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Sound healing

From Spiritfold
This is the approved revision of this page, as well as being the most recent.

Sound healing covers practices in which people listen to, or feel the vibration of, instruments such as singing bowls, gongs and bells, usually to relax or meditate.[1][2] It is a different thing from music therapy, which in Australia is an allied health profession with its own registration (see below).[3][4]

Description

The instruments

Singing bowls are bowl-shaped instruments cast from metal alloys. When played they give a rich mix of overtones and a long, sustained ring, so they produce both sound and vibration.[2]

A session

In a typical sound meditation, people lie down and listen to a combination of singing bowls, gongs and bells.[1] Bowls may also be placed directly on parts of the body so that their vibration is felt. In research studies, the practice has been offered as a single session or as a course of several, and sometimes combined with breathing or other practices.[2]

How it is explained

How sound might affect people is not yet well understood. Drawing on studies of music, researchers have put forward several possibilities: the pleasure of listening to music and its link with the brain chemical dopamine, lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and changes in brainwave patterns while listening to calming sounds.[2] These are suggestions for further study, not established explanations.[2]

Scope

What it includes

  • Listening to singing bowls, gongs and bells, usually lying down[1]
  • Feeling the vibration of bowls placed on the body[2]
  • Single sessions or courses, sometimes with breathing or other practices[2]

What it is not

  • It is not music therapy as practised by registered music therapists (see Sound healing and music therapy).[5][4]
  • It is not an established health treatment. The research is early and of limited quality. A 2020 systematic review by researchers at the University of Adelaide found only four peer-reviewed studies of singing bowls and health. Given so few studies and their risk of bias, the reviewers said they could not yet recommend singing bowl therapies, and called for better-designed research.[6]
  • A 2025 systematic review found 14 studies. Most reported less anxiety and fewer depressive symptoms after singing bowl sessions, and some reported changes in heart rate and heart rate variability. The reviewers rated the certainty of the evidence as low to moderate: most studies were small, single-session or short, used different designs and measures, and relied on self-reported symptoms rather than clinical diagnoses.[2]
  • A 2017 study of 62 people who attended a singing bowl meditation found they reported less tension, anger, fatigue and low mood afterwards, but it had no control group to compare against.[1]

Traditions and lineage

Singing bowls and related instruments come from the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Tibet and India. There they have been used in religious ritual, meditation, spiritual healing, shamanic ceremonies and monastic contemplative practice. They have since spread across cultures and are now used in sound therapy, stress reduction, mindfulness and relaxation.[2]

Context

Within Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking sound healing with Spiritualism.

In Australian Spiritualism

At least one Australian Spiritualist centre offers sound healing alongside mediumship. The Spiritual Mission of Noarlunga, south of Adelaide, which the SAcommunity directory lists under "Spiritualist",[7] lists one-hour "Health Harmonics – Sound Healing" sessions among its readings and healings, next to mediumship and psychic readings.[8] Its 2026 programme for Friday development evenings also includes nights of meditation with singing bowls.[9]

In Western Australia, some healers profiled by the Spiritualists National Union of WA list sound therapy or sound facilitation among their own qualifications; these are not services the Union says it offers.[10]

A Spiritualist perspective

Spiritualism has no teaching of its own about sound healing, yet it is easy to see why a Spiritualist centre might include it. Harmony and stillness help a circle settle, and the singing bowl evenings at Noarlunga sit naturally beside meditation and development work. A Spiritualist teacher would still keep the distinctions clear. Listening to bowls is a way to relax and become quiet. It is not mediumship, and it is not the same as spiritual healing, where the healer seeks to attune to the spirit world and step aside.

Good practice follows from that. Describe a sound session for what it is and make no promises about health. Ask before placing a bowl on anyone's body, keep the volume comfortable, since gongs and bowls can be loud, and let people sit out at any time. Anyone with a health concern should be encouraged to keep seeing their doctor.

Sound healing in Australia

Research

The 2020 systematic review of singing bowls and health mentioned above was carried out by Jessica Stanhope and Philip Weinstein of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide. They looked for studies of any health effect, good or bad, of therapies based mainly on playing or listening to singing bowls, and found four, two of them of low-level design. Those studies reported improvements in mood, anxiety, tension and fatigue, and in measures such as blood pressure and heart rate. The authors judged the evidence too thin and too open to bias to recommend singing bowl therapies, and called for more rigorous studies.[6]

Sound healing and music therapy

In Australia, music therapy is a separate allied health profession, and the difference matters to anyone choosing between them. The Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA) describes itself as the government-recognised professional body and registration board for music therapy, responsible for registering music therapists and accrediting university courses.[3] A registered music therapist (RMT) holds a university degree in music therapy, usually a master's degree, and must meet AMTA's professional standards and ongoing training requirements.[11] AMTA lists two accredited courses in Australia, at the University of Melbourne and Western Sydney University.[4]

AMTA defines music therapy as the intentional, therapeutic use of music by registered music therapists.[5] It says music therapy is different from using music for relaxation, taking music lessons or singing in a choir, because it is given by a university-trained professional who is registered to provide care in clinical settings. AMTA also says only registered music therapists are funded under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).[4] Some overseas researchers discuss singing bowl sessions alongside other forms of music therapy when considering how they might work.[2]

Training

No current nationally recognised qualification in sound healing was found. A search of the National Training Register (training.gov.au) in October 2026 for "sound therapy" returned 19 accredited courses and modules, all of them non-current.[12] They included a Diploma of Sound and Colour Therapy (40583SA), accredited from December 2007 to November 2012,[13] and two Western Australian Diplomas of Sound and Vibration Therapy, accredited from April 2011 to April 2014 (52384) and from April 2014 to April 2017 (52685WA). In each case the accreditation period expired.[14][15][13]

Safety and good practice

The 2025 review found singing bowl sessions were well accepted in the studies it included, with no serious adverse effects reported.[2]

Noise

Gongs, bowls and bells can be loud: one study described the combination used in its sessions as high-intensity.[1] No hearing-safety guidance written for sound healing was found, but general workplace guidance gives a useful yardstick. Safe Work Australia explains that loud noise, sudden or continuous, can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss and tinnitus. Under the national exposure standard, workers must not be exposed to more than an average of 85 decibels over eight hours, or to any noise above 140 decibels. Louder sound is allowed only for shorter times, so 91 decibels for two hours carries the same risk as 85 decibels for eight. As a rule of thumb, if you need to raise your voice to talk to someone a metre away, the noise is probably too loud. A business must reduce its workers' exposure to noise as far as it can.[16]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Goldsby TL, Goldsby ME, McWalters M, Mills PJ. "Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension, and Well-being: An Observational Study". Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 2017; 22(3): 401–406 (accessed 11 October 2026).
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Lin FW, Yang YH, Wang JY. "Effects of Tibetan Singing Bowl Intervention on Psychological and Physiological Health in Adults: A Systematic Review". Healthcare, 2025; 13(16): 2002 (accessed 11 October 2026).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Australian Music Therapy Association. "About the Australian Music Therapy Association" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Australian Music Therapy Association. "Frequently asked questions about music therapy" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Australian Music Therapy Association. "About music therapy" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Stanhope J, Weinstein P. "The human health effects of singing bowls: A systematic review". Complementary Therapies in Medicine, vol. 51, June 2020. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2020.102412. Abstract and author affiliations read via Europe PMC (accessed 11 October 2026).
  7. ↑ SAcommunity. "Spiritualist" (subject listing of organisations; accessed 12 October 2026).
  8. ↑ Spiritual Mission of Noarlunga Inc. "Readings and Healings" (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
  9. ↑ Spiritual Mission of Noarlunga Inc. "Spiritual Development" (programme for 2026; accessed 12 October 2026).
  10. ↑ Spiritualists National Union of WA Inc. "Healing" (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
  11. ↑ Australian Music Therapy Association. "About music therapists in Australia" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  12. ↑ National Training Register (training.gov.au). Search results for "sound therapy" (searched 11 October 2026).
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 National Training Register (training.gov.au). "40583SA Diploma of Sound and Colour Therapy" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  14. ↑ National Training Register (training.gov.au). "52384 Diploma of Sound and Vibration Therapy" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  15. ↑ National Training Register (training.gov.au). "52685WA Diploma of Sound and Vibration Therapy" (accessed 11 October 2026).
  16. ↑ Safe Work Australia. "Noise" (accessed 11 October 2026). See also Model Code of Practice: Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work, November 2024.

Further reading

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