The Yoga of Sound

Tibetan Singing Bowl similar to mine

People often express an interest in the beautiful Tibetan singing bowl that I use in my classes. If you keep your arm sort of straight, swing with your whole body-mind (gently) and hit the wooden batton against the side of the bowl with a careful and confident strike, you hear a sound of multiple harmonics. A sound that resonates back and forth inside your head in the most beautiful way.

If you use the batton to slowly rub/stir the wooden mallet within or on the top outer surface of the metal bowl, it produces a continuous harmonic rimming sound. Very sweet to the ears.
The sound quality of singing bowls depends on mixture composition of metal used, the more the metal composition, the more purity in sound, also termed as chakra balancing aura sound.


Singing bowls are unique because they are multiphonic instruments, producing multiple harmonic overtones at the same time. The overtones are a result of using an alloy consisting of multiple metals, each producing its own overtone. But to get the most beautiful sound you need to pay some money for the best hand-made bowls (rather than bowls made out of a single cheaper bronze alloy).

The harmonic overtones that these bowls generate are researched for their ability to activate alpha and theta brainwaves (deep relaxation in the brain) and produce profound positive effects on our mental functioning and our emotional state.

Sound (music) has been much researched and proven to have a positive effect on our brain chemistry (in a similar way to having sex). The release of endorphins such as dopamine, give us an emotional thrill - they tickle our brain! This emotional arousal is important helping us to manipulate and affect our emotional wellbeing and even our performance. If you want to increase your performance state by increasing your stimulation you can play your favourite rock music. If you want to chill out and relax - decrease your level of stimulation, ie performance nerves - you can play relaxing music.

Perhaps this is why sound has a special significance in yoga. Sound is vibration - as we scientists know on a deep level, everything is energy. Sound waves travel through the air and hit our ear drums, these vibrations are interpreted by our brains as musical notes. Sometimes we can feel this vibration in our bodies (ever stood too close to the bass speaker whilst watching your favourite band ? .. yum!). And the main way we use sound in yoga is through chanting - more on this in the next post.