Sound healing works. It is one of the most ancient and natural forms of healing available out there and science is now starting to verify many of its potential benefits.
Specific vibrations from different instruments, voices and digital technologies, can have a deeply resonant effect on the mindful listener, which in turn empowers him or her to feel whole and vibrantly alive. Utilizing the simple yet powerful energy of various tones can help restore balance in the mind, body, heart and spirit.
Recent scientific studies have linked sound healing to an array of health benefits, including:
- boosting the immune system
- reducing stress levels
- decreasing mood swings
- lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels
- reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke
- enhancing sleep quality.
Sound healing has also been employed to treat symptoms of conditions like anxiety and depression; PTSD; dementia; autism; and even some forms of cancer.
A sound healing session can be done on oneself or by a trained sound healer and could entail sitting or lying down while listening to the sounds or having vibrations applied using a tuning fork or Tibetan singing bowl placed on or near the body.
Depending on the method, the recipient of the healing may be encouraged to participate by singing, moving or playing a musical instrument — or to stay still and silent as the sounds take effect.
The following instruments are helpful for deepening the relaxation experience during a yoga and meditation practice and/or sound healing sessions.
1. Tibetan Singing Bowl Set
This exquisite set by Silent Mind includes a 4-inch hand-hammered Tibetan singing bowl, a wooden striker and a hand-sewn cushion. Crafted in Nepal by skilled artisans, this singing bowl immediately creates an ambience for emotional equilibrium and healing.
Tibetan singing bowls provide potent sound healing and can help alleviate stress disorders, pain, depression and other forms of mental and physical disease. They are easy to play and emit resonant tones to create the ideal state for deep meditation, creative thinking and connecting with one’s intuition.
This conveniently-sized meditation bowl can fit in the palm of your hand and adds a unique and high-vibrational flavor to any room’s decor.
2. Meditation Chime
This silver percussion seven-tone chime emits a soothing tone to relax and energize the listener. It is a beautiful, handcrafted chime that features seven distinct, precision-tuned aluminum rods on a wooden base. The set, manufactured by Woodstock Chimes, comes with a rubber-tipped wooden mallet.
Measuring 11-inches in length, 6-inches in width and 1-inch in depth, its compact size enables this chime to fit easily on a small shelf or meditation altar. The soft sound emitted by this delicate instrument is perfect for enhancing concentration in meditation. Plus the set comes with
3. Desk Gong
The amazing resonance of a gong has the seemingly magical ability to transport us to another time and place. For centuries, gongs have been sounded in Asian cultures to remove bad spirits, warn of approaching armies, heal the sick and invoke the spirits of those who have passed on to the next dimension.
Likewise, today, this extraordinary instrument imparts a unique and profoundly spiritual aura to any setting. Woodstock gongs are hand-hammered by a master gong maker using traditional materials to deliver a rich and authentic sound.
This handcrafted Woodstock desk gong transports the musical wonder of the Far East to your meditation room or practice space. The gong’s sturdy wooden frame is made from quality ash wood with a black finish. The gong itself is brass and black and comes with a striking mallet.
4. Tingsha Cymbals with Pouch
Tingshas are little prayer chimes that were traditionally used in ceremony in the Himalayan regions encompassing the countries of Nepal, Tibet and India.
Frequently rung at the beginning and ending of a yoga class or meditation session, tingshas are also great for space clearing to disperse negative energy from your room or home.
These cymbals come in a matched pair with just the right thickness and shape needed to create gorgeous overtones and are bound together with a leather cord. They are played by either tapping the rims together or uniting them like cymbals.
This pair of tingshas is engraved with the sacred yoga mantra and Hindu prayer for peace, Om Namah Shivaya, which loosely translates to: “I bow to the inner Self”. The cymbals come with a colorful silk pouch for storage.
5. Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Bell and Dorje Set
Handcrafted with the traditional Tibetan formula of seven metals, this high-quality bell emits a brilliant sound to focus the mind during meditation. The bell has been used since ancient times in Tibetan Buddhist rituals because it produces a clear, calming and high-pitched tone.
The bell represents wisdom and the dorje ornament represents compassion, the two wings of Buddhist meditation practice. The dorje is a ritual object and the primary symbol of the Vajrayana school of Buddhism, a branch whose teachings and rituals are said to enable a devoted practitioner to achieve enlightenment in this lifetime, in a thunderbolt flash of indestructible clarity.
Traditionally, the vajra is held in the left hand and represents the masculine principle of action, while the bell is held in the right hand and represents the feminine aspect of wisdom.
Final thoughts
We hope that through this overview of meditation singing bowls, bells, gongs and cymbals that you’ve found a way to incorporate healing vibrations to your daily life.
We all need some sort of healing, whether we know it or not. Merely by living we’re bombarded with so much impressions, frictions and tensions, but also the possible relief of them.
So right before a meditation or yoga session, take a couple of deep breaths from the belly and strike the bowl/bell/gong/cymbal of your choice 3 mindful times.
Daniel Seeker is a lifelong student of the past, present and future. He realized deep relaxations of the psyche when meditating in his hermit cave on the island of Gotland. His writings are mostly a reflection of that realization. Daniel has meditated & done yogic exercises daily for more than 10 years and is studying history and philosophy at Uppsala Universitet. He is currently finishing writing his B.A. thesis in history which explores how Buddhist, Yogic and Hindu texts were first properly translated and introduced to the western world in the late 18th and 19th century.