Soaking in healing sounds

You might have heard soaking in a warm tub is good for the soul, but what about a sound bath?

Sound healing is an ancient healing practice that works on the principle that everything has a vibrational frequency, and the frequencies of sound can have a significant impact on our body’s frequencies.

From a sad song to a religious chant, sound affects our bodies. Sound baths are this principle put into practice.

In a sound bath session, participants typically lay down on a yoga mat, in a cosy blanket or comfortable place and listen as the practitioner playing a variety of soothing sounds, instruments and chants, and let it soak in.

According to Kirsteen Warrington, who runs sound bath sessions on the Bellarine, the practice is an ancient one, but it is quickly gaining popularity, even being recently recognised by the NDIS as a claimable alternative health therapy.

“It’s for absolutely everyone, and just gets us into that theta brain wave mediative state: a deep, deep state of relaxing, where we get to in meditation, and in sound healing you can get there really quickly,” she said.

Warrington said through sound baths, people can learn to trigger their parasympathetic nervous system to immediately reduce their sense of anxiety and stress, and quickly get into a state of deep relaxation.

“Your parasympathetic nervous system helps you rest and digest, whether as the sympathetic nervous symptom is the fight or flight,” Warrington said.

“When we’re in our parasympathetic nervous system, the body produces good hormones, and neurotransmitters such as melatonin and serotonin, and epinephrine, or adrenaline.. and that can really help you relax.”

Four most benefits of sound baths: are its deep relaxation, healing, improved sleep, and increased mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

“I usually use crystal bowls and metal bowls, chimes, gongs, voice chanting, and generally it goes from 45 minutes to an hour.”

“Everyone lies down, and it’s basically everyone just closes their eyes and just relaxes.”

Warrington said the vibrations from the crystal bowls promote cellular healing, and can help our bodies repair themselves and activate the body’s system of self-healing.

At her studio in Queenscliff, Samana Yoga, Warrington runs group sessions, individual sessions and sound healing workshops, as well as selling the crystal bowls.

“In some places in Africa, India, South America people have used sound healing for thousands and thousands of years as a powerful healing tool, and always as a healing tool.

“It’s always been used for healing, and I think it’s definitely going to be the way that we go in the future, it’s getting a real momentum and people are starting to realise how effective it is.”Kirsteen said each bowl attuned to a musical note CDEFGAB and the corresponding chakra, an energy point in the body.