Can sound healing help to ease anxiety? Can it help to resolve anxious feelings and the detrimental effects of stress?
Anxiety has emerged as the major psychological issue of the 21stcentury. Anxiety disorders have eclipsed other psychological problems to become the most common threat to mental health and well-bring in our time.
One in five adults struggle with an anxiety disorder each year. Nearly one in three adults will fight anxiety at some point in their life.
Modern life contributes to anxiety on so many levels: information overload, night lights that rob us of sleep, the intrusive noises of city life, electronic devices and communication systems that constantly stimulate us, and workplace demands that isolate us from friends and family are only some examples.
Sound helps to begin the inner healing that you need to release anxiety and find blissful relaxation.
What you resist, persists. Some people don’t deal with anxiety. They escape to avoid it. But, burying anxiety by using distractions, such as surfing the net, overworking or substance abuse, won’t prevent or relieve anxiety.
Integrated sounds help to ease and, over time, dissipate anxiety.
Tibetan bowls, didgeridoo and other instruments use sound to improve your emotional and physical well-being. Studies have shown that they reduce stress and enhance mood, alleviating anxiety. They are particularly effective with meditation.
What else can you do to reduce anxiety? Disconnect for a few days. Spend time in Nature. Identify the source of anxiety and work to eliminate it. For instance, if your workplace has triggered anxiety, what happened to make you feel anxious? And, what can you do about it? You need to find the courage to come up with a solution and value yourself enough to implement it.
Sound protocols target anxiety and its symptoms, such as sleep disturbance and digestive imbalance.
It takes less energy to feel and deal with emotions than it does to bury or avoid them. Let go of the struggle.
When you feel anxious, recognize the feeling. Know that it will pass. Look at it from afar. Meditation can help you to develop the distance you need to observe your anxiety. Allow yourself to feel the emotion. Eventually, it will pass, and then you can let it go.
Ignore your thoughts, when you’re feeling anxious. That’s your ego talking, trying to bring you down. Forget it for now. Allow yourself to acknowledge what you feel and, gradually, the anxiety will go away. Why? Your ego eventually gets bored of feeling anxious and naturally moves on to something else.
Anxious feelings may last a while and feel intense at first, but each time that you try this exercise, they will last for a shorter time. Eventually, you will be able to say to yourself, “Hey, I’m feeling anxious right now. Why is that? Okay, that’s why! I can choose to do something or nothing about it. Either way, I don’t need to feel anxious about it anymore.” Then, take a deep breath and let it go.
Or, as a practical example, “Hey, I’m feeling anxious right now. Why? Because I’m at a family gathering. I always have problems getting along with Mom in this kind of situation, because she criticizes me in front of others. What can I do? Nothing, I’m trapped here. That makes me feel more anxious. Okay, so what can I do now? Not put myself in situations like this in the future? Talk to her about it? What else? Hmm, thinking about this makes me feel better. Why don’t I go into the next room and think about it.”
Sound is a powerful healing force. It rebalances and cleanses your body, mind and soul. It helps you to relax and let go of what no longer serves you.
Moving from paralysing fear into action mode spells relief by helping to release and dissipate anxiety. And, if you can’t find solutions on your own, talk to a psychologist or other mental health professional who can help.
To book a personalized, 1-to-1, one-hour, sound-healing session, click here or contact Heather Pengelley on Facebook Messenger or email me at heather@sweetsounds.ca.
