymns and prayers. Prayers are often spoken and recited, whereas hymns are often sung. They too are both forms of chanting and devotional singing, and there are overlaps and similarities but they are still somewhat different.
Chanting is often performed without music, whereas you’ll quite often find that devotional music and devotional singing such as bhajans, kirtan, and hymns are accompanied by a wide variety of musical instruments. That’s not to say that chanting can’t happen with music, it often does!
5. Binaural Beats
A binaural beat is an auditory perception or auditory illusion that is created by your brain. And there are specialist music tracks that are designed to trigger your brain into creating a binaural beat.
In order for binaural beats music to work, you have to listen using headphones, because each ear needs to receive a different tone. When your brain listens to two different tones and frequencies (or hertz) through each ear, it triggers the creation of a third additional tone that you perceive to hear. The third tone is the difference in hertz between the frequencies of the two tones that you can hear.
For example, if you are listening to 120 hertz in the left ear, and 140 hertz in the right ear, the binaural beat will be at 20 hertz, which is the difference between the two frequencies that you can hear. Binaural beats are an effective form of sound healing because they help to induce to same brain state and brainwaves that are experienced during meditation.
Binaural beats that operate specifically between 1 to 30 hertz are believed to emulate the brain waves experienced during meditation, and there is a huge body of medical research that highlights the vast benefits of meditation. Not only that, but there is also a growing body of research on the benefits of binaural beats too.
A paper by the Psychological Research Journal notes that their finding adds to the growing body of evidence that shows that binaural beats can be a powerful tool to manipulate cognition and conscious brain states, such as helping to reduce anxiety and reducing the perception of pain.³
You can easily use binaural beats alone by choosing the specific type of healing binaural beats music that suits the type of sound healing session you’d like to have. Just remember to use headphones during your sound therapy session to get the most out of binaural beats!
6. Solfeggio Frequencies
Solfeggio frequencies are another type of frequency music, like binaural beats, that can affect your healing on a vibrational and energetic level. However, solfeggio frequency is different to binaural beats.
The solfeggio scale is said to be a sacred harmonic sound. Many pieces of ancient sacred music are said to be aligned with the solfeggio scale!
Solfeggio frequencies are tones of sound that can be listened to without earphones. These specific tones of sound are tuned into music, or the music is composed to the frequency of the solfeggio scale. The music is intentionally designed, like binaural beats music, to trigger healing within the listener.
7. Playing Instruments
Playing an instrument is a powerful form of sound healing. You don’t need to be a professional musician in order to enjoy and benefit from sound healing with instruments. There are a variety of instruments that require very little prior knowledge. Anything that allows you to produce sound rhythmically can help you to move into meditation with the music.
Playing instruments is particularly helpful for healing because your body benefits from the sound vibrations whilst you are holding and in contact with the instrument itself, along with benefiting from the sound waves that the instrument is creating.
8. Singing And Vocal Toning
Singing and vocal exercises are great tools for sound and music healing because they help to cleanse and energize your chakras and energy channels. Singing specific words and sounds can target different parts of the body and chakras due to the sound frequency. Each phonetic sound creates a different sound wave that has healing power.
This practice can easily be done alone if you know the right sounds or songs to sing for the healing experience you’re looking to receive.
Vocal toning is often used by sound healers and music therapists, and it involves using a variety of different sounds such as grunts, screams, cries, groans, and humming on the exhale of the breath. Vocal toning can be a really raw and powerful form of release when performed in a safe and non-judgmental space.
Did you know that there’s a variety of powerful connections between the vagina and the voice?
If you’re interested in using vocal toning and singing for holistic wellness and liberation, then you should check out my article on the voice and vagina connection here to learn more!
9. Bija Mantras
Six of the seven main chakras have an associated sacred syllable called a bija mantra. And in Sanskrit, bija means seed.
Different syllables and sounds create unique vibrations which are associated with each chakra, so the proper pronunciation of the sacred syllable, or bija mantra, is important in order to access the power of the bija.
Bija mantras are regarded as Divine tools for spiritual growth. Chanting a bija mantra during a sound meditation, or as part of a larger chant helps to cleanse your energy channels, balance your chakras, and strengthen your spiritual practice. They are used to harmonize your energy, body, mind, and soul into a holistic balance.
The Bija Mantra For Each Chakra:
- Muladhara chakra (root chakra), earth element, ‘Lam’
- Svadisthana chakra (sacral chakra), water element, ‘Vam’
- Manipura chakra (solar plexus chakra), fire element, ‘Ram’
- Anahata chakra (heart chakra), air element, ‘Yam’
- Vishuddha chakra (throat chakra), ether, ‘Ham’
- Ajna chakra (third eye chakra) ‘Om/Aum’
What Do You Do During Sound Healing?
This really depends on what type of sound healing you are participating in. However, across the board with sound healing, you’ll want to let the conscious mind settle as much as you can so that you can move into a sound meditation to receive the healing frequency.
This involves really letting the vibration, sound, and music reverberate through your body. Allow yourself to become one with the music so that the rest of the world melts away.
Not all sound healing is designed to be relaxing, some of it can be vigorous and energizing. If you’re in a relaxing sound healing session, the chances are you’ll be invited to lay or sit in a comfortable position to surrender to the music in stillness. In this type of sound healing therapy, you’ll be encouraged to unwind and settle into deep relaxation.
Whereas with a more energizing sound healing session you might be invited to dance and move with the music in a moving sound meditation. What you’ll do in your session largely depends on the aim. You might want to check with your sound healer prior to the session to check if you’ll be comfortable with the session and if it meets your needs.
If you’re holding your own private session—of course, you are free to do whatever resonates with you. Perhaps you want to sit in a cross-legged position with your eyes closed, or maybe you prefer laying on your yoga mat or bed.
However, if you intuitively feel that dancing is the most healing practice for you, then feel free to move your body how it desires to move!
Remember, that your sound healing session is unique to you, even if you are in a room with other people. What you need in the particular moment is a very individual experience. If it is safe, keep your eyes closed so that you can feel with your ‘ mind’s eye’ (or third eye—ajna chakra), what you truly need to nourish and heal.
Keeping your eyes closed during a sound healing session helps to keep your conscious awareness on the music, sound, and your healing because you’re not being distracted by any of your surroundings!
Conclusion
Sound and music therapy are great tools to help with mental health, trauma, and healing. When used correctly it can help you to access deep relaxation and even states of vitality and invigoration.
Did you find this article on the powerful ways to use sound and music therapy for healing and release helpful?
If so, please let me know in the comments what your favourite type of sound healing therapy is!
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