By: Deb Martin, Holistic Health Educator
August 2024
Sound affects physiological pathways of pain, stress and imbalance. Healing Harmonies is yet another option available to us for physical and emotional healing and has been used in native and natural medicine for thousands of years.
The ancient Egyptians developed the harp as an instrument for tuning human energy centers. They also used the human voice. Their underlying belief was that specific tones and rhythms activate and recharge specific body energy centers, which then reverberate through the rest of the body, bringing healing and vitality to the people.
A few years ago, when I arrived for a visit in Colorado, my eyes became painfully dry. On the third day, I was treated to a private, 30-minute gong concert, and to my surprise, the painful, dry eye condition disappeared!
We frequently hear such stories from people who have experienced our Thursday night Sound Baths and private sessions. Lotus Blossom Clinic is fortunate to have two sound healing practitioners: Stephanie Niles and Kathryn Udell whose clients and sound healing/bath attendees list stress relief, better sleep, and pain relief as common effects.
Want to check it out for yourself? Set up a private…or attend an event! Thursdays nights are sound “bath” events, beginning at 6:45pm. Let Stephanie know you are coming! Crystal Bowl Sound Bath Meditations
How does it work?
The human body mass is mostly made of water, with an average of 60%, and some of us—mostly the very young—composed of 75% water. An electrical engineer from the U.K.named John Stuart Reid has spent 50 years researching sound and healing, and he describes it like this: Sound creates vibrations and frequencies which organize water.
There is considerable science on this today including some touting a significant dopamine boost from using sound as medicine. Dopamine is important in controlling memory, mood, sleep, learning, concentration, and other body functions. For example, loss of movement control in Parkinson’s Disease is caused by a lack of dopamine.
Here are a couple of studies for the curious:
NIH (National Institutes of Health), touts a measured increase in dopamine using sound
(article published in 2020). “Sound exposure dynamically induces dopamine synthesis in cholinergic LOC efferents for feedback to auditory nerve fibers”
Psychology Today published an excellent article in January 2024, “The Healing Power of Sound as Meditation” “Sound-based treatment has even been found to improve mobility, reduce muscle pain and stiffness, increase blood circulation, and lower blood pressure.”
I believe that sometimes we need a reset, a nudge to shift our cells toward better health. Among its affects, these studies have proven that sound healing can help us create dopamine, a critical hormone and neurotransmitter affecting movement and feelings of reward. It is key to our happiness and health.
Music is Medicine!
John Stuart Reid has spent decades studying and creating scientific equipment to measure the effects of sound on the human body, and he invented a way to “see” vibrations in water and sand. Sounds form unique signature patterns. Some of us call them sacred geometry. Check out how John’s CymaScope instrument creates beautiful, geometric patterns to my favorite song, “Claire de Lune”.
Consider these facts and effects of sound:
1. Singing or Humming produces nitric oxide in the body which helps our blood vessels relax, and blood flows more easily. The higher the pitch, the more effect it has on the head. Lower pitches affect more of our mid-section.
2. When we immerse ourselves fully in music (using speakers, NOT headphones, which restrict the sound’s effect to the head), the sound automatically excites cells all over the body, and we create more nitric oxide which mediates pain, edema, and pathogens, increases blood flow in the brain, and more. And, Yes. Music Medicine is now a “thing” in some leading hospitals. For example, Stanford’s Neuroscience Health Center in Palo Alto, California offers a free weekly event in their Wellness Center which is designed for breast cancer patients.
3. Chronic Inflammation, which underlies aging and disease, can be lowered using headphones and certain levels of hertz to stimulate the tragus (that small bump at the front of our ear which allows us to identify sounds from behind us). This, in tern, affects the cytokine signaling in the cells…in this case having the affect of lowering inflammation.
4. When we experience happiness while listening to music, our immune systems produce more dopamine, which triggers it to create more white blood cells. Cortisol (the “stress hormone”) production is also, simultaneously, lowered.
5. Pain Mediation: Neils Bohr Institute in Denmark has discovered that all nerves in the body primarily use sound pulses as a method of instituting signals. It’s based on “Gate Control Therapy”: all nerves are sensitive to pressure, and certain frequencies of sound create pressure which mediates the pain, especially when applied locally.
Conclusion
Sound healing is an ancient and modern, effective modality. Want to experience Sound Healing?
We have two options for you at the clinic.
Kathryn “Kat” Udell brings both her medical background as a nurse practitioner and experience from her studies with shamans to her sound and energy healing practice. Check her out on the beach! Contact for private sessions: Kathryn.udell@gmail.com
Stephanie Niles offers our Thursday evening Crystal Bowl Sound Bath Meditations as well as private sound healing and Reiki sessions: Stephanie.lotusblossom@gmail.com.
Stephanie sees positive affects of her sound healing “baths” on a weekly basis. Sometimes it’s quite dramatic, as in this report of emotional and spiritual growth:
“One of my clients had a profound experience during my crystal bowl sound healing event at the Lotus Blossom Clinic. That first session led to a wonderful transformation! Initially attending out of curiosity, she soon recognized how her body and spirit resonated with the soothing sounds of the crystal bowls. As the session progressed, she felt a deep sense of relaxation enveloping her, allowing her to release long-held tensions and emotional blocks. By the end of the class, she described feeling an unprecedented connection to her inner self, as if layers of stress and disconnection had been peeled away. This experience of self-awareness and clarity profoundly impacted her. She is now a regular attendee, notices and receives messages from her body and has opened to new lifestyle options for greater health. She continues to find even deeper healing, peace, purpose, and well-being.”
Got emotional or physical pain? Call us at 239-277-1399.
Be in tune with joy,
Dr. David Martin, AP, DOM
and Deb Martin, Holistic Health Educator
Lotus Blossom Clinic – Where Your Health Blooms!
https://www.lotusblossomclinic.com
(239) 277-1399
Serving the greater Fort Myers area with Natural and Holistic Medicine, including Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Massage, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Science-backed Food as Medicine, Energy and Transformational Sessions….and Community Classes and Events both Virtual and In-Person.