On the recommendation of several people, last month the Voice went along to one of The Harmony Tree’s monthly Soundbaths at the Ormidale Pavillion in Brodick. Here, Jill from the Harmony Tree talks to the Voice about how she started working with Sound, how she uses it therapeutically to help people with a variety of different issues and what a Soundbath is. She currently holds monthly Soundbaths in Brodick for the general public, and is hoping to expand her practice in the future with funding and set up Sound therapy sessions for mental health and autism support groups.
My journey with Sound began back in 2012, when I started reading about the beneficial & therapeutic effects of Sound vibrations, and then experienced it myself during an amazing weekend workshop, culminating in a Soundbath in Rosslyn Chapel, Midlothain, where the resonance just filled and lifted every cell in my body.
I had already been working holistically for about 17 years prior to that, practicing and teaching Reiki, alongside my mainstream career as an allied health professional, in hospitals in the UK & abroad. I had travelled extensively throughout the world and experienced many wonderful and magical places. I knew I had to learn more about working with Sound and spent the next few years training as a Sound Therapist with the British Academy of Sound (BAST) and also The Sound Healing Academy, both situated in the Southern corners of England (so a lot of travelling!).
For me, Sound was like the missing piece of the jigsaw; a universal language that everybody spoke in some way or other, whether it was vibrations felt by a deaf person, to genres of music played, to everyday sounds happening in the world around us. It’s one of the first senses developed in the womb and the last sense to go during death.
Everything around us vibrates, we all vibrate at our own frequency, our cells and organs all vibrate at certain frequencies in the course of enacting their metabolic processes. You can liken our bodies & being to an orchestra, when one instrument in the orchestra is playing out of tune, it affects the whole orchestra. So by using different tones and frequencies you can re-tune the body and return it to a state of harmony.
Sound healing has been clinically shown to support patients with many different ailments and sound frequencies have been used in medicine for many years now, with Ultrasound and Lithotripsy being the most commonly used. With more research being done, especially with cancer cells, the ancient art of Sound healing is rapidly developing into a new and honored science in the contemporary world.
Sound frequencies work through resonance and entrainment, working with our body’s natural inherent resonance and entraining brain waves in to a frequency where relaxation and healing can occur. Different instruments are used to emit certain sound frequencies, for example, Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, tuning forks, gongs, chimes, drums, rainstick etc.
A Soundbath is a group event, in which participants are ‘bathed’ in these different frequencies over a period of about 45 minutes. Using all or some of the above mentioned sound instruments, they are played both intuitively, but also using some purposeful musical intervals to create a mixture of both relaxation and stimulation. I begin each Sound bath with a guided meditation and some breath-work, and then ‘weave’ a tapestry of sound, culminating in chimes and rattles, which are used at the end to ground energies back in to the physical space. Each individual will resonate and experience the sounds differently, according to their own healing needs at that moment. It’s also about creating a safe and healing space where people can come and escape the stresses and strains of their lives and just re-connect with their natural senses.
Of course the Sound instrument we all have and can use is our own voice, and is a very powerful tool in itself. We naturally use it to emit sounds and emotions in our everyday life. Toning specific sounds and mantras can be used to shift pain and emotions. I often use it myself on aches and pains and can personally vouch for the results! Humming is a simple thing we often do subconsciously, but produces an inner vibratory massage for our organs and cells, and is being proven scientifically to have a massive therapeutic effect.
I work both in groups and also one to one with clients, often using Sound therapy and Reiki together, in a variety of treatments, which also incorporate other methods such as Sonupressure (Acupressure with Tuning forks), hand /foot massage, Astrology, EFT, Mindfulness etc. I am currently working one to one with clients from Heather Lodge in Brodick, mostly on a Friday afternoon, but other times can be accommodated as well. I teach all Reiki levels, on a demand basis and also run other workshops using Sound and movement, as well as monthly Soundbaths at the Ormidale Pavilion. I am also very lucky to work part time as a Holistic therapist in Cooriedoon care home, using Sound therapy, Reiki and 
massage with some of the dementia patients there, which they absolutely love, and works beautifully, connecting with them on a different level of simple love and compassion, especially when they may have lost the ability to communicate with speech.
We live in times of great shifts and changes, which can manifest for us all personally in many different stress related dis-eases. It is so vital and important that we give ourselves the time and space to heal, to process our emotions and experiences. If I can help facilitate somebody’s healing process and provide a space of peace and Harmony for them to ‘be’ in, then I feel I have achieved my purpose and feel very privileged to be able to be a part of somebody else’s journey.
For more information and dates and times of the Soundbaths in Brodick, contact Jill from The Harmony Tree at harmonysound@icloud.com