Sound therapy

Sound therapy helps balance the chemicals in your brain, like neurotransmitters, that affect your feelings. When you listen to soothing sounds, it encourages your brain to release feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. These help you relax, feel calmer and put you in a good mood. Sound therapy can also lower stress hormones like cortisol, which makes it easier for your mind and body to heal.

The Cooper Sax Model, developed by the British Academy of Sound Therapy, is at the heart of sound therapy. This model uses five stages, often called the 5 Rs, to guide healing and transformation:

1. Responsibility
2. Resonance
3. Resistance
4. Release
5. Reflect

This is how those stages work in the context of sound therapy:

First, you take responsibility for your own behaviour and your own healing journey. In sound therapy, you are not just a passive listener; you need to engage actively in the process. By taking responsibility, you set the intention to be open and receptive to the healing vibrations that sound can offer.

Resonance is all about how different sounds affect your body and mind. When you hear certain sounds, they “vibrate” within you, almost like striking a chord. Some sounds can create calm, while others might stir up emotions or memories. The idea is to find the sounds that resonate with you on a deep, personal level, helping to bring balance and harmony.

Next comes resistance, which is when you will confront any emotional obstacles or discomfort. Certain sounds sometimes bring up difficult feelings about addiction but this stage is about exploring those feelings without judgement and understanding that they are part of the healing process.

After facing that resistance, you move on to release. In this stage, sound helps you let go of whatever tension, pain or emotional baggage you have been holding onto. It is like a deep exhalation after a long day, with sound vibrations that help the body and mind release what is no longer needed.

After the sound session, it is a chance to reflect and process everything that came up during the session. You will take a deep look inside yourself, notice any changes in how you feel and become mindful of how the experience has impacted you. Reflection allows you to carry that sense of peace and balance into your daily life.

The sounds used in therapy can be created with different musical instruments or even just the human voice. Some common instruments used include percussion instruments like drums and shakers and tonal instruments like tuning forks or chimes. These instruments produce vibrations that work with your body and mind to create a sense of calm and balance or release emotions that might be stuck.

There are also more immersive forms of sound therapy that use a particular instrument to really dive deep into the experience. These include:

Gong bath therapy

Despite the name, you won’t actually be getting wet! A “gong bath” is all about being bathed in the sound waves of the gong. The gong is a large, powerful instrument that produces deep, resonant vibrations. When you lie down and listen to a gong being played, it can feel like the sound is washing over you, helping to clear your mind and body of stress and even boosting your immune system.

Singing bowl therapy

Singing bowls are beautiful, bell-like bowls that produce a soothing hum when played. The sound is created by running a mallet around the rim of the bowl and the vibrations are both heard and felt. Singing bowls are often used to help with relaxation, meditation and healing. They can be placed near or even on the body, with the vibrations encouraging the release of tension and bringing about a deep sense of peace.

On an emotional level, sound therapy gives you a safe space to explore feelings that might be too hard to talk about. Sometimes, just listening to the right sounds can help you release pent-up emotions that words can’t quite reach. It’s a gentle, non-judgmental way to process pain, fear or sadness, which you can then address more clearly during therapies like CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) or group counselling.

Sound therapy can also continue to benefit you after you finish rehab and go home. Whenever you are feeling stressed, when triggers or cravings arise or you just need an emotional “reset”, you can listen to calming sounds online or use your own singing bowl to produce soothing vibrations. These sounds can help ground you, slow down racing thoughts and create a moment of calm when things feel overwhelming.

Another great thing about sound therapy is that it doesn’t require any special skills or equipment to benefit from it. You don’t need to be musical or have fancy instruments because even something as simple as focusing on your breath’s sound or nature’s sounds can make a difference. Over time, these practices can become part of your daily self-care routine, helping you manage stress and stay centred during your recovery journey.

Sound therapy at Oasis Runcorn is a beautiful way to find peace and calm in the midst of your recovery. Our sound therapy programme will help you release emotional pain, reduce anxiety and find the strength within to make meaningful changes in your life. We integrate sound therapy into all our recovery plans to give you the calm and clarity to tackle addiction one step at a time. Contact us today to find out more about how sound therapy can help you.