Cover Photo: Courtesy of Dian Lee

How the power of sound can bring harmony and balance within

Sound healing dates back to ancient times. In Greece, music from a flute or harp was used in an attempt to treat physical ailments like gout and cure mental disorders. To relieve chronic pain and restore harmony in a patient’s body, Egyptians used sound energy by composing vowel chants and built chambers to amplify sound and evoke catharsis. Music therapy was offered to wounded soldiers in the Second World War.

See also: 6 Habits Supported By Science For Better Health

Of all forms of energy, sound is one of the more powerful modalities. It’s because the vibration of sound is not only heard through our ears but also through every cell in our bodies. Scientist Itzhak Bentov explains in his book Stalking the Wild Pendulum that when a cell is stressed or diseased, its frequency changes and it starts vibrating discordantly. He hypothesises that when a strong harmonising rhythm is applied, the malfunctioning cell might start beating in tune again.

In her book Earth: Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library, Barbara Marciniak concur: “Sounds that are harmonious activate the body and create healing.”

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The sound of a burbling brook can bring a sense of calm (Photo: Unsplash)
Above The sound of a burbling brook can have a calming effect (Photo: Unsplash)

Previously seen as an alternative therapy, sound healing is increasingly becoming mainstream. Hospitals are even integrating it into their treatment programmes to treat hyperactive children or help older people with neurological problems retrieve their memory. In fact, for Dr Kulreet Chaudhary, a leading neurologist and neuroscientist who is also a practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine, she implements the use of sound therapy into the treatment of chronic neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and migraine headaches.

As someone who is a big advocate of conscious mindfulness, Datin Dian Lee, who’s a certified sound healing practitioner and heads the Luna Soul Care Club, sees this modality as a form of meditation to guide one into stillness. “People might not be comfortable by just sitting quietly with their breath. With sound, the mind has something to cling on to,” she explains. Our fast-paced lifestyle and our need to be stimulated all the time makes our mind go at hyperspeed and the only way to decompress and slow down our thoughts is via meditation. 

See also: Lessons On Love & Patience From Datin Dian Lee

Lee took a sound healing course with Jeralyn Glass, a pioneer in the field of sound healing using alchemy crystal singing bowls and conducts one of the top-rated sound healing trainings in the world. Glass is also very active in the medical community and works closely with The Cancer Support Community in Los Angeles, helping cancer patients release emotional stress and find ease and peace with it through her crystal sound healing meditation classes. Complementing medical treatment with this kind of therapy is an important part of the healing process. “Yes, you get the medicine,” says Lee, “but it’s equally important to find that inner peace within because if you are not at peace with yourself, then your body is not in equilibrium. And when it’s out of sync, your body is not able to heal itself. Scientists are now showing that when you have equanimity within, your body will automatically heal because it has an innate nature of self-healing.”

Seeing how meditation has greatly helped her personally in her life, Lee started doing online meditation classes at the onset of the pandemic, as she noticed that a lot of people felt lost, anxious and uncertain of what was happening. For sound, the instrument could be metal bowls, gongs, chimes or crystal bowls but she prefers the latter as the sound crystal bowls make is very clear, due to it being made out of 99.998 pure quartz. “Also, it really resonates with us because the crystalline structure of crystal and the human body is the same because we are made of 70 per cent water, which is silica, the core material of crystal. It’s different from a metal bowl, so with crystal bowls, when you hear it, you resonate with the sound differently.”

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Dian Lee's crystal bowls (Photo: Instagram/@dianwithlove)
Above Dian Lee's crystal bowls (Photo: Instagram/@dianwithlove)

Having said that, in actuality, the instrument is really just a gimmick. “The magic is when you guide that person into their own stillness. All these bowls are just a tool, it’s not the most important thing.”

Lee further explains, “Whether it’s crystal bowls or even just a walk, at the end of the day, it’s just to help you realise the stillness that is already there. You know like how you go to a mountain and you feel so peaceful and zen? But the reality is, the zen you feel on top of the mountain was with you, all this while. You just open up yourself to feeling that zen when you’re up there. Our life is so filled with conditioning and noise that we forget that there is this sacredness within us all along.”

In order for us to receive the benefits of meditation, we have to be ready and willing to do it. She recounts the time she was forced to meditate during her yoga training. “I really didn’t like it initially. Never could I imagine myself meditating but it was a thing we had to do every morning for 90 minutes, when we go in the morning at 6.30am. I remember I had back pain, leg pain—it was really painful because I had a bad back. But two weeks in, something just clicked, and I just felt a type of peace and bliss that you feel within, and you can only feel it when you are still.

“My whole life, I had never felt the way I felt then [and still do]. It’s like this pure happiness, like you know you are just enough, whole, and you have so much love and compassion for yourself. It’s like building that muscle, you have to keep doing it. It’s not something you do in like five minutes and you call it a day. But to see the real effects, you have to stick with it.”

In that moment of stillness, you gain better awareness and control of your emotions, more clarity, and discover your purpose and what’s important to you. You develop a spacious mind which allows you to learn to change your relationship with your passing thoughts and feelings and view them with new perspective. You also lose attachment to material things. In essence you gain a deeper understanding of yourself.

See also: How To Meditate Daily & Observe Mindfulness

“Part of this journey that I’m on is also to be okay not knowing and also to go with the flow. I’m not saying don’t plan for a future. But I think what is important, at the core of it, is that I know deep within myself that if I don’t have this, it’s okay, and maybe something else will come along.

“I feel that we are going through a shift because of the suffering and pain everyone is going through. Look at our teenage suicide rate; depression, insomnia, general health issues are also on the rise. We have become a society where you have to be super busy in order to be seen successful. It’s totally fine to work hard for the things you want in life but at the same time you also have to know what is important to you.”

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