Do you know that you can relieve stress just by listening? Unfortunately, stress may also be exacerbated by listening. If we choose what we take in with our senses as carefully as we choose what we eat (assuming we are choosing foods with discretion), we create the possibility of lessening the stress in our lives, along with many other positive factors.

   

Sound/music is capable of calming our brain, soothing our nervous system, clearing our energy field, serving as a natural painkiller and can facilitate physical, emotional, mental and spiritual transformation. Sound and vibration have been scientifically proven through a number of studies to be effective in treating stress, depression, insomnia, ADHD and more.

   

The rate of change and stress in our world today is over-the-top—more than at any other time in recorded human history. Stress creates an internal environment in the body that raises blood pressure, contributes to fear and anxiety, taxes all autonomic functions (breathing, heartbeat, circulation, digestion) and blocks “happy” hormones. Unfortunately, about 66 percent or more of all doctor visits in the U.S. are stress-related.

   

Research shows that sound therapy is an effective treatment for stress, primarily as a relaxation therapy, which then contributes to heart health, better moods and more. Studies have proven that music/sound can relieve anxiety (stress) in cancer patients and pre- and post-operative patients. Certain types of sound—especially sound with overtones such as those emitted by singing bowls and gongs—soothe the vagus nerve and, through this action, the autonomic nervous system.

   

Modern medicine can now measure, and thus confirm, the practice of sound as a means to heal. Mitchell Gaynor, MD, a clinical professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and founder of Gaynor integrative Oncology, has described that vibrational sound containing multiple overtones has such proven results. As reported in the August 2003 edition of Spirituality and Health magazine, Gaynor has had success in treating victims of life-threatening disease, and those undergoing chemotherapy and its side effects, through sound therapy, including Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls and chanting.