“To engage romantically with a partner we need to feel present. We need to feel safe. Sound healing calms your nervous system – telling your body you’re safe.”
And the benefits of the practice, which has fans including Meghan Markle, Precious Lee, Charlize Theron and Kendall Jenner, are far reaching, sound healing can help you feel more relaxed, more rested, less anxious and improve sleep. “There are lesser known benefits, too,” reveals Ali. “It can help with pain management, lowering high blood pressure and relaxing tense muscles. It can improve your focus and help reframe self-limiting beliefs that may be holding you back in a work environment. Personalised sessions that are combined with reflective work can also help uncover and release past traumas and bring clarity to a situation. I’ve worked on grief trauma and also transitions such as break-ups, changing jobs or becoming a parent.”
And Ali mentions one other area where sound therapy could be beneficial. “When you’re rested and relaxed your brain isn’t in fight or flight so it feels “safe” enough to think and connect with sex,” she explains. “We become disconnected to the body and its needs when we are stressed, this is because when stressed we go into high alert – we are on
the lookout for danger. But to engage romantically with a partner we need to feel present. We need to feel safe. Sound healing calms your nervous system – telling your body you’re safe. So, yes – it could help increase libido, while sound therapy which combines sound meditation with therapy, can help you uncover and address deeper issues.”
For some clients, the appeal is more about escape. “They simply love the feeling and clarity that comes with being in an altered state of consciousness,” says Ali. “That’s when you’re in a dream-like state and you may see colours, visualisations and experience feelings such as floating.”
And despite the somewhat beatnik reputation sound healing has, there is science involved – it works through a process called sympathetic resonance. “This is when vibrations match the rate of vibration from another source,” explains Ali. “In this case, your brain matches up and falls in sync with the soothing frequencies from the therapeutic-grade instruments that are playing. And we call this entrainment.”
And this matching of vibrations allows the brain to relax. “The brain moves from a beta-dominant brainwave state, this is when we’re concentrating, focused or stressed, to a relaxed and restful alpha-dominant brainwave state,” reveals Ali. “The sounds you hear also trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the opposite of the flight or fight response. So, your breathing becomes relaxed and your heart rate slows down too. This all encourages your body to fall into a really deep relaxation.”
It sounds revolutionary, but applying sound as a healing method is nothing new. The use of music as therapy through drumbeats and chanting dates back to ancient Greece and Egypt, and singing bowls have been used in Nepal, Tibet and India to induce relaxation for years. More recently, in 1984, sound pioneer Peter Hess started to develop sound ‘massage’, this involves placing sound bowls directly on the body and harnessing vibrations in addition to the audible stimulus. The harmonious sounds and slow beats quickly lead to a state of soothing relaxation, in which the mind can come to rest. The gentle vibrations that emanate from the sounding and vibrating bowls gradually spread through the skin, tissues, organs, body fluid and body cavities.
These days, sound healing is available in spas, clinics, wellness retreats, in the workplace through corporate wellness, and now, in your own home.
At the start of 2020, The Global Wellness Summit had forecasted energy healing in its top 10 trends, citing sound therapy as an ‘uber trend’ – owing to our exhaustion with screen-time leading many of us to turn to sound for respite. That prediction may have come pre-pandemic, but it couldn’t have resonated more with Covid-19 lockdowns and with work from home becoming the new normal. As a result, Ali has seen a huge increase in enquiries. “We all wanted and needed ways to manage the stress and uncertainty of Covid-19, and that desire has continued post pandemic,” says Ali. “Sound healing is a passive experience for the client. The practitioner does the hard work for you – you just have to lie down and listen – this means it can be for everyone.”
Ali was uncertain at first if her practice would translate to online. “Before the pandemic, I would never have even considered online sessions. But it’s been a great way for more people to access sound healing,” she says. “One of my first digital sound baths had over 8,000 people tune in, many who were hearing about how sound could be used for meditation for the first time.”
Group sound therapy sessions generally cost around AED100 with bespoke 1-2-1 services around AED500 to AED700. Ali has some tips for those who are keen for a taster. “Head to my Instagram @thesoundtherapist where you’ll find free, short taster sessions,” she offers. “Simply put on your headphones, lie down somewhere comfortable, close your eyes and listen. To incorporate it into your daily life, start by listening to nature, it’s full of sound healing. If you’re lucky to live by a body of water, be that a beach, or river, actively listen to the crashing of the waves, or lapping of the water at the shore.”
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Ali was uncertain at first if her practice would translate to online. “Before the pandemic, I would never have even considered online sessions. But it’s been a great way for more people to access sound healing,” she says. “One of my first digital sound baths had over 8,000 people tune in, many who were hearing about how sound could be used for meditation for the first time.”
Group sound therapy sessions generally cost around AED100 with bespoke 1-2-1 services around AED500 to AED700. Ali has some tips for those who are keen for a taster. “Head to my Instagram @thesoundtherapist where you’ll find free, short taster sessions,” she offers. “Simply put on your headphones, lie down somewhere comfortable, close your eyes and listen. To incorporate it into your daily life, start by listening to nature, it’s full of sound healing. If you’re lucky to live by a body of water, be that a beach, or river, actively listen to the crashing of the waves, or lapping of the water at the shore.”
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