Sound Healing and Sacred Drumming at the Amethyst Centre
Sacred Drumming is a shamanic practise and a form of sound healing. Simple to use, with no harmful side-effects, it allows every level of your being to receive what is needed. Sacred Drumming supports natural self-healing as sound shifts energy blocks, rebalances the energy field, restores optimum energy flow and brings balance and harmony to mind, body, emotions and spirit.
You receive only what is needed for your highest good as the practitioner works with shamanic sounds of the medicine tools: drum, beater, rattle, voice, bell or bowl-all within the safe, sacred space of the medicine wheel. Connected rhythmically to your heart beat and body rhythms, the sounds carry positive intention and healing vibration into the energy field, tissues, organs and bones. Naturally treating pain and illness. Typically deeply relaxing, Sacred Drumming is a non-invasive, gentle yet powerful, ancient healing modality.
What does a typical session involve?
Sessions begin with ‘smudging’. Smudging helps you let go of any superficial or unnecessary energies. It is a time-honoured shamanic way to start the energetic clearing and cleansing process.
Sacred Drumming Rainbow Essences (made from flowers and crystals) are then offered to you. They support the holistic, and energetic changes you need, anchoring them into your being.
Next, you are placed inside the safe space of the Medicine Wheel to support your healing. The Medicine Wheel allows safe space for connection to the energies of the natural world to support your healing. For thousands of years indigenous shamanic cultures have relied on their own forms of medicine wheel to support the health, cohesion, and divine guidance of their people.
From this space of unconditional love, come the sounds of the Medicine Tools; drum, rattle and bowl. The healing sounds, vibrations and positive energies work to clear, cleanse and rebalance your body, mind, emotions and spirit.You simply relax, feeling as comfortable and peaceful as possible, allowing the healing sounds, vibrations and energies to fully integrate with your being for your highest good.
Finally, you can ‘float’ in sacred peace, as the feather smooths, calms and grounds your energy field.
Usually sessions last between 45 minutes to an hour. Generally people need more than one Sound Healing session to get their body into balance. It is recommended to have three weekly treatments, then review progress. For serious illness, a person may need more.
Sound Healing
(Adapted from an article by Simon Heather, Founder of The College of Sound Healing)
Evidence shows that sound was used in ancient civilisations such as China, Egypt, Greece and India, with musical instruments, for example, bone flutes and resonant rocks, dating back over 42,000 years.
Recent scientific research shows that some frequencies help to heal the body and speed up its natural healing processes. Sound can correct imbalances in the energy field and restore our being to natural, energetic harmony.
Like all matter, our bodies are made from energy vibrating at a variety of frequencies. Over time, disharmony in the body, mind, emotions or spirit, can develop causing illness. Through the principles of Resonance, Entrainment, Intention, Rhythm, Harmonics, Musical Intervals, Prayer and Mantras, Sound Healing can bring the body, mind and emotions back into harmony.
Resonance – As sound waves travel through the solids and liquids of the body, resonance shakes loose the ‘stuck’ energies you are ready to let go of. Sound waves break up gallstones and kidney stones. Some tumours are affected by Ultrasound. Infra sound is used to speed up cellular healing and manage pain and inflammation. Research shows some cancer cells are destroyed by sound while healthy cells enjoy the vibration.
Entrainment – Entrainment happens when powerful rhythmic vibrations from a source (A), cause the less powerful vibrations from a second source (B), to synchronise with the rhythms of the first source (A). The powerful rhythms of the drum entrain with those of the chakras and the energy field, helping to bring them into a more natural state of balance and harmony.
Intention – When a parent sings their baby to sleep the role of intention is evident. The sound carries our healing intention to the person receiving it.
Rhythm – Some rhythms are soothing and some are invigorating. Generally slower rhythms are calming and faster ones more energising. Each rhythm has a different effect on the body and energy field.
Harmonics – Found in all natural sounds yet not in electronic music, rich harmonics can affect brain patterns and stimulate different levels of consciousness.
Musical intervals – occur when two different notes are heard simultaneously. Each musical interval, has its own mathematical ratio that effect the body, emotions and mind. Discordant intervals help us express painful emotions whereas consonance is healing.
The Benefits of Sound Healing.
Holistic rather than focussed on specific symptoms, Sound Healing calms the sympathetic nervous system (the body’s stress response) AND stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, (the body’s natural healing mechanism), which can relieve many kinds of pain.
Sound Healing compliments rather than replaces medical treatment. Most conditions will respond to Sound Healing. We will generally not treat people with epilepsy, Meniere’s Disease and women in the first three months of pregnancy.
Sound healers use a wide range of instruments such as crystal bowls, drums, gongs, Tibetan Bowls and tuning forks. All have a healing affect. Many sound healers also vocalise to locate areas of imbalance and project healing sound into the body.
Training and Qualifications
The College of Sound Healing offers four Sound Healing Practitioner Training Courses in the UK; Sound Healing with the Voice, Gong Practitioner Training, Sacred Drumming Training and Bowls Practitioner Training. All are accredited diploma or certified courses that concentrate on practical experiential learning.
Find a training school with accredited courses, well-qualified and experienced staff and positive student reviews the college. The College of Sound Healing is a non-profit making organisation and is a member of the Therapeutic Sound Association, the Complimentary Medical Association and the IICT.
The best way to find out if Sound Healing Practitioner training is right for you, is to try a treatment with a qualified practitioner and experience it first hand. The College of Sound Healing has over 350 members. To find one near you, click on the Practitioner heading on the College website at