What is Sound Healing?

What is Sound Healing and what is a Sound Meditation?

• Understand the difference:

• Healing vs. Meditation – Sound Healing supports physical/emotional release and energetic alignment. Sound Meditation cultivates presence, mindfulness, and nervous system regulation.

• What’s your role in someone’s healing process?
  As a practitioner, you hold sacred space—you are not the healer; you are the facilitator. True healing is chosen by the participant.

• Ego vs. Humility

• Victimhood vs. Empowerment

• Blaming vs. Ownership 

• The Yoga of Sound = “Nada Yoga”

• Nada means "sound" or "vibration"

• Nad means "to flow" or "resonate."

• Yoga means “to yoke” - the mind, body, and spirit

• In Nada Yoga, sound is used to deepen awareness and connect with the Paraspanda—the “Supreme Vibration” at the source of all life.

• Sound travels through the body via fluid systems and subtle channels (nadis), which carry vibrational energy and consciousness.

• Mantra acts as vibrational medicine, amplifying resonance throughout the body and mind.

• Benefits of working with Sound:

• • Quiets the mind

• • Reduces stress

• • Supports emotional release and energetic re-patterning

• • Helps access and release trauma

• • Establishes internal resonance and coherence

• • Activates dream states and intuition

• • Encourages cognitive and behavioral change

• • Expands awareness and consciousness

• • Induces altered, transcendental, or psychedelic states

• • Promotes somatic integration through breath, vibration, and presence

• Sound Healing Modalities:

• As a facilitator, your role is to:
  • Set the energetic container
  • Offer intentional vibration and space
  • Allow participants to choose how deeply they receive

• Types of Experiences:

• Sound Meditation: Primarily instrumental, no speaking or singing—participant-driven, introspective

• Shamanic Sound Journey: May include live singing, vocalizations, and guided narrative

• The Science of Sound and Brainwaves:

• When the wave of one thing affects another.

• Entrainment is the process by which two or more independent rhythmic systems synchronize with each other.

• EX of Entrainment: women’s menstrual cycles synching up, heart rate adjusting to music tempo, etc, circadian rhythms aligning with day/night cycles, etc.

• In Sound Meditation you can use the drum or bowls ½ a step a part to create a binaural beat (E&F) (D&D#) (B&C)

• Binaural Beats:

• 2 different frequencies in each ear

• Our brain creates the difference between 2 frequencies, if one is 10 and the other is 5, the difference is 5 and your brain creates a new frequency

• Isochronic Tones:

• One singular tone

• Works by pulsing the same frequency and the brain switches it on or off

• Brainwave Frequencies:

• Delta (0.5-4 Hz): Deep sleep

• Theta (4-8 Hz): Meditation, creativity

• Alpha (8-13 Hz): Relaxation, light meditation

• Beta (13-30 Hz): Alert, focused

• Gamma (30-100 Hz): High-level information processing

• Sound and the Vagus Nerve

• Vagus Nerve or the Wandering Nerve

• The longest cranial nerve, running from the brain through the face and thorax to the abdomen. It's a key part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps control relaxation, digestion, and other "rest and digest" functions.

• Responsible for restoring relaxation after stress/danger response (sympathetic nervous system is activated)

• Possible effects of a Sound Meditation on the Vagus Nerve:

• Auditory stimulation: The sounds can directly stimulate the auricular branch of the vagus nerve in the ear.

• Relaxation response: The calming nature of a sound meditation can trigger the parasympathetic nervous system, of which the vagus nerve is a major component.

• Resonance and vibration: Low-frequency sounds may create vibrations that can be felt in the body, potentially stimulating the vagus nerve.

• Breathing changes: Sound meditations often lead to slower, deeper breathing, which can stimulate the vagus nerve.

• Stress reduction: By lowering stress levels, sound meditations may reduce inflammation, a process partly regulated by the vagus nerve.

• Mindfulness: The focused attention during a sound meditation may enhance vagal tone.

• Heart rate variability: Sound experiences can influence heart rate variability, which is linked to vagus nerve activity.

• Bija Mantras

• Bija Mantra is a one-syllable seed sound for each chakra and by intoning each sound the “Flower essence” of each chakra blooms. Each chakra symbol includes a lotus and as you move from Root to Crown the number of petals increases

• Root Chakra, Muladhara: LAM

• Sacral Chakra, Swadisthana: VAM

• Solar Plexus, Manipura: RAM

• Heart Chakra, Anahata: YAM

• Throat Chakra, Vishuddha: HAM

• 3rd Eye, Ajna: OM

• Crown, Sahasrara: AUM or AH