Sol-La-Ti

An instrumental resource for sound healing practitioners and newcomers.

“The stars in the heavens sing a music, if only we had ears to hear.” — Pythagoras.

 

 

…we have the tools to tune in!

VIEW OUR FEATURED INSTRUMENTS

Artwork entitled, “Musica Universalis” by Seregrythil

About Music Therapy and Sound Healing

       Music Therapy and Sound Healing are different terms and typically include different practices as well.  Where Music Therapy is focused on structural and rhythmic forms of music, Sound Healing focuses on the effects of sound waves neurologically and over the human nervous system. 

Understanding the principles of sound is key to fully appreciating sound’s capacity to produce life-changing effects in propelling one’s own self-healing agency.

       Analysis of electromagnetic brainwaves has confirmed the existence of distinguishable waves associated with separate states of consciousness.   

  • Beta waves (14 – 20Hz) are associated with everyday consciousness.
  • Alpha waves (8 – 13Hz) are associated with heightened awareness and calm.
  • Theta waves (4 – 7 Hz) are associated with peaks of creativity, meditation and sleep.
  • Delta waves (.5 – 3 Hz) are associated with deep sleep, deep meditation and unconsciousness.

       Because we detect sound involuntarily, our capability to resonate unique frequencies that can synchronize with others and desired states of consciousness is a natural and unconscious phenomenon. This is called sound entrainment and, according to numerous studies emerging, this phenomenon can be applied to healing by the use of vibrational instruments and music. 

       Ancient cultures have known the effects of vibrations for thousands of years and we are now learning the extents to which cultures past have harnessed the properties of vibration. Tibetan singing bowls have been measured to assist the brain’s production of alpha waves (see list above); shamanic drumming has been measured to take listeners into the theta range, and gongs have long been considered the most powerful instruments that help restore overall balance and expand one’s state of consciousness. From these ancient cultures, and countless others worldwide, birthed what we now call, Sound Healing.

Learn more with my new book, Instruments That Heal.

Music Therapy

Involves one-to-one or group clinical sessions with a licensed Music Therapist accredited by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT), as well as others worldwide. According to the AMTA (2017b), music therapy is the only professional, research-based discipline that actively applies supportive science to the creative, emotional, and energizing experiences of music for health treatment and educational goals.

Sound Healing

Involves one-to-one, private group or public sessions usually termed, sound baths, conducted by a facilitator. While there is no accreditation program associated with sound healing, certification programs are available, and the term, sound healing, is more often associated with the practice itself. Therefore, a sound healer may include practitioners with credentials ranging from the gift of talent to shamans to PhDs.

BENEFITS OF MUSIC & VIBRATION

Physical

  • improved: muscle, neural, immune system regeneration; digestion; sleep and deep relaxation; endorphin release; respiration; blood circulation; functioning of organs and microcellular structures; hypometabolic responses altering the immune, autonomic, endocrine, and neuropeptide systems; elimination of toxins; energy flow; healing after trauma, illness or invasive medical treatments and surgeries; weight and caloric intake in low birth-weight infants, heart rate associated with cardiovascular disease, particularly myocardial infarction
  • reduced: nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy; pain associated with joints, muscles, sciatica, migraines, and spinal injuries; symptoms of anxiety and fear; level of stress hormones; reduced blood-glucose levels (associated with wound healing, diabetes and chronic disease); need for excessive anesthetics; preoperative stress; systolic blood pressure in patients (particularly when listening to music with a frequency of 44 to 55Hz)
  • affects body temperature (loud music with a strong beat can increase and soft music with a weaker beat can decrease body temperature)

Mental & Emotional

  • increased: concentration, confidence, creativity, productiveness, sense of well-being, mental clarity, emotional strength
  • reduced: mental/emotional pain and blockages, sensation of isolation

Spiritual

  • increased: sense of self and purpose, intuition, motivation, balance, harmony, astral awareness, sense of and receptivity to love
  • experiences of bliss
  • cleansing of energetic centers

Research has also found:

  • Russia and India showed that plants exposed to music produced better crop yields than those exposed to no music
  • Wheat seedlings in Canada grew up to three times longer when treated with musical tones than when they were not treated 
  • French monks noted that playing music and chanting to their cows led to more milk production than when no music or chanting occurred

Demarin, V., Roje Bedeković, M., Bosnar Puretić, M., & Bošnjak Pašić, M. (2016). Arts, brain, and cognition. Psychiatria Danubina, 28(4), 343–348.

Mahesh, M. (2014). Victor A. McKusick: From “musical murmurs” to “medical genetics.” Journal Title, 15, 269-271.

MuKusick, 2014; Rainbow Vibrations, 2017; Wagner, 2020; Xing et al., 2016; Bradt, Dileo, & Potvin, 2013; Mishra, Ghosh, & Bae, 2016; Goldman, 2002; Priesnitz, 2006; Wigram et al., 2004