Sound Therapy at SuNu
Sound has been utilized in various cultures for thousands of years as a tool for healing. Sound helps to facilitate shifts in our brainwave state by using entrainment. Entrainment synchronizes our fluctuating brainwaves by providing a stable frequency which the brainwave can attune to. By using rhythm and frequency, we can entrain our brainwaves and it then becomes possible to down-shift our normal beta state (normal waking consciousness) to alpha (relaxed consciousness), and even reach theta (meditative state) and delta (sleep; where internal healing can occur).
A sound therapy treatment is both a passive and participatory experience. The passive aspect is that you become more relaxed by laying down and slowing your breath. By doing this, you prepare yourself to become the receiver of sound. It’s in this place of stillness that you participate by becoming more open and aware of each sound that comes in. Sound helps create the pathway to this place of stillness the same as a mantra helps you to arrive at the still point of meditation.
SuNu currently offers sound therapy in the form of Tibetan Bowl Therapy.
Tibetan Bowl Therapy
Tibetan/Singing Bowl History
Historians believe that metal working artisans perfected the techniques for making Tibetan/Himalayan Singing Bowls nearly 2500 years ago at the time of Buddha’s birth. There is a rich tradition of oral history that tells us that the bowls came to Tibet and Nepal from India at the same time that Buddhism was introduced to Tibet and Nepal by the great Buddhist master, Padmasambhava.
The making of traditional Tibetan/Himalayan Singing Bowls has been handed down from generation to generation within a family clan or caste. Today craftsman in Nepal in the Kathmandu Valley still use ancient techniques for making the bowls. The bowls Kristin Elam uses at SuNu are purchased from Atma Buti – Soul Medicine Sound and Vibrational School – and are made by the same clan that can be traced back to the time of Buddha.
Each bowl begins as a ball of the special 7 sacred metal recipe and takes 3-4 people to hand hammer each bowl. One person to hold the hot metal with blacksmith tongs, while 2-3 others alternate hammering and chanting “Om Mani Padme Hom,” infusing the bowl with healing intentions while it’s being created.
These bowls are made of a special 7 sacred metal alloy of gold, silver, iron, mercury, tin, copper, and lead. Each of the sacred metals is aligned with the 7 creative planets and 7 chakras, or energy points, in the human body. Additionally, each of the bowls is tuned to the specific note that affects each individual chakra.
There are two systems relating sound to our energetic fields. Jessie uses the Tibetan System.
Why are they referred to as “singing bowls”
Very simply because they can be made to sing. They produce multiphonic and polyharmonic overtones which are unique, subtle and complex. The ability to produce multiple notes and sounds is a result of the bowl’s 7 alloy property, where each metal vibrates a unique overtone.
Sound is an important part of the Himalayan culture’s spiritual practices. In the Buddhist and Hindu doctrines, there are nine methods of realization in reaching enlightenment. The seventh way was sound. For this reason, the sound produced by the bowl was used by Buddhist practitioners as part of their religious rituals and music.
The Tibetan/Himalayan Singing Bowls are used during meditation practices to reinforce one of the most important concepts; being “mindful” or staying in the present moment.
Healing through vibration
Physics tells us that everything vibrates at a specific frequency. Every object, person, building, tree, mountain, or planet is a vibration in a vast ocean of energy. Nature is vibration. You are vibration. The universe is vibration. Each object or thought vibrates at different frequencies that create either harmony or dissonance in the local field.
We all have a natural state of vibration. When the body fall out harmony resulting in various states is discord; voice, music, and singing bowls can help. Tibetan/Himalayan Singing Bowls produce pure vibrations capable of correcting these imbalances in our subtle bodies. When there is disease or distress in the body, the cells vibrate out of balance. Therefore, it is particularly effective to place singing bowls directly on the body-so that the vibrations are in an optimal position to affect any internal imbalances.
Healing through sound
The music you listen to can either help create harmonizing and sympathetic vibrations or chaotic and disorganized vibrations. Coherent, harmonizing vibrations promote healing, balance, and peace in both your mind and body. The music of the singing bowls is used to restore balance to your mind and body. Using specific sequences, vibratory coherence can be strengthened, assisting with healing and helping to settle the mind. It can shift you out of your thought stream and into an expanded state of awareness in which you perceive the world differently.
Tibetan Bowl Therapy Services at SuNu
Clients remain fully clothed for all bowl therapies and may have a blanket covering their body for comfort.
Relaxation Therapy w/ Personalized Therapy (60 or 90 minutes): This is a soothing therapy with bowls played all around the body in a rhythmic pattern that induces a calming, trance like state. After reaching complete calm a personalized bowl therapy will be used to balance the chakras or treat specific areas of the body. This session includes a 10-minute discussion to determine what is best for you and to set your intention.
Jessie Daniels, Sound Therapy and Massage Practitioner (Minnetonka)
Jessie is SuNu’s Clinic Coordinator and a Massage and Sound Therapy Practitioner as part of Sunu’s Bodywork Team. She graduated from CenterPoint School of Massage and Shiatsu Therapy in 2016 where she studied Therapeutic Massage. She was an apprentice for Sound Therapy under Sunu’s own Kristin Elam 2018-2020. Jessie combines her creativity, organizational skills, and wellness knowledge to help SuNu continue to grow and flourish. She appreciates the SuNu team and the community of clients that it supports. You may find her working administratively at the front desk, training team-members, helping with events, or anything else that SuNu needs. She is also available for Massage, Group Sound Sessions, or Private Sound Therapy Sessions using her beautiful set of Tibetan Singing Bowls. Her treatments tend towards deep relaxation and an intuitive energetic style of bodywork.
Read more about Jessie.