Sonocytology and Cellular Vibration
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Sound therapy using the Crystal or Tibetan singing bowls stimulates the brain to make changes that help us in the following ways:
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Doubles stem cell production
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Healing stress related disorders
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Detoxification down to the cellular and "bone deep" level
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Deeper, more profound sleep
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Synchronization of right and left brain hemispheres
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Increased learning ability
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Management or resolution of learning issues, ADD, ADHD, AUTISM
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Deepening meditative states
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Retrains the body/mind to let go of stress and heal itself
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Balances Chakras and Meridians
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Effortless achievement of the "relaxation response"
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Healing past emotional traumas and break through of limiting behavior patterns
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Relief from headache, fatigue, insomnia, menstrual difficulties
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Relief from digestive disorders, emotional imbalances, joint or muscle aches
The science of Sonocytology proves to us that everything has a unique vibration or frequency. From the single celled organism, to groups of cells we know as our bodily organs, to the human organism as a whole; all of these have a frequency unique to them and are generating sound whether we can hear it or not. Therefore, sound vibration is the most basic form of existence.
Research reported by Smithsonian Magazine* discusses the therapeutic response of exposing cells to elevated sound vibration. The cells begins to resonate and vibrate at a higher frequency as the external vibration increases. Diseased cells/tissue vibrate at low frequencies. Repeatedly exposing diseased cells to higher vibrations retrains them to remain at that vibration which then reverses or resolves disease.
On the physical level, the simplest way of communicating with cells is through sound vibration. External vibrations cause a sympathetic resonance in the cells. All types of sound have an effect on the nervous system which in turn affects every cell in the body; either creating relaxation or stress. This is why well-being and physical health are so inextricably linked to sound. In response to the stressful sounds, cells recoil and hold onto their toxicity and become diseased. In response to being given soothing tones they let go of their toxicity and naturally begin to function normally again.
By Mark Wheeler Smithsonian Magazine March 2004
Sound Therapy and the Brain
Singing bowls speak the language of the brain: Frequency. Busy Beta brain waves have low amplitude but travel quickly at a rate of 15-40 (Hertz) cycles per second. Our brain produces them when we are awake and alert, but they can also get out of control when we are highly stressed. Alpha brain waves travel more slowly at 8-12 (Hertz) cycles per second. They are widely known to be associated with meditation and altered states of consciousness. Still slower are the Theta at 3-8 Hertz and are produced during light sleep, dreams and daydreams. They can also occur with any repetitive activity such as knitting, painting a fence or any task that has become so automatic you can mentally disengage from it.
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The Alpha-Theta border of the brain waves is of greatest importance to healing the body, mind and spirit and is also the goal of a singing bowl session. This narrow band of waves, known as the Schuman Resonance, produces waves that travel at 7-8 (Hertz) cycles per second. This is the precise frequency of the earth's electromagnetic field. When our brain's produce alpha-theta waves, not only are we in sync with the heartbeat of planet earth, but intelligence, creativity, higher achievement in any area and self-healing mechanisms of the body are activated. This is what is commonly referred to as "being in the zone." When our brains are in this state, the body is in a state of harmony and the central nervous system reduces input from the peripheral nervous system which allows it to expand it's range of functioning.
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This expansion of functioning, yet unstudied by scientists, is where the body's self-healing mechanisms are activated. Though science has yet to delineate and define the actual mechanisms by which the body heals itself it is commonly understood and known from ancient medicine that the body can and does heal dis-ease when naturally supported to do so. Singing Bowl Therapy can effortlessly put you into this special brain wave state that supports your unique goal toward better health. Producing the Alpha-Theta brain wave state is the goal of Singing Bowl Therapy.
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When the brain is exposed to the big circles of sound produced from the singing bowls, it will entrain or slow down to copy those waves, coming to a more relaxed state, effortlessly. People who hate to meditate will love how easily they can reach a meditative “no-mind” state by listening to singing bowls. This therapy is "just in time" to help us rebalance and begin to find our self-healing abilities again despite the pace of life today. Singing Bowl Therapy can help the individual to rebalance the brain wave patterns. This "re-education" of balanced brain wave function could be the most important step taken on a path of true balance back to health.
Sound Therapy and the Body
Massage Magazine, in November 2005 published an article called "Samvahan, Vibrational Healing from India." The article describes how Tibetan Bowl Sound Therapy works to heal the body. The sound waves from the bowls spread easily through the physical form because the body consists of 70% - 80% water.
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Many times this phenomenon is conceptualized as the concentric waves from a stone dropped into a still pond. As the rings of sound grow larger, they permeate through blood, muscles, organs and even bones; relaxing them and at the same time harmonizing and energizing them. In this way, the more than 100 trillion cells that are the building blocks of the human body are receiving a gentle "cell massage." A visual example of the cleansing power invoked here is what happens when we put jewelry or dentures into a supersonic bath and see how in a short while all the dirt and grime is shaken loose. The sound and vibrations therefore is releasing energy blockages through out the body.
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The bowl vibrations are soothing enough to calm the nervous system yet powerful enough to travel deep into the body to penetrate the bones. ​"Vibrations can travel into places you could never touch with your hands, to effect a healing that would be very difficult to recreate otherwise.
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Sound Therapy and Chakra Balancing
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Chakras are energy vortices originating in the ancient Indian system of healing. Most literature discusses seven main chakras but there are literally hundreds of vortices of energy all over the body. Chakras are the connection between the spiritual aspect of our being and the physical. There is a musical note and vowel sound for toning that is associated with each of the 7 major chakras. Singing Bowls naturally cause chakras to self-correct. The sound waves, in the form of sine waves, run interference to the unbalanced chakras and naturally correct and balance them.
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The overall balancing effect of the singing bowls on the brain waves and cellular function combine to enhance and support the corrective rebalance of the sound wave's effect on each chakra. The result is balanced chakras, which can then support the cellular level physical changes also created by the sound waves. Repeat sessions at a given interval over time can assist the body/mind to throw off toxicity and the diseased state while simultaneously retraining the chakras and physical body to remain in a state of balance. Increasingly over time the body will return to a state of 'ease' or good health.
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Though Chakras are far from a scientific fact, ancient literature suggests that their balancing was part of the whole process employed when healing any level of dysfunction. Balancing the body in the way ancient cultures have may be the missing link in health care today.
Sound Therapy and Stress Reduction
Dr. Hans Selye, known as "the father of stress" was an endocrinologist in 1950's who did research on the response of organisms to stress. He determined that stress is the underlying cause of all illness and dis-ease. His research was taken a step further by Dr. Herbert Benson.
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Dr. Benson of Harvard's Mind Body Institute, has studied stress reduction for 35 years. He found that stress causes physical and emotional blockages and concluded that stress reduction was essential to the creation of health. He coined the phrase "relaxation response" and defines this as "a physical state of deep rest characterized by decreased heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension, that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress." He also found that regular prompting of the relaxation response is an effective treatment for a wide range of stress-related disorders. In fact, to the extent that any disease is caused or made worse by stress, the relaxation response is essential to healing it.
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Stress-related disorders are problems, both emotional and physical, that have been studied and determined to be either caused by or exacerbated by stress. Though not yet scientifically documented but rapidly becoming understood by many professionals in the natural health care industry, stress is the root cause of all illness. One's perception of a situation or event as being stressful can be altered by singing bowl therapy. Because the singing bowls evoke the relaxation response, this form of therapy can have a profound healing influence on highly stressed people.
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The sound travels first to the ear and into the brain to quickly change brainwave patterns from beta (waking state) to alpha/theta where brain hemisphere synchronization can be obtained. In his book, "Thresholds of the Mind," author Bill Harris discusses how human brains generally live in an unbalanced state that creates stress. He relates that in virtually all people the two halves of the brain are "lateralized." Brain lateralization means that the two hemispheres are not working in a synchronized, balanced state. The greater the lateralization, the greater the feelings of separation, fear, stress, anxiety and isolation which are the deeply rooted causes of physical and emotional disease. In its extreme form a lateralized, unbalanced brain results in behavior commonly described as "dysfunctional" or addictive. The more the two halves of the brain are retrained to be synchronized, (increase in communication and therefore work in a balanced state) the more good health returns, and creativity, productivity, learning, and memory abilities increase.
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It is a combination between the sound of the bowl through the ear, over the eardrum and into the brain and the vibration of the bowl through the flesh of the body that causes the harmonizing, de-stressing effect of the bowls. The bowl practitioner taps the bowls in specific intervals and makes them sing with a tool rubbed along the edge of the bowl creating an entrancing energy. Each bowl will vibrate and sing a different predominate note from the music scale A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. Each note is coordinated with a specific chakra and each chakra is directly associated with a certain endocrine gland. Further benefit from the bowls is received via the chakra system and then directly into the endocrine system. This causes balancing of the endocrine glands which affect every function of the body.
Sound Therapy and Medical Conditions
In April 2009, Massage Magazine published another article on the healing benefits of sound as a new-old method of healing. Author, Zacciah Blackburn relates how sound healing is a rapidly rising field that straddles both ancient and modern technologies. He discusses how sound is being used to address ADD and ADHD, autism, depression and other extensive health issues . Mitchell Gaynor, M.D. also mentioned in the article for his work with sound in cancer treatment, continues to document remarkable improvement rates using sound with his patients.
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Mitchell Gaynor, M.D. is a New York Oncologist who has written a book called "The Healing Power of Sound". Dr. Gaynor does not take on a new patient unless they are willing to engage in sound therapy including therapy done with bowls. In all his years of experience he has seen more improvement with patients when he utilizes conventional medical cancer treatment in conjunction with sound therapy consisting of chanting, music therapy and bowl therapy. His book is a must read for anyone who wants to recover from cancer while using conventional methods. In one chapter Dr. Gaynor relates the various ways in which music and sound therapy change physiology. He reports that sound therapy: reduces anxiety, heart and respiratory rates, reduces cardiac complications, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, increase of immune cell messengers, lowers stress hormones, and boost the body's natural opiates. For more on this, view the video above.
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An article in entitled, "A Peaceful Return to Health" published in Alternative Medicine magazine in April 2002 provides further information about the benefits of sound in healing. "Fear blocks healing. You can't heal if you're terrified. The first thing you've got to do is get to a place of peace." Sound therapy assists in releasing stress and then fear. The author relates information from a sound healing researcher who reports that there is evidence that the relaxation response and brain wave entrainment into alpha/theta created by sound therapy, strengthens the immune system.
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Because singing bowls initiate the relaxation response, they have a profound healing influence on these and other conditions:
- Generalized anxiety disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- ADD, ADHD, Autism
- Fibromyalgia
- Hypertension
- Stroke
- Cancer
- MS