The Benefits of Sound Healing and How to Develop a Home Practice with a Singing Bowl

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

While sound healing is an ancient and sometimes complex ritual to soothe the nervous system, you can bring a simple practice to your home

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Sound baths can be a glorious, transformational experience. You might walk into a room where a sound healer has a wall of gongs, iridescent singing bowls, and an assortment of vibrational accouterments, like crystal pyramids and ethereal chimes. When experiencing a professionally guided sound bath, we personally have felt a huge energetic shift, a deep clearing of the innermost layers of our beings, where stress is simply powerless against the resonating tones of the instruments.

Jessica Cross, co-author of our book Seasons of Sound: Sound Healing for All of Life’s Seasons, recalls her first sound bath experience. She was lying in savasana, aka “yogi naptime,” at the end of a yoga class and could hear calming, deep tones coming from the front of the room. Since her eyes were covered, she had no idea where the sounds were coming from. After class, she made a beeline for the instructor and said, “What was that? I have to know.” It felt like an immediate release of the tension she had carried into the room due to the relentless stress of her corporate job. But the calming state of a sound bath experience can feel fleeting and so out of reach once we’re thrown back into the chaos and whirlwind reality of daily life.

One might consider a sound bath experience as a vibrational spa day; instead of thinly sliced cucumbers on your eyelids, you might have a lavender-scented eye pillow, and instead of a deep tissue massage with well-trained hands, your muscles release as the parasympathetic nervous system activates upon hearing and feeling calming tones of bowls and gongs. If you’re lucky, you might experience a spa day once a year. This is why when you walk into any grocery store, you can see self-care products scattered throughout, like essential oil-infused shampoos and body lotions. We are all trying to capture the feeling of luxury and calm in our own homes.

With sound healing, small Himalayan singing bowls are ubiquitous in yoga studios, wellness gift shops, and, of course, there are tons of options under $10 online. Even our local 5 Dollar Store in Austin, Texas carries tiny metal singing bowls. All too often, these types of singing bowls are used as home decor rather than the mindfulness tools that they are. We always recommend buying ethically made, sustainable instruments whenever possible, and we love finding second-hand sound healing tools.

But however one has procured a singing bowl, let’s use it for its intended purpose: meditation and moving towards a more mindful state of awareness.

As sound healers and yoga teachers, people often ask us what to even do with a little 3-inch singing bowl. Rather than keeping the bowl to store coins or crystals, we recommend incorporating the bowls and other easily accessible practices, like hand mudras and yogic breathwork, into your home meditation. (Hand mudras are an ancient practice of using hand gestures to amplify positive qualities within yourself. For example, one might touch the pad of a thumb to a pointer finger during a seated meditation to increase a sense of focus and concentration.)

In our book, we include home practices for singing bowls and gongs aligned to both Earth’s seasons and the seasons of life you’re experiencing. For example, in wintertime, you might wish to slow down and grab a hot cup of tea, wear cozy socks, and snuggle with your fur baby — we have written a meditation and home singing bowl practice to help you generate that feeling of snuggle and warmth with your mindfulness practice. Below is a simplified Winter Home Singing Bowl Practice — there are more robust and detailed practices to be found in Seasons of Sound:

Winter Home Singing Bowl Practice

1. Find a quiet, comfortable space in your home where you won’t be disturbed. Sit tall in a cross-legged position, on your knees and shins, or in a chair with your palms facing up on your knees.
2. Take Hakini Mudra with your hands and take several rounds of natural breath in and out of your nose at your own pace. (For Hakini Mudra, lightly press the fingertips of your left hand and right together, creating a globe shape with your hands.)
3. Begin to comfortably elongate your exhalation by a count of one or two. Complete five to 10 rounds of breath with a focus on the elongated exhalation and Hakini Mudra.
4. Repeat to yourself, “I embrace the opportunity to slow down and reconnect with myself.”
5. When you feel centered and grounded, release Hakini Mudra, pick up your singing bowl, and hold it in your non-dominant hand and the mallet in your dominant hand. Maintain a soft gaze and intentional energy as you prepare to play your bowl.
6. Gently strike the bowl with the mallet at the rim, creating a rich, resonant tone. Let the sound fill the space around you and feel the vibrations reverberating through your body.
7. As you turn your attention inward, continue to strike the bowl and gradually increase the count in between strikes to 20 or wait until the sounds of the bowl become inaudible before striking again.
8. Let the sound of the bowl guide your breath, inhaling deeply as you strike the bowl and exhaling slowly as the sound fades away.
9. When you feel ready, gently set the singing bowl down and return to Hakini Mudra for a few moments.
10. Sit quietly and observe any sensations or changes in your body and mind.

The science of sound healing can get complicated quickly, but the main takeaway is simple. Calming sounds can slow our heart rate and breathing through a process called “entrainment.”

Entrainment is the synchronization of our internal rhythms, like heart rate and breathing, with external rhythms, such as the tempo of music. We’ve evolved on this planet surrounded by sound vibrations. Harsh, loud tones can trigger our Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn response, while predictable, softer, and soothing tones activate our Rest/Digest response, offering tremendous health benefits, including better sleep, digestion, and focus.

Sound healing has a long and rich history. One of the earliest known instruments used for this purpose is the didgeridoo, an ancient healing tool from the Aboriginal people of Australia, possibly used for over 40,000 years! Traditionally made from hollowed-out eucalyptus branches, the didgeridoo produces a range of overtones, harmonics, and other complex sounds. These sounds are manipulated by changing the shape of the mouth, using techniques like tongue placement, breath control, and vocalizations. The didgeridoo is believed to have powerful spiritual effects, fostering a deep sense of physical and emotional well-being and is often played during healing ceremonies.

Think about your own life: how many times has sound brought you comfort and ease? As a baby, you might have been soothed by the hum of a vacuum cleaner. On vacation, the gentle sound of waves lapping against the shore might have relaxed you. Throughout human evolution, sounds have signaled to our nervous system when to relax and when to prepare for danger. In a sound healing session, we recreate these calming experiences.

Knowing that sound healing is supported by science and deeply rooted in human evolution, it makes sense to incorporate soothing sound experiences into your daily life. While live sound bath experiences are wonderful, consistency is key to making long-term wellness shifts. So, why not use that little singing bowl to its full potential and create your own sound-healing ritual at home?

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You may also enjoy reading The Sacred Pause: The Art of Activating Healing Energy, by Travis Eliot.