Sound Healing
This year, I’m learning about spiritual practices to deepen my restorative coaching with clients. My curiosity led me to amazing practitioners and their healing work in sound healing, reiki, somatic therapy, and Ayurvedic nutrition.
I’m eager to share about each of these healing methods, starting with sound healing.
Since February, I’ve been working with Tom Herbstreith and practicing how to incorporate the benefits of sound healing into my work and personal life. Tom is a life-long musician and trained in sound healing using the Native American Flute.
Tom and I first connected when he presented the history, research, and healing benefits of sound healing with the Native American Flute. Sound healing uses vibrations in specific musical keys, which work at a deeper, restorative level to activate the body’s healing system.
Here’s a link to Tom’s presentation, which offers an opportunity to experience sound healing while he plays the flute around minute 41:30. A session is typically 20 minutes with two minutes of mindful breathing and centering at the start and then another two minutes of centering to embody the experience after Tom plays.
I’ve experienced over a dozen sessions with Tom, and they have been transformative. I experience a deep state of relaxation, which allows my mind and body to synchronize with the notes. After a session, my nervous system becomes more regulated, and I’m often clearer about the intention I brought to the session.
Similar to coaching, sound healing uses intention setting and entrainment to shift our physical, mental, and emotional energy by entering a state of deep relaxation. Another way to view this is:
Frequency (vibrations leading to entrainment) + Intention = Healing
Entrainment is how energy attracts and influences like energy. The specific keys of the flute facilitate an alpha state (meditative state) in the brain waves using entrainment, which positively impacts our nervous system. Regular practice invites opportunities to heal, access greater consciousness, and create new neural pathways towards “being” within ourselves and in the present moment.
Setting an intention for the session provides a collective focus for me as the client, Tom, and the flute's vibrations. The intention can simply be a word or a request for a specific outcome that supports the physical, emotional or spiritual healing we desire. We attune to this intention through our focused, collective energies and the natural process of entrainment.
This collective experience invites insights, emotions, and physical awareness during and after the session. The learning and healing can be taken a step further by following journal prompts to access what came out of the experience. Journaling is highly effective to move the intention forward, and also a useful process to continue the work with a coach, therapist, or another practitioner.
I encourage you to connect with Tom if you’re interested in learning more about sound healing. You can email him at tlh0326@gmail.com to set up a conversation.
Tom also provided several resources below if you’d like to explore sound healing at greater depth.
I’m deeply grateful to Tom for his generous time and the ways he shares sound healing through his abundant musical skills and supportive heart.
Resources:
Chrysler, Josh; “North American Indigenous Flute vs. ‘Native American Flute’: a Lesson in Tradition from Kevin Locke”; November 30, 2020, web link.
Goldman, Jonathan; healingsounds.com
Kraus, Nina; brainvolts.northwestern.edu
Miller Goss study - collection of papers on physiological responses to playing and listening to the Native American Flute.
Wiand, Dr. Lenore L. ; Journal article, The Effects of Sacred/Shamatic Flute Music on Trauma and States of Consciousness
YouTube videos on Sound Healing:
