Sound Healing

The term 'Sound Healing' can refer to many things 

from amazing advances in medical technology 
to gentle gong baths and a swathe of topics in between
It’s fascinating world to explore but also has it pitfalls


As a ‘trendy’ therapy that is attracting fashionable mainstream interest 
it is also an area rich with charlatans cashing in on the uninformed and vulnerable

At one end of the spectrum we have sound at the cutting edge of Western medicine
MRI guided focus ultrasound (MRIgFUS) can isolate and remove 
small specific areas of unwanted internal tissue non-invasively without anaesthetic
A day patient can now have a short pain free procedure to deal with a condition 
that would previously have involved an expensive operation with all the associated risks

At the other end of the ‘sound’ spectrum live  the emotional psycho-spiritual work 
of healers and counsellors who use the calming attention-focusing power of this most potent of senses 
to help their patients and clients get the most from what ever practice they are involved in
These two things couldn’t be further apart

The medicinal practices use highly precise rigorous patent-tested machines 
that have passed through all the safety controls of such an endeavour
Healers and Shaman rely on intuition, awareness, deep listening 
and lineages of wisdom and subjective inner experiences

Many folks in middle practice something that looks a lot like the later 
(though perhaps without much of the inner work required) 
while making many of the claims of the former 
(without the cold hard science to back them up)

Here is the rule of thumb for gauging whether someone in this field is integral 
and has thought through what they are claiming to be able to do or not

If somebody is telling you that using a Tibetan singing bowl will help you to relax 
and create a pleasing environment in which to meditate  or receive a treatment
then it mostly likely will do that ~ if it is a sound you find restful

However if somebody claims that the healing chimes they are playing 
vibrate at a very specific frequency that is in tune with the frequency of your DNA 
or that of your ancestral soul guides or something else not immediately straight forward
then I encourage you to respond to these specific claims with equally specific questions

You may find that your answers are met not with the research on which these claims are based 
but instead with a vague suggestion that you need to ‘have faith’ or ‘trust’ or some other statement 
that is more cult or religious in nature than either scientific or therapeutic