Can Sound Healing Improve Gut Health?

Living in this day and age requires not one but two healthy brains. Sounds overwhelming? On the contrary, our second brain which is also known as the enteric nervous system is an individual of character which one ought to befriend for the following reason: inflammation leads to dis-ease.

DNA is overrated. There I said it! We know now of the power and relevance of epigenetics which tell us that there are biological mechanisms that actually switch genes on and off, meaning that the future isn’t written in the past but in the present moment. Furthermore, the present isn’t dictated by the genes (past) but by bacteria (present mostly)!

So what if we end up in an environment that offers stress, piled upon stress, and some more stresses on the top?

Well, let’s take The Gut Stuff founders Alana & Lisa as examples. Two identical twins exposed to two different environments will see their constitution evolve very differently. Fascinating, isn’t it? Indeed, our environment is what seems to truly count at the end of the day. But is there more to the plot?

Well, yes! It’s neither one or the other. Our genetic package is clearly important as it will essentially decide which kind of toys we get to play with, and our environment will define the terrain on which we play on. But you guessed it right, these two factors only give us a half-truth, which itself can only ever lead to a full lie.

We have oftentimes failed to realise that the way we approach and perceive life and our environment is a big factor. Indeed,the way we live an experience and remember it shapes us just as much as the experience itself.

The good news is stress, be it environmental, physical or emotional, doesn’t have to be an enemy. Stress actually begs to be recognised as a teacher that can empower us to evolve. Those who come to my classes will have heard me talk about the lobster story which I won’t get into here…but I’ll give you my take-away: discomfort is an agent of change.

So what new tools might we want to have in our gut health kit? I personally go for frequencies and vibrations that make my belly purr rather than bark!

For proper digestion and food assimilation, we need to be in a state of homeostasis (balance between all body systems) and that starts with deep relaxation.

How do I relax deeply, befriend stress and attempt to embrace discomfort? Amongst other things, I meditate with sound.

Sound meditation is something that I both teach to others and apply to my own health and self-care for three reasons:

1. Sound communicates things that words cannot express or describe, and thus helps people process the untold, the unseen and the unrealised. It is a universal agent of change.
2. As technology evolves rapidly, we can count on sound as a way to equally ride the micro-waves by tuning our nervous and endocrine systems. The more stress we receive and perceive, the more parasympathetic activity and hormonal harmony we require. Sound can help orchestrate the positive and negative inputs/outputs which feed and clear our (electric) bodies.
3. Sound also takes us back to our time in the womb where everything is sound exactly. Being subconsciously reminded of those times is therapeutic and at the same time conducing for what may be the ultimate outcome of meditation (if there is one): become a baby again whilst remaining an adult at the same time.

Gut Sounds – How to do it:

1. Come to a sound bath meditation (https://www.leocosendai.com)
2. Download the sound meditation app Third Ear (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/third-ear/id1315659009?mt=8)
3. Sit indoors or outdoors and listen to the sounds that permeate your environment. See if you can feel/imagine those sounds originating from within you rather than from outside whilst breathing naturally with your mouth open. By the way, some unpleasant sounds can be very therapeutic if we allow them into our experiences.

Some of you will initially be attracted to some instruments (gongs perhaps) and then feel an affinity with others (crystal bowls or voice), so let yourself be surprised and guided by what your inner ear tells you. Every instrument will have a different point of resonance for you.

May all this contribute towards good gut vibrations…!