Healing with Hertz: All About Sound Therapy

Most of us go about our day without thinking twice about the strange-shaped canals on either side of our heads (I’m guilty myself). We listen to conversation, nature, music, TV commercials, the twirling washing machine, or the dogs barking at the mailman and never truly admire the fact these frequencies are vibrating each and every one of our cells. Instead, for healing purposes, we tend to fixate on the other four senses: revitalizing foods and supplements (taste), warming contact (touch), captivating visuals (sight), and uplifting aromatherapy (smell).

But why is it we never talk about the power of sound?

Can these vibrations resonating through the ether surrounding you truly reprogram your thoughts, words, actions, and moods?

You know what I'm going to say...

Yes Yes Yes!

Sound healing has been around for thousands of years since the dawn of human existence. It is believed to date back to ancient Greece, yet I think it goes back to our ‘caveman’ times when we were banging our chests around a blazing fire, humming and harmonizing in tribes, and click-clacking rocks and drums.

Our ancient ancestors utilized music therapy for healing a wide array of mental disorders, bringing together community and culture, and relaxing the mind-- just as it is used today. Sound healing is far from woo-woo hippy talk. It's the practice of using audio tones and frequencies to repair tissues within the body.

Sound healing involves:

- Listening to music

- Singing, chanting or humming to music

- Moving to the beat and rhythm of music

- Meditation

- Playing an instrument

Sound healing may treat and help with:

- Anxiety and depression

- Focus, attention, and learning

- Mood and balanced thinking

- Blood pressure and heart rate variability (i.e. stress)

- Pain management

- Physical activity and exercise

- Sleep

Personally, like most people, I use sound healing to support my stress response and to improve focus. For instance, binaural beats and smooth piano teleports me away from my sympathetic fight-or-flight response into a more parasympathetic rest-and-digest mode.

However, music can also cause a surge in stress.

Why do millions of people pay $10+ to go to the movies just to piss their pants for 2 hours? That twisted, anxiety-ridden horror flick is rife with high-pitched shrieking, minor chords and dissonant sounds that evoke a spooky atmosphere. Music is a big chunk of the addicting adrenaline response in hollywood movies.

Or perhaps you crave that "stressful" headbanging electronic dubstep at music festivals where your body can freely fling around dancing and stomping. It doesn't necessarily "feel" stressful, but different types of music like dubstep may evoke different physiological effects in individuals.

Personally, I feel the best time to elicit a "surge in stress" is when I'm cranking out some lumbering reps at the gym or when I’m gasping for air during a fierce HIIT workout or even during an intense writing session. That gets the brain, blood, bones and muscles firing at full capacity (Tame Impala's Let It Happen is my go-to song for these moments).

Actually, some studies show that listening to fast tempo music delays onset of neuro-muscular fatigue! This doesn’t surprise me. However keep in mind that the more often you listen to this intense music during workouts, the less effective it becomes at improving your capacity. That's why I recommend periodically listening to podcasts like Ben Greenfield Fitness or Genius Life with Max Lugavere to get smarter during some of your workouts or settle your nerves. Then, on other training days or during really intense bouts you can sauce in some of that Michael Jackson or Earth Wind and Fire to get groovin’.

Advocates of sound healing therapy hold strong to it’s capacity to improve mental illness, autoimmune disorders and even as far as decreasing cancer cell growth. If you have never dwelled into a "true" sound healing practice (beyond jammin' to pop or playing a banjo) I'm sure there are many questions circulating around your noggin.

You might be thinking:

Do I have to sit a certain way?

Do I have to hum, sing or “ohm”?

What is the best form of sound?

For starters, there’s an endless amount of instruments originating from around the world you can use. I find these to be the most effective, easily transportable, and resonating for all people, anytime, anywhere:

- Singing bowls

- Flutes

- Tuning forks

- Drums

Singing bowls, flutes, and tuning forks are similar in a lot of ways. They all create vibrations that transcend throughout the body and mind. They are created to scale out a particular frequency that ignites different moods and feelings.

For instance, the notes range from A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, each with a unique frequency and pitch. They usually order as follows based upon treble and bass: E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, and F (Every Good Boy Does Fine). But this requires some deep music landmark studies, which personally, I am not too keen on. It's a complex system. Music manufacturing is not as simple as listening to the completed masterpiece.

Drums, on the other hand, can elicit a constant flux of beats that you can dance or nodd your head to. Drums are used to keep a steady beat in a song and give music of many kinds a sense of feeling and love. This makes them desirable for jamming sessions more so than meditation or resting the mind.

Also, there is no particular or justified way to enjoy the power of sound. You can lay down with headphones, sit grounded upright playing a resonating flute, or sit in a chair ohming while a friend strums a guitar. For instance, right at this very moment typing this I am listening to Study Music Playlist: Deep Concentration & Focus on Spotify with my Bose QuietComfort Noise-Cancelling headphones. This seems to be my favorite way of calming yet enhancing my thought-process. I sense both hemispheres merging: the analytical with the creative.

The most fascinating portion of music and sound is the frequency of the waves, measured in hertz. The hertz is the unit of frequency used in the International System of Units and is defined as one cycle per second. This cool cat Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) coined the name after proving the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Soon after, things got weird.

The weirdness manifests from two close (but vastly unique) frequencies: 432 Hz and 440 Hz. 440 Hz is known as the “666 Hz” because of its sinister history attached to it.

A conspiracy all began by the Rockefeller Foundation back in the 1930s. This money-bag-loving entity was interested in making 440 Hz the United States’ standard in the music industry as a way to take hold of the “war on consciousness.” This would eventually lead to a form of “mind control.” Basically, 440 Hz was used as a military weapon.

One article on this subject said it perfectly: “This history concerns A=440Hz ‘standard tuning,’ and the Rockefeller Foundation’s military commercialization of music. The monopolization of the music industry features this imposed frequency that is “herding” populations into greater aggression, psychosocial agitation, and emotional distress predisposing people to physical illnesses and financial impositions profiting the agents, agencies, and companies engaged in the monopoly.”

440 Hz makes people think in certain ways. It's slightly irritating and unorganized compared to a soothing 432 Hz known in nature to flow like water. 440 Hz works more of the “Third Eye” or thinking chakra versus 432 Hz integrating within the “Heart” or compassion, love and feeling chakra.

The next time you listen to any music, because the entire music industry remains tuned to 440 Hz, do you feel more warlike, aggressive, or dismantled? A good video dives into the difference of these two frequencies. You can test this conspiracy out yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVoVr9UwOQM

Depending on your objective or practice, a higher or lower pitch will stimulate certain brain waves and chakras. The picture above is a fantastic representation of this concept.

Alrighty after all that historical craziness... my take-home message is to always listen to your heart, not your brain (or for guys, your… you know).

Some of my favorite forms of sound healing and tapping into a stronger, more compassionate heart are as follows:

- Meditating to binaural beats (you can find these all over YouTube or Spotify: most effective with headphones such as Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling (*not sponsored))

- Sitting in nature alongside trickling water, dancing trees, or frogs, birds, and crickets (forest bathing)

- Playing my note F (heart chakra) 10” pure quartz crystal singing bowl while meditating

- Training or running with music

- Festivals and concerts

- Jamming to mutually-loved songs with friends and family

Okay friends, go out into the beautiful world and listen away! If you are ever feeling stressed, down in the dumps, or just need a simple break, take some deep breaths to this harmonizing soundscape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2PQKda8bj0