Sound Baths are just that, a bath of different frequencies geared to lead you into a slower brainwave state to help you at first to relax and then to enter a brainwave state where healing is possible. The mechanics behind it are the concept of entrainment and resonance.
Entrainment is the idea that your brain will entrain or fall into step with a repetitive rhythm. For example your natural brainwave state is in the Beta level which is between 12-30 cycles per second. This is the brainwave state that you are in while dealing with your normal everyday life. It is related to stress and worry and response to outward stimuli. If I were to play a rhythm on my drum that relates to the lower Theta state which is about 4 cycles per second for about 15 minutes or so, your brain would automatically tune itself to that pulse and you would find yourself in a relaxed inwardly focused state. This has been written about in the National Library of Medicine(NIH) This is the shamanic state and has been practiced by cultures all throughout the world. The shamanic state is for when you want to go deep. The trance state is a mix or inwardly and outwardly focus which is more related to problem-solving and creativity. For this state I would play a rhythm that falls about 5-7 beats per second and instead of being a steady beat, I would play a more unpredictable beat since the outwardly focused part of the mind would shut out the sound otherwise as not important. After about 10-15 minutes you would find yourself in a more focused and calm state.
Have you ever heard of the opera singer that can shatter a wine glass just by singing? Everything vibrates at a certain frequency. This is known as resonance. When the singer sings the same frequency as the wine glass, it excites the frequency of the wine glass- causes it to vibrate even more and if the particles are excited too much the wine glass will shatter. Resonance is the idea that everything has a frequency. While entrainment is mainly based on pulses or rhythms, resonance is based on frequency. When you play specific frequencies near the body, the cells “hear” that harmony and it reminds them of their ideal state(or healthy state) and they harmonize to that frequency. A more scientific way of saying this might be that the cells that are damaged or dis-eased have a certain frequency but that frequency has been dampened or dulled by the dis-ease- when those cells are exposed to the same frequency they will start to resonate more and ideally return to their natural(healthy) frequency.
In my sound baths I attempt to apply both techniques to allow you to go into a deep theta state to help you deal with problems you are having in your life, with your body and your emotions. I am a trained musician and composer in addition to having completed the Level 1 and Level 2 Diploma of Sound Healing:1-2-1 Clients from the Sound Healing Academy. I have also completed The Drum Healing course from the Strong Institute.
