Sound Bath

Sound Bathes generate regular healing tones that produce a regulating effect in the cells of the body. Cell function is improved by coherent sound waves that entrain cells into highly periodic functioning.

Crystal Bowls are excellent for this purpose, generating highly regular sounds waves that wash over the body. Well tuned bowls produce highly melodic sound that produces a calming and regulating effect that soothes and relaxing the system.

Whilst some practitioners use gongs and other more forceful sound sources, we've found that these can be too hard for many participants and favor the more regular soothing sounds from singing bowls.

Sound Vibrations

The human body naturally resonates to a major chord, when we hum or sing, our vocal cords naturally produce a fundamental plus overtones that correlate to a major chord. When picking instruments for sound healing, it's beneficial to find instruments that are harmonious amongst one another, instruments that are consonants rather than dissonant. The most harmonious intervals are an octave, a fifth, and a major third. If we choose the key of C, we're looking for instruments that sound the notes C, E, and G.

Choosing Singing Bowls

Crystal Bowls

Crystal bowls generally produce a strong fundamental frequency good for group sound baths and sound healing. There are generally two types of crystal bowls: frosted bowls, generally these come in white or colored, and alchemy bowls which come in a wide variety of colors.

Building a set of Crystal bowls is a fun process, but sometimes requires a bit of patience and diligence. Crystal bowls are manufactured out of quartz, and aren't easily tuned to a specific pitch. As a result, even bowls that might be advertised at a given "Note" may be a significant degree away from the true pitch. When creating a set of bowls, the best results will come from a set of bowls that are internally "in tune" with themselves. They don't have to be set to a specific tuning, 440Hz, 432Hz or any other base is fine as long as all the instruments used are in the same tuning.

Generally it's helpful to start with a set of bowl that are consonant, forming the notes of a natural harmonic sequence - something the body naturally produces when we sing, or when a string is stopped at simple ratios - 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6. The basic harmonic sequence is Root, Fifth, Octave, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Second Octave.

Bowls with a thicker rim tend to be harder to start, but produce a louder sound (more amplitude). Bowls with a thinner rim are easier to sing, and tend to be more prone to buzzing when played.

Tibetan Bowls

Tibetan bowls produce less volume and less sustain than frosted crystal bowls, but have a particular sound quality. They tend to product a dual tone sound which is more commonly a dissonant interval around an augmented fifth, though rarely precise. They are excellent for on-body work but can be challenging to incorporate into a group setting to good effect due to their dissonant characteristics.

Singing a Tibetan bowl typically uses a wood or suede beater. They can be easy to sing, but their volume tends to be relatively low.