Singing bowls are made either from bell metals or crystal and played with a mallet by gliding it around the bowl to produce sound. The bowls are often referred to as Tibetan Singing Bowls or Himalayan Singing Bowls by Westerners. However, the use of these bowls originates in China. Tibetan Singing Bowls have been used in both Buddhist and Taoist practices for meditation purposes.
What's in a singing bowl
At one time they may have also been used to place offerings at altars for worship. In the West, the use of Tibetan Singing Bowls is largely relegated to “new age” spiritual practices. Although they are most commonly associated with Eastern spiritual traditions, research indicates that Tibetan Singing Bowls have a positive impact on health, even to the extent of promoting healing from various illnesses.
Sound healing therapy
Tibetan Singing Bowls have been used in several studies to investigate their usefulness as tools in sound therapy. Sound therapy includes but is not limited to, music therapy, meditation, vibration work, and brainwave entrainment. Sound therapy is a popular method of alternative medicine that has evidence-based efficacy in treating a multitude of illnesses.
Sound therapy can be used to lower blood pressure, reduce pain, treat neurological disorders, and improve sleep. It is also an effective method of therapy for anxiety, stress, depression, mood disorders, and developmental disabilities. Sound therapy is often used in rehabilitation settings for catastrophic injuries and mental disorders.
While studies have focused on how patients with various health conditions respond to sound therapy, the widest body of evidence on sound therapy is based on its ability to lower stress, reduce tension, and improve mood. Since many illnesses arise or are worsened due to stress, this is a major implication in the justification of more widespread use of sound therapy.
In addition to treating ailments, sound therapy can also be used to promote general physical and mental wellness. Those wanting to reap the benefits of sound therapy can do so at home or under the guidance of a practitioner as part of regular meditation practice. Tibetan singing bowls are a particularly attractive form of sound therapy as patients can also learn to use the sound bowls themselves.
Sound bowl healing
Tibetan sound bowls are used by tapping the bowl gently with a mallet and then circling the bowl with different amounts of pressure and speed to vary the sounds. Sound bowl healing works when the bowls are played to elicit prolonged sounds that emit varying vibrational frequencies. Some sound bowls are made from metals similar to church bells, while others are made from crushed crystals.
Whether metal or crystal, the sound bowls may also be filled with water while they are played. The musicality of the singing bowl itself is relaxing and can induce a meditative state. Once in a meditative state, stress levels are reduced, which can improve hormone levels, blood pressure, and even blood sugar.
The symptoms of mood disorders may also be interrupted or reduced in this state. Increased mental awareness and deeper sleep are also effects of meditation. Additionally, the sounds emitted from Tibetan singing bowls allow the person listening to benefit from sound frequency healing. As described by experts in sound healing, each part of the body has its own frequency. Accordingly, sound frequency healing allows the body to harmonize any out-of-sync frequencies to a healthy state.
Tibetan singing bowls are a type of bell that vibrates and produces a rich, deep tone when played. Also known as singing bowls or Himalayan bowls, Tibetan singing bowls are said to promote relaxation and offer powerful healing properties.
Buddhist monks have long used Tibetan singing bowls in meditation practice. In addition, some wellness practitioners (including music therapists, massage therapists, and yoga therapists) use Tibetan singing bowls during treatment.
Uses for Tibetan Singing Bowls
People use Tibetan singing bowls for many purposes, including stress reduction and pain relief. Some people use the bowls in combination with other healing practices, such as meditation and deep breathing.
To create sound with a singing bowl, firmly press the accompanying mallet in a circular motion against the bowl's outside edge or rim. When you hear a bright, clear tone, you can slow down the motion. Use your full arm to make the motion, rather than just rotating your wrist.
You can also make the same circular motion against the outside belly of the bowl. Additionally, you can gently strike the bowl before beginning the circular motion.
Many proponents claim that the vibrations of a singing bowl can produce beneficial changes in the body by reducing stress, "harmonizing" the cells, and "balancing the body's energy system." Some also claim that Tibetan singing bowls can stimulate the immune system and produce beneficial changes in brain waves.
Benefits
Very few scientific studies have examined the potential benefits of Tibetan singing bowls, despite their long history of use. One of the available studies is a report from the Swiss journal Research in Complementary Medicine. For the study, 54 people with chronic pain originating from the spine were assigned to either six sessions of singing bowl therapy, a placebo treatment, or no treatment at all.
Study results showed that members of the singing bowl group and the placebo group experienced a significant decrease in pain intensity. The study's authors also found that both the singing bowl therapy and the placebo therapy had a stress-reducing effect on participants. Given these findings, the study's authors concluded that singing bowl therapy's effectiveness for pain relief could not be confirmed.
A preliminary study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion in 2014 examined the benefits of starting a directed relaxation session with 12 minutes of singing bowls and found a greater reduction in systolic blood pressure and heart rate compared to silence before a directed relaxation session.
In Kathmandu’s tourist district of Thamel sits a planned outdoor shopping area called Mandala Street. Nearly every morning—around when the foreigner-friendly coffee shop Himalayan Java opens its doors—a man blows his conch shell loudly from a second-story walkway. He typically wears flowing white robes and a large turban with a peacock feather stuck in its folds, and sports a beard and mustache curled into near-perfect circles. He is a self-described “sound-bowl healer” who offers to align chakras with specially tuned metal bowls, a technique, he will tell you, that is practiced by an ancient lineage of yogis. The staff of Himalayan Java are suspicious of his sound bowl healings, but some of the visitors are spellbound by him, the picture of the Orientalized South Asian holy man, and a few find their way to his healing table each day during the peak tourist seasons.
These sound bowls, or “Tibetan singing bowls” as they are frequently called, have become nearly ubiquitous in Buddhist contexts in North America and Europe. They are used in mindfulness practices, yoga studios, and even some newer Buddhist rituals, yet a credible consensus regarding their origins is difficult to find. There is no hard evidence that the sound bowls are ancient—and even less that they are Tibetan.
The dubious claims of the bowls’ Tibetan origins have not escaped the notice of the Tibetan community in North America. A handful of blog entries by Tibetan writers in North America have appeared questioning the pedigree of the allegedly “Tibetan” bowls, and as recently as February 18, an op-ed piece by Tenzin Dheden of the Canada Tibet Committee ran in the Toronto Star entitled “‘Tibetan singing bowls’ are not Tibetan. Sincerely, a Tibetan person.” The piece garnered attention on Facebook with one commenter noting, “I’ve always wondered why Injis [foreigners/non-Tibetans] are so fond of these bowls. In the past, I’ve asked a number of Tibetans, including monks, and none of them had heard about [them].”
