Practicing Sound Bath and Chakras- for better mental and physical health

Different sounds have different effects on the brain and trigger different responses.

It really is quite simple - how do you feel when you think about the sound of the waves lapping at the sand? Or that of windchimes on a peaceful balcony. Now think about the sound of incessant honking in a traffic jam. One almost automatically makes you feel calm, while the other, quite anxious. Different sounds have different effects on the brain and trigger different responses. Sound Therapy works on this premise - using the different sound waves and frequencies to improve the health and well-being of an individual.

Healing with sound happens in a number of ways. Listening, meditating, chanting, and playing musical instruments. In India, we also delve into the Raga-Chikitsa which was written in the ancient times and spoke about the use of the different ragas to treat various ailments.

A commonly used technique for healing through sound is the Sound Bath. A Sound-Bath is an experience that allows one to connect with one’s inner self - using sounds to create a meditative state. The use of tibetan bowls, chimes and other calming instruments has been most common in sound baths around the world. It is also believed that the human voice has a very strong effect on the mind and body of the person experiencing a sound bath. A trained professional may sing/play at specific frequencies in order to elicit and trigger different responses in the participant - leading to improved physical and mental health.

Sound is also found to directly impact the Chakras - or energy centres of the body. Most ancient disciplines believe that the human body has seven chakras. The belief is that each chakra vibrates at a different speed, with a different frequency and responds to a different sound. When the chakras are balanced, the body functions at its best. The delicate balance of the chakra can be disturbed due to various conditions, and this disturbance, in turn, causes disease. Rectifying this energy imbalance through sound is the aim of this kind of sound healing. Each chakra responds to a certain sound, sung at a certain frequency. The healer uses these “bija mantras” or seed sounds to bring back the balance between the chakras and help to re-align them. The seemingly meaningless mantra is believed to have a potent “shakti” or energy which can be transmitted to the person who is experiencing it.

Scientific experiments have proven that sound and music have far-reaching effects on cognition and the development of the brain. It positively impacts one’s mental and physical health - and also significantly improves - motor skills, social skills, language skills, communication skills and so on. It also helps to inculcate discipline thus having an overall impact on and generally making better one’s physical and mental health.Increasingly, the use of sound through sound baths and chakra meditations and various other formats are being used for healing around the world.