Sound Healing Medicine Academy FAQ

As we have discussed, the frequency-based approach to sound healing doesn't align well with science or Rife's work, which it's believed to be largely based upon. However, even those practicing sound healing using this approach are experiencing many positive outcomes. The practice works, even though the theory is flawed. 

Here, we'll introduce a sound healing framework that isn't based on the pharmaceutical frequency approach. This framework aligns well with science, tradition, and most contemporary sound healing practices. We present this framework through three primary effects of sound: unifying, expanding spatial awareness, and mesmerizing/relaxing. 

This view of health and illness is integral to most traditional healing systems and many modern scientific methods, especially modern psychotherapy. In psychotherapy, our issues are thought to stem from the disintegration of our psyche. Mental health is reclaimed by discovering and reintegrating suppressed and disconnected subsets of our psyche. The idea of illness arising from fragmentation is also quite apparent in traditional Eastern approaches, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Yogic/Ayurvedic practices. In both these remarkably similar approaches, health is seen as the holistic interconnection and collaboration of all parts of body, mind, and spirit. 

Medical treatments aim to spot fragmentation and regain health by reinstating harmony, connection, and collaboration among all parts of oneself. This is most clearly seen in the Eastern concepts of the body's "energy system". The body is believed to contain a fundamental life-force energy (qi in TCM and prana in Yoga) that courses through primary pathways known as meridians or nadis, respectively. 

The unhindered flow and balanced distribution of this "energy" across the body network is associated with health and well-being. Obstructions in its flow lead to excess accumulation and deficiencies, which in turn cause all forms of illness. Many practices aim to restore the free flow of this energy and thereby eliminate the blockages causing fragmentation.

The above models of illness-as-fragmentation suggest a primary use of sound for healing practices. Sound, in its essence, unifies. 

Sound is essentially unification and coordination, particularly coordinating particle motions into spread-out wave patterns. 

Consequently, sound provides a highly useful medium for treating fragmentation in both the body and mind. Here are three apparent unifying actions of sound on the whole person:

* When a sound wave reaches the human body, it prompts distant body parts to vibrate in harmony.

* When we hear a sound, especially a mesmerizing one, it captures our attention, bringing our mind into a unified whole.

In the unique case of sound immersion, where the whole body is exposed to the same sound field, both heard with the ears and felt with the body, the body, and mind are unified in the simultaneous, coordinated experience of the same phenomenon.

These simple and accessible unifying actions of sound can be easily used to reduce fragmentation and, consequently, illness. A review of most sound healing practices, both modern and traditional, reveals that this unifying property of sound is generally being employed. Comparing this with the defragmentation-based healing practices of modern psychotherapy, TCM, and Yoga elucidates why this wide-ranging unifying effect is likely to yield healing results.

Humans evolved in complex, interconnected environments filled with danger and surprises. Picture an ancient human strolling through a forest. Their survival depended on a broad spatial awareness, mostly maintained through listening, such as hearing predators behind them or in the trees above. Today, with the security of modern conveniences, humans mostly operate in environments that don't demand such expansive spatial awareness. Apart from specialized scenarios like sports, martial arts, hunting, etc., most human activities require awareness of a relatively small, rectangular portion of the surrounding space.

Every day, we fixate on our cell phones, computers, televisions, and car windshields — a continuous array of rectangles. This confinement of our attention has a cumulative effect, much of which is still not fully understood. But massage therapists can attest to the specific negative results of this confinement, including chronic neck, shoulder, and facial tension, and a general lack of lower-body awareness.

Sound is an exceptionally helpful tool for expanding one's spatial awareness. Indeed, a review of most sound healing practices, both traditional and modern, shows that expanding spatial awareness is a key component. Imagine the quintessential medicine man, shaking his rattles all around a patient. The patient's attention is quickly drawn to the sound of the rattles and naturally follows it around, thereby expanding their spatial awareness. Similarly, in modern sound healing practices, like sound baths with gongs or singing bowls, the listener, with eyes closed, is mesmerized by the ever-changing 3D motion of sound surrounding them. Their usual spatial awareness box is essentially burst open to including the entire 3D environment. This spatial-awareness-expanding effect of sound is a critical, yet often overlooked, feature of sound healing.

One of the most widely accepted facts in modern medicine is the correlation between stress and illness. Stress is the most common correlate with cancer. Given the strong relationship between stress and illness, reducing stress indirectly reduces illness.

Sound can relieve stress through two primary mechanisms: mesmerization and relaxation. These effects are among the main reasons we derive such pleasure from music. Certain sounds naturally and spontaneously induce relaxation in us. While the reasons for this are not entirely clear, it is an effect that is universally recognized, and relaxation is the opposite of stress.

Sound can also be mesmerizing, with a somewhat more mysterious effect. It can capture our attention and take us on a mental journey, effectively inducing a meditative state. This state naturally interrupts our habitual thought patterns that contribute to stress.

The application of the mesmerizing and relaxing effects of sound, compared to the unifying and spatial-awareness-expanding effects, is truly an art form and typically requires skill, training, and practice. Musicians endeavor to learn to produce sounds that induce these desirable effects. To use the mesmerizing and relaxing effects of sound effectively, one must become proficient with their sonic tools and instruments, essentially developing into a skilled musical performer.

Upon examining sound healing practices, both modern and traditional, we find that the mesmerizing and relaxing effects of sound are universally employed. Since these effects naturally counteract stress, they can be readily utilized for healing.

Text credits to Thomas Orr Anders