Tibetan Singing Bowls: The Power of Sound Healing
For centuries, the Tibetan people have practiced sound healing and consciousness transformation with a musical instrument known as a “singing bowl.” Modern science now reveals the healing secrets of these mystical metal bowls.
For centuries, the Tibetan people have practiced sound healing and consciousness transformation with a musical instrument known as a “singing bowl.” Modern science now reveals the healing secrets of these mystical metal bowls.
The resonance produced by these hand-crafted bowls can measurably improve human immune function, lower heart rate and blood pressure, soothe pain in cancer patients, and drastically reduce stress levels. Indeed, the bowls dissipate stress to such a tremendous degree that the body becomes a perfect receptacle of deep healing.
Sound Healing: Profound Effects for Stress, Pain, Immunity, and Cancer Recovery
Science stands behind the effects of therapeutic sound. Dr. David Simon, medical director of the Deepak Chopra center in California, found that sound vibrations from Tibetan bowls and chanting are chemically metabolized into “endogenous opiates.” These substances act on the body as internal painkillers and healing opiates.
Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, director of medical oncology and integrative medicine at the Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center in New York, was introduced to singing bowls by a Tibetan monk patient.
Dr. Gaynor soon began using the bowls and other sound therapies to help his cancer patients — whether to relieve the stress and shock of diagnosis or to soothe the pain associated with chemotherapy and other treatments.
Dr. Gaynor has also conducted extensive research on how singing bowls can stimulate healing. Evidence suggests that the tones of the bowls stimulate physiological immunity.
“Sound can actually change our immune system,” explains Dr. Gaynor. “Our Interluken-1 level, which is an index of our immune system, goes up between 12 ½ and 15% after Gregorian chanting or listening to certain forms of music. And after listening to this music for 20 minutes, our immunoglobin levels in our blood are significantly increased.”
According to Dr. Gaynor, therapeutic sound affects our bodies on a cellular and sub-cellular level. “There is not an organ system in our body that is not affected by sound, music, and vibration,” he says. “Sound can help people who are sick, especially cancer patients.”
