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Well Being Sound Effects
Vibrational medicine uses sound waves to heal both body and mind
By: Kathy Wyer - for "YOGA JOURNAL May/June 2001
THE BEACH BOYS may have coined the phrase "good vibrations," but science and ancient yogis have long understood the healing powers of vibrational medicine. Vibrational medicine can be traced to W. O. Schumann, an early twentieth-century German scientist, who identified a key resonance in the earth's atmosphere that hums at 7.83 cycles per second. This frequency has been found dominant in energy vortexes, such as Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, as well as in the brain waves of healers, clairvoyants, and meditators. Scientists later discovered that when Schumann energy waves were introduced into the body, fractures and injuries often healed more rapidly.
Exactly how this works is not yet clear, but the thinking is that Schumann waves attend to the subtle fields of energy that both comprise and surround the human body. "All material substances-trees, dishes, animals-have [energy] fields because they all are composed of particles, atoms, and cells," says Valerie V. Hunt, Ph.D.., professor emeritus, Department of Physiological Sciences at UCLA, and author of Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness (Malibu Publishing Company, 2000). "And each of these fields is in constant dynamic equilibrium."
Mental and physical stress-as well as environmental stress caused from cell phones, computers, and the like-challenge the balance of our energy fields, says Hunt. "The health of the energy field is critical because this leads to the health or disease of the entire biological system," she says. "Emphasis on clean air, food, water, rest, and exercise are incomplete without retuning and strengthening our energy fields."
So how can we keep our energy fields in check? A type of vibrational treatment and yoga therapy called Sahaj Shabd may provide an answer. Sahaj Shabd (pronounced Sa-HESH Sha-bid, meaning "at ease with sound") is an outgrowth of Kundalini Yoga, which for centuries has valued the healing energy of vibrations the deepest and most intuitive realms of our consciousness."
In Sahaj Shabd, clients lie on a couch curved like a wave, with 13 sound speakers embedded beneath its surface. Crystal globes are placed in each hand and an agate stone is laid on the stomach to capture conveyed by the gong, chanting, and meditation. The technique itself was developed more than 30 years ago by Kundalini master Yogi Bhajan Ph.D. and Guru Singh m.s.s., a Kundalini Yoga teacher based in Los Angeles, and is said to transform body, mind, and spirit through immersion in Schumann waves and heartbeat rhythms. Guru Singh, who provides treatments in the quiet sanctuary of a cottage behind his house, says Sahaj Shabd "restores the symmetry of personal resonance. We learn the path into vibrations. The body is loosely swathed in cotton blankets and the eyes covered with a cotton cloth to help reduce outside sensory perception. The head is then wrapped, creating subtle pressure at specific meridians, and a stereo headset covers the ears.
With several computers measuring digitally precise tones, the body is immersed in sound vibrations.
For the first few minutes, Guru Singh's gentle voice leads the client through a guided meditation; then there is only the sensation of vibratory sound restoring the balance of energy. As Guru Singh tells it, "All one needs to do is follow the breath-and the universe will do the heavy lifting."
Every Sahaj Shabd treatment is a personalized prescription. Depending on your condition, Guru Singh orchestrates specific sound patterns to "tune" the organs, chakras, and meridians of the body. Clients come for different reasons: to open their creative flow or to find relief from everyday stresses, as well as more serious conditions, such as cancer, depression, and chronic pain.
Of course, any illness should not be dependent solely on this or any other kind of vibrational medicine. Emmett E. Miller, M.D., a pioneer in behavioral medicine and author of Deep Healing: The Essence of Mind/Body Medicine (Hay House, 1997), says that balance is the key in treating any health problem. "It makes good sense to have a solid medical diagnosis before pursuing any treatment," he says. "Delay in diagnosis is not beneficial. A physician of Western medicine should be consulted before pursuing any type of alternative therapy."
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