Our reading for today comes from Danae Beaudette, a sound healer and massage therapist. Click here to learn more about her services and book a sound healing session!

What is a Vibrational Sound Meditation?

Vibrational Sound Meditation consists of playing instruments like the Gong, Crystal Bowls, Tibetan Bowls, Shamanic Drum, ocean drum, rain sticks, tingshas, and other vibrational instruments, making it a complete sound journey. As the instruments are played, you lie down on a yoga mat and receive the vibrations throughout every cell in your body. You can expect to become very relaxed, and maybe even fall asleep! Or perhaps you are the one playing these instruments are also receiving the effects. 

The instruments are played at various times throughout the session like a great cosmic choir, you feel immersed as if you are in a sea of sound and vibration that feels as if it is within and all around you. The tones and resonance play upon the body at the cellular, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels of your being. The therapeutic meditation session typically lasts for about 45 minutes.

Usually, you are lying on a mat in savasana position (flat on one’s back) or in any other position that is comfortable to you. The vibrational sounds move through your nervous system and chakras – opening, clearing and recharging the whole mind, body and spirit, which triggers a meditation state in which you have the opportunity to relinquish control of the mind. Negativity and stress are suspended, resistance is cleared, and the whole being is reset to a state of synchrony and alignment. Because of the randomness of the sound, the brain has no set pattern to follow, so it gives up and allows the whole body to let go. Then you move beyond your physicality and become totally attuned to the real self, the sacred self. The body is being filled with vibrations that emphasize wholeness and resonance, and whatever the problem, the sound will go to that place that needs it. Your body will pull it in and the cells will begin to regain their highest potential of resonance as the powerful rhythmic vibrations of the sound tools resonate throughout the body.

Consider the rippling effect of a pebble on a placid lake… and now picture the ripples of relaxing, meditative, soothing and energizing sound waves to reverberate through your entire body. While water is the dominant element of your body (and your brain rests in it), it is also an ideal conductor of the vibrational sounds and transformative energy.

Many people have noticeable experiences during a Vibrational Sound Meditation. People can feel their bodies twitch (as the energy meridians are cleared & balanced), recalibrate the parasympathetic nervous system (heavy arms and legs, as well as a regulated heart rate during a gong meditation, are a sign of the re-calibration), have insights, bursts of creative ideas, see splashes of color behind their closed eyes, out of body experiences, or simply experience feelings of total peace & connectedness.

The Science Behind Sound Therapy

Sound is being perceived through our ear, our skin, and bones. A fascinating fact about hearing is the association of the ear and the vagus nerve; the vagus nerve originates in the brain, attaches to the inner and outer eardrum, and wanders through the thoracic and abdominal cavities. It regulates the functions of many major organs, among them lungs, heart, stomach, kidneys and the liver. As a result, the sound is not just vibrating the eardrum but with the help of the vagus nerve it resonates and vibrates, or “massages”, the entire being on a cellular level.

For many people, stress has become a way of life. When we are stressed, our bodies release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which make our hearts race and our breathing rate faster and shallower. These hormones can leave us feeling anxious and unsettled. Long-term stress causes a range of ailments including high blood pressure, insomnia, heart disease, and digestive problems. Not only does stress damage the quality of our lives, but it also reduces the body’s ability to heal and fight disease.

Bridging the Gap

Through sound meditation, we are able to lose a sense of identity with our body as a physical object. We are no longer limited to a 3rd-dimensional material world but are taken to a fourth-dimensional dream body. When we are in a 4th-dimensional dream body, there is less interference between our ego consciousness and our more evolved innate intelligence. Our innate intelligence is the consciousness, creating perpetual DNA-repair while we are alive. Although this repair goes on while we are in the awake state (beta consciousness), it is when our rational mind is asleep that the DNA-repair is better able to achieve maximum efficiency. This process begins in the alpha-theta state and reaches ultimate efficiency in the deep theta and delta states. The Theta State is where the vibrational healing can begin and in delta-sleep, the mind is completely unconscious, allowing the body to receive the medicina on a very deep level.