Sound healing or "Sound therapy" are general terms that, similar to the term "exercise", can refer to different things depending on the context. It’s important to understand the main variations of sound healing and how they can affect the healing process.

The latest research points to a number of ways sound healing can be helpful.

The benefits of sound healing include:

• Decrease pain
• Improve nervous system function
• Lessen symptoms of depression
• Boost mood
• Lower blood pressure
• Manage stress
• Promote deep, restorative sleep
• Reduce anxiety
• Strengthen vagal tone—a key measure of your resilience to stress

Sound healing practices can be put into two categories — active and passive.

Active Sound Healing includes practices like singing, mantra or prayer repetition and vocal toning. When you produce a self-generated sound, your vocal cords vibrate. This deep inner-body vibration stimulates the vagus nerve—the longest cranial nerve in your body. This nerve runs down from your brain to your abdomen, touching all of your major organs along the way.

When you stimulate this nerve, it activates your parasympathetic nervous system. This technique is called manual vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). When this happens, your body releases the natural chemicals that make you feel calm and at ease—putting you in the optimal state for healing.

The chemicals stimulated during sound healing based vagus nerve exercises include:

• Endorphins
• Dopamine
• Oxytocin
• Nitric oxide

It’s this combination of parasympathetic nervous system activation and vagus nerve stimulation that is responsible for the “healing” part of sound healing.

A common misconception is that sound and “healing frequencies” are some sort of magical cure for what ails you. The truth is that your body does all of the healing. Sound has the potential to prepare your body to be in its optimal healing condition. 

Regularly becoming deeply relaxed, especially at bedtime, gives your body the best chance of doing its nightly repair work at its optimal level.

Contrary to some articles out there, there is a wealth of peer-reviewed research from a variety of sources including The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Frontiers in Neuroscience discussing the health benefits of sound healing — especially active sound healing practices. 

Here are additional articles by Jim Donovan describing the science and health benefits of active sound healing.

These articles also include citations to the scientific journals.

The Ancient 12-Minute Technique That Can Halt Early Onset Alzheimer’s

Johns Hopkins Recommends Sound-Based Strategies for Lung Recovery

The Powerful, Built-in Bodily System You Were Never Told About

My 4-Step Daily Defense Plan for Sound Immune Support

How Vibration ‘Clears the Path’ To Better Memory

The Secret Behind Sound’s Healing Powers

Passive Sound Healing

Passive Sound Healing activities like sound baths are based on a 6,000 year-old ancient Asian practice that can be a deeply immersive, whole-body listening experience.  

If you’re unfamiliar with sound baths, here’s what you can typically expect…

You will start by either sitting comfortably or laying down on a blanket and closing your eyes (if you prefer).

A facilitator will typically stand at the front of the room and guide you through some deep breathing exercises.

Then, they’ll softly start to play repetitive notes on a variety of soothing instruments—gongs, crystal sound bowls, chimes, harps, bells, cymbals, and didgeridoos—each of which possess their own powerful vibrational frequency.

Some facilitators also walk throughout the room, playing certain instruments near or above you to encourage deeper benefits and a more powerful experience.

The sounds of these instruments will reverberate throughout the room and your body, inducing a deep state of relaxation and bringing your focus away from your thoughts. The vibrations can feel like they’re enrapturing you, hence why it’s called a “bath.”

Skilled facilitators understand that a key purpose of a sound bath is to use vibration and a relaxing environment to elicit a person’s relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system activation). 

A person’s reaction to a sound bath can vary depending on a variety of factors:

• The competency of the practitioner.
• Their personal tolerance for certain sound frequencies. 
• The perceived safety of the immediate environment where the event is taking place.
• The participant’s willingness to have the experience.

Try one of Jim Donovan's best sound healing exercises. Simply click here.

Sound therapy or sound healing are general descriptors for ways to use the basic elements of music—sound and rhythm— to boost health and well being. As with most practices, whether it works or not depends on the quality of the information you’re receiving.

As a general rule, if a claim sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you're not sure, always verify using multiple reputable sources like peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Here is some of the science supporting the benefits of sound healing:

• Decrease pain
• Improve nervous system function
• Lessen symptoms of depression
• Boost mood
• Lower blood pressure
• Manage stress
• Promote deep, restorative sleep
• Reduce anxiety
• Strengthen vagal tone—a key measure of your resilience to stress

The list above is just a sample of the increasing number of studies examining the age old practice of healing with sound.

Some examples of sound healing include:

• Vagus nerve stimulation exercises
• Singing 
• Chanting
• Drumming
• Passive music listening for relaxation
• Guided music meditations
• Sound baths

Try one of Jim Donovan's best sound healing exercises. Simply click here.

The platform I use to host my courses and audio tools is called Kajabi.

They have an app that you can use to access your subscription.

Just search Kajabi in whatever app store you use.

• Open the app then click Get Started.
• Enter the email address you used at checkout when you purchased your subscription.
• You will then be directed to confirm your account via email. Be sure to confirm your email on your mobile device.
• Once your email is confirmed, click Open Kajabi App
• You will then see your library. Select the courses you wish to use on the mobile app.
• Once it has finished loading, you can use the mobile app for your selected courses.

After you download it, open the app and log in: 

1. Go to: https://www.donovanhealth.com
2. Log in with your email address.
3. Enter your password 

That's it!

Over the past decade or so, many of the country’s most reputable doctors have already been successfully treating patients using the power of sound and vibration using a variety of applications.

For example, ultrasound treatments—which emit vibrations from sound wave frequencies — have been used to heal wounds, mend bone fractures, and unclog blocked arteries. This type of treatment is even being used to help shrink malignant tumors ⁽¹⁾!

Doctors are also using other vibration-based solutions like devices that stimulate the vagus nerve—the longest nerve in your body, spanning from your brain stem to your abdomen.

These particular treatments are being used to reduce drug-resistant epileptic seizures, alleviate treatment-resistant depression, and improve the balance in Parkinson’s patients so that they may walk again.

Most recently, other sound frequency therapies use vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to address additional health issues like: anxiety, brain injury rehabilitation, headaches, high blood pressure, inflammation, inflammatory bowel diseases, tendonitis, and trauma-induced pain.

Despite their ancient origins, sound-and vibration-focused practices are finally being "rediscovered" by modern medicine and not a moment too soon!

How Sound is Used for Self Healing

The truth is that an increasing number of studies show that sound based self healing exercises work to:

• Decrease pain
• Improve nervous system function
• Lessen symptoms of depression
• Boost mood
• Lower blood pressure
• Manage stress
• Promote deep, restorative sleep
• Reduce anxiety
• Strengthen vagal tone—a key measure of your resilience to stress

But don’t just take my word for it.

Here are a few highlights of this notable research on the major benefits of sound healing:

In a 2018 study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers found that after just three months of vagus nerve stimulation, study participants suffering from depression saw a remission rate of 17 percent. And after one year of treatment, the remission rate rose to 33 percent. -Frontiers in Psychiatry 2018

Studies in the Journal of Natural Science, Biology, and Medicine have shown that vagus nerve stimulation increases neurogenesis—the formation of new brain cells—in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a critical role in learning and memory. -Journal of Natural Science, Technology and Medicine (2016)

In another 2018 study published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, 54 participants regularly performed a vagal stimulation technique for three months, resulting in an 81 percent reduction in hyper reactivity (stress-induced blood pressure changes) and significantly lower diastolic blood pressure numbers. -Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (2018)

Sound is one of the oldest healing modalities on the planet. 

Ancient philosophers including Plato considered music to be “the medicine of the soul” (Gfeller, 2002). And this research paper describes how Greek physicians used flutes, lyres, and zithers to heal their patients — using vibration to aid in digestion, treat mental disturbance, and induce sleep.

According to a growing body of research that we’ll explore a little later, sound healing—specifically vagus nerve stimulation with sound—has been shown to be effective at relieving a wide variety of health symptoms.

In fact, a regular sound healing practice may be able to help you solve some of your most nagging health challenges — including:

• Being chronically stressed.
• Having low energy.
• Becoming easily fatigued.
• Enduring chronic pain.
• Feeling unhappy.
• Having a cluttered, foggy mind.
• Being unable to fall asleep easily.

(1) Ultrasound Can Selectively Kill Cancer Cells

Try one of Jim Donovan's best sound healing exercises. Simply click here.

Yes! You'll find an expertly crafted blend of sound healing video tutorials ranging from 3-8 minutes along with guided healing frequency audio experiences ranging from 5 to 60 minutes.

Whether you have a spare 5 minutes or an hour, The Donovan Healing Circle is designed to accommodate your daily lifestyle.

Try one of Jim Donovan's best sound healing exercises. Simply click here.

Nope! Every exercise is 100% beginner-friendly. The only requirement is to allow yourself to try it out.

Additionally, our guided therapeutic sound audio tools are even easier! Just press play and let the music do the work for you!

Try one of Jim Donovan's best sound healing exercises. Simply click here.

No.

All material provided on this site is for educational purposes only and any recommendations are not intended to replace the advice of your physician. You are encouraged to seek advice from a competent medical professional regarding the applicability of any recommendations with regard to your symptoms or condition.

Good question!

Here are 7 reasons:

1. We're in this for the long haul and want to be your life-long daily companion on your journey through the world of sound healing. We work every day to find the latest research and develop new content to help you take impeccable care of yourself.

2. The Donovan Sound Healing Circle is the ONLY on-demand learning portal that provides a comprehensive collection of easy-to-follow tutorials and audio-tools.

3. The Donovan Sound Healing Circle is the ONLY on-demand learning portal that provides research reports and links to studies cited.

4. Your membership includes access to a private Facebook group where you can meet other like minded people, and get support.

5. You're protected by our iron-clad, 30 day money back guarantee. If you're not happy, we're not happy.

6. You can rest easy knowing that Jim is an internationally recognized music and wellness expert who regularly trains professionals from fields including Social Work, Behavioral Healthcare, Music Therapy, Recreational Therapy and Addiction Recovery.

7. Jim has had first hand experience with severe health challenges and pain. He can empathize with those who are suffering and is committed to working to help people everywhere to feel better.

Try one of Jim Donovan's best sound healing exercises. Simply click here.

Well, we can still be friends AND your Donovan Sound Healing Circle subscription comes with a 30 day, 100% guarantee that allows you to invest with complete confidence.

If for any reason you decide this program isn’t for you, you can ask us for a refund via the "Contact Us" tab on our home page  https://www.donovanhealth.com/ within the first 30 days of your purchase. No hassle, no questions asked.

I had another full career as a member of the 90s band Rusted Root. You might have heard our song "Send Me On My Way" featured in films like Ice Age and many others. 

Or maybe you saw me at the natural food store buying organic cabbage... :)