What is a Sound Bath?

Sound Bath!? It’s a “bath” using sound instead of water. Every time you listen to music, you’re being bathed in sound. Sound is everywhere. Because your body is made up of nearly 70% water, the water in your body receives frequencies that you’re near. However, if you’ve read any of the water memory articles on this website, you’ll know that it’s possible to override any negative effects from sound that your body has taken in.

Sound baths are becoming quite popular because people find they help relieve stress. They are a form of sound therapy, which essentially came out of music therapy. Music therapy came to the forefront when Gabrielle Giffords was recuperating from being shot in the head at a political event in Texas. Sound baths are simply another form of music therapy. Therapy is healing. Why does it work?

This image is a great visual in how your body receives sound. Notice all around him, the white appears to have a focused direction in and through him. The heart is an added touch because it feels good when you’re taking in things that help you relax. There are several recent scientific studies that demonstrate the positive effects of sound baths. In the last couple of years, more and more people are taking special training to learn how to give sound baths because they are in high demand. That may seem a bit odd but when you live in a fast paced world with all the hustle and bustle, taking time to relax and bathe in sound, helps relieve stress in our lives. Consider a study in 2016 by several health professionals, “Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension, and Well-being: An Observational Study.” They found that following the sound meditation, participants reported significantly less tension, anger, fatigue, and depressed mood.

The Healthline website has an article titled “Benefits of Sound Healing” where the author, Adrienne Santos-Longhurst, presents a list of sound therapies. Included is the use of singing and crystal bowls. The website, Sacred Sounds, gives a wonderful description of how sound baths are therapeutic. It includes some amazing scientific reasons that sound baths with crystal bowls work.

The article I’ll focus on next is titled “The Physics and Biophysics of Sound Healing” by William Softkey. Softkey is a neuroscientist and biophysicist. He looks at sound baths from the neuroscientific point of view. He provides links to three of his papers that are very techie but for those who enjoy those types of articles, happy reading! In talking about sound, Softkey states, “Every last one of [our] body motions, from seconds to microseconds, is a kind of vibration and thus a kind of sound. You could say that a brain’s primary task, even the “visual” task of vibrating the eyeball, is that of anticipating and re-creating vibrations in space. Our brilliant brains are jelly managers.” He then goes on to say that in a sense, our brain and body is a self-playing instrument. That ties in with my article “We Are Resonant Beings of Frequency.”

Softkey then describes the natural sonic environment that the ancients understood well. Most people enjoy the outdoors – feet in the ocean and listening to the waves, sitting quietly in a forest as the wind swishes through the tree-tops, sitting next to a babbling brook, kayaking down a river watching the eagles and osprey dive for dinner, and so on. Nature has a way of bringing us to a place of peace. Part of that has to do with the natural sounds that aren’t as abrupt as we’ve become so used to. Softkey makes a great point with this statement: “The solution to mental misery created by a de-calibrating sonic environment is to return to a calibrating one, such as a sound bath.”

On the FAQ page by the group Sacred Sounds, they delve into scientific detail in how crystal bowls are very therapeutic. They state “Quartz produces pure tones. The cells of the human body have a natural geometrical relationship to the structure of quartz crystals. Being made up of crystalline structures, including our DNA, blood, bones and the crystal-colloidal liquid of the brain, we align with the crystal inherent structure.” I use crystal bowls because I love the sound! It’s nice to know why our bodies seem to literally resonate with crystal bowls. Everywhere I’ve been that crystal bowls are present, you see people standing around with content looks on their faces as they play the bowls. I have a new set of chromatic crystal bowls (13 total) that can be played in any key. The album “In the Resurrection Code” has one crystal bowl as part of the percussion sounds I use. I remember how cool the bowl sounded in the recording studio!

I have a friend who has the Tibetan singing bowls. We get together with our “instruments” of sound healing and have a jam session. Imagine what that would be like!? A group of people all in a room playing bowls. That’s one giant sound bath! It is possible to get good recordings of sound baths and do these in the privacy of your own home. Spoiler alert… I have a crystal bowl album in the works…

I love the last quote on the Sacred Sounds FAQ page: “We now realize that the universe and everything in it is moving to specific tones and vibrations. Now more than ever, we are all embracing our individual ability to recognize not only the purity and clarity of energy contained in a given frequency, but how it effects us mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.” Crystal bowls are made of crystal. The Tibetan bowls are made of metal. Both are found in nature and when the makers of these fine instruments create the bowls, they somehow know the key to fill each bowl rich with harmonics that literally “bathe” the listener. When you stand next to them, it’s possible to feel them penetrate through your entire body! Imagine what it would be like to simply sit next to them and soak in those sounds?

It seems to me that the biggest benefit of a sound bath is to address the stress of our daily lives. I was listening to a YouTube video where a medical doctor was talking about how meditation literally lowers blood pressure and relaxes a person to the point where stress levels go down. Well, when stress levels go down, we have fewer issues with sickness and disease. All forms of sound healing bathe a person in tones that are meant to be calming and peaceful.

Imagine what it would be like if we could take a sound bath a couple of times per day. Try this with some calming instrumental music. I suggest the album New Hope for this mini practice session. Here’s the song Joyful Heart from that album on YouTube. Get the music as close to your body as possible. In fact, consider putting speakers ON your body. Don’t use ear buds for this one!

  • Get in a quiet place in a restful position and turn on the music…
  • Focus on releasing the stress…
  • Receive peace and calm in place of any stress…
  • Sit and soak it in…
  • Allow your muscles to relax, releasing any stress in them…
  • Feel the frequencies penetrate, releasing joy into your heart…
  • Stay in this position for the length of this 16 minute song…
  • Allow your mind to calm down, focusing on being in that place of rest and peace…
  • Let your mind picture a peaceful place…
  • Repeat another time in the day for several days. Choose any calming music.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You just had a sound bath! It’s simple and effortless. All it requires is your willingness to participate.

I’ll keep you posted with updates on any further album releases. Crystal bowls will definitely be on the next album! As usual, feel free to leave comments on this article below…

Del

© 2019 Del Hungerford