The Science behind Energy Medicine and Sound and Light Therapies

What is the science behind energy medicine and the emerging therapies of sound and light? It’s a question I have found myself having to answer on many occasions these days. The term is not well defined and linked with pseudo-scientific ideas about healing, not helped by the increasing number of unqualified “quacks” calling themselves energy healers. Despite this, “energy medicine” has recently gone mainstream, its roots are ancient, and there is plenty of evidence backed by scientific research for its value and efficacy. 

Let’s start with a credible definition. The US government’s lead agency for research on non-conventional medicine, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), describes energy medicine as the “act of channeling and manipulating the energy that courses through your body to heal it.” And the truth is that many well-renowned institutions across the US now have departments practicing and researching “energy” in the body, including UCLA, The Cleveland Clinic, and John Hopkins. 

At the same time, growing numbers of people are experiencing for themselves the potential healing benefits of sound, light, and color as medicine, an adjunct to other “energetic” healing methods, and I only see those numbers growing in importance and usage. We can all agree that Western medicine has made tremendous scientific breakthroughs, but it is not a panacea. Some of us, sick and tired of not living to our full potential, are open to other healing modalities that complement and sometimes replace the western medical paradigm. 

My team of scientists and engineers have leaned into the ancient and current cutting-edge science of sound, light, and frequencies to develop a pod that promotes healing by harnessing their effects on our emotional, mental, and physical states. The thousands of people who have tried it attest to its benefits. 

For centuries, mystics argued that sound creates matter and that all things, from the biggest planet to the smallest seed, are coagulations of sound waves; in effect, the world reflects infinite combinations of sound patterns. Scientists who examined these ancient teachings agree that the galaxies are not randomly arranged but are gravitationally bound patterns of clusters. And now, new research suggests that primordial sounds from the moment immediately following the big bang created this cluster pattern. Just as the human body is a cluster pattern of matter, certain instruments affect the body in specific ways. For example, the sound wave of the flute is the most primordial sound wave used by the ancients for healing. The Bible tells us that young David’s harp music was the only thing that soothed the tormented soul of King Saul. 

In our research, we see the different waveforms of instruments affecting the matter of the body, bringing harmony and balance to the organs and systems of those who try our sound and light therapy pod. By bringing balance to the organs and systems, we create an environment for the body to self-heal.  

According to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who lived around 2,500 years ago, music contributes significantly to health. The earliest known culture to use sound healing for health was the Aboriginal people of Australia. Playing the didgeridoo was believed to help heal broken bones, muscle tears, and other illnesses. Sound healing has gained traction in the modern world thanks to the pioneering research of sound healers like Jonathan Goldman, Dr. John Beaulieu, and Kay Gardner. 

Dr. Beaulieu was involved in a study titled, Sound Therapy Induced Relaxation: Down Regulating Stress Processes and Pathologies. The study showed that music induced positive emotions and subsequent relaxation in patients centering on music’s ability to reduce feelings of anxiety, stress, and numerous other pathologies. The study also proposes that nitric oxide (NO) is the molecule chiefly responsible for these physiological and psychological relaxing effects. 

Furthermore, the importance of this molecule extends beyond the mechanistic; it is integral to the development of the process that it mediates. Nitric oxide aids the development of the auditory system participating in cochlear blood flow and the induced exhibited physiological effects.

Interestingly, various tissues from vertebrates and invertebrates respond to external signal molecules by rapidly releasing nitric oxide (NO) when exposed to music. Not all music produces these results, though, so when creating music for our sound and light therapy pod, I consult with musicians with high heart energy to produce music tracks imbued with love.

Further proof of music’s health benefits was revealed in 2015 by Dr. Dominique Surel, the Dean of Faculty, and a professor at Energy Medicine University (EMU, California). As a Council Member of the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) and Co-Founder of the World Institute for Scientific Exploration (WISE), she gave a lecture on the Power of Sound and Music at a conference in Helsinki, in which she shared evidence from a slew of scientific studies. For example, she described how music listening impacted the psychobiological stress system, releasing endorphins and increasing the body’s pain tolerance. When music is listened to before a stress-filled situation, the autonomic nervous system, the unconscious part of us that controls our physiological reactions to stress, is impacted to a lesser degree. 

In 2013, the Journal of Pediatrics published a study demonstrating that mothers who sing lullabies to premature babies reduce stress levels in the child. The babies’ heartbeats slowed, the babies became calmer, and the blood oxygen saturation increased. Another study commissioned by Baltimore Hospital Coronary Care Unit, revealed that 30 minutes of classical music produces the same effect on the body as 10 mg of the pain killer Valium. In contrast, a Johns Hopkins University study showed Rock music causes people to eat more food and eat it faster.  

In her Helsinki lecture, Dr. Surel spoke about the work of French musician, composer, acupuncturist, and researcher, Fabien Maman, who was the first to link music with acupuncture. He created a system that uses tuning forks instead of needles on acupuncture command points. Maman described Sound Therapy as a “treatment based on the finding that human blood cells respond to sound frequencies by changing color and shape.” Maman hypothesized that sick or rogue cells could be healed or harmonized by sound.

Light and color are essential to our health and well-being. Light nourishes the body and stimulates and supports our important endocrine system, organs, and immune system. We are, in essence, beings of light and vibration from source. We require color and light to support our innate ability to self-heal. Dr. Jacob Liberman trained as an optometrist and vision scientist and is a pioneer in studying light, vision, and consciousness. Dr. Liberman writes about treating cancer, AIDS, and other illnesses using color and light, which he calls “an essential nutrient.”    

In The Ancient Art of Color Therapy, Linda Clark outlines the possibility that colors link to replenishing vitamins for the body. For example, she suggests reds and oranges can replenish B vitamins, and yellow can replenish vitamin A.

While I have been able to outline only a handful of the most significant evidence demonstrating the significance of energy medicine and sound and light therapies, research continues with many scientists exploring the efficacy of sound, light, and frequencies as powerful healing tools. The ancients’ intuitive understanding of sound and light on human physical and emotional states is finally receiving attention and study. We are at the beginning of our knowledge of energy medicine as a complement to healing techniques. I hope this information sparks your mind to explore energy medicine for yourself, be discerning, and ask questions about how your body will best benefit from the many available options. 

About the Author Gail Lynn: 

Gail Lynn is a veteran of the high-intensity automotive, telecom, and film industries, bringing decades of practical business experience to her field. These same careers, coupled with trying personal relationships, took their toll on Gail’s physical, emotional, and spiritual health. In the search for answers which conventional medicine could not provide, she discovered light and sound therapy. In the hopes that others would find new hope in the same therapies which worked for her, she was determined to carve out her own niche in a field saturated with empty promises and a fear of radical change. Gail is a true trailblazer in holistic practices.