Modern science, especially quantum physics, has explained how it works. And modern medicine has incorporated the principles in developing ultrasound imaging; modern medicine also uses sound healing to treat kidney and gall bladder stones.
Here are some quotes over the eons on the profundity of healing with sound:
Plato: “Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other in the integration of the human being because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the Soul on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the Soul of him who is rightly educated truly graceful.”
Leonardo Da Vinci: “Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony?”
Hazrat Inayat Khan: “A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. It permeates the entire being, and according to its particular influence either slows or quickens the rhythm of the blood circulation; it either wakens or soothes the nervous system. It arouses a person to greater passions or it calms him by bringing him peace. According to the sound and its influence a certain effect is produced. Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism.”
George Leonard: “At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time, Before we make music, music makes us.”
How does sound healing work? I mentioned in the previous article, Healing with Sound, Part 1, that the principle of resonance lies at the heart of healing with sound, that when sound resonates with the body, mind and soul, it allows the body to open up.
What occurs when this resonance happens is a person goes deeper into the sacred spaces within their body, the nonverbal regions where the soul resides. It is a deeply meditative place, a space of deep peacefulness, clarity and sharpened awareness.
The science of sound healing calls this entrainment, and talks about the different brain wave states that the body can be induced to go into.
In our everyday waking state, brain wave frequencies are in the Beta state. But with the proper entrainment from various sounds, the brain will go into the deeper and trance-like Alpha and Theta states, as the brain harmonizes with the vibrations of the sounds.
With sound healing, first you will become truly relaxed, allowing your brain activity to slowly guide into the gentle waves of Alpha. Your awareness expands and you experience a liberating sense of peace and well-being.
Alpha is a place of deep relaxation, but not quite meditation. Alpha lies just below conscious awareness – it is the gateway, the entry point that leads into deeper states of consciousness.
As the healing sounds continue, it can take a person even deeper into relaxation, where they will enter the elusive and mysterious Theta state, where brain activity slows almost to the point of sleep, but not quite.
Theta is the brain state where fascinating things can happen within a person’s neurological activity. Theta brings forward heightened receptivity, flashes of dreamlike imagery, inspiration, and long-forgotten memories.
Theta can bring deep states of meditation, and a sensation of floating. And because it is an expansive state, in Theta the mind can expand beyond the boundaries of the body.
Theta is one of the more elusive and extraordinary realms that can be experienced. It is also known as the twilight state, which is normally experienced briefly. Theta is like a waking dream, with vivid imagery flashing before the mind’s eye; in this state a person is more receptive to information beyond normal conscious awareness.
Healing sounds can be produced by chanting, bells, gongs, singing bowls, drums, rattles, and other sound tools.
Different spiritual traditions around the world teach the sacredness of various sounds, and that meditating and saying these sounds can lead to the creation of health, happiness, peace, and harmony, along with a heightened awareness.
And there are companies that have developed audio technology that incorporates binaural beats that synchronize the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing the brain to quickly go into the Theta state. The two best known audio technologies are called Hemi-sync and Holosync.