History and benefits of Himalayan sound bowl healing, plus a testimonial…
Have you ever wondered how people of the past developed some of the things they developed. Take Yoga for example. Like really who came up with the idea to place your body in strategic bizarre positions to manipulate the flow of energy and by doing so achieve massive health boosts on many different levels. How did they know what position targeted what or how long to hold these positions for. Whatever the case yogi’s of the past had way too much time on their hands or feet or head or whatever other body part they used.
Another example is that of Himalayan singing bowls. To think that a specific sound frequency resonating off of a expertly crafted metal bowl could illicit such profound changes to the mind and body is pretty unbelievable. But with many studies being released that show this is in fact a truth it begs the question how was this discovered and where did it come from?
Unfortunately the origins of these tools remain mysterious. The creation of them dates back to over 2000 years ago. Historically, these bowls were primarily used in the Himalayan regions, including Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and India, for various spiritual, ceremonial, and healing purposes.
Some of those being:
believed to purify the environment
create sacred space
Invoke blessings from divine beings
During meditation sessions, the harmonic vibrations of the bowls helped practitioners enter deeper states of consciousness and enhance their spiritual experiences.
Todays they are used for many of the same purposes but an increased focus has been placed on the therapeutic benefits that playing the bowls provides. For example a study published in the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Medicine in 2017 showed that singing bowl meditation led to significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and depression levels in a group of participants. Some more research published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine in 2019 examined the effects of singing bowl therapy on chronic pain management. The study found that participants who received singing bowl therapy experienced significant reductions in pain intensity and reported improvements in overall quality of life.
When it comes to my relation with Himilayan singing bowls I was introduced to them at a very early age because my mom had a old crown chakra bowl I would play with as a kid. Eventually at a yoga retreat I got to participate in a proper sound bath and it was one of the best meditations I ever had, it was incredibly relaxing and peaceful. This experience along with some guidance from a mentor inspired me to purchase a full set of my own and start running regular singing bowl guided meditations at a local studio.
One of the instances which really stood out to me was when a regular visitor to these meditations decided to share about their experiences. They had been coming to the sessions for a while but I never heard much from them until one day they had shared about having a chronic pain issue that was so debilitating there was rarely a moment in the persons life that the pain subsided. It was then the person pointed to their head and said “after listening to the bowls today the pain in my head is gone, I actually couldn’t believe it wasn’t there for once.”
This is not the only time something like that has happened after experiencing sound therapy but since then its been a commitment of mine to continue to play them for people and continue to receive the benefits of these special sacred objects myself.
Regardless of the unknown origins, or the widespread beliefs about singing bowls I think we can all agree we are happy that they exist and grateful that their use has become more widely known.
