Sound, Energy, & Entrainment
By Miriam Lyon, Certified Sound Therapist & Reiki Teacher/Practitioner
Healing via the use of sound is something that humans have been practicing for millennia. While Sound Baths have increased in popularity in recent years, the use of sound to create harmony and balance within our physical, mental, emotional and energetic bodies can be traced back to numerous origins:
Mantra/sacred chant repetition by Buddhist monks, Yogis, Hindis and more
Pythagoras’ use of interval and frequency
Singing bowls of Tibet, Nepal and India
Ancient Greek, Egyptian and Shamanic use of drums
Icaros (medicine songs) of Indigenous people from South and Central America
Everything in the universe is vibration, including sound, and at a quantum level, everything is made up of vibrating energy fields with atoms and molecules. The majority of the human body is vibrating energy fields, including the subtle energies of our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotions.
Each cell, gland, organ, tissue, muscle, is vibrating, along with each system within the body:
Cardiovascular/circulatory
Endocrine, digestive and immune
Nervous, muscular and lymphatic
Skeletal, urinary and excretory.
The speed of each vibration can be called its resonant frequency. We are vibrating, pulsating, resonating energetic beings, which when healthy, is in perfect harmony at a cellular, molecular and atomic level, much like a perfectly tuned instrument.
When out of balance as a result of physical, mental or other causes, the instrument of our body becomes out of tune. Through harmonious instruments used in Sound Healing, the sound waves or vibrations help bring the body back into balance, improving health and well-being.
Sound Therapy, or Sound Healing, works partially through the principle of entrainment - the natural process of a rhythmic pattern, which induces other organisms to fall into the same rhythm. Examples of this principle are metronomes synchronizing with each other or pendulum (grandfather) clocks synchronizing with each other, as outlined by physicist Christiaan Huygens.
Within the Sound Bath experience there are many potentials for entrainment to occur. A stable frequency allows brainwaves to synchronize with the frequency and move into different brainwave states. Most participants shift from Beta (awake consciousness) to Alpha (relaxed consciousness), into Theta (meditative consciousness) and also Delta (deep sleep - yes, benefits still experienced if you fall asleep).
Heart rates slow as they entrain with the sound of a drum or the frequency of singing bowls, and nervous systems typically shift into parasympathetic, the rest and digest/healing nervous system state.
Sound Baths often allow for quick activation of the parasympathetic state, offering the opportunity to clear blockages in the physical, emotional, mental and energetic bodies. Through the vibrations, entrainment and resonant frequencies, stuck energies and traumas are released, leaving participants feeling lighter, more centered and connected.
Another element of the Sound Bath experience is becoming more aware of the sounds around us in everyday life. Where a sound may elevate our stress levels and create imbalance, through Sound Therapy, we learn to listen with all of our senses, leading to being better equipped to integrate the sounds around us without increasing stress levels.
Beyond the benefits included above, Sound Baths can produce positive results in many areas:
Rebalancing the nervous system
Reducing overall stress levels
Boosting the immune system
Reducing inflammation and increasing circulation
Improving sleep
Reducing pain, and symptoms of anxiety and depression
Balancing the right and left sides of the brain, creating a state of calm.
Experience a Sound Bath with our Certified Sound Therapist and Reiki Teacher and Practitioner, Miriam Lyon. Each Sound Bath with Miriam includes:
the use of various instruments, vocals, songs, and mantras customized to the intentions of the client
the energy of Reiki (optional, hands-on work is also optional)
breathing exercises, visualization, and lifestyle coaching
Miriam has many years of experience with the techniques she uses in Sound Baths (1:1 or group).
Read more on her bio or read more about what to expect in the Services section of our website.
*A Sound Bath is like a delicate massage for all of your cells, through the use of sounds and vibrations.
Miriam Lyon
Certified Sound Therapist
Reiki Teacher/Practitioner
YTT200HR
Tuesdays 1:00pm - 6:30pm (in-person)
Thursdays 4:00pm - 8:00pm (virtual only)
References
What is Entrainment? Definition and applications in musical research. Martin Clayton, Empirical Musicology Review 7(1-2)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279445641_What_is_Entrainment_Definition_and_applications_in_musical_researchIn time with the music: The concept of entrainment and its significance for ethnomusicology. Martin Clayton, Rebecca Sager and Udo Will. https://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/experience/InTimeWithTheMusic.pdf
