Acupuncture + Sound Bath Meditation for Peace & Calm

"In peaceful calm, void and emptiness, 

the authentic qi flows easily. 

Essences and spirits are kept within.

How could illness arise?" 

- Neijing Suwen 1, lines 41-44

I became interested in incorporating sound bath healing into my acupuncture practice after my first sound bath experience at a yoga retreat back in 2016. A sound bath involves participants meditating while lying down in savasana, and crystal singing bowls are played, producing highly resonant frequencies that can be felt to wash over the body. The sound is felt through conduction. The year prior to this retreat, I had participated in a 7-day silent or Vipassana meditation retreat at Esalen in Big Sur CA where I enjoyed a powerful transformational shift in my health and well-being. With my first sound bath experience, I discovered that after only 45 minutes of sound bath meditation, I felt as easy as I did on the 3rd day of the silent meditation retreat! I just thought - wow - if I can transport my patients into this state of mind-body-spirit-harmony quickly and elegantly, then wouldn't that improve their healing? 

I began coupling sound bath meditation with my treatments and have consistently gotten excellent results. Participants report feeling "transported" and "transformed" by this experience. Other benefits reported to me include improved sleep, reduced pain, improved mood, a lasting feeling of calm, and increased creativity. 

The healing of sound meditation has two aspects. The first aspect is binaural beats. Scientists have observed that binaural beats have the capacity to affect brainwave states, resulting in deeper meditation and relaxation through a process called "brain entrainment." Deep meditative states also have the effect of shifting the body from operating in the sympathetic (fight or flight) system into operating within the parasympathetic (rest, relaxation, and healing) system. In this state of being, the body is relaxed and energy is in free flow; the mind is at ease; the heart is open; and, one is able to heal themselves of physical, mental, and spiritual wounds.

The second aspect of sound healing is that sound frequencies work on the cellular level to bring your body into a harmonious balance. Our bodies can sense and feel sound on a cellular level - by conduction. Every atom, molecule, cell, gland, and organ absorbs sound. We understand that sound frequencies work on the cellular level through the study of "cymatics," which is the study of wave phenomena, especially sound, and their visual representation.  When healing sounds are conducted into water, beautiful and symmetrical patterns emerge. Our bodies are over 70% water, so the theory is that our intracellular "water" is also "organized" by these sound waves. 

Research shows that sound stimulation has an effect on pain. A recent study "The effect of low-frequency sound stimulation on patients with fibromyalgia: a clinical study" by Naghdi, Lili et al. (2015) concluded that there was significant improvement in scoring for pain and sleep. Another positive result: 73.68% of patients reduced their pain medication and 26.32% completely discontinued their pain medications.

But honestly, whether the phenomenon is observable or not on a cellular level does not practically matter to me because my experience of this healing - personally and bearing witness to my patient's experiences - is undeniable.

I look forward to working with you to achieve harmonious and more vibrant health.