Sound therapy, also known as vibrational medicine, helps to facilitate shifts in brainwave states with entrainment, which synchronizes fluctuations by providing a stable frequency that they can attune to. Using rhythm and frequency, brainwaves sync and downshift from the normal beta state (waking consciousness) to alpha (relaxed consciousness), and can even attain theta (meditative state) and delta (sleep; where internal healing can occur). This concept is also used in meditation, where regulating the breath influences the shift.

In a sound therapy experience, relaxation is induced by lying down, breathing slowly and becoming still, in preparation for opening up to receive the sound, the pathway to stillness. Some tools used in sound therapy are the human voice, drumming, crystal bowls, gongs, tuning forks and Tibetan singing bowls.

Mitchell L. Gaynor, M.D., who was an oncologist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, in New York, as well as the author of The Healing Power of Sound, likened sound healing to music therapy. He suggested that sound, like music, can lower blood pressure, reduce stress hormones and boost natural opiates.

Dana Marie House, a local quantum energy healer and gong practitioner, offers sound therapy. To schedule a sound healing session, call 239-571-5234. For more information, visit QuantumHealing-SacredSound.com.