Combining Sound Healing with Yoga: Elevate your yoga practice by adding sound healing, suggests Ronee Kipnes

Yoga is the ancient science of yoking of the body, mind and spirit. We usually practice yoga to feel good, because yogic postures, breath, meditation and chanting directly affect the glandular system, changing both blood and brain chemistry, balancing the left and right sides of the brain and clearing the primary energy channels, or chakras.

Western yogic practices focus primarily on asana (postures) and pranayama (breath), allowing the practice to become meditative by connecting the body and breath. Adding additional elements of sound healing into a yoga class or personal practice further integrates the many physical and emotional benefits of yoga and promotes healing at a cellular level.

When an organ is healthy, it creates a natural resonant frequency that is in harmony with the rest of the body. When the vibration of a specific body part is out of harmony, we become diseased, and a different sound pattern is established in the affected part of the body or mind. Projecting sound into the diseased area corrects and restores healthy harmonic patterns.

Sound can produce changes in the autonomic, immune, endocrine and neuropeptide systems. Every atom, molecule, cell, gland and organ of the body absorbs and emits sound. The entire body, as well as our brainwaves in a relaxed state, vibrates at a fundamental frequency of about eight cycles per second, literally entraining and attuning us to the basic electromagnetic field of the Earth.

There are many methods of healing with sound. Crystal singing bowls are becoming widely used in healing and meditation practices, and are gradually making their way into the yogic community. They are a practical and versatile tool to expand one’s practice and add an additional layer of relaxation, deepening meditation and allowing the body and psyche to come into balance and create a natural state for healing.

Quartz crystals also have many physical properties. They amplify, transform, store, focus and transmute energy. Our bodies, too, are crystalline in structure. When working with crystals, there may be profound effects on the organs, tissues and cells, as well as the circulatory, endocrine and metabolic systems. Alchemy singing bowls add a further layer of healing by combining the healing properties of the quartz crystal with the additional healing of gemstones, minerals and precious metals.

Gold, platinum, emerald, ruby and citrine each have their own healing frequencies and properties. Alchemy singing bowls are tuned to specific notes and frequencies and with their multitude of overtones and undertones, have the capacity to clear chakras and their corresponding physical and emotional attributes. They balance imbalance by adding in the missing vibrational frequencies, thus allowing the body and mind adequate space to promote healing.

To incorporate sound into a yoga class or practice, chant AUM or recite a mantra. Three minutes of chanting stimulates the glandular system sufficiently to change blood and brain chemistry, evoking clarity, mental balance and a marked reduction in anxiety, plus lowering blood pressure.

Play crystal singing bowls during a chakra meditation, using a specifically tuned bowl in the corresponding note for each chakra while toning with the chakra tones. This practice rapidly clears and brings balance to the chakra energy centers, allowing space for the body to focus on healing.

Savasana is the posture that allows us to fully yoke the benefits of our practice at the level of body, mind and spirit. The sonic vibrations of crystal singing bowls allow us to relax and let go at the deepest level, enabling balance and healing at the cellular level.

Ronee Kipnes is the owner of ANAHATA Yoga, Sound and Energy Healing, in North Scottsdale. For more information, visit Ana-ha-ta.com.