Mental health is a problem that affects one in seven people around the world, according to official statistics. For centuries, it contributed to poor education and physical health, unemployment, and estranged relationships with family and friends. There is a long history of research that has been done in order to find solutions to the neurological issues that we, as a modern society, have been facing. Although medication is a predominant way to approach mental issues, there are many therapeutic methods that can help, besides common sense self-care such as going for daily walks, eating health ..read more

Sound and Birth The way we are born has an effect on our entire lives. The circumstances surrounding the times before, during and immediately after birth can influence the way we grow up physically, emotionally and spiritually. Sound therapy can prove to be very effective as a tool for both birth preparation and postpartum due to its deeply relaxing effect on the nervous system. For some (probably many), pregnancy can be a time of difficulty at many levels. The body can go through various challenges and all sorts of emotions can be stirred up. Having restorative tools at one’s disposal in thi ..read more

The ups and downs of tuning our musical instruments with equal temperament The question of tuning The question of tuning and temperament is a fascinating one in that it is partially scientific (because it involves objective facts about the nature of sound) and partially aesthetic (because it involves subjective taste as well as cultural aspects that change overtime). Therefore, the whole subject, although highly scientific, can’t be only approached through the sole rationality of science. Today, in the western world, music relies predominantly on a tuning system known as equal temperament. Wi ..read more

The use of Auditory Beat Stimulation (ABS) such as binaural, monaural and isochronic beats falls into the field of study called psychoacoustics. The research conducted so far, although not conclusive, has provided evidence that the effects of ABS can be registered in the brain. Some say that the response evoked in the brain (or brainwave entrainment) does not have a real effect on emotional and psychological states whereas others have observed significant results. As with any other field of research, the more experiments will be conducted under rigorous conditions, the more we will understan ..read more

When it comes to Sound Therapy, it is always important to remember that we are born with our own in-built sound device: our own healing voice! Many of the effects we can achieve with Sound Healing instruments can be experienced through the voice. In fact, it is often more powerful and transformative to work on oneself with one’s own voice than with external instruments. Sure, instruments can produce a wider variety of timbre and pitch and that can prove very useful in various contexts. But the way we respond to the human voice has deep roots in our whole neuro-physiological make up. Our hear ..read more

The Vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body. It originates in the brain and travels all the way down to the lower internal organs. It is a fundamental regulator of the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls all the involuntary processes such as digestion, heartbeat, respiration, etc. and is responsible for restoring relaxation after a response to stress or danger (the sympathetic nervous system’s activation). The strength of the vagus response is called “vagal tone” and it is determined by the variations in the heart-rate that can be measured between inhalation and exhal ..read more

We often think of trauma as an event in our lives as in “a traumatic event”. However, it is useful to think of trauma not as an event but rather as a response. It is a way of responding to a challenging event with all its long term consequences. “Trauma is not what happens to us. It is what happens inside us” – Gabor Maté And yes, there are “traumatic events” as such (a car crash, the death of a loved one, sexual violation, a natural disaster, etc.), but in order to better understand trauma and what it does to us, it can be helpful to focus on the response. If a situation provides us with ..read more

“Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find…” – The Gospel of Thomas (Nag Hammadi Library) Keeping in mind all the problems, misunderstandings, misuse and alterations surrounding ancient texts such as the one I have just quoted, I still find this sentence very inspiring in its simplicity. It also summarises the thinking behind the words I am about to share. In the emerging field of Sound Healing there is a special fascination for the numerical values of frequencies of vibration, normally indicated by the letters “Hz” (Hertz). This name indicates how many times the cycle of a g ..read more

If one is old enough to have dealt with cassette tapes, one should remember the unique sound that would occur when pressing the “fast forward” or “rewind” button while the play button was still pressed. That used to be the way one would be able to “scroll” through a song in order to find the end or the beginning. The sound of normal music would suddenly be sped up by several times and become an almost unintelligible, high pitched chirping sound. One split second of silence and you would know you had reached the pause in between songs. Having worked for many years as a sound designer and m ..read more

What I learned from playing musical duets with plants Music has the ability to open many gateways of communication, and we all know this very well. It makes us dream; it evokes feelings and different kinds of states in us; it heals; it lets us express ourselves. As a Musician and Sound Healer, I know this aspect of music very well. But what I have come to know through my experience with the Music of the Plants has more to do with myself and my ability to listen.   When one engages in a musical dialogue with a plant, one enters a different level of awareness. Or should I say, “one should ..read more