For anyone who has ever felt emotional while listening to a piece of music, or experienced an over all better feeling in the body by singing, I think John and Maria’s Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy (provided at Awakening Wellness Center in St. Petersburg, Florida) will intrigue you!
I wanted to write about this wellness treatment before actually experiencing it, so I could document about what I think it is, and what I’ve read about it, and compare it to my actual experience. I want you to know that I’m right there with you in this moment of asking, “What IS Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy”?
Everything vibrates.
Well, if you think back to your middle, junior, or high school days (depending upon when and where you went to school) you may remember that everything in the universe vibrates. The chair you’re sitting on is made up of vibrating molecules, and so are you. You are in a constant state of “be-ing”.
Our five senses are adept at translating those vibrations, or frequencies, into sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and textures. Sight-impaired persons are quite adept at translating vibration while listening to music in order to dance or play a musical instrument. We do not all interpret vibration in exactly the same way. And sensitive types can feel the most subtle of vibrational energies.
Do you know that sound can be therapeutic?
Sound is penetrating – able to reach into our body, into our cells, and allow our muscles to relax, our cells to release blocks (think of how emotions can get trapped in our body over time, contributing to stiff, tight muscles, and so forth). Massage therapists talk about trapped emotions in the body — and is why some people cry during a massage (as they release past emotional wounds and traumas)! Sound therapy can do the same thing — perhaps even more since sound can travel to and through the body where massage can only go so far.
Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy produces specific tones (or frequencies) that resonate deep into your body. The harmonics of the tones can help you experience a connection throughout your entire body. And when we feel “connected”, a sense of calm and relaxation can be achieved.
Sound therapy has been studied for its effectiveness and has been helpful in reducing stress, enhance one’s peace and calm, as well as, contributing to your well being. Sound has been researched and believed to aid our body’s own healing process and can be a wonderful complementary modality for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to help manage one’s side effects (including pain relief).
Person’s with fibromyalgia may feel relief, others who are sad or upset may feel lighter or more tranquil, and those with chronic fatigue syndrome (who have taken the herbal supplement rhodiola and not found improvement) may also note feeling more energy after a session. Some people say their mind is clearer, or that they can remember things easier after a sound therapy session. Others say they can rest easier. Often the effects of a therapy session last for several days.
Is this backed by hard science?
To a degree. Brain waves have been measured by scientists for many years. And scientists say that while we’re awake our normal brain frequency is in something called, Beta. Certain sound tools, or modalities can train the brain to shift into deeper Alpha and Theta brain wave frequencies. These are the frequencies one experiences after deep contemplative, mindful, or other types of meditative practices.
Science can measure brain waves and make a correlation between sound therapy and the body’s healing response. Thus, sound is a type of energy medicine and can help the body heal from pain, stress, and more.
The bones and organs in the body all possess a different resonant frequency that can be scientifically measured.
We know from physics that sound can impact your autonomic nervous system.
Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, D.C., B.F.A. has stated that “human hearing is between 20 and 20,000 hertz. Anything below 20 hertz is not sound anymore. But, there are brain waves, such as alpha, beta, delta, gamma, theta, and so on.” It’s probably why there’s a saying, “ring my bell” that’s slang for pleasing someone.
Dr. Thompson, using medical monitoring devices, believes he has found a way to use sound frequency to “pick the lock of a neuroprogram” and open the healing program to the (delta) physical, (alpha) mental, (theta) emotional, (epsilon, or gamma, or hyper-gamma) spiritual, and such and remove any stress response (in the brain) and allow the body to heal.
Note: There are many different kinds of science. To learn about the history of reductionist science that conventional, allopathic, Western medicine relies upon to come up with their conclusions, you can check out Dr. Alison J. Kay’s book, What If There’s Nothing Wrong.
Dr. Kay explores the history of the reductionist scientific method, and compares it with the Asian modalities (in particular, those that involve the subtle energies) that have been used for millennia to help people heal and live healthy.
Can the body ever be in a non-harmonious state?
Yes, and in holistic medicine when some part of the mind, body, or spirit is out of sync, out of tune, or otherwise vibrating non-harmoniously, from what would otherwise be normal for that unique body, it is labeled to have a certain “dis-ease”. When all cells of your body are healthy and your immune system is functioning at its peak, each organ creates a resonance that is in harmony with your entire being.
How is Sound Therapy used in traditional Western medicine?
Ultrasound has been used for decades as a diagnostic tool and works by bouncing sound waves off of body parts to create images.
Urologists use vibrational energy to break up stones in the urinary tract.
Lasers, otherwise known as amplified light energy, are often used in fat reduction, and other surgical procedures.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are used by radiologists. They are diagnostic tools that shift the electrons in cells. They detect radio frequency signals emitted by excited hydrogen atoms.
Try a Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy session today!
The Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy is a non-invasive therapy treatment. You can come in to Awakening Wellness for a session and then go on about your day without having to change clothes, shower, etc. like you might do after a workout or massage and so on.
Come in and meet Maria or John at Awakening Wellness for Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy soon! They are the only certified Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy practitioners in the area, trained by a Tibetan Master.
Tibetans have used this bowl sound therapy for thousands of years to allow the body’s own healing system to promote a supreme level of body relaxation. Rejuvenate your mind and body with a session today!
Remember, Saturdays are our Community Clinic days – call to schedule!
Sound therapy is also recognized as a healing modality by the following persons:
Diáne Mandle is a Tibetan Bowl practitioner Certified through the state of California, a Polarity Practitioner and member of Sound Healers Association and Healing Music Organization. She is a Sounds True recording artist, author, practitioner and educator featured in the film- Tao:Living in Balance, due for release in 2016. She is an Internationally recognized authority on Tibetan Bowl Sound Healing, having presented on this topic on NPR television and radio. She has written 20 books on Sound healing (click on her name to go to her Amazon book page.)
Arden Wilken is an American musician, composer and sound therapist. She co-founded INNER SOUND (1978), a sound therapy system she developed of therapeutic music for the expression / integration of emotions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music theory from the University of WA. Her program offers to help the individual achieve his/her healing by unblocking connective tissue through sound and music.
To read more about the science of sound therapy, click here.
To our feeling great, better health, and longevity,
Sheila Murrey
Your alternative health researcher, hope raiser, joyful wellness guinea pig, and mindful Mind-Body-Spirit guru! Reach out to me if you need a boost, or a boot, to get yourself back in charge of YOUR well-being.
Take it upon yourself to be healthy, joyful, wholly vibrant, and beautiful.
UPDATE 9/12/2018:
The book that’s been in the making for 13 years, Take It Upon Yourself to Live a Wholly Vibrant Life, is now available for online sale and distribution (PDF format).
Buy it here: https://beingwhollyvibrant.wordpress.com/2018/09/12/book-launch-take-it-upon-yourself-to-live-a-wholly-vibrant-life/
Be the best version of who you want to be.
Information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.
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