What is Sound Healing Therapy?
Sound healing therapy is an ancient practice that uses the power of sound to promote deep relaxation, cleansing, and well-being. Sound healing is a form of alternative therapy that uses sound waves and vibrations to restore physical, mental and emotional well-being. Therapeutic instruments such as tuning forks, drums, singing bowls, gongs, chimes and bells are used to create frequencies designed to bring balance to your physical, emotional and spiritual bodies.
Benefits of Sound Healing Therapy for Addiction Treatment
Because sound frequency healing has been found to reduce negative thinking patterns, it is a powerful tool for treating addiction. The sound waves help bring balance to the body’s energy systems, allowing for better emotional regulation and more stability of mood. Participants have reported feeling reduced stress levels, improved sleep habits, increased feelings of peace and calm, and a greater ability to cope with difficult emotions.
These feelings generated by sound healing therapy can assist with behavioral changes, such as reducing cravings for alcohol or drugs. Overall, this form of therapy can help people to stay sober by providing an outlet for self-expression and transformation. By utilizing the calming effects of sound as part of a holistic track of substance abuse treatment, those struggling with addiction can have better long term recovery.
How Does Sound Healing Work?
Theory Behind the Practice
Sound healing therapy is a practice with ancient origins, stretching back centuries. Ancient texts explain how musicians played instruments near the sick to bring them relief, while others describe using chanting and singing as a form of spiritual therapy. Today, sound healing is used to treat a variety of conditions, from chronic pain and stress to depression and anxiety.
The Power of Vibrations and Frequencies
By using different sounds, tones and frequencies, practitioners bring balance to the body and mind on both a physical and energetic level. Through this therapeutic practice, many have found peace within themselves and connected with their inner source of wellbeing.
Effects on the Physical, Mental, and Emotional Bodies
Sound healing meditation is a powerful and deeply restorative process that uses sound and vibration to bring harmony and balance to your body, mind, and spirit.
Some of the many sound healing benefits include:
- deep relaxation and calm
- increased focus and mental clarity
- improved sleep quality
- relief from physical pain
- relief from depression
- reduced stress and anxiety
- increased mental growth, such as creativity, rejuvenation, and self-discovery
- vitality and radiance
What Happens in a Sound Healing Session?
A typical sound healing therapy session begins by creating a comfortable and calming environment with soothing music and aromatherapy. Similar to meditation and mindfulness or using yoga for addiction recovery, practitioners focus on creating an environment that limits distractions and allows for focus and peace. They then create sound healing through the use of singing bowls, gongs, chimes, or other instruments that create vibrations to aid in relaxation and stress relief.
Sound Healing Instruments
Sound healing uses a variety of instruments to create sound frequencies that can help restore balance within the body. Each instrument has its own unique ability to create different vibrations and resonate through the body to promote healing.
- Sacred Gongs. The vibrations produced by the gong serve as a mediator that can allow for change on physical, mental and emotional levels.
- Crystal Singing Bowls. They create a beautiful resonance that resonates deeply within our cells, bringing us back into alignment with ourselves and our connection to the Universe.
- Chimes. Chimes have been used in sound healing for centuries due to their ability to resonate deeply within the body, helping to create a sense of balance and peace.
- Tuning Forks. This type of therapy works by using sound waves to influence the body’s cells, ultimately helping reduce stress, headaches, muscle pain, and other physical ailments.
Scientific Evidence for Sound Healing
Studies Examining Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Chronic Pain Relief
Medical studies have shown that a reduction in heart rate and blood pressure, combined with improved sleep quality, can result in reduced chronic pain levels. A recent study conducted by the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine suggests that sound healing techniques may be beneficial in reducing heart rate, blood pressure, and chronic pain. Generally, therapies that calm and enhance relaxation have been shown to reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as aid in managing chronic pain.
Analyzing the Effects on Brain Activity and Stress Levels
A study conducted by the University of Oslo concluded that engaging in sound therapy helped to reduce stress levels and promote relaxation by decreasing brain activity and increasing alpha-wave production and showed marked reductions in cortisol, a stress hormone commonly associated with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. Additionally, sound therapy has been found to be beneficial in reducing stress-related physical symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and muscle tension.
Why Look To Journey Hillside for Help
Journey Hillside’s use of sound therapy and other holistic practices provides individuals in recovery from addiction with a safe, nurturing environment that encourages self-growth and healing. Our residential addiction treatment focuses on restoring balance to the body, mind and spirit, aiding the individual in their journey towards sobriety. The treatment team at Journey Hillside is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care, compassion, and support to those in need.
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Is Sound Healing for Addiction Treatment Covered by Insurance?
Many insurance providers cover sound therapy for addiction treatment. In general, many health insurance providers are increasingly recognizing the validity of alternative treatments like sound healing for addiction and other mental health concerns. Journey Hillside can assist you to understand if it is covered. We are here to help.
