Sound Healing and Sound Bath
History
Sound healing is a modern term for using sound, music, vibration, sustained tone, and resonance to support physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Sound bath is a therapeutic modality where participants generally lie or sit quietly while a practitioner creates and immersive field of sound using instruments such singing bowl, gongs, bells, chimes, drums, voice or flute.
Human beings have probably associated sound with healing ritual and altered states of consciousness for as long as we have evidence of organized music. Early cultures often did not distinguish among medicine, religion, ceremony, music and community in the way modern Western culture does. Chanting, drumming, singing, dancing and repetitive rhythms could accompany healing ceremonies, prayer, mourning, initiation and trance.
Ancient Greek sources provide written evidence of healing being associated with sound. Homeric texts mention healing songs, and the Pythagorean tradition associated musical harmony with harmony of the body and soul. Plato and Aristotle also discussed music’s ability to influence character and emotional states.
Music was also used therapeutically in the medieval Islamic world. Historical research indicates that musicians and music were employed in some Islamic hospitals and that Physicians and philosophers developed theories about relationships among music, emotion, temperament and health.
There are also long traditions of chant, bells, drums and other sound practices in Hindu, Buddhist, indigenous American, African, shamanic and other religious traditions.
Modern Sound Healing Practices
In many sound healing sessions the focus is placed on listening and presence. Gentle tones and sustained vibrations allow the mind to settle while the body responds naturally to the frequencies created by the instruments. The instruments most strongly associated with contemporary sound baths are metal or crystal singing bowls. Didgeridoo, Native flute, gongs, and chimes are also common.
A practitioner might begin with silence or breathing, then gradually introduce bowls, gong, voice, flute, bells or drones. The sounds often have long decay times and rich overtones, so they overlap and create a continuously changing acoustic environment.
A Native American style flute can function in a sound-bath setting because of its breath sustained tones, silence between phrases, natural overtone and relatively unstructured melodic movement.
This produces something quite different from listening to an ordinary song. There may be no melody, beat or predictable chord progression for the mind to follow. Consequently, attention can shift toward the sound itself – its vibration, overtones, emergence and disappearance.
Participants commonly descried sensations of deep relaxation, altered perception of time, vivid imagery, emotional release, bodily vibration, meditative awareness and a dreamlike state of consciousness.
Sound healing sessions can take many forms. Some practitioners lead group meditation experiences where participants rest quietly while instruments are played in a flowing sequence of tones and textures. Others offer private sessions focused on relaxation and personal reflection.
The goal of these practices is often to create a peaceful sonic environment where listeners can experience stillness, release tension, and reconnect with a sense of balance.
Featured Sound Healing Practitioners
Aio “Blue Heron” Sifu
IOSND (pronounced eye-OH-sund)
Is my music.
It is the sound from my heart to yours, where passion meets its quiet self; where intimacy is enticed to honesty in a mirror forged from sound – if you let it. It is what happens when you pour music, word, presence and magic into this one vessel, and stir.
My instrument of choice is the Native American flute, but it is not the only one that speaks to the listener. Strong orchestral influence from childhood takes its place as drums drive and flutes sing and ripple. Strings soar and sooth, horns proclaim, synthesizers create atmospheres for words that live in secret places.
Underneath, “medicine tones” whisper healing, transformation, triumph and peace
Woven into every moment is the prayer of journey toward one’s best self.
May you listen with intent to land where you need to
~ Aio “Blue Heron” Sifu
Jonathon Goldman
JONATHAN GOLDMAN, M.A. is an international authority on sound healing and a pioneer in the field of harmonics. He is author of HEALING SOUNDS, SHIFTING FREQUENCIES, THE LOST CHORD, the best selling THE 7 SECRETS OF SOUND HEALING, CHAKRA FREQUENCIES (co-authored with his wife Andi), and his latest THE DIVINE NAME, winner of the 2011 Visionary Award for “Best Alternative Health Book”.
Jonathan is director of the Sound Healers Association and president of Spirit Music, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado. A Grammy nominee, he has created numerous best selling, award winning recordings including “THE DIVINE NAME” (with Gregg Braden), “REIKI CHANTS”, “FREQUENCIES: Sounds of Healing”, THE LOST CHORD”, “2012: ASCENSION HARMONICS” and “CHAKRA CHANTS”, double winner of Visionary Awards for “Best Healing-Meditation Album” and “Album of the Year”. Jonathan is a lecturing member of the International Society for Music Medicine. He has dedicated his life to the path of service, helping awaken and empower others with the ability of sound to heal and transform.
Share Your Practice
If you are a sound healing practitioner or meditation facilitator and would like to be featured on this page, we would be happy to hear from you.
You can send a short two or three sentence description of your practice along with a link to your website or social media page and an optional photo. Our goal is to help people discover sound healing practitioners who are sharing their work in communities around the world.