By Kerry Pieri

Have you ever stood outside on a summer day and tuned into the sounds of cicadas, multiple species of birds speaking over one another, crickets, perhaps some water flowing nearby, wind ruffling through trees? When you really stop to listen, there’s no such thing as silence in nature, and all sound is frequency. When the concept of sound healing comes up, images of rows of bowls in a beautiful room come to mind for sound baths. Specific sound can come from gongs, tuning forks, Koshi chimes, alchemical crystal bowls, Tibetan bowls, bells, rain sticks, drums, flutes, and Kenari shakers. But this particular approach is not the only way to access specific frequencies. Did you know that Mozart’s music was tuned to 432 hertz, which is the same as the instruments unearthed in the pyramids? Musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, and Prince all believed in the power of frequencies. Imagine by John Lennon is in 528Hz Solfeggio Frequency. To note, Hz is a universal measurement representing the number of completed cycles per second.

Sound healing through Hz music has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, reduce pain and anxiety, lower cholesterol, balance hormones, improve sleep, and provide a general overall sense of well being. Music can have a calming and healing power, it can also make you feel happier or more enthusiastic. Just put on your favorite song and dance around the room by yourself to feel the power of sound. In the same way, negative words or frequencies in music can totally change your mood—what you allow into your car and home is so important. Consider this especially before putting on music for children. 

Each Hz frequency is linked with a different part of the body, not dissimilar to how Chinese medicine and acupuncture work with meridians in the body. According to flowspace, the frequencies and how they affect specific areas are below:

174 Hz – Initiates pain and stress relief while improving concentration

285 Hz – Mends tissue and organ damage

396 Hz – Relieves guilt and fear

432 Hz – Elevates feelings of inner peace and well-being

528 Hz – Awakens the imagination, creativity, intuition, and love

639 Hz – Assists in the repair of distressed or broken relationships

741 Hz – Instills clarity and soothes chronic pain

852 Hz – Restores spiritual balance and reconnects you to the Earth’s heartbeat

963 Hz or God frequency – Creates unity and oneness with the spiritual side of our universe

The human brain is not unlike any electrical device, with different emotions and activities generating differing electromagnetic frequencies. Overall, it has been found that sound frequencies can mimic and induce electromagnetic activity within the brain. An NIH Study concluded that 432 Hz tuned music can decrease heart rate. Another study suggests that auditory beat simulation can aid in cognition and beneficial moods. A 2017 study concluded that 528 Hz frequency reduced cell death in damaged cells. And another NIH study found that 963Hz aided in pain reduction in fibromyalgia patients.

George MacPherson is an intuitive meditative sound practitioner and founder of Sound of the Times, who hosts mainly group sound bath experiences. “The most powerful healing component, truly, is the invitation for the recipient to listen and derive or reawaken a level of agency and balance, a harmony from within,” MacPherson explains of his approach.“I work with a range of instruments that purposefully create soundscapes which take guests on an auditory journey…not one solely based on mathematics and science,” he continues. “While it's important to have an awareness of which sounds or frequencies have the potential to elicit certain responses—we are in essence, also creating something akin to a song.” So while putting specific Hz frequency on at home to elicit a certain response can be impactful, there is something a bit magical, and quite beyond explanation for what happens in a room where sound is created. In short, it can be about surrendering to the experience and not going into the practice seeking any specific outcome. “There is a place in which sometimes we need to let go of this deep seated desire to somehow work it all out and have a statistical answer to everything. We could also see the experience itself as the very thing we were looking for.”

If sometimes it feels like letting go of expectations and leaning into the experience is the answer to almost all of your problems, maybe it’s because there’s a lot of truth there. So yes, put on your beats and delve into different frequencies to see how they feel, but also allow sound to become a strengthening part of your daily life overall. “Sound is all around us, and inside you. Your voice is far more likely to contain the medicine you seek than any instrument or tool you might find. Start with a simple hum, three minutes a day, even in the shower. What we unlock with our voice, (and the ability to register that voice as if our whole body was listening) is the most transformative of all sounds,” MacPherson says. Also Listen to Agent Nateur’s calm (beauty) playlist with Hz music, ambient sounds, binaural beats, and more to help put you in a beautiful state of mind.