BONNYVILLE – Bonnyville sound healer Nikki Zahara brought her singing crystal bowls to the Bonnyville Municipal Library to give participants in the Vision Board and Sound Workshop a “sound bath,” using the frequency of the crystal bowls to promote healing.
“Sound therapy is incredible.” said Zahara, “It goes back to ancient healing techniques - vibrations of sound work on a cellular level to recalibrate the mind the body and the heart.”
Zahara explained the sound bath creates a space that promotes a deep sense of relaxation that puts one into their parasympathetic nervous system. In this state, the body can let go of stress and set in motion the body's natural healing abilities.
“When we’re in this state, we get a boost of nitric oxide, which supports your immune system. So much magic happens when we’re deeply relaxed. This is when our systems get to recalibrate and rebalance,” said Zahara.
When the sound bath triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, or “rest and digest,” it allows our body to not only digest the physical food we’ve eaten but helps digest emotions and experiences, she explained.
Sound has the ability to impact a person's brain waves, and Zahara spoke about the effects it can have on a person’s headspace.
“A sound bath creates this beautiful time when the thinking mind has an opportunity to fall away and you have this freedom to explore this magical space between being asleep and being awake. Our brain wave states are actually induced into theta and delta wave states just by listening to sound bowls,” said Zahara.
She also explained how a sound bath can facilitate a peaceful headspace conducive to deep contemplation and provide a person with the space to think through challenges, questions, or situations in life.
“To me, sound healing allows me to feel safe in stillness. That's something I’ve never had before,” said Zahara.
If you have questions you’ve been asking the universe, Zahara said this mental space is the perfect moment to allow the answers to come to you.
“Intention is a huge part of my practice. I never go into a sound bath without setting an intention,” said Zahara. “You set your intention as an anchor, and then you let go and surrender. You trust the bowls and the universe,” said Zahara.
For those struggling with a busy mind, Zahara spoke about the benefits of binaural sound frequencies, which are easily accessible to listen to on the internet. The sound frequencies are coming in both ears and the brain has to slow down to bring it into one frequency, which is called hemispheric synchronization.
“I always like to remind people, that you will have thoughts, but this is not the time to attach to the thoughts, you just need to bring your awareness back to the breath and release it.”
When getting a sound bath, Zahara feels it's important to be open to the experience, and reports that people can experience a floating sensation, tingling, and seeing colours and patterns.
Zahara mentioned the Emoto study, which looked at the effects of things like intentions, words, music, or images on the crystallization of water.
“We are 75 per cent water,” said Zahar. “It’s about the energy in what we’re thinking and the words we speak. If you look at words like ‘thank you’ or ‘I love you’ in the Emoto study, you can understand the impact it has on a cellular level. The positive intentions create beautiful symmetrical crystallization, and with the negative intentions, the molecules can’t hold the structure, and it’s distorted.”
Zahara offers one-on-one sessions, but during the library event she did a group sound bath. Zahara said these group sessions can make for a unique experience as everyone's energies can contribute.
Zahara went through an online training program with the Sound Healers Academy, which connected her with sound healers all over the world.
In the future, Zahara plans to pursue teaching sound healing, and said she would love to bring her teachings to the area. She intends to become a mentor at the Sound Healers Academy in 2025.
