Sound Mind, Sound Healing: El Paso expert using the healing power of sound
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Sound can have a very powerful impact on the human mind, bringing up images or triggering memories. For Cesar Lujan, a sound healer in El Paso, the influence of sound is an opportunity to help the mind and body heal.
In his sound baths, Lujan combines different musical tones and sounds together to try and bring people to a deeper state of consciousness. Sitting at the front of a room, people lay across the floor. Surrounding Lujan are multiple bowls of different sizes. Some are metal, others are quartz.
By creating sound with these instruments, he will guide participants in to a sort of meditative trance. This is a sound bath.
Sound baths are comparable to other therapy choices that do not require a medical setting. Think of things like yoga, meditation and animal therapy.
While called baths, the body is not submerged in water -- only the sound. The goal is to relax, and in a calm state, the sounds created by Lujan wash over the body. It's not necessarily musical, as Lujan says different tones or sounds resonate with certain aspects of the body.
The point is to release tension and stress, by allowing the sound to lead to a release.
For each person, it's a different experience -- sometimes bringing tears, screams or deep sighs. Lujan tells ABC-7 that this individual response actually helps people feel comfortable in the space, and to rejuvenate the mind.
Lujan asks everyone to try their best to think of nothing during the sound bath -- simply let the mind process and experience whatever it is that it needs to.
For your author, he experienced different colors, rhythmic breathing and a tingling sensation on the skin -- all at different points of the session.
The Cleveland Clinic says that the vibrations created by sound can actually help the body decompress from all sorts of vibrations -- which can target energy points in the body. People who experience sound baths often say that they feel an overall sense of relaxation across the mind and body.
And sound is believed to have medical and mental healing powers. Research is underway by the National Insititutes of Health, music can have a direct effect on mood -- improving memory and aging on the body. The NIH has partnered with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to research the connection of music and the mind.
Sound baths will be at the center of this week's special report, "Sound Mind, Sound Healing," at 10 p.m. on Thursday night.
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Avery Martinez is the Be Mindful Reporter for ABC-7, supported in part by Report for America. RFA helps provide reporters for under-covered topics across the country.
