The Power of a Sound Bath Meditation
Updated: Sep 25, 2019
A Sound Bath Meditation has the power to increase your mood and well-being, while reducing anxiety.
"Support to the hypothesis that a sound meditation would increase feelings of relaxation and decrease feelings of stress"
An Observational Study
The University of California, San Diego and the California Institute for Human Sciences performed an observational study on the effects of Singing Bowls on mood, tension, and well-being; the findings are truly amazing. The study included 62 individuals ranging in age from 21 to 77; the average age of the participants was 49.7 years. There were 9 males and 53 females involved in the study. The study focused on how Sound Bath Meditations can affect the participants. The study took place at three locations in the state of California; Seaside Center for Spiritual Living with 17 participants, Chopra Center for Wellbeing with 39 participants, and the California Institute for Human Science (CIHS) with 6 participants.
Each participant was given three surveys to fill out before and after the Sound Bath Meditation. Their scores were then added together and divided by the number of data points to find the mean out of the data. All data points mentioned below are based on the mean.
What is a Sound Meditation?
A Sound Bath is a meditative journey that involves various instruments, each varying in vibrations and frequencies. The resonates that are produced affect the entirety of your body leading to a state of total relaxation, where your brain waves transition into theta brainwaves. In this state of relaxation, the mind and body are able to come into alignment and wellness is reached. The Sound Bath Meditation benefits the participants for up to 72 hours after the session is completed.
During a Sound Bath Meditation, the participants are asked to bring yoga mats, blankets, and a pillow to lay down on during the meditation. At the beginning of the Sound Bath Meditation, there is a guided meditation to bring the mind and body to rest and ‘stillness’. Participants are asked to, "observe any sensations" that come up within their mind and body. Simply noticing and allowing these sensations to deepen the meditative state.
Each singing bowl is struck or rung with a mallet. The striking technique is used roughly 95% of the time. Quartz crystal and brass singing bowls are used, along with gongs and chimes, during the Sound Bath Meditation. The Sound Bath Meditation concludes with a guided meditation to bring awareness and movement back into the mind and body. The Sound Bath Meditation lasts for 60 minutes and it is pure relaxation.
"Tension, anger, and depression decreased following the (sound) meditation"
Relax
Joan Borysenko, PhD. in her book Minding the Body, Mending the Mind states that; “Relaxation is a side effect of learning how to meditate” (pg 59). Another side effect of meditation is a slowed heart rate and breathing rate; which allows the parasympathetic nervous system to bring the mind and body into a more relaxed state of being. Before and after the Sound Bath Meditation the participants took the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in order to quantify their tension and anger. Directly after the Sound Meditation the participants' tension and anger scores decreased significantly. The participants' tension scores decreased by .69 points. While their anger scores dropped by .8 points. Proving that Sound Bath Meditations can decrease tension and anger scores in the participants.
Depression
The World Health Organization states that there has been an 18% increase in depression between 2005 and 2015. That is roughly 300 million individuals total, that has some form of depression in the world. One way to reduce depression and anxiety is through a Sound Bath Meditation. The participants took the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) before and after the Sound Bath Meditation to rate their depression and anxiety. The scores after the Sound Bath Meditation showed a decrease in anxiety and depression. The participants' depression score was .62 points at the beginning of the Sound Bath Meditation and decreasing to .42 points at the conclusion. When it comes to the participants' anxiety score, it started at 1.11 points and decreasing to .44 points at the conclusion of the meditation. Indicating that Sound Meditations have the ability to increase your calmness and happiness.
Aboriginal tribes have been using sound instruments in a healing purpose for around 40,000 years
The Well-Being of My Spirituality
Spiritual well-being is very rarely talked about but still plays a key role in our overall well-being. In order to quantify the participants' spiritual state, the study used the ten-item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-SP). This was used for the participants to rate their spiritual well-being and faith. Immediately after the Sound Bath Meditation, the participants' feelings of spiritual well-being and faith increased. The participants' spiritual well-being increased on average by 0.79 points. While their faith increased by .28 points. Showing that a Sound Bath Meditation can increase the faith and the spiritual connection for participants.
So if you want to feel happier and feel more relaxed, all while feeling a deeper connection to your spirituality come out to one of our Sound Baths. If you want to hold a Sound Bath Meditation at your studio, center, practice, and/or business please send us an email at info@purebodymindwellness.com or fill out our contact form click here.
Our Sound Bath (Sound Meditation) schedule is below.
Sound Bath Schedule
October 4th Franklin Yoga & Wellness
October 13th Jala Studio
October 17th Just Be Yoga Studio
October 18th Creative Wellness Strategies
October 19th Blossom Yoga & Wellness
October 20th Metta Yoga Seacoast
October 25th & 26th Holistic Healing Conference
New Locations Coming Soon
Reference:
https://www.purebodymindwellness.com/downloads
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871151
https://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/en/
Borysenko, J., & Rothstein, L. (2007). Minding the Body, Mending the Mind. New York: Da Capo Lifelong.
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