You may have seen pictures of crystal sound bowls or small Tibetan singing bowls, but why are they such a big aspect of the holistic world? Sound and vibration heal on various levels including psychological, spiritual, social, physical, and mental. Through an interview with master sound healer Jonathan Berger, here is everything you need to know about sound healing.
Meet the Master Sound Healer
Jonathan Berger was born in France and is currently living in South America. Berger practices and teaches reiki and other methods of holistic healing such as reiki, crystal healing, and singing bowls.
In his travels to Nepal in 2011, he learned the singing bowl practice. Recently he received an intuitive message during meditation about the power of sound healing. This led Berger to strive to improve and further his knowledge of sound healing instruments.
He is well known for his Youtube channel called “Samadhi Energy Healing” providing sound healing, healing techniques, and other topics related to spirituality.
Sound healing is, “a technique that uses sounds and vibrations for therapeutic purposes.” In the practice of sound healing, Berger says you are able to use instruments such as Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, ancestral instruments, as well as the voice.
Berger also says sound healing “allows a harmonization and balancing of our physical and etheric body, a reconnection with our higher self, our guides, and higher worlds, and an expansion of consciousness.”
Sound healing provides a way to get out of the materialized matrix and become aware of your essential reality.
Sound healing is a technique that uses sounds and vibrations for therapeutic purposes
Jonathan Berger
How it Works: The Mind-Body Connection
Using sound and vibration are effective techniques due to their ability to heal on the physical and mental levels. Sound healing “dissolves tensions, mobilizes self-healing capacities, releases energies, and sends information back to the cells of the body”.
Vibrations from Crystal and Tibetan singing bowls, therapeutic tuning forks, gongs, ansestral instruments, and voice can be used to heal the mind and body.
Berger says each crystal bowl vibrates at a frequency that corresponds to a chakra (our energy centers in our body), so working with the bowls allows cleaning and harmonization of the chakras therefore an energetic cleaning.
Healing the Body
Berger says the body emits an electromagnetic field providing a source of vibrations for our cells and organs. When the body possesses blockages, tensions, and diseases, the frequency of the vibration is disturbed.
The sounds of the gongs, singing bowls, or therapeutic tuning forks resonate with these specific frequencies and re-harmonize the vibrations of our body.
Healing the Mind
Sound vibrations not only have an effect on the physical plane but the mental plane as well. According to Berger, “these so-called ‘coherent’ sounds cause the brain waves to slow down.” Our brains function at “ordinary activity”, around 20 Hz. Coherent sounds cause the brain waves to descend to 8 to 10 Hz, the first meditative stages.
The slowing of brain waves promotes the synchronization of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which stimulates cognitive abilities.
Post Sound Healing
After a session of sound healing, Berger says one would expect to feel “totally relaxed, your body lighter and free from all tensions, connecting with the divine.”
To amplify your connection with the divine, crystals can be used as an additional holistic method. Working with crystal singing bowls can also amplify energy, but Berger says one must proceed with caution and “always be in beautiful energy, an energy of love because the crystal is neutral, so it can also send negative energies.”
Interested in Experimenting with Sound Healing?
If you are interested in trying sound healing, it does not require a professional. When listening to sound healing tracks, it is most beneficial with headphones in. This will allow any outer noise and distractions to become eliminated.
Here are some ways to experiment with sound healing on your own:
If being a healthy, happy, radiant soul glowing from within sounds appealing to you, then you should hop on the Ayurveda wellness trend asap! This Indian tradition and practice is becoming popular in modern-day medicine, beauty, wellness and more.
What Exactly is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is the lesser-known science of yoga originating in India more than 5,000 years ago. This is an approach to holistic and natural healing through the mind-body connection. With great wisdom, it helps people become vibrant and healthy while maximizing their full human potential.
It all started with written compositions of Vedic Rishis (spiritually enlightened composers) on how to heal your mind and body while becoming one with the universe.
This approach to health and wellness is more focused on healing emotionally, physically, financially, and spiritually as opposed to solely physically like traditional health. The benefit of this is manifesting your desires and living a life of bliss, balance, and wisdom.
This can be done through eating intuitively, utilizing natural remedies, and exercising mindfulness in your everyday life.
When you reach a state of health mentally, spiritually, and physically, you move towards self-actualization which is the highest point in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (the ultimate goal of Ayurveda).
Why You Should Hop On the Ayurveda Wellness Trend
So by now, you understand that Ayurveda is a holistic approach to healing yourseld physically, mentally, and spiritually. But where does this ancient science come into play in our modern times?
1.) Conscious Consuming
Intuitive eating or conscious consuming is gaining popularity rapidly in our health world. In order to have a healthy outside, you must have a healthy inside.
To be at your healthiest physically, it is important you are taking into consideration what you put into your body.
Following an Ayurvedic diet makes sure you are getting all the proper nutrients you need in order to function at your maximum capacity. It also allows your three Doshas (biological energy throughout your mind and body) to remain balanced during the four seasons of our life.
2.) Safer Beauty Products
Because Ayurveda uses mainly natural Earth-derived elements for healing, beauty products are now becoming safer than ever. Beauty brands are incorporating Ayurvedic healing herbs into skincare lines to bring your skin the maximum healing potential possible.
Natural Passion 4 Wellness and Pratima are some of the best all-natural 100% chemical-free Ayurvedic beauty brands. Read here to learn of all the chemicals you probably use that you aren’t aware of.
If you are into the occasional or maybe even daily self-care routine to make you feel clean and glowy, Ayurvedic wellness is for you! From floral baths to self-oil-massages (abhyanga), to oil pulling, your body will thank you.
Ayurveda focuses tremendously on morning and nightly rituals in order to maximize your productivity and feeling of happiness throughout the day. Intense self-care rituals such as oils pulling, tongue scraping, abhyanga massages, and nasal cleaning assure you will be thriving hygienically.
4.) High Vibe Living
Have you ever had that feeling that you were almost high on life and you felt as if everything was flowing effortlessly and falling into place? Now imagine if you could feel that way every single day. That is the beauty of Ayurveda.
Your body contains Prana (universal life energy) that flows through you when you are experiencing this feeling previously described.
Your prana is located in your brain’s hypothalamus and sends out signals to your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. This makes it very connected to your emotions.
When you take time to meditate and practice mindfulness, it cultivates space for prana and slows your release of the stress hormone (cortisol). This then allows for the “happiness molecule” serotonin to be secreted leaving you with that feeling of your life flowing with bliss.
5.) Connection with the Universe
Ayurveda places emphasis on connecting with your higher self in order to feel connected with the universe. The spiritual side of Ayurveda allows you to strengthen that connection in your everyday routine.
Your three cosmic forces are similar to the three Doshas but on a spiritual level. You require all three of these essences in order to be a balanced human.
These three vital essences (Ojas, Tejas, and Prana) allow you to dive deeper into qualities of your self such as health, well-being, peace, patience, radiance, intelligence, courage, creativity, and flexibility.
As you strengthen your connection with your higher self, you can reflect on which essence needs improvement in order to ground yourself and be connected with the flow of the universe and collective consciousness.
Your Happiest Healthiest Lifestyle
Ayurveda, or the “science of life” is a concept spreading like wildfire as more beauty brands (such as Sephora and Neiman Marcus), wellness centers, and spas are utilizing the practice.
Living a healthy lifestyle is a goal of many people, yet most solely focus on the physical aspect of working out. If you work out every day, but still talk to yourself negatively, you are not truly healthy, do you see?
Health is much deeper than physical and the Ayurveda wellness trend is something to consider as you move forward with your health and wellness goals.
Shockingly, the atom is composed of 99.99% energy. This means we have the ability to perceive .01% of what is going on in the world because everything else is energy. This brings me to the topic of raising your vibration. Let’s talk energy.
What is your vibration?
Everything on this planet is made of energy and vibrates at certain frequencies…a chair, a table, your body, a bird, a butterfly, every single thing. Your vibration is your overall existence and state of being in this world.
There are high and low vibration levels depending on how something or someone is composed mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Each vibrational level creates your state of being and existence.
Low vibrational living:
Money is no longer flowing to you
Feel depressed or stressed
Surrounded by negative people
Poor health
Unmotivated
High vibrational living:
Your life is flowing peacefully
You feel motivated every day
Optimism rules your days
Encountering inspiring people
Things in life are rapidly progressing
Awareness is key
In order to raise your vibration or maintain a high vibration level, the key is to become aware. Be aware of your emotions, your actions, and the people you surround yourself with.
Know that like energy attracts. If you are in a positive mental state you are more likely to attract abundance than if you are in a negative mental state. For example, if you were sick, hadn’t done any physical exercise, stuck in debt, and hadn’t been sleeping, you are more likely to descend to a lower vibration, therefore, making your abundance lacking.
But if you were in optimal shape, taking care of your body, getting stuff done, and feeling motivated, you are more likely to be in a higher vibration.
Our vibration is our emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual states of being.
So how do we really raise our vibration?
Raising your vibration explained
1.) Ground yourself and become conscious of thoughts
Our lives are living examples of manifestation. Every thought you think and every word you say will eventually come true because you are putting energy into thinking or saying it. Think of it as the Divine listening to you and giving you what you perceive.
Your subconscious mind is 1 million times more powerful than your conscious mind, so take advantage of it.
2.) Consume consciously
Consume foods that your body will love. Foods have high and low vibrations as well, as they are composed of matter.
High vibrational foods would be fruits, veggies, and other natural products. Low vibration foods would be items that contain chemicals, pesticides, and unnatural ingredients. Buying organic items is the best way to go about consuming high vibrational food, as organic food has no chemicals or pesticides.
You know your vibration is being lowered from food when you consume too many fatty foods and your stomach is left twisting and turning and making weird noises.
Pay close attention to how different food items make your body feel. While raising your vibration, always put intention into the foods you eat. Never devour food as if someone is going to steal it. I promise it isn’t going anywhere!
3.) H2O and sunlight
Just like plants, our bodies need plenty of water and sunlight.
If you stay in a dark room all day, you are likely to feel drowsy and drained by the end of the day. Similarly, if you spend time in the sunlight, you are likely to feel awake and energized. Spending at least 10 minutes outside in the sun is a great daily habit.
Drinking water allows your body to flush out any toxins and provides your body with hydrogen and oxygen for necessary chemical reactions. Aim for drinking one gallon of water a day minimum.
4.) Meditation
Taking a few moments to meditate is a great way to clear your head and bring your mind to a peaceful state. With the high stress of the day and your mind constantly thinking, it is essential to take a moment to slow down.
Meditating for even just 10 minutes a day can transform your life and your mental health.
5.) Surround yourself with positivity
Surrounding yourself with high vibrational people and things are also essential to raising your vibration. If you are constantly around negativity, gloom, or sadness, it will most likely take an effect on you.
Be aware of all people who bring nothing positive to your life and simply distance yourself from them. You don’t have to make it a huge deal just insert some space so their low vibrational field has no effect on you.
6.) Partake in high vibration activities
Let’s be real. Drugs and alcohol are a common thing and are of VERY low vibrational frequency. If you are constantly surrounding yourself with drugs and alcohol you are more likely to attract low vibrations and negativity.
For example, let’s say you have a night out and start drinking (a lot) and end up being hungover. Now you feel terrible, made bad decisions that night that will later come back around to haunt you, and have no motivation to do anything. I’m not saying you’re screwed for life because of one night of drinking, but for the time being your vibration is lowered and abundance will flow less freely to you.
Surround yourself with things that will only benefit you for now and in the long run.
Read a book, take a hike, go for a run, go to the beach, do something that will make you feel good.
7.) Demonstrate kindness
Putting kindness and positive energy into the universe will raise your vibration and make abundance flow to you with ease. Positive words and acts of kindness will do nothing but benefit you. On the other hand, gossiping and talking negatively will only lower vibration.
Imagine a trail of high frequencies following you wherever you go. This trail has the ability to attract other high frequencies. However, if you speak with low vibrational words, you will have a trail of similar vibrations following you.
8.) Get your body moving
Since we are states of matter already moving, producing more movement makes higher levels of vibrations. Get your body moving whether it just be going for a walk, going to the gym, or dancing around your room. Whatever it takes, just get up and get movin!
Hopefully, this quick list will help you step into your full potential and raise your vibration higher than ever before. I promise you, if you do everything listed in order to begin raising your vibration, things in your life will start to change. You might even be surprised.
The mind is an amazing, intricate, and delicate thing inside all of us. There are many ways to heal the mind, some of the most beneficial being holistically. Using isochronic tones to heal the mind has been proven beneficial through various research studies.
Isochronic tones are a special kind of tone which has a pulsating sound as it is being played on and off rapidly and repetitively.
These tones excite and stimulate the thalamus in your brain. This stimulation encourages the brain to follow along with the pattern of the frequency of tones. Essentially your brain is matching the frequency of the tones being played.
Isochronic tones can be used to put the mind at ease and allow your mind to “surrender” as you fall into a calm state of mind. These tones are generally a newer concept to many and don’t have as much popularity as the most common tone known as the “binaural beat”. Binaural beats are where two sound frequencies are used and repeated as opposed to one in the isochronic tone.
Your brain has five different frequency levels (gamma, beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves). Isochronic tones are effective at the gamma level. Gamma waves are important in cognitive functioning such as learning and memory. With these tones stimulating these brain waves, which can aid cognitive function and relax the mind.
It is thought that the 40 Hz gamma wave is the most important when it comes to learning and processing new information. Isochronic tones can be played at different Hz levels, activating different brain waves.
Using Isochronic Tones to Heal
Here is a playlist on Spotify that has multiple tracks at different Hz levels, leading to various stimulation of brain waves. The playlist is labeled as Chakra Healing but utilizes different Hz levels.
The Effect of the Tones
The tones are very soothing and have a very “zen” feel to them. It is important we give our brains a break from music with words and feed it with peaceful tones that provoke a calm feeling.
Essentially, listening to these isochronic tones can benefit your mind in healing and relaxing into a calm steady state. We have the power to heal our mind, all that is needed is an action.
