Chamane challenge: sound baths, a way to harmony? – She

This is perhaps one of the only merits that confinement will have had: to rediscover a soundscape that many of us had neglected, immersed in the chaos of the modern city, engines, connected speakers… Many city dwellers have thus rediscovered the song of birds and the virtues of silence. Thanks to this enthusiasm for listening, sound therapy could broaden its spectrum of practitioners, attracted by this new way of accessing mindfulness via the “magic” of sound vibrations. “This practice consists of an energy treatment based on the principle of resonance, the ability of a frequency to trigger a similar vibration in another body.

This vibratory dimension aims to rebalance the energy, explains Marco Marini, musician and sound therapist. We will use tuning forks, bowls, gongs, highly vibrating objects that will enter into communication with our body and act at the cellular level. American therapist Sara Auster, author of “Bain de son” (Solar ed.), adds, “It’s a deeply immersive, full-body listening experience that uses sound through gentle therapeutic and restorative processes. , yet powerful, to nourish the mind and body. Contrary to what one might think, the thing is not new. “Quantum science has recently explained processes that have been intuitively known for millennia,” continues Marco Marini. Sound vibrations were used in many religious rituals and shamanic practices. »

“The use of singing bowls, in particular, originated in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago and spread to regions of Tibet, Nepal and India, whose history and culture date back some 2,000 years” , explains Sara Auster. In the 1990s, Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor, oncologist, internist and hematologist, introduced Himalayan Singing Bowl sound therapy as a complementary healing tool for his patients, stating, “If we accept sound as a vibration and if we know that vibration touches every part of our physical being, then we understand that sound is not only heard by our ears, but by every cell in our body. » It is enough to have had the experience of approaching a loudspeaker diffusing thick bass to perceive that sound is not only a matter of the eardrum, ossicles and cochlea, but that it puts in vibration every square centimeter of our body. Whether using tuning forks, Tibetan bowls or gongs, “a sound bath guides the consciousness towards self-listening, observes Sara Auster. It is an opportunity to unplug from external stimuli and become aware of what is happening within. This allows the brain waves to slow down, going from a more active state to a more relaxed state, even a dreamy state”. Beyond relaxation, the sound bath “acts on lack of sleep, anxiety, excess nervousness, specifies Marco Marini. As evidenced by its use in hospital departments, this makes it possible to better withstand certain pains and certain treatments”. You don’t need to be a musician or have some predisposition to listening to benefit from the benefits of sound therapy: “The most important thing, and this is valid for all energy therapies, is to be able to to let go, not to be in resistance”, emphasizes Marco Marini. To gradually let the sound resonate with our own tuning fork.

3 sound therapy exercises

©Emmanuel Lavigne/EyeEm/Getty

The musician and sound therapist Marco Marini gives us some practical advice to do at home, stating that everything related to vibrations can be useful in the practice of sound therapy.

1. With a bowl “You have to learn how to make them sing, try several if possible, listen to them and choose them according to what you feel while listening. »

2. With a tuning fork “We can take two tuning forks, one of C and one of G for example, which creates an interval of fifth (harmony and energy balance). We tap them on one knee and bring them close to the ears. Do three times. Then we swap the tuning forks. Also to do three times. You have to try to hear the sound even when it has died down. »

3. By voice “We all have an instrument within us: our voice, the healing song. We can practice toning exercises, go up by visualization of the lower body upwards by pronouncing different sounds, OR, O, A, É, I, MM. We must feel these sounds resonate in all parts of our body. » marcomarini.net

For Sara Auster, “a sound bath begins when everyone is lying down or sitting in a comfortable position, often with a blanket and an eye mask. After a few minutes of guided concentration on the breath, the experience is punctuated by different sounds and frequencies, created by a variety of instruments emitting harmonics: tuning forks, gongs, shruti boxes, crystal and Himalayan singing bowls, chimes, voices…”. Sara Auster offers an easy and convenient way to experience sound baths at home, thanks to her Auster Sound platform on her website: an online membership area offers you unlimited access to a library of bath videos and recordings sound.

Sara offers ELLE readers their first month free using the code “TUNEIN”. saraauster.com

Stay tuned

How can we be more receptive to all the sounds and other stimuli around us?

Here is the advice of Capucine Lafait-Hémard, singer and therapist, co-author of “Tales and songs of the inner shaman” (ed. Trédaniel).

1. I listen

“Wherever I am, I pause for a moment and listen to all the sounds that reach me, from the closest to the most distant, like the little music of my body (breathing, heartbeat, blood pulsation, etc.), the sounds of nature or the city (voice, animal cries, wind, rain, motors, etc.). I try to receive them simultaneously without focusing on any one in particular. Like a conductor, I hear everything at once. Then, I analyze the effect it has on me: appeasement? Feeling of openness and larger interior space? Greater connection with my environment? Greater availability? »

2. I open my eyes

“It’s called practicing ‘open vision’. I go for a walk for a few minutes. I take a moment, eyes closed, to feel on my forehead, between the two eyes, “the third eye”. Opening my eyes, I start to walk, letting my gaze float and be attracted by such and such an object on my way. I listen to what it tells me, the micro-teachings: the gait of a crow (“body-beautiful”), the morphology of a tree, a scene that occurs in front of me, a sentence that I read on a panel… I do not seek to interpret or identify signs to validate any belief. I stay open and receive what I see, like simple sensations in my body.”

3. I listen to my inner voice

“I stand up and I breathe calmly. I breathe in, I breathe out. On the next inhale, I feel my feet and arches planted firmly on the ground, and I inhale the energy of the earth. I receive it, feel it rise and feed my whole body to the lower abdomen. I thank the earth. I inhale, I exhale, then I feel the presence of the sky above my head. And I now inhale the energy of the sky which crosses my fontanel and comes to nourish my whole body down to the lower abdomen. I thank heaven. I can then feel in the heart of my belly the energy of the earth and the sky which come together, mingle and dance, coming to rebalance, revitalize and fertilize my whole being. » lavoixchamane.com