Sounds like??

I am going to listen to a performance of the Gyotu monks this week…I have heard them perform live before as well as listened to them on a much loved CD…I have in fact, like most of us, listened to a great deal of music through the journey my life. I have sung many songs and many genres of music, I have written songs to share, and I have played instruments and experienced great drumming sessions. I have used a sound gong in my mediation and healing sessions and have chanted each day for such a long time. I have raised my voice in anger and beseeched and laughed and given gentle encouragement….I have reeled at chaotic and angry sounds, I have sat in awe listening to the song of birds……in all of this the nature of sound has been primary! Sound affects us, profoundly!

Sounds you make, sounds you listen to.

Sound heals. Mothers know this intuitively, crooning soothingly or singing a lullaby to their crying babies. Sound heals also when applied explicitly though music, song or bells, or even Tibetan singing bowls. When used during healing sessions, these sound modalities can have a deep impact. The gong is one of the oldest instruments of healing and has been used for thousands of years in meditation, ceremony and rituals. The sounds from the gongs travel from the outer ear throughout the body via the vagus nerve, impacting brain waves, respiratory rate and heart rate.

The psychic Edgar Cayce forecast that the medicine of the future would be sound. And, indeed, we are moving into that future or so it seems.

  Mitchell Gaynor, M.D. a New York oncologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University has been using sound healing practices since the early 1990s. He is the author of “The Healing Power of Sound: Recovery from Life-Threatening Illness using Sound, Voice, and Music.” Interestingly major corporations are employing the use of sound in a variety of resourceful ways to counter the effects of workplace stress. The California corporate headquarters of Toyota have a unique approach for overcoming stress and building morale with their ‘Toyota drum circle.’ ‘Drumming away stress’ sessions are also being offered by New York psychotherapist Robert Friedman for a range of clients including companies such as Xerox and Time-Warner. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Director of the Center for Neuroacoustic Research, has developed programs using sound for Nike, Cisco Systems and Mattel that enhance creativity, productivity and health and wellness.


Biomedical researchers have found that music is a highly structured auditory language involving complex perception, cognition, and motor control in the brain, and thus it can effectively be used to retrain and re-educate the injured brain. While the first data showing these results were met with great scepticism and even resistance, over time the consistent amassing of scientific and clinical research evidence has weakened the doubts. Therapists and physicians now use music in recovery and rehabilitation in ways that are not only backed up by clinical research findings but also supported by an understanding of some of the mechanisms of music and brain function.

What is also remarkable is the research of water that captures evidence of how sound heals in photos by Masaru Emoto. I wholeheartedly recommend his recent book, The True Power of Water. Masaru Emoto explores the ways in which water’s structure is affected by vibration. This would logically  apply to us as we are mostly water after all!!

I have been experimenting with Emoto’s ideas by considering my drinking water with intention. I definitely have noticed some positive results……these may be due to my increased awareness of the intention, visualization or to the changing quality of the water, but the result is what matters here I guess!!

So, one way or another sound…music…..vibration has its effect on our brain function, our mood and our health….. What this says to me is keep playing uplifting music, keep chanting, keep singing and keep my voice nicely modulated and positive when I am dealing with all around me because the sounds I make have an effect!! Its more than just smiling and a kind word, it’s a kind word with a good sound….we need to have the right intention behind what we say because perhaps the sounds we make matter even more than the words we say!

 What we choose to lsiten to and the sounds we choose to make.....


I invite you to make a personal experiment... Listen to music that you truly love, allow the music to transport you away from your thinking cognitive self and into the tranquillity of your inner being. Once you are there you will be able to decide for yourself about the healing properties of sound.