Sound healing has been practiced for as long as there have been healers. Sound or vibration is fundamental to our bodies and our universe. More than one of the great religions state that the world began with a sound or the word.
The sweet, complex tones of Tibetan singing bowls can deeply penetrate both body and mind. I’ve always believed focused listening to the harmonious sounds of premium quality singing bowls has beneficial effects. As more and more people become familiar with singing bowls a greater amount of creativity is applied to their use. Below are a few of the practices I’ve come across.
Chakra Healing
Some people use singing bowls in their healing practices. One method commonly employed is to place singing bowls on chakra points and ring them, letting the resonance penetrate deeply. For practitioners wanting to cover a number of chakras the best singing bowls for this are the small thin thadobati. These singing bowls are light enough to not be disturbing to the body, small enough so you can place more than one at a time and have a relatively flat bottom for good contact.
For lower tones the best singing bowls are thin small manipuri or thin larger thadobati. There are many ways you can interpret the interplay between tones and chakras. Since I lack the sensitivity required to affirm any definite set of beliefs in this area I do not label singing bowls as being chakra specific.
Sound Bath
One modality I see in the UK sometimes is the “sound bath”. 
Here you use big or heavy singing bowls set around a person or a group of people. Jambatis are great for sound baths as are any bowl that can hold tones for a long time. When it comes to sound baths my experience is the more singing bowls the better.
I’ve had the pleasure of stepping into a tent at a festival in the English countryside to be greeted by a set of large jambati singing bowls arrayed just so I could lie down among them. A sound bath is just like you would imagine, an encompassing experience. The best sound bath I ever had was in the temple of Damanhur in Northern Italy. We lay on the floor in a subterranean chamber with a 40 foot ceiling while bowls and massive gongs were being rung. Wow!
Playing Singing Bowls
On my own part I do “singing bowl experiences” where I bring out a set of a hundred or so singing bowls and ring them with the intention of facilitating a contemplative space within the audience.
How do you play a singing bowl? Ring a singing bowl and set your focus is on sound, not melody. Try ringing singing bowls when you are upset, scattered or simply feeling out of sorts. Kids respond to singing bowls, too – even babies upset can fly on through the wings of their sweet sounds.
Some of my ringing is single bowls, some multiple bowls of the same tone, some bowls in sequential tones – low to high and high to low. I also have some tone arrangements, which mix highs and lows. The wonderful thing about ringing a group of singing bowls in quick succession is when you’ve struck the last one the tones of the many merge into a rich wave of sound, which is easily followed into its quiet resolution.
For additional information on choosing a good singing bowl, please refer to our Tibetan singing bowls – learn more before you buy page.
