Why Does Singing Bowl Meditation Work So Well?
After my singing bowl meditation session, many of my students came up to me and told me that they really went into a trance.
“It was surreal, lucid!!”
“I was there present with you in the room, but I was somewhere else!”
“Only a minute into the meditation, and the first hit of your singing bowl instantly took me out of this world!”
The purest and truly magical thing singing bowl meditation can do to your body is activate a deeper awareness of the mind and body. Beyond relaxation, it also has the power to change what is happening in your brain chemically; the frequencies of singing bowl can not just be heard, but also felt in a matter of just seconds!!
Let’s have a quick look on how singing bowls are so powerful to the body.
Brain Waves
There are various types of brain wave frequencies that form and change throughout the cycle of our waking life. Understanding them can help us demystify how we experience singing bowl meditation.
The Beta state is when you are conscious and awake; your brain is analytical and active. When this state is active, you are interacting with your environment, making analytical decisions and going about your daily activities.
The Delta state is the opposite of the Beta state. This is the stage of deep restorative sleep when your brain is neither active nor conscious.
The Alpha state is a bridge between the highly consciousness Beta and unconscious Delta states; your brain slows down, and you start tuning into your inner self and cutting off sensory awareness from your outer world.
The Theta state is when you are in your subconscious mind, a dreamy state. Your mind is lucid and awake and is in the optimal state to access creativity, intuition, and emotional healing.
Singing bowl meditation aims to bring the brain to slower frequencies. You experience a sense of trance-like state because you are neither asleep, nor fully awake. The mind has a slight awareness, but the body is asleep. With a lack of external thoughts or awareness to distract you, you are purely internally awake.
Remember the times when you sat down to meditate and your mind jumps between endless thoughts!
Instead of having to sit and focus hard to meditate, singing bowls have the ability to quickly tame your mind and automatically bring you to a state of slower brain wave frequency. You are in a state of pure meditation without any effort!
It can be the gateway to the Theta state—a dreamy, deeply relaxed frequency—the brain enters an optimal state for relaxation and healing; the mind is open and receptive, allowing you to connect with deeper insights and release stored stress or tension.
By accessing this state, which is otherwise only reachable during sleep, the sounds from a singing bowl can help your mind shift quickly from from active beta or Alpha to relaxed Theta. By activating the brain’s parasympathetic response and calming down the sympathetic nervous system, the vibration of singing bowl promotes a sense of safety and calm.
This diagram shows how our brain-wave functions move from the highest and fastest state of activity (Beta) to the lowest and slowest (Delta). Alpha serves as the bridge between the conscious and subconscious mind. The slower/lower the brain waves, the more we are in the subconscious mind. The higher/faster the brain waves, the more we are in the conscious mind.
The vibrations of the singing bowl are audible not just to your ears, but to your entire body.
Additionally, the effects of singing bowls extend beyond the mind. The vibrations they produce are not only audible to the ears, but are felt throughout the entire body. Unlike other meditative practices that rely on calming music or sounds, a sound bath using singing bowl is a fully embodied experience. When the bowl is struck or rubbed with a mallet, it generates resonant sound waves that vibrate the water content of the body. Since water makes up roughly 70% of our physical structure and sound frequencies are felt in water, these frequencies create vibrations throughout the body and penetrate deeply, creating gentle, pulsating waves in cells and tissues.
These relaxing physical effects of the sound have thus been shown to release energy blockages, improve circulation, and support cellular health. As the frequencies pass through, they allow tension to dissipate and bring the body’s energy into balance. Singing bowl meditation, therefore, provides a unique form of healing that combines the alteration of brainwaves with physical sound immersion for profound relaxation and well-being.
Take a sound bath once or twice a week for a few seasons.
You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body.
Healing through sound with Tibetan singing bowls
