Sound Healing 101
Sound healing is an increasingly popular healing and wellness modality that uses the vibratory power of sound or music to help people enter relaxed states with the intent to regulate nervous system responses, reduce stress, connect with higher planes of spiritual consciousness, and more.
While sound healing may receive the modern label of woo-woo, ancient cultures have been utilizing the healing and energizing power of sound throughout human history.
From the use of the didgeridoo in aboriginal Australia to Tibetan singing bowls, instruments of all kinds have helped humans worship, pray, dance, heal, and connect for as far back as we can find recorded history.
Today there are many ways that you can engage in some sort of sound healing, whether it’s at a community, in-person sound bath event, or whether you set aside time for yourself and curate your own healing and meditation playlist to listen to.
The benefits of sound healing are numerous and range from healing or reducing physical symptoms and ailments, to increasing emotional and mental wellbeing and feeling a deeper sense of spiritual connection.
In this post, I want to share some ideas for how I have personally used different types of sound healing for a variety of purposes. These are by no means exclusive benefits of each type of sound healing, so make sure to experiment with different types of songs, sounds, tones, and vocal intonations that work for you. Share with us in the comments below what you discover!
My Top 10 Sound Healing Practices & Playlists
1) Binaural Beats for Calming Anxiety
Listening to binaural beats is one of my favorite ways to drop in quickly to a meditative state and clear my mind of anxiety and clutter.
It’s best to listen to these playlists with headphones since binaural beats are created by sending slightly different tones to the left and right ears.
The result is that the brain registers these differing tones as one cohesive sound pattern, and depending on which frequency the sounds combine to form, you can easily enter into Alpha, Theta, Delta, or other deeply meditative brainwave states.
Here is one of my go-to binaural beats playlists on Spotify.
2) Healing Nature Sounds for Feeling Grounded
There’s a reason why spa music often incorporates soothing sounds like ocean waves or soft rain falling - our brains and our bodies are naturally attuned and regulated to the sounds in nature. I like to use this form of sound healing when I’m feeling especially ungrounded, or when I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to get out into nature on a regular basis (like in winter), as it tricks my brain and my body to think I’m actually getting the benefits of being outside.
A lot of Nature Sounds playlists will incorporate soft and gentle music as well, but I sometimes prefer to meditate and relax to just straight-up nature. Here’s my playlist recommendation if that’s what you’re going for.
3) Crystal Bowl Tones for Energy Balancing & Healing
Whenever I feel unbalanced, or like my energy has been off lately and I’m not exactly sure why I go straight to some Crystal Sound Bowl music.
The bowls are typically tuned to specific frequency tones that correlate directly with our different chakras and body parts.
As an avid astrology lover and teacher, one of my favorite collections of Crystal Bowl tones to meditate to is the Chords of the Cosmos album by Deborah van Dyke. According to her description, the 12 deep overtone compositions are tuned to the signs of the zodiac and Pythagorean progression to fine-tune our entire body to the musical order of the universe.
4) Solfeggio Frequencies for Healing & Manifestation
According to the Nature Healing Society, Solfeggio frequencies are part of the olden six-tone scale believed to have incorporated sacred music. The music incorporates concepts theories from numerology, vibrational healing, and universal frequencies to attune the listener’s energy with intentions like liberation from guilt and fear (396 Hz), miracles and transformations (528 Hz), and returning to spiritual oneness (852 Hz).
I use Solfeggio Frequency playlists often when I am in need of deep healing and self-love when I am feeling anxious (I listen to them often when I’m on planes and trying to fall asleep), and when I want to clear energetic blocks as a part of my manifestation process.
5) Shamanic Drumming for Journeying & Confidence
When I first started giving intuitive readings, I was still learning how to trust myself and have confidence in the messages I was sharing with clients.
I would meditate on their energy before our session and then show up to the call with a lot of notes - but sometimes I found the whole process of managing my own self-doubt and intimidation while also trying to ask questions of their guides and higher selves to be draining and exhausting.
I started playing 1-2 shamanic drumming songs before going into a client meditation, and I almost instantly felt more energized, confident and supported - all amazing energies to take into a reading or any attempt at connecting with the Spirit realm.
Now whenever I am seeking specific guidance from my Spirit team, or when I’ve been feeling a lot of self-doubt around my intuitive abilities, I start playing some shamanic drumming music.
The beats have a way of bringing me back to what’s essential and important - of clearing layers of the ego so that I can connect into different realms. Here is the shamanic drumming playlist I use in my practice.
6. Chanting for Increased Focus & Awareness
Admittedly, this is one area of sound healing that I’m still exploring and haven’t fully dedicated myself to yet. On the few occasions though when I have listened to recorded chanting, I have found benefits of increased focus and awareness, plus the obvious healing of my Throat chakra.
Through Culte La Lune, Andi has cultivated a consistent practice for her community to being practicing and benefitting from chanting, so if you are interested in exploring this more, I would highly recommend signing up for a month to see what it’s like. I also like this Chanting and Meditation playlist on Spotify if you want to try it out solo first.
7. Emotional Music for Intuitive Practice
I am a big believer that you don’t only have to meditate or heal to classic meditation music without lyrics. I often create shorter playlists for myself centered around a specific theme or emotion that certain songs evoke in me, like “Meditation for Peace,” featuring songs like Imagine by The Beatles, Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, and Rise Up by Andra Day.
I also have playlists that evoke heavier emotions in me, like sadness, because sometimes you just need to let yourself cry, you know? As someone who unconsciously avoided or attempted to bypass my negative, heavier emotions for most of my life, I now find it to be a very important practice to accept and give voice to all of my feelings, and a good ‘ole emo playlist is sometimes the best way for me to process that.
The top thing I’ve learned from experience in using this sort of music for healing meditation purposes is to make sure you’re giving yourself a lot of love and compassion. I like to place one or both of my hands over my heart chakra and imagine healing white and green (the color of the heart chakra) light emanating from my hands to heart and then to my whole body.
8. Instrumental Soundtracks for Creativity
I actually started using this form of sound healing back in college, before I even knew what sound healing and way before I was openly into anything woo-woo. I discovered that studying and writing papers felt easier and more fun to me when I was listening to instrumental movie soundtracks (try not to feel motivated when writing a last-minute outline with the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack pumping in your ears!) and instrumental top pop song covers.
These days, I still like to use my trusted old Disney movie instrumental soundtracks (I can’t be the only one who has meditated to songs from The Lion King, right?), but now for the purpose of creative meditation and visualization. When I’ve been feeling particularly uninspired or overly logical, I put on one of these playlists and just let my imagination run with whatever scenes, characters, or stories are coming into my mind.
The goal of these meditations for me isn’t really to receive intuitive messages or downloads, but just to engage my imagination and creativity muscles and see where the music leads me. This John Williams Study playlist is a good one that I recommend.
9. Modern Music for Energy Activation & Self-Love
Who says you can’t meditate to Dua Lipa?! I love to do a dancing meditation to my favorite current playlist, intentionally shaking and moving out any stagnant energy that’s no longer serving me. Or sometimes I’ll still do a traditional seated or lying down meditation, but secretly I’m listening to Lizzo.
The important considerations when meditating to modern music is that the lyrics are overall positive (to you - no one else necessarily has to understand why you consider them positive) and that the energy of the song evokes some sort of high vibration in you. If you’re looking for a place to start, here’s my own personal Self-Love playlist, guaranteed to put a smile on your face and extra positive energy injected into your chakras every time.
10. Self-Recorded Guided Meditation for Past Life & Akashic Records Practice
I have led workshops and guided meditations for others to journey into their Akashic Records (recording coming soon if you want to try it out!), and in doing so, I’ve realized how important it is to have someone guide and hold space for you so that your intuition can respond to specific prompts, without having to worry about being the one to prompt as well.
This is where I got the idea to follow my own recorded guided meditation, and I was seriously impressed with how much my meditative experience resonated with me. Not only was I not having to try and play both roles of Guide and Journeyer simultaneously, but there is also something very empowering and affirming about being led through meditation via your own voice.
To do this, you can totally make up your own guided meditation, leaving time within the recording to receive any intuitive messages. If you’re not sure where to start, I’d suggest listening to a few free guided meditations first on youtube or on an app to get a feel for what style and journey resonates with you. From there, you can recreate your favorite or mix elements of a couple together and record it in an audio note on your phone.
If you’re looking for additional meditation music to add to your own playlists, here are a few more artists that I love: MC YOGI, Deya Dova, Beautiful Chorus, and Jessita Reyes.
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Chelsea Jewel is an Intuitive + Karmic Astrologer, Spiritual Coach, and Intuitive Mentor to those waking up to their own intuitive powers. You can connect with her on Instagram or via her website, chelseajewel.com
