What It's Like To...

What It's Like To Be a Sound Healer

• Season 5 • Episode 4

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Picture this: you lay down on a comfortable surface, close your eyes, and for up to an hour your body and mind are lulled into a state of prime restoration and relaxation by listening to the soothing sounds of crystal bowls being played by a master.  Laura Penn Gallerstein, a master sound healer, uses a variety of modalities, including crystal bowls and a harmonium, in her sessions.  In this episode, Laura explains the science behind the magic (how the vibrations from the bowls affect the vibrations in our bodies--which are comprised of mostly water); as well as the spiritual and musical aspects of the work.  She also gives suggestions for anyone struggling with unending to-do lists, or waking up in the middle of the night with your head spinning--and teaches us why living in our parasympathetic nervous system is a much healthier place to be.  Laura's message to all of us is, "You are good enough, just who you are."

In this episode:

  • What is sound healing with crystal bowls? (02:15)
  • Sample of playing the crystal bowls (06:23)
  • Why the bowls affect people like they do (07:39)
  • How Laura got interested in this work (10:40)
  • What is required to be a master sound healer (12:32)
  • Parasympathetic vs. sympathetic nervous systems in our bodies (15:22)
  • Where the bowls are made and how much they cost (20:30)
  • Describing the experience of being in a sound healing session (23:34)
  • The beauty of leaning into things that feel scary and difficult (31:45)


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We're living in a strange world right now where there's a lot of chaos and people are high stress. And so I find that. These bowls, it's like taking a large breath. it's so calming and soothing to the nervous system. 

Hello and welcome to what it's like to the podcast that lets you walk in someone else's shoes and live vicariously through their unique experiences. I'm your host, Elizabeth Pearson Gar, and each episode I'll be asking a new interviewee, although what, why, when, and wheres of how they do what they do.

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 A few years ago, my sister and my mom and I went to a wellness spa for a few days where there's healthy [00:01:00] food, lots of great exercise, and yoga classes, and interesting lectures. My sister had been there before and said the one class we all had to take was sound healing with Crystal Bowl.

thought, okay, whatever. I'll try anything. At the very least, it sounds like a good nap. I came out an hour later, not exactly sure what I had just experienced. I felt super relaxed and at peace, but it was much more than that. My guest today, Laura Penn Gallen, is going to demystify all of this for us, and even if you've never heard of sound healing or crystal bowls, we'll explain the whole situ.

Laura is a master sound healer and leads events all over the country. She also volunteers in classrooms helping kids and staff relax with the sounds of Crystal Bowls. Laura also is the co-founder of Singing Bowls Temple in Sedona, Arizona. And by the way, she also has a black belt in karate. So Laura, welcome to the podcast,

[00:02:00] Thank you, Elizabeth. So happy to be here. Thank.

I am really excited to explore this world of sound healing and crystal bowls, but for people who don't know what it is or what we're even talking about, can you just give us an introduction?

Sure first sound healing is actually a takeoff of music therapy. A music therapy has been around for thousands of years, and so. we work with these crystal bowls, we work with other modalities as well, but mostly crystal bowls and they came into the US and the world around 30 years ago.

And a man named Luo started a company called Crystal Tones, and he got the idea to work with a chemist to put together crystals and to make sounds and what he has done over the years. Is, [00:03:00] developed a system where the crystals and minerals are put into an oven and cooked at about 4,000 degrees, and they're put in a central fugal mode to make a shape like 

So 

it's sort of almost looks like a big, uh,soup pot a large 

Right, But they could be small too. And they all are designed to make a sound that matches our energy centers. And so to make it really simple, Our body is like a symphony of sound, so we have organs, glands, blood, water, and even our bones. Everything makes a vibration

and then it

makes a 

 Now is that because like 70% water in our bodies, so is that what's helping all of this?

Yes, cuz [00:04:00] water is the greatest conduit for sound, greatest transporter of sound. So everything in your body is vibrating. So think of your body like a symphony Like in a symphony, if the cello's out of tune or the base is out of tune, it's gonna send the whole system a little bit

Right. 

And that's like our bodies. And so getting back to the bowls, they're all designed to make a sound that matches, let's say, the sound of your. Or the sound of your digestive organs and glands, and so they're all designed to match a certain tone.

How does that work? 

it it makes sense 

in theory, but I don't understand how a bowl could match the sound of my heart. 

Well, that's where the scientists have come in. and they don't share

Okay.[00:05:00] 

they don't tell you how they make a bowl to match a certain sound, a certain frequency. somehow the yogis have figured out that all the different centers in your body match a particular sound, a frequency, 

 by playing certain bowls with certain sounds. It helps to bring balance back into your body.

it's a mixture between science and spirituality and music and bowls.

Absolutely. Yes. It's a mixture cuz science helped create, These bowls, and Somehow they were able to add in sound. That's like music. And music therapy like I said, has been around for so long to help bring peace into people's lives. And then the spirituality [00:06:00] is that you believe that there's something bigger than yourself, more than yourself.

Well, I'll just say 

the times that I did it and I actually did it a couple of times cuz it so magical when I did it, I don't know what's happening, but it really is kind of a beautiful experience cuz I just sort of, relaxed into it. so could you maybe play a few of the bowls so people can understand what it sounds 

Sure. Absolutely. 

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 I was very fortunate to study with Dr. Mitchell Gayner, he wrote a book 20 [00:07:00] some years ago called The Healing Power of Sound. And he has a lot of research in that book. because he was an oncologist and he worked with people who had cancer, you know, very severe illness, He heard these sounds and it took him so far away from his linear mind. That he was like smitten and he said, I have to do this with all of my clients. And the reason why he was so blown away by these bowls and the sounds. And this is so important is that these sounds are similar to the primordial sounds of the earth.

And so he thought this is healing for people because most people never connect to the earth. And the Earth is like coming back home to ourselves when we hear sounds of the [00:08:00] earth. so anyway, I just wanted to add that in because I think that's why people feel the way you felt so peaceful and calm, connecting to the earth.

 And that sort of explains maybe why these bowls do something different than just playing. A guitar or the triangle or a metal bowl in your kitchen or something. I mean, there's something a little bit different. Any music can be healing or do something to your inner soul, but there's something about these crystal bowls that has been calibrated more specifically to the sounds of the earth.

 is that what you're saying?

 Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. And just like walking on the earth is very therapeutic, the more we can, be in touch with the sounds of the earth. The more we can feel like, ah, I'm coming home to myself.

Yeah, that's lovely. Maybe that's also why people like [00:09:00] to go to sleep sometimes You know, on their phone, the sound of rain or waterfalls or a stream or something like that, earth sounds.

Exactly. Earth sounds are very nurturing and very healing, and we just flip into a frequency of peace. When we hear rain or when we hear waterfall, it brings us to that place out of the craziness of the

world, 

so is there something about the specific vibrations from the bowls that then affect our bodies or our minds Or is it just what you said about the 

connections to the.

It's connection to the earth, but it's also the sounds of the chakras, the different energy centers. So what happens is it helps to bring in balance, and if there is a chakra or energy center that is outta balance, these [00:10:00] bowls can help to recalibrate you and to help. Really bring that balance back into your body.

And you know, living in a strange world right now where there's a lot of chaos and, people are high stress. And so I find that. These bowls, it's like taking a large breath. it's so calming and soothing to the nervous system.

What got you interested in doing this work? I read that you have training as a yoga master as well, so you have a long history in healing work.

 I have a long history of yoga. I've been doing it for over 40 years, and I have taught yoga, but what happened was my son was going off to college and I was depressed and I was trying to figure out, well, what's my next? Step and so I jumped into a 500 hour yoga [00:11:00] training and that was about 10 years ago.

So I thought, I'm gonna teach yogaand actually I did for a while, but what happened was there was a teacher who asked me to sub. For her. And she said, but at the end I'll be playing these frosted bowls. And I was like, I have no idea how to play these bowls. And she said, oh, just go around like this.

You'll be all right. It's only five minutes. So I said, okay, I think I can do that. So I, taught the class and at the end I played, the studios bowls. and I thought, oh wow, this is the coolest thing ever. it was like, oh my gosh, I gotta do this. So 

I went out and got the least expensive bowls I could find. They're the white frosted ones. And I said, I'm just gonna start learning. And then I got into a group working where [00:12:00] we'd have a big studio and they're four of us playing these bowls. but I still didn't know what I was. So I was looking for teachers, and this was 10 years ago.

There weren't a lot of teachers out there. but I just started studying from everybody I could learn from, and somehow I knew this is what I wanted to

do, 

So it's not as simple as just. Stroking the outside of the bowl like the person told you to do as the substitute. What are some of the techniques as an expert or master that you, need to do?

Well, first of all, You really need to be grounded in yourself, 

having your hand very relaxed, I always said an intention before playing. so you as the player need to be very grounded, Know where you're going and what you're doing with the bowls, so it's not just get up and play, it's, you have something in your mind where you're [00:13:00] going with the bowls.

And I will do a lot in my class. I will play my harmonium. I'll have people humming, and then I'll get them into a deep relaxation. It's a skillset and gotta be well thought out what you're going to do. And I do know, I am a little bit musically trained that I can hear when bowls sound good together.

and I do know when a bow doesn't sound good with another bolt, so it's not just, Let

Yeah, you're not improvising 

and chime a goal. I have a plan when I'm working with people,

and 

 well I was just wondering, do you play off the audience a little bit? Like who happens to be in the room? Like where I was, you know, there was maybe 20 people who just happened to come in and we lay down on the floor. And do you kind of look at who's around and what energy they're giving to you?

Or do you have your plan and you stick to it no matter [00:14:00] who's out?

It's a really good question. I have a plan, but I always wanna read the room. so that's another skill set. You walk into a room and you look around and You just read the room, and you listen to what people are saying to you, you listened to what they need, and so you might shift in that moment. Whatever is going on in the room, and I was very fortunate to have studied with that. Dr. Mitchell gainer, that oncologist, and he said that every healer practitioner should have sound, guided meditation, a visualization in your tool. And that sound is the most underutilized tool that healers use.

And really it's one of the [00:15:00] most powerful tools we can use as a healer because it takes you out of this linear to-do list.

we get so 

caught in. Yes. Our mind's spitting around and around in the middle of the night or whenever, and you just keep going, going, going, going.

Yes. And that is like having, okay, so this takes you into a little bit of science, a tiger at your back, and a lot of people live. With a tiger at their back, and that's living in this sympathetic nervous system. I'm so excited to talk about this. What these bulls do, they stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, so.

To take it a little bit more into science, they stimulate the vagus nerve, which is a 13 cranial nerve, one of the largest nerves in the body, and that activates all the organs [00:16:00] and glands in the body. So when the vagus nerve is stimulated, it brings you into that parasympathetic nervous system, which is rest, relax.

Digest and most people live in this sympathetic, which is, I got a tiger at my

you mean we ne a lot of people never even access their parasympathetic nervous system anymore. Oh, so unhealthy,

A lot of people don't. And it's so unhealthy and that's why we have so much craziness in

disease

 and the medical system, they're trying to treat the disease, but we don't have to get to that point. If we allowed ourselves more rest, relaxation, then our digestive system is working better.

And how many people have problems with their. And their [00:17:00] microbiome. It's all related. So when you have a,person who knows what they're doing when they're playing the bowls, we're deliberately trying to get people to relax. That is our number one

Main goal, relaxation with the bowls.

Yes.

Now I see you have many different colored bowls behind you. The different sounds and vibrations of the bowls comes from the size and height of the bowls, or does the color of the bowls also make a difference?

You know, it's a really great question. So the size of the bowl will make a different sound the way they're tuned. To our different chakras will make a different sound. 

for example, this is a beebo, so this is designed for the crown, but then I have a bowl here. This is very close to the [00:18:00] sound of the crown, but because it's so little, listen to the sound difference,

Wow.

so cause of the size, but it is tuned to a sea, a root chakra, which does connect to the crown. But the color doesn't so much affect the sound, Now this is where it gets a little woowoo.

. It affects the alchemy. color makes sound, but we can't hear it with our physical ears. So on some level, the color does affect the nature of the bowls. these are Living objects because they're made of crystals and crystals they're literally living objects. They amplify. They can transfer. They can transform their [00:19:00] alchemy 

Think of Merlin, you know, turning. Led into gold or metal into, so that's what these are designed for.

 So between color, size, where they're made. and all the minerals and gems that are in the bowls, they all affect the bowl in a different way. And they're all different. 

So no two bowls are ever a.

 I may have two bowls that are very close in sound the way we hear, but they could be very different in their properties. So it little bit 

I I can see how that is because like you said, they're made of kind of quote unquote living organisms. At their crystal, and so they are different properties.

They have different properties and,[00:20:00] like for somebody who's depressed, this is a laughing bootable. they gave it that name because it emanates the property of laughter and joy so it gets a little complicated, but each bowl has a precious property to it.

 so each bowl will have a different property quality

 

personality.

where Are most of them made and what do they tend to cost?

It's all over the board. There are different companies in the world producing bowls. I get all my bowls from one company called Crystal Tones, and it's in Utah. They don't tell you where they're made, it's proprietary. 

 and they apparently, I think they get their crystals from, someplace in North Carolina, but I'm really not sure. That's what I've heard. but the price can be from 400 and [00:21:00] up. Depending on size, depending on lots of properties, 

So the prices are

all over the board. 

 Yeah, it's an investment. This is not, it's an in. 

It's an investment, it's an instrument, and they're very high quality. They're some of the highest quality bowls you can. On the planet. Let's say you're to, um, work at Rancho Lata, you will bring your own bowl.

I bring my own bowls and I'll go once or twice a year and, I'll be a presenter of sound and I'll lead it all week long and I'll bring probably about 10

How do you transport them?

It's a good question. It's a little bit of a dilemma these days, but I have these large carrying cases that are about this wide and we call nesting them so we can fit like [00:22:00] one

inside the. So that's how I bring them, and I'll bring two cases

very 

carefully. The answer is very carefully

and then , you, said you go in with a plan, so You sort of think through your program ahead of time. Of how you want to play those bowls, and maybe you won't play all 10 in one session.

That's possible. But usually what I do is I'll have four bowls that'll sound amazing together, and then I might have another four that sound amazing together. And then I'll have two bowls that'll be very close in frequency and hurts. So it brings a boral. And what that is, it is the coolest They make a very similar sound, and it gets like a wobble.

And it brings a balance from the right [00:23:00] and the left hemispheres of the brain. So it brings it into, Like this place of equanimity, balance. It's pretty cool.

What has been your experience when you've been in a session and or what have you heard from people who have been through a sound healing or crystal bowls session? Can you even describe what that's like?

well, for me, it's very peaceful if the people aren't playing too loud. not everybody's been trained, so I'm really careful about who I go and listened to. But if they're playing too loud, it's jarring to the system. So that's one thing. And one of the mottos that I've learned from one of my teachers less is, so I'm very careful about how I play and in a sound session, I've heard people come up to me and say, oh my [00:24:00] gosh, my foot.

Feels better. Oh wow. My back is feeling better and my back was bothering me when I came into this, so I've heard that quite a number of times. I had a woman come to me, and she said, oh my gosh, My father came to me during this session and she said it was so peaceful and beautiful.

She had tears in her eyes, and a lot of times people come up to me and they'll be so touched. They have tears in their eyes and it's just like opening up their heart center to feel more, It could be tears of joy, it could be tears of sadness. could be any number of things. So I've had people come up to me and say, I just felt so much unbelievable peace.

Some of it might just be giving yourself the space to feel.[00:25:00] Because like you were saying before, how we don't really experience the earth or let ourselves be in our parasympathetic nervous system or whatever, but it's just this go, go, go mentality all the time, and our minds are spinning. So to actually take that time, that hour or whatever it might be to be still.

And then hear these beautiful sounds like most of us have never heard before. and then it's working on your body and on your mind in a way you're not even aware of.

And so this, time to just kind of let go. And so maybe. . That is part of the beauty of it, is that you don't really even know where you're going to go.

Exactly. and giving yourself that hour to deeply relax. How many people do that in the middle of a day? do you take an hour or half hour to just. Decompress, and I think that's what's like hard about our [00:26:00] culture. And so when I teach people, I tell them, try to take time out in the middle of the day to do some breathing, to listen to a, meditation. 

I was going to ask you, you know, most of. Don't have crystal bowl collections and probably won't realistically. And so I was wondering if you had advice to get to a more peaceful place. So it sounds like that some meditation, some deep breathing. Are there any sound therapies that we could incorporate into our lives?

 I will say this, I do have a YouTube channel, and in my YouTube channel I've got meditations that I wrote in my book with whispers and sound. So even those meditations would be beautiful to listen to because I,play the bowls and I'm guiding people through a specific journey.

they're really nice. 

Oh, thank [00:27:00] you. But that's one good thing that people could do.and beside mine, there's lots of, meditations on YouTube nail that people could find.

something like that, a guided meditation is so beautiful to listen to it. can get you right away into that place

of

peace. 

I 

think a lot of people say, my mind can't slow down. I'm supposed to turn off my mind and I just can't. I keep thinking about this, that, or the other thing. What would you say? Don't, just don't give up. keep trying.

Don't give up. Keep trying and breathing from all my yoga. Long, slow, deep breathing. where you just can't, four. And you breathe in from your very, very lower belly and bring it all the way up into your chest. And let's say you just hold for a couple seconds and then very slowly exhale, 1, [00:28:00] 2, 3, 4, maybe five, maybe six.

And then you start it again. And for the people who have their spinning minds count, Is very, very powerful when you count your breathing. Inhale, 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold, 2, 3, 4, exhale, 2, 3, 4. Something like that can definitely pull you out of the to-do list

and bring you. That sweet spot

I'm gonna think about that 

sometimes in the middle of the night when I wake up and I,start spinning about everything I need to do in the next few days. And of course it seems 10 times more than it really is. And I have incorporated breathing and that is helpful because then I'm thinking about my breathing.

But I haven't done the counting, so I think that will help me, [00:29:00] cuz if I'm focusing on the counting, then I will stop thinking about the to-do list.

Exactly. And then all of a sudden you'll shift more into that, parasympathetic nervous system, and you'll feel calmer and it'll put you

back to sleep.

and you are not alone. I have a teacher I was working with, 

She was coaching me and she said, you'll never get it all

done. that, to-do list is endless and it's what keeps you stuck in that loop.

So that's where we have to have Compassion for ourselves and maybe have a more realistic list. Maybe you do, two or three things on that list, and then you can pat yourself on the back and say, wow, I got that done.

I feel so good. 

Has your experience as a sound healer changed over time? Likewhat you get from it from say, eight years ago to today?

my [00:30:00] gosh. So much. I can't, it's hard for me To figure out if it's the sound work, cause I do it all the time, or whether it's the yoga that I do daily or my breath work, it's hard for me to pinpoint. But I can tell you this, my confidence is far superior to what it was 10 years

ago. 

That is not what I thought 

I would hear from you of all the things I thought you would say, confidence is not the word that popped into my mind. That's so interesting to me. Tell me more.

Because that was my greatest weakness was self doubt and confidence, and So you work on strengthening all parts of yourselves, and the weakest link is always gonna pop up. And so for me, I had reasons for not [00:31:00] having confidence. I had reasons for self-doubt, which is probably why I studied with so many different people.

So I wouldn't feel like I 

Mm. 

out

there. 

And I've studied like under master yoga teachers for so many years and reiki master and this and that and practicing and so for me, that's what changed

is believing in myself.

That's so heartening. What a lovely story. I wish that everyone could have that. I love that your journey has ended, not ended, but is taking you in the direction that you should be going and giving you that confidence.

Right. And I can still say, every now and then I'll get that self doubt, like, was that okay? But it is a journey and you know, if I had to say anything to women take that thing that you're so excited [00:32:00] about and follow it, even if you're scared, Like, aren't we all scared when we, like 

Oh yeah, I'm still scared. .There's a lot to be scared of, but I think that that's kind of what makes it fun. I feel like. Sort of go towards the scary things. Otherwise you're just stay in the comfort zone and that's just easy. 

Right, 

and it's exciting. When you do something that you're scared to do, I still get a little scared. I've been teaching at the ranch for 33 years. and every time I get off there and I'm a sound presenter, I get excited, I get a little scared, a little excited, very excited.

Because it's what I love to do and I love, sharing, healing work with people because We're all on this journey of healing. we don't have an easy world. and so the more we can come home to ourselves, And love [00:33:00] ourselves more. You know, have everybody hugging themselves at the end of this session.

Like we need 

more of that. 

kind. 

the oxytocin. Yes. Kindness, compassion. So that's what I bring into all my sessions. Nobody's perfect. Nobody has a perfect body, nobody has a perfect face. 

 

We're a world of imperfection.

but within the imperfection, we're perfect. And that's what I want people in self-healing.

 to feel that they're good enough.

imperfect.

 yes, we're all good enough. And what we've been taught in this world is the opposite. 

And we all have a story, you know, some story that's led us to not feel worthy. Good enough, pretty enough,

Successful enough.

 smart enough. You could go down the list [00:34:00] of the enoughs, 

 we all have different footprints, different hand prints. We're not all designed to be uniformly like the next person. 

 I, I have a, a journey that I went through cuz my mom died when I was 11. So I didn't have, a cheerleader in my court. My dad was, but, took me a long journey of healing and saying, wow, Laura, you are good. You are good enough just who you are, we all have this divine light inside of us.

We're all born to be these creative, amazing, beautiful beings, and we've gotta stop comparing. It's the competition and the comparing that is so destructive, And so what I love about sound, it takes you away from all that chatter, all that conversation that people have in their heads.[00:35:00] beautiful.

Well, thank you so much. This has really been delightful and I love learning all of this from you and, Can't wait to take another class sometime cuz it really is quite a wonderful experience.

Thank you. Thanks, Elizabeth.

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I'm so grateful to Laura for joining me. I feel better just having spent some time with her. Here are some of my takeaways from our conversation. Number one, if you wanna class up your day, just remind yourself your body is a symphony of sound. Keep it well tuned and in balance two, you don't always have to fully understand something to fully appreciate.

Even after researching, conducting, editing and listening to this interview [00:36:00] several times, I still don't quite get how color makes sound, but I will vouch that the tones from those crystal bowls really do do something. Three, when we hear the sounds of the earth, it's like coming home to ourselves. Most of us probably can't regularly experience crystal.

But we can make an effort to listen to the rain, the wind, the trees, the birds, a stream or the ocean. Four Laura's tips before playing her bowls are to be grounded, set intentions, know where you're going and what you're doing. Can't we all use those guidelines in other areas of life too? . If you feel like a tiger is often at your back, it may be time to give yourself some space to just relax and feel.

And finally, number six, if you lean into things that you're excited and scared about, you never know what may result, [00:37:00] perhaps the confidence to embrace your perfectly imperfect self. If you can't join Laura for sound healing sessions in person, you're still in luck. She teaches classes on. She also has a YouTube channel where she's recorded herself playing her crystal bowls oftentimes along with meditations.

She also has written a book called Whispers and Sound about her own healing journey after losing her mom at age 11, and she has a newsletter and a website. We've posted links to all these things in the show notes to this episode on our website, what it's like to.net. You can also find all of our past episodes.

If you wanna hear about other women who have found their true callings and are inspiring others along the way, you might wanna check out episode 37 with Isha Fatima, the founder of the Global Beauty brand, bossy Cosmetics, and Episode 39 with Christine Meyer, who lost more than 60 pounds and [00:38:00] coaches others to improve their lives too.

If you're not already following us on social media, please do and please tell a few friends about this podcast. I am Elizabeth Pearson. Gar. Thanks for being curious about what it's like.

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