It's a rather hefty subject, but one that is fascinating, and this is also the main reason why I found sound. Music has helped me heal over the years through dance as a child, through to being a professional singer in my adult years. In my 30's, after experiencing huge loss, soundbaths were the one place I felt relief, healing, support, growth and deep profound rest.
This question of sound and mental health can feel rather huge, when we are looking at mental health we have to take into consideration a large number of factors, chemistry, diet, ancestry, fitness, health, trauma, society(basic needs not being met/no support/low income)
But in this post, I wanted to talk about some of the science behind soundbaths and also some of the emotional aspects of the practice.
The subject of mental health is vastly complex, as a practitioner, it is something I am very passionate about. As a teacher and healer, I believe that our overall well-being is multi-faceted and there are no quick fixes. However, I do believe everything is connected, from your stress response to your adrenal system to your brainwave activity. I will not tell you that one practice will cure you, but I will talk of the powerful healing benefits of this ancient modality, that can be traced back through time. The mind is a complex thing, and on this page, I will talk about how sound healing affects our brain, mental health and wellbeing.
Sound not only entrains brainwaves but increases cellular healing, reduces inflammation and speeds up the recovery process. The more you practice with sound the deeper the healing can be. Using rhythm, vibrations, chords, harmony, and sound patterns we can ease the client into a meditative state, free from thoughts, judgment, and fear.
So, here are a few things we will look at in this post:
+ Brainwave states, Entrainment and mental health
+ Stress, Melatonin, sleep and Sound.
+ Vagus nerve and sound
+ Free from Fear, the subconscious mind and sound
BRAINWAVE ENTRAINMENT
Our behaviour, emotions, and thoughts are communicated as electrical pulses between neurons within our brains. If you think about how the brain fires in different settings: eg resting in bed vs sky diving, the electrical pulses will be very different.
At a fundamental level, these pulses — known as brainwaves — can be thought of as conversations between neurons; the electrical gossip amongst our brain cells. And, as science has unveiled, it turns out we can influence and deliberately change our brainwave patterns through something called brainwave entrainment (also referred to as brainwave synchronization or neural entrainment) which refers to the phenomenon that brainwaves will naturally synchronize to the rhythm of external stimuli, such as flickering lights, speech, music, or vibrations.
For more info on this, check out his post.
Just like other waves of energy, brainwaves have a range of distinct wavelengths. Lower frequencies put you in a relaxed, meditative, or drowsy state; higher frequencies keep you engaged, focused, and alert.
We have five sets of brainwaves: Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.
Delta waves are very low-frequency waves that occur when we are sleeping (0.1 Hz to 4 Hz).
Theta waves happen when we are drowsy or very close to asleep (4 Hz to about 7 Hz).
Alpha waves are the chill, calm, waves that happen when you’re relaxed, or meditating (8Hz and 13 Hz).
Beta waves (14 Hz to 30 Hz) are where we live most of the time — engaged, conversing, emailing, and reading.
Gamma waves (31 Hz to 100 Hz) occur when you’re hyper-focused and very attentive; also known as a flow state.
During a Soundbath, we are aiming to get the client into a very calm state, this is done through a series of very specific taught techniques, executed by playing bowls, gongs, drums, chimes etc to encourage the brainwave state of Alpha, Theta, Delta. When we reach these states, we are also allowing other nervous system to reset, Your stress hormones, cortisol, decreases as other hormones such as serotonin, catecholamines, DHEA, melatonin, endorphins and HGH increase.
STRESS
Stress triggers a combination of signals within the body from both hormones and nerves. These signals cause your adrenal glands to release hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.
The result is an increased heart rate and energy as part of the fight-or-flight response. It’s your body’s way of preparing itself for potentially dangerous or harmful situations.
Cortisol also helps to limit any functions that aren’t essential in a fight-or-flight situation. Once the threat passes, your hormones return to their usual levels, and bodily functions return to typical levels.
But when you’re under constant stress, this response doesn’t always turn off.
Long-term exposure to cortisol and other stress hormones can negatively affect almost all of your body’s processes. This can increase your risk of health issues such as heart disease, lung issues, obesity, anxiety, depression, and more.
Using sound and vibration in a soundbath, we reset the nervous system, bringing the parasympathetic nervous system back online. Lowering our cortisol levels, and coming back into rest and digest. This means we are able to sleep better, process better, feel calm and grounded, more present, have less inflammation and much more.
CORTISOL, MELATONIN, STRESS AND YOUR SLEEP
Sleep regulates cortisol, often known as the “stress hormone.” However, this isn’t cortisol’s main purpose. Along with melatonin, cortisol is key to maintaining your sleep pattern.
When you wake up, your cortisol level temporarily spikes, helping to wake you up and feel refreshed as melatonin production reduces. As you approach your bedtime, cortisol production reduces as melatonin production ramps up, helping your body prepare for sleep
Most of the cells in your body have cortisol receptors. They use it for a variety of functions, such as:
blood sugar regulation
inflammation reduction
metabolism regulation
memory formulation
What Happens When We Produce Too Much Cortisol?
High cortisol can cause several symptoms throughout your body. Symptoms can vary depending on what’s causing the increase in your cortisol levels.
General signs and symptoms of too much cortisol include:
weight gain, mostly around the midsection and upper back
weight gain and rounding of the face
thinning skin
easy bruising
flushed face
slowed healing
muscle weakness
severe fatigue
irritability
difficulty concentrating
headache
After a soundbath, many of my clients have announced with relief 'the best night's sleep they've had' after attending a soundbath.
If we lower stress levels, entrain brainwaves and reduce cortisol, melatonin may increase.
Often referred to as the “sleep hormone,” melatonin is directly responsible for promoting healthy rest and regulating your body’s circadian rhythm. Most of your body’s hormones are produced in your brain’s pituitary gland— melatonin is produced in the pineal gland, which is associated with your sleep-wake cycle.
Sleep disruption or poor-quality sleep can negatively impact your body’s melatonin production. And because a good night’s sleep is so important to your overall health and well-being, it’s vital to manage melatonin with proper sleep.
There is evidence that stress disrupts normal activity and memory consolidation in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, and this process leads to memories that are stored without a contextual or spatiotemporal frame. These findings emphasize a specific role of melatonin in mechanisms of consciousness, memory and stress and are also consistent with reported studies that indicate melatonin alterations under stressful conditions and in mental disorders.
FREEING THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
Your subconscious mind has what is called a homeostatic impulse. It keeps your body temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, just as it keeps you breathing regularly and keeps your heart beating at a certain rate. Through your autonomic nervous system, it maintains a balance among the hundreds of chemicals in your billions of cells so that your entire physical machine functions in complete harmony most of the time.
Your subconscious mind also practices homeostasis in your mental realm, by keeping you thinking and acting in a manner consistent with what you have done and said in the past.
All your habits of thinking and acting are stored in your subconscious mind. It has memorized all your comfort zones and it works to keep you in them.
Your subconscious mind causes you to feel emotionally and physically uncomfortable whenever you attempt to do anything new or different, or to change any of your established patterns of behavior.
You can feel your subconscious pulling you back toward your comfort zone each time you try something new. Even thinking about doing something different from what you’re accustomed to will make you feel tense and uneasy.
Superior men and women are always stretching themselves, pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. They are very aware how quickly the comfort zone, in any area, becomes a rut. They know that complacency is the great enemy of creativity and future possibilities.
Sometimes, clients might feel uncomfortable during a soundbath, their fear being released and their subconscious mind finding a path of freedom. We live in a world fuelled by fear, from basic survival needs(can I pay the rent/mortgage, what does the future hold, with climate change ruin everything) to how to purchase(you need that moisturiser because you aren't enough, you are lacking), to questioning the future, our dreams and desires.
So, what might happen, when we let go of fear or anxiety, is we come in contact with what lies beneath, this might be difficult emotions, things we've locked away in our subconscious.
When we work with the subconscious, we might be faced with images, strong lights, moments from the past, and strong vivid images that we had totally forgotten about. For many of us this can be deeply healing, freeing, and wonderous. An escape from the mundane, or our normal conscious stream of thoughts. We might feel this as a deep connection to our spiritual side, being greeted by images of animals, trees, lakes and people we love.
I try my best to guide my soundbaths in a very safe space, often suggesting the breath to be a friend, and if anyone feels overwhelmed you can open your eyes or sit up. No one has ever felt the need to, but it's important as a practitioner to give people freedom within the practice.
When we do walk this path into the subconscious, what happens afterwards can be miraculous, clients have reported feeling lighter, freer, calmer, and more connected to themselves. Their anxiety gone, and their belief in themselves fuller and brighter. They might also feel more inclined to laugh, share and revel in joy, embracing the wonder of being human free from the normal fear of our conscious minds.
SO WHY IS THIS LINKED TO SOUND?
If we can entrain brainwaves, encourage cellular healing, quieten the chatter of the mind and build neural pathways, we are taking agency over our mental health*.
The whole system is linked, by entraining our brainwaves, we are encouraging a delta, alpha, and theta state, which in turn lowers our stress levels, the para-sympathetic system comes back online, allowing a rest and digest state of the nervous system.
Our endocrine system responds, by increasing serotonin and melatonin, the happy hormone and sleep hormone, encouraging a good night's sleep which in turn helps further healing and a healing body and mind.
*Being mindful to mention that severe Mental Health problems include psychosis, bipolar disorder, 'personality disorder' and eating disorders. These difficulties often occur alongside mood difficulties including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and often should be supported by a doctor, and or therapist. I believe that sound healing can be a fantastic modality to run alongside Western medicine.
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Come practice with sound.
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