By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Sound therapy seems odd to those unfamiliar with the concept. However, to people struggling with health issues unaddressed by conventional medicine, it can help calm the central nervous system to promote the body’s own ability to heal.
Sound bathing refers to a group of people undertaking sound therapy together or it could refer to individual sessions. The “bath” involves no water but the use of sound in a relaxing environment to promote wellbeing.
Juniper Dunlap, licensed massage therapist, yoga instructor and owner of Wunderland, LLC, offers sound baths from her Oswego-based business. She doesn’t consider using sound as “therapy” but believes that sound baths are “therapeutic” as she founded her business in evidence-based modalities.
Dunlap’s clients typically rest on a massage table in a darkened room with warmers, blankets and bolsters to create a tranquil experience. She plays crystal singing bowls, brass singing bowls, Native American flute, instruments that sound like birds, waves, wind and thunder, gongs and percussion instruments.
The “playing” refers to making specific sounds with bowls meant for sound therapy. Some practitioners use tuning forks for types of vibrational sound therapy. Some practitioners place instruments on or near the client’s body in strategic places. The tones they emit cause vibrations that are key to stimulating the body’s response.
“Most sound baths focus on putting the client into what most consider a meditative state,” Dunlap said. “It drowns ambient sounds because of the vibrations wash away other sounds. The vibrations are what most people consider ‘therapeutic.’ Sometimes, I do sound bath after a massage. Even after the glory of a relaxation massage, the sound bath adds a level not reproducible in any other way. I believe that has to do with the vibration in the ear and in the body.”
Dunlap has musical training, but sound baths aren’t musical. The difference between music therapy and sound therapy is that sound therapy is not meant to convey songs. It’s more about vibration than sound. Although people can derive some benefit from hearing videos of sound therapy on YouTube, Dunlap said that vibration is more accessible through in-person sessions.
“What sound baths tend to do is put the nervous system into a parasympathetic state and out of fight or flight,” Dunlap said. “It goes to rest and digest. It’s noninvasive. It’s a beautiful experience, even if one doesn’t get into a state of bliss.”
The vibrations produced during a sound bath or sound therapy are produced by universally pleasing sounds that signal the brain it’s time to rest and relax. Dunlap said that in that parasympathetic state, “that’s when we heal. This is why we need sleep and times of relaxation while awake. The more chances we have to put our minds and bodies at rest, the more time we have to heal what’s the matter. What I do is to give that to heal. I don’t consider what I do ‘healing.’ What I do believe that massage and yoga and sound baths to open the door for the client’s nervous system to do what it’s good at doing: healing.”
Some people seek sound therapy for anxiety or depression. Some are currently use Western medicine for their health issues and use sound therapy to complement it.
Sound therapy has a few contraindications. Carol Scheg-Morissette, owner of Healthy Alternatives Wellness Center in Rochester, would not use it on people with a broken bone or fracture, for example.
“The vibrations would cause the bone to vibrate and cause extreme pain,” she said.
It’s also not advisable for people with epilepsy.
Scheg-Morissette is a licensed massage therapist, cranial sacral therapist, certified in sound healing, certified vibrational sound massage, Reiki master and teacher, integrated energy therapy master instructor, certified aroma therapist, certified herbalist and cranial sacral therapist.
Sound therapy is also not advised for pregnant women, especially during the first 12 weeks, as “water is a great conductor of sound,” Scheg-Morissette said. “A baby is surrounded by water which would intensify the effects of the sound. It would also be contraindicated during pregnancy to attend a sound bath because again the sound would be amplified. It would be like taking a baby to a really loud concert.”
The same goes for infants, as their fontanels are still developing. She also advised that sound therapists should keep a minimum distance of 20 cm. from any implanted heart pacemaker, stent or shunt.
“Combining specific frequencies together plus intention creates healing,” Scheg-Morissette said. “Playing notes C and G together creates a perfect fifth. You want to have quality bowls. Sometimes the ones coming from China have a higher lead content in them and can create dissonance instead of resonance. Also, when you are playing them, your intentions play a big part in it. You want to put out positive thoughts and positive energy while practicing sound healing.”