By Jill Stein for The Village Chicago

The history of sound meditation (also known as sound healing) dates back thousands of years. All known cultures have used sound. The most ancient roots of sound healing come from Shamanic practices. The goal of Shamanic music is to allow the mind to drift away from thoughts so that our mind creates new conceptual boundaries. The earliest document showing sound therapy in 1550 BC from ancient Egypt, where priests used sound to rid people of sickness and evil spirits.

In Greece in 400 BC, Hippocrates used sound therapy for mental disorders and other illnesses. He believed that music soothed the soul and helped patients recover from their ailments.

Greek Philosophers Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras believed that music could influence our moods and behaviors. Aristotle noticed that music affects emotion and the body like fast rhythms accelerated pulse and slow rhythms reduced it. Ancient Greeks used music to heal physical wounds, sickness, mental problems, and believed that music could help them connect with the divine and reach a higher mental state.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in sound meditation as people are looking for additional options for mental, physical, and spiritual support. Its benefits are also now well-documented by contemporary science. Studies show that: 

• Music can meaningfully reduce the perceived intensity of pain, especially in geriatric care, intensive care, or palliative medicine.
• Listening to music reduces heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety in heart disease patients.
• Tibetan singing bowl meditation may be a feasible low-cost low technology intervention for reducing feelings of tension, anxiety, and depression, and increasing spiritual well-being. 
• The practice may have special benefits for older adults: “spiritual well-being score improvement for age group 51–60 revealed strong associations with improvement in both tension and depression post-sound healing. Given that older and middle-aged individuals may be at increased risk for stress-related diseases due to the possibility of increased cortisol levels (Feller et al. 2014), there exists significant potential for treatments such as sound healing to assist in spiritual well-being and improved mood for this age group in particular.”

Source:  NAMM Foundation 

Have we piqued your curiosity? Want to learn more and experience this ancient practice for yourself? Join Jill Stein (pictured at right with her singing bowls) for an Introduction to Sound Meditation on Thursday, March 16 at 11am. The presentation will cover more of what we know of this practice from history and science, and will include a sample sound meditation to offer you a chance to experience its benefits. Tickets to this virtual presentation are just $20.