Recently, the press was all over a story about Pop Diva Britney Spear’s visits to a
Los Angeles Sikh Yoga Master for ’sound healing’ sessions. Does Britney know
something we don’t?
Reportedly, as part of their session, clients like Britney are exposed to sound
vibrations as they lie on a special couch. Sound like weird, Hollywood hocus-pocus?
Not really, say experts who see alternative health medicine, especially sound
healing, gaining wide acceptance in the medical community. “Sound and voice
healing are really becoming an accepted means of therapy,” says Beth Lawrence,
sound therapist and CEO of Viva La Voice in Midway, Utah. “Sound has been used
since ancient times by medicine men, tribal shamans, and figured heavily in the
medicine of ancient Egyptians and Greeks.” Lawrence, talking about her upcoming
Chakra Tuneup Workshop states, “I want to make sound healing accessible to
everybody. It’s not just for Pop Divas, it works for the common man, too!”
Sound healing works to restore the balance and flow of energy, or ‘chi’ as it’s called
in Chinese Medicine, which is necessary to good health, and emotional well being.
“Sound and music have the ability to bypass the thinking part of our brain, going
straight to our core essence,” says Lawrence. “Sound is so primal, it works on the
deepest level of our being, affecting us in profound ways that traditional medicine
has yet to fully understand or embrace.” But that may all be changing as more and
more studies are being done to test these ancient methodologies.
Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University studied patients recovering from
minor surgery in hospitals and found that listening to your favorite music can
reduce anxiety levels and speed recovery.
Dr. Stephen Malloch of the University of Western Sydney studied 40 infants over
three years and found that the babies who were held and sung to gently by doctors
had shorter hospital stays, faster recoveries, conserved energy and were less
irritable than those without music.
Shamans and Priests have used voice, rattles, drums and bells to stir the soul and
free the body of physical pain and emotional suffering. “Toning, using the voice as a
healing tool, is incredibly powerful, and is used by everyone from sound healers to
music therapists for grief therapy, energy balancing and emotional recovery,” says
Lawrence, who uses toning as part of her Chakra Tuneup workshops. “If the
thought of ‘toning’ makes you uncomfortable, let me tell you that you use toning
every day without thinking about it.” “Imagine,” Lawrence continues, “you’ve just hit
your thumb with a hammer. You unconsciously scream in agony. Can you imagine
how unbearable the pain would be if you couldn’t release that pain with your voice?
You didn’t even think about it, you just naturally expressed your feeling with the
sound of the pain!” Lawrence sums it up by saying, “Toning is simply a means of
creating a healing, expressive vibration with your own voice”.
There is much emerging data to confirm what sages have known for centuries, that sound, voice and music have the potential to heal the world. More and more people
are seeking alternatives to the high cost, invasive, and often-ineffective nature of
western medicine. If you think sound healing is only for Pop Divas and movie stars,
think again. With a melodious voice Lawrence reminds us, “The power of sound is
available to everyone, and worthy of continued investigation by the scientific
community, as well as those seeking personal harmony and health”.
©2006 Beth Lawrence is the only expert in the country teaching The Integrated Voice
method; a holistic approach to voice coaching and therapy honoring the connection of
body, mind and spirit. Beth is the CEO of Viva La Voice!, a company offering private
coaching, workshops in the performing arts, and music camps for women. To learn
more: http://www.VivaLaVoice.com