July/August 2006 Alternative Health
Sound Healing

If you examine the basic tenets of the various religions and mystical paths on this planet, you find they all have awareness that sound is the basic creative force in the universe.

In St. John from the New Testament it is written: “In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was God”. The Hindu holy books, The Vedas, state: “In the beginning was Brahman with whom was the Word and the Word was Brahman.” From Genesis in the Old Testament, we are told: “And the Lord said ‘Let there be Light!” and there was Light!” Sound is actually the first creative act of God, preceding the manifestation of Light; it is the act of speaking that creates the energy of Light.

The Hopis legends tell the story of the Spider Woman who sang the song of creation over all the inanimate forms on the planet and brought them to life. From the Mayan holy book, Popul Vuh, the first real men and women are created solely through the power of sound. In ancient Egypt, the God Thoth would think of an object, speak its name and bring it into being. In the Hebrew \mystical path of Kabbalah, an object and its true name are identical. In the Orient, you have gods and goddesses blowing conch shells or hitting giant gongs and bringing the universe into creation. The stories and legend—these myths about sound as being the basic creative force are found in nearly every tradition and culture. The ancients understood that sound was the principle creative energy of the universe. With this understanding came awareness of the power of sound to heal and transform.

Sound travels as a waveform. These waves of sound are measured in cycles per second and are called its frequency (abbreviated as Hz.) Slow moving waves make deep sounds. Fast moving waves make high sound. We hear from around 16 Hz. to around 16,000 Hz. However, just because we can’t hear a sound didn’t mean it is not there. Dolphins can project and receive frequencies upwards of 180,000 cycles per second. That’s more than 10 times beyond our limit of hearing sound. Please contemplate the idea, which stems from the phrase “In the Beginning”—that everything and anything is sound. From the electrons moving around the nucleus of an atom to planets in distance galaxies moving around stars, everything is in a state of motion. And if it is in motion, it is putting out a vibration that may be perceived of as being sound.

Everything that vibrates has its own “resonant” frequency—that is the frequency or vibration, which is most natural and harmonious to it. This includes the chair you may be sitting on, the pages of this book and of course, your own body. Every organ, bone, tissue and part of your body is in a state of vibration and is putting out a sound, which is contributing to creating an overall harmonic of health. Our body is like this wonderful orchestra, with each section playing the proper notes for what could be called the “Suite of the Self”. This is analogous to a condition of health. In fact, when we are in a state of health, we call this “sound health”.

However, what happens when the 2nd violin player looses their sheet music? They begin to play out of key, out of tune, out of rhythm and harmony with the rest of the orchestra. This is analogous to the condition of disease.

The basic principle of sound healing as well as almost any vibrational medicine is this: to restore the correct vibratory resonance to that part of the body that is vibrating out harmony. To continue with our metaphor, it is to give back to the violin player who has lost their music, the correct sheet music so they can again play tune with the orchestra that is the human body.

Many of us think that sound only goes into our ears (and therefore into our brain). In reality, sound also has the ability to permeate and penetrate the very cells of the body. The Feb. 8, 1988 issue of the NY Times Science Section proclaimed “Sound Shaped into Dazzling New Tool! Can make, break or rearrange molecular structure and levitate objects!”. While this article was specifically talking about ultra-sonics (sounds above our level of hearing), it could just as easily be applied to sound within our audible range. Sound has the ability to change physical matter!

One of the most unique and at times challenging issues with regard to sound healing is that many times different people use different frequencies to treat similar conditions, or they use the same frequencies for different conditions. And, all these different treatments claim great success with these frequencies. This is dilemma of different frequencies is not new. I remember when working on my first book, Healing Sounds (Inner Traditions), I literally had hundreds of systems of sound healing from different scientists, spiritual healers, sound healers and the like. I had been collecting this information for several years as the results of my own interest in sound healing as well as for use in a Master’s Degree received from Lesley University in the Independent Study of the Uses of Sound and Music for Healing. The number of systems of different frequencies grew larger and larger and yet the disagreement about the frequencies (tones, mantras, chants, etc.) useful for correcting inbalances in the physical body or the etheric body continued to grow as well. This disagreement caused me great confusion

One day, when working on my computer, writing Healing Sounds, I clearly heard a voice say “It is not the frequency alone which creates the effect of the sound, but also the intention of the person creating the sound which equally effects the outcome of the sound.” I immediately wrote the formula “Frequency + Intent = Healing”.

“Frequency” as we have discussed is the vibrations of a sound wave. Here I use it as a generic term to mean the actual sound that is created, and thus it can include tones, harmonics, mantras, chants and other physical elements of sound. “Intent” is the energy behind the sound—it is the consciousness we have when making and projecting a sound. It is our thoughts, ours visualizations, our feeling—the energy of our consciousness that travels on the sound and is perceived energetically by the person receiving (hearing) the sound.

By projecting different intention onto sound, different experiences and effects of the sound can be created. Thus two people can potentially create the same sound with two very different intentions, and manifest two very different effects of the sound. One could tone a sound and project incredible healing energy onto it, while another could tone the same sound with the opposite effect, depending on the intention. From our perspective, “Intent” may very well be the most important, and the most powerful part of the formula.

Thus if “Frequency” is the physical counterpart of sound, and “Intent” is the spiritual counterpart of the sound, then, together they create the outcome of the sound (the “Healing”). It is now nearly fifteen years since I created this formula and many who work with sound feel, as I do, that it is correct and that it helps provide a unified theory as to why, despite the many differences in frequencies that may be used, different systems of sound healing seem to produce very successful treatments for many different conditions.

There are many ways in which sound can be utilized as a healing modality to create balance and harmony back into our body. Perhaps the most common and well known is the use of the human voice. This is called toning. Toning may be the most ancient and natural form of sound healing that exists. Toning usually consists of the sounding of elongated vowels. Whether we tone to relieve pain, to put ourselves in balance or to change the vibratory frequency of a part of our body, toning is a very powerful tool that everyone can use.

Other sound healing techniques involve the use of tuning forks, quartz crystal bowls, Tibetan bowls and bells, precise scientific instrumentation (such as the Cymatics Instrument), drums and other musical instruments, and of course, sonics created on CDs—all can create balance and harmony to our body, mind and spirit.

The current field of Sound Healing is enormous in its scope. Sound encompasses virtually all aspects of the auditory phenomenon--from music to nature sounds to electronic sounds to vocal sounds. Practitioners who use sound may likewise use anything that falls within this scope; from classical music to drumming and chanting to electronically synthesized sounds to acoustic instruments. The depth, variety and approach to "Sound Healing" may vary extensively, from a client listening to soothing music that calms and relaxes to a client lying on a specially designed bed that projects specific sounds into their body.

Some "Sound Healing" sessions may include:

  1. Music in Imagery: in which a client will listen to specific music while using imagery in order to open their psyche to for self-discovery.
  2. Music Therapy: in which therapist will work with clients using songs and music to help elicit states of behavior modification.
  3. Cymatic Therapy: in which specific frequencies via an instrument are projected into a client's body in order to create physiological change.
  4. CDs: with specifically designed frequencies, either generically created or specifically created for an imbalance of a particular client.
  5. The Electronic Ear: in which a client will listen to a program of specially filtered music via headphones, designed to open the ear and the brain to greater frequencies of sound and treat imbalances such as dyslexia and emotional issues.
  6. Toning and Overtoning: in which a client may receive the vocally created sounds of a practitioner to balance and align imbalances on the physical, emotional or etheric.
  7. Harmonic Resonance: in which a client will be tested using kinesiology and receive frequencies from synthesized sounds in order to balance the physical.
  8. Bio-Acoustics and other similar modalities; in which the missing frequencies of a client's voice are found and played back via synthesized sounds.
  9. Hemi-Sync and other psycho-acoustic techniques; in which a client listens to synthesized sounds designed to balance the hemi-spheres of the brain and induce altered states of consciousness.
  10. Mantric Chanting: in which a client will sound specific mantras designed to balance and align their etheric field.
  11. Tuning Forks: in which a client will receive the frequencies from specially designed tuning forks for relaxation and balance.
  12. Vibro-Acoustic beds, chairs, etc.: in which a client will sit or lie on a specially designed bed that projects music into their body. Such devices include: the Somatron, the Betar, the Genesis and other similar devices.

These categories are by no means inclusive of all the various possibilities inherent in the field of Sound Healing and are listed simply to give the reader some examples of the potential variation of treatments found in the field. In truth, the arena of sound healing is limitless—it is like this extraordinary pie, in which there are many different slices (or approaches) that are very different and yet may be successfully applied and utilized for healing and transformation. I always like to suggest that from my perspective, there is not a therapeutic, educational or transformational modality that cannot be enhanced by using some aspect of sound. Sound has the extraordinary ability to manifest shift and change. What is most exciting is that despite all the amazing inroads that have recently occurred with sound, we are still all in our infancy with regard to Sound Healing. The future of this field may bring us greater surprises than we can ever imagine.

Jonathan Goldman
Bio

Jonathan Goldman is an authority on sound healing and a pioneer in the field of harmonics. He is a writer, musician and teacher. Jonathan is the author of Healing Sounds; The Power of Harmonics (Inner Traditions) , Shifting Frequencies (Light Technology),The Lost Chord (Spirit Music) and Tantra of Sound (Hampton Roads) co-authored with his wife Andi. He has studied and worked with masters of sound from both the scientific and spiritual traditions, including the Dalai Lama’s Chanting Gyuto and Gyume Monks and has been empowered by the Chant Master of the Drepung Loseling Monastery to teach Tibetan Overtone Chanting.

Jonathan is the director of the Sound Healers Association; a non-profit organization dedicated to education and awareness of sound and music for healing. He is also president of Spirit Music, which produces music for meditation, relaxation and self-transformation. Jonathan has created numerous cutting edge recordings including: “Dolphin Dreams”, “Sacred Gateways: Drumming and Chanting”, “Trance Tara” “Ultimate Om”, “Holy Harmony” and “Medicine Buddha”; created for H.H., the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Northern California this May, 2001. His overtone chanting is heard on Kitaro’s 2001 Grammy Award winning album. Jonathan’s best selling release “Chakra Chants” won the 1999 Visionary Awards for “Best Healing-Meditation Album” and “Album of the Year”. Jonathan’s highly acclaimed albums: “The Lost Chord”, “The Divine Name” and “ChakraDance” also won as the Visionary Awards. His latest album are “The Tantra of Sound Harmonizer” and “Reiki Chants”. His collaboration with Tibetan Chant Master Lama Tashi “Tibetan Master Chants” was been nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award for “Best Traditional World Music”.

Jonathan has written numerous articles on the therapeutic and transformational uses of sound and music, which have appeared in many national publications. He has also contributed chapters and interviews to many books, including: Musicmedicine, Sonic Alchemy, Music: Physicians for Times to Come and Healing Spirits. Jonathan’s work has been cited in many books, including Julia Cameron’s Veins Of Gold. The McGraw-Hill college text, Music In Our World, has a chapter on Jonathan’s recording of “Dolphin Dreams”.

An internationally acknowledge Master Teacher, Jonathan facilitates Healing Sounds Seminars at universities, hospitals, holistic health centers and expos throughout the United States and Europe. He has appeared on national television and radio, including Art Bell’s “Coast to Coast AM” and has been featured in national periodicals including “USA Today” and “The New York Times”. His annual Healing Sounds Intensive attracts participants from throughout the world.

Jonathan Goldman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Film Making from Boston University. He holds a Master’s Degree in the Independent Study of Sound Healing from Lesley University. He is a lecturing member of the International Society for Music and Medicine.
Jonathan may be contacted via email: jonathangoldman@healingsounds.com, telephone: (800) 246-9764, (intl: 303 443-8181), fax: (303) 443-6023 or writing: P.O. Box 2240, Boulder, CO 80306. His website address is: www. healingsounds.com