While sound baths are only just starting to hit the mainstream, you may be surprised to learn how ancient the practice of using sound to healing is...
As old as time
Sound is one of the very first things that is mentioned in ancient scriptures, such as the Vedic texts and Christian Bible ("and God said, let there be light"), so is a powerful force for creation. It has an undeniable ability to transport and transform. Yet when we try to find where the use of sound and music originated in human history, the development of man and sound are intrinsically linked. Let’s take a quick trip back in time around the world to have a look…
Australia
The Aboriginal people of Australia – recognised as one of the oldest cultures still in existence and continuing many of their ancestor’s ancient traditions today – used instruments such as the Yidaki for healing as long as 40,000 years ago. Its powerful vibrations transport listeners into deep states of trance-like relaxation, facilitating remarkable sound healing and therapeutic benefits.
Ancient Egypt
The Ancient Egyptians (c4,000 BCE) – according to Greek traveller Demetrius around 200 BCE – used vowel sound chants and incantations for healing the sick. Carvings on ancient structures and their architectural design of temples and burial chambers suggest Ancient Egyptians understood acoustics. Priestesses used a musical rattle called a 'sistra' and presided over healing chapels. It is now known that when shaken, the sistra's metal disks generate copious amounts of ultrasound (a frequency used in hospitals to this day), so it is entirely possible that the sistra was used for both their acoustic and healing effect.
Ancient Greece
The Greek philosopher, Pythagoras (c550 BCE), perhaps most famous for his theories in maths and geometry, also made remarkable breakthroughs with music theory. He discovered the musical intervals (harmonic frequencies) that make music more pleasant to listen to. He was the first person known to prescribe music as medicine, using different musical scales and modes to cure various physical and psychological ailments.
Greek physicians used flutes, lyres and zitters to soothe and heal the sick. The vibration of sound was used to help digestion, treat mental illness and aid sleep.
Tibet and the Himalayas
Sound healing is an ancient practice in the Himalayan region, dating back at least 1000 years, where Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhist monks used (and continue to use) metal singing bowls, huge horns, drums and rattles in spiritual and healing ceremonies.
The sacred, hand-crafted bowls are considered a symbol of the unknowable whose vibrations have been described as the sound of the universe manifesting. Singing bowls are a key component of sound baths across the world today.
The Middle East
From 1100 AD, across the Middle East, cities had dar al-shifa (a ‘house of health’ or hospitals), with music therapy used as a core approach to healing. One dar al-shifa is still open today, which started to welcome patients in the city of Edirne (once the capital of the Ottoman Empire, now in modern-day Turkey) in 1488. Specific sounds and rhythms were played on a main stage in front of patients, their resonance and melody treating a variety of ailments.
Native America
The First People of North America trace their use of musical instruments back to the start of time, with the use of drums, whistles and rattles used across the Nations. Central to their ceremony, medicine and educational traditions, they are essential elements of their culture and history. Drumming is seen as the Earth's heartbeat and music intertwined with nature - it is still involved in all aspects of their culture today, from children's songs and in celebrations, to spiritual journeying and evocative, rhythmic drumming and singing during Pow-wows.
The use of music and sound in healing continues in modern society – well look at sound therapy in more modern history another time...
Have a great day,
Kathryn x
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