The Healing Power of Sound: Unlocking Benefits for Children
In today's fast-paced and technologically-driven world, stress and anxiety have become all too common for children. As parents, educators, and caregivers, it is essential to explore holistic and non-invasive approaches to healing and promoting well-being in our little ones. One such approach that has gained considerable attention is sound healing.
In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven world, stress and anxiety are becoming all too common for children. As parents, educators, and caregivers, it’s essential to explore holistic, non-invasive approaches to foster well-being in our little ones. One such approach gaining traction is sound healing—an ancient practice that uses sound vibrations to restore balance and promote healing. The results? Remarkable benefits, especially for children.
Having spent over a decade working with children and collaborating with audiologists, psychologists, teachers, and sound experts, I’ve extensively researched this field to create The Sound Healer’s Guide to Working with Children. This six-module course is tailored for sound healers eager to confidently work with children, from utero to university.
My Journey into Sound Healing with Children
When parents first asked me to run sound healing sessions for their children, I hesitated. While I believed in its potential benefits, I was concerned about how children would handle delicate instruments and whether they could sit through the structured format of traditional sound baths.
I decided to start small, offering mother-and-baby day retreats. During my first session with Holly Husler, I watched in awe as fractious babies calmed down, utterly mesmerized by the sounds. The mothers visibly relaxed too, grateful for a restorative experience they could enjoy with their little ones.
Encouraged by these results, I expanded to family sessions with babies and saw similar success. But when it came to older children, my concerns about the fragility of instruments and the need for a more interactive format lingered. Families continued to ask for sessions, which inspired me to redesign the traditional sound healing model to better suit children’s needs and behaviors.
What is Sound Healing?
Sound healing uses specific frequencies and vibrations to recalibrate the body's energy, promoting harmony and well-being. Since everything in the universe vibrates at different frequencies, soothing sounds can help restore balance when we experience dis-ease or emotional imbalance.
Benefits of Sound Healing for Children
1. Promotes Relaxation and Reduces Stress
In a world filled with academic pressures and social challenges, sound healing provides a sanctuary. Gentle sounds, like singing bowls or chimes, create a serene environment, helping children relax, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep.
2. Enhances Focus and Concentration
With constant stimulation from screens and activities, many children struggle with focus. Sound healing engages the auditory system, stimulating neural pathways to enhance cognitive abilities and concentration.
3. Encourages Emotional Regulation and Expression
Through instruments like drums or rain sticks, children can explore and release emotions in a safe, creative way. Sound vibrations help dissipate stagnant emotional energy, fostering emotional balance.
4. Supports Neural Development and Language Skills
Studies show that exposure to sound and music enhances early neural development and auditory processing skills. Activities like rhythmic chanting or playing simple instruments boost speech, memory, and language abilities.
5. Fosters Social Connections
Group sound healing activities—like chanting or guided meditations—help children connect, fostering empathy, cooperation, and a sense of belonging.
6. Stimulates Imaginative Play
Visualizations paired with soothing soundscapes encourage children to explore their inner worlds, enhancing creativity and self-awareness.
A Unique Approach to Sound Healing with Children
Drawing from my 16 years of experience working with children, I’ve made sound healing sessions engaging and interactive, tailored to their energy and needs. Children don’t need to sit still or “pay attention” to benefit from sound healing. Vibrations work on a quantum level, absorbed not just through the ears but also through the skin's receptors.
During my sessions, children can read, color, play, or simply cuddle with a parent. There’s space for silliness, movement, and moments of peace. These sessions are as much for the adults as they are for the little ones, creating a shared space of calm and connection.
Preparing for a Session
To make the most of a session:
Bring anything your family needs to stay comfortable—water, books, coloring supplies, or puzzles.
Be prepared for a mix of playfulness and calm that might leave you all ready for bed!
Creating a Course for Sound Healers
The overwhelmingly positive feedback I’ve received from families inspired me to create The Sound Healer’s Guide to Working with Children. This six-module course equips sound healers to confidently work with children of all ages, offering them the tools to tailor sessions to children’s unique needs and behaviors.
By blending extensive research with hands-on experience, I’ve crafted a program that provides a thorough understanding of children’s developmental, emotional, and auditory needs. This course bridges the gap between sound healing and working with young people, ensuring a safe, effective, and joyful experience for all.
Conclusion
Sound healing is a powerful tool to nurture emotional well-being, cognitive growth, and social harmony in children. By integrating this practice into their lives, we can create a supportive environment that fosters their holistic development. While it’s not a replacement for professional healthcare, sound healing is a wonderful complementary practice to bring balance and calm into our children’s lives.
Let me know your thoughts or if you'd like to explore how sound healing can make a difference for the children in your life!
What is an 8D music experience and 4 reasons why you should be listening to it.
Learn about an 8D music experience and why you should start listening to it now
What is an 8D music experience and 4 reasons why you should be listening to it.
This innovative relaxing sound experience is raved about by people with anxieties, stress, OCD & ADHD but what actually is an 8D music experience? And is it something you should add to your existing music for well-being playlist?
When you listen to live music, especially when there are multiple instruments playing, your ears perceive the sounds coming from different directions. This is a great exercise for your brain. Your brain receives the layers of sounds and works to unpack them by analysing each sound.
When listening to recorded music on a speaker for instance, not only have the sounds been compressed together making them more difficult for your brain to separate but also, all sounds are often coming from one direction - unless of course, you have a fancy sound system with all the bells and whistles and speakers arranged around the room - therefore music from speakers and headphones etc can lack a sort of richness you get from listening to a live band.
What happens when you experience 8D music
I should start by saying, it is always best when you listen to 8D that it is via headphones so that your ears can receive the sounds as intended irregardless of your position to the source. They don’t need to be special headphones although noise cancelling ones are best!
During the track you’ll notice you can hear sounds in one direction and then you can almost feel the sounds moving around your head. It is as if the sounds were dancing left to right, up and down, diagonally etc. You’ll be able to perceive the sounds in varying directions, sometimes just singular focused sounds and other times a whole range of pleasant sounds, music, nature sounds etc moving around your head. Some experiences can feel almost as if you are walking and can hear your surroundings pass you by without any actual physical movements.
Where you can experience 8D music
There are a wide range of songs available to listen to on platforms like YouTube and Spotify and various genres to suit many tastes including some popular music which has been edited in this way.
Generally I like to make listening to 8D music an experience, its not for when I am busy, or moving around and instead like a meditation wherein I am free from distractions, can lay down comfortably and listen. One or two tracks and I am usually good to carry on with the activities I was doing before but perhaps with a bit more gusto.
How does it compare to regular sound healing
Although this is a very pleasant immersive sound experience and is a fantastic way to be fully present, in the moment and out of your head which, can help with things like anxiety and stress, unless the music is recorded with specifically tuned sound healing instruments then it won’t have quite the same vibrational effect as a sound bath. Some tracks have been designed specifically for calming the mind and they contain binaural beats which is a form of sound healing, so bare this in mind when looking for tracks to listen to.
Why you should start listening to 8D music
8d music is reportedly very beneficial for people with
ADHD
Difficultly focusing/concentrating
High stress levels
Anxiety
4 Top reasons to add 8D music to your wellbeing playlists are:
It helps to lower stress levels
Can be very calming and good background music to help you with working and studying
There is a wide range of songs to suit different moods and genre preferences
Helps bring you into your body & out of your mind, brilliant when you’re feeling anxious, stressed or worried
What are your favourite 8D music tracks?
Comment below and let me know :-)