The human body reacts to music frequencies and sound vibrations

The human body reacts to harmonising music frequencies and sound vibrations. The healing sounds need not necessarily be soft, low in volume, and easy on the ears. Sometimes fast rhythmical music with dominant percussion, drums and other instruments can be healing by virtue of encouraging movement, dance and self-expression, and can also have a healing effect on the over-all body; physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Music and sound in any genre originating from any country or culture, can have a profound effect on the listener and most people will have a favourite singer or band or their preferred style in music. Music therapy is an expanding field. Research from many quarters attests to the fact that music therapy not only provides a relaxing and tranquil experience, but can also have profound improvements in the outcome of medical intervention for many health concerns.

Our body is over 70% water which is a great carrier and conductor of sound vibrations. During sound healing therapy waves and frequencies of sound vibrations can flow through the body to help promote and improve energy flow. These sound waves and vibrations can also have a healing effect on the brain, the nervous system and on the body’s circulation. This can help to rejuvenate the body’s cells, tissue, organs, glands, immune system and over-all body.

You can immediately begin to feel the relaxing and healing feeling brought about by stilling your mind for a moment to listen to birds singing. This is a form of meditation or mindfulness and for those few minutes we are in a state of ‘conscious awareness’ and ‘in the moment.’ The vast majority of people are moved emotionally and positively in some way when they listen to the beautiful musical sounds that emanate from the sound of a robin, blackbird thrush or any bird singing.

Earlier we spoke about vibration and energy. The energy around our body is sometimes referred to as our aura or energy field or auric field. Animals and birds obviously have this aura or energy field surrounding their bodies also. It can be interesting to watch a bird singing late in the evening, if it is sitting on a wire or tree branch as a silhouette against the evening skyline. As you stare at the bird, you might catch a glimpse or observe its ‘aura’ or ‘energy field’ expand around its body as it sings.

Hans Jenny, a swiss physician was also a natural scientist, is best known for his work with sound and vibration and their effect on liquid and solid substances commonly known as cymatics. He discovered that sound waves did not create chaos but identified that this vibration wave phenomenon and the effect of sound vibrations on different materials creates dynamic and ordered patterns.

In basic chemistry we learn that everything is made up of atoms which are constantly in motion. Everything around us that first appears ‘solid’ is comprised of atoms in motion at a subatomic level. Everything in the universe is vibrating in some way or another. Even what appears to not be solid, fundamentally at a source level, consists of vibration. Sound is comprised of vibrations, even our thoughts and feelings are comprised of vibrations.

Einstein’s famous scientific formula e=mc2 defined matter and energy as one and the same thing. His particle / wave theory showed that at a subatomic level energy was interchangeable and could act as either waves which have no mass, or as particles which do have mass. It has been postulated that everything in the universe including our bodies is comprised of energy and vibration and from this one might even theorise that we are made of sound.

Vibrations create sound however low in frequency or volume. It is via these vibrations that the human ear ‘hears’ sound. Sound is how we describe the vibrations we hear as these vibrations travel through the air and are received via the ear canal, into the eardrum and inner ear to the shell-shaped cochlea. This contains our organ of balance and tiny hair fibres that vibrate and carry electrical signals to the brain which are then interpreted by the brain as sound or music.

Sound vibrating frequencies are measured in Hertz, and the human ear of a relatively healthy person can hear sound and music with the acoustic range of 20 Hz up to 20,000 Hz. Higher than this is called ultrasound.

Researchers say that music and harmonious sound vibrations affect us on many levels. Apart from the obvious effect of on the physical body from the vibrations themselves, we can be affected quite noticeably at an emotional and mental level by the tranquil sounds and vibrations from sound healing instruments such as Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks and gongs, plus of course the use of an instrument we all possess – the human voice.