Some time ago he devoted all his time and creative efforts to the development of a new and unusual direction in psychology – sound therapy.

It has long been known that sound has a very strong effect on the human psyche. Since ancient times, people have used rhythmic music to relax and enter into hypnotic trance states. Nevertheless, research on the influence of sounds on a person’s psychological state is still in its infancy.

But even those results that are available today, are encouraging and clearly indicate that sound therapy in psychology has a good future.

A special trend in this area is the use of Tibetan bronze bowls, which are usually called “singing”. This name is not surprising at all, because the sounds they make are really alive.

Dmitry Mustaev was one of the first psychologists in Moscow to use these musical instruments to correct the psychological state of his clients, and he also conducted a series of studies on the effects of sounds on the human body.

We offer his article, in which he tells the story of the development of the method.

Tibetan singing bowls are a new instrument of sound therapy.

Singing bowls (also known as Himalayan bowls, Tibetan bowls). Sound comes from the vibrations of the walls and edges of the bowl. Historically, singing bowls were made in India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea and Japan. Recently, the main production is located in the Himalayan region and is more often known as “Tibetan singing bowls”.

Singing bowls are used in various fields as a tool for relaxation, meditation, various practices related to yoga, bioenergetics, for the so-called “sound massage”. More and more bowls are used in the activities of SPA-salons, mainly in the West.

Singing bowls in Russia are becoming more and more active, providing a wide field for psychophysiological research and application for the benefit of physical and mental health of people, especially modern urban residents, to whom the habitat generously provides reasons for non-harmonious states.

How did my work with singing bowls begin? From two, in general, inconspicuous events. The first event took place when I brought the first samples from Nepal in 2008, one for myself and the other as a gift. I noticed that two people close to me reacted to the sound of one of them in the opposite direction.

From “full of enthusiasm for the air in the house” to “an iron hoop that squeezed my head”! I couldn’t accept excuses that these people listened to the sound in different moods and conditions, that they were at different stages of spiritual development and different degrees of acceptance of themselves and the world…

Bowl game session.

The second event took place a year later, when I was a little more consciously communicating with the bowls, already noticing small “miracles” around them. A familiar singer and musician called one of the bowls “major”, comparing it with the rest “minor”.

And I immersed myself in the theory of music, psychoacoustics and sound therapy at the Faculty of Applied Psychology with interest. Around the same period, I began to “timidly play along” on the bowls to my spiritual teacher and scientific advisor Nikolai Lipets during meditation classes.

In 2009 we recorded the first album on the CD “Wonder Bowls Hour”. Then I started to teach myself with singing bowls. As a result, my supervisor approved the thesis “Psychological counseling using sound therapy”.

After graduation, I began to conduct group trainings, master classes, events, corporate evenings and training on this topic. Gradually, it grew into something more, and I left the office, fully focused on this wonderful activity.

The impact of the sound of singing bowls on a person is made up of several factors.

Everyone knows that a person is largely composed of liquids (according to different sources, from 70 to 85%). Fluid is a good conductor of sound vibrations and the impact of sound on the person goes not only through the organs of hearing, but also directly – through cellular structures, nerve circuits and further – in the subconscious and consciousness.

Processing of sound by the auditory center of the brain, giving the heard sound or a fragment of emotional, logical and any other “relation” occurs with a delay of a fraction of a second in relation to the sound that has reached consciousness from the “back side” – through cells to subconsciousness and from there – to consciousness.

In this case, the neural chains do not have time to form preconditions for the formation of patterns, as the body has already reacted itself and “communicated” its reaction to the subconscious, thus freeing the channels of perception.

Negarmonic overtones, which the auditory center could not provide any sign, deprive the sound of regularity, melodic “correctness” and habituation, formation of the pattern of “evaluation”, “categorization” of sound.

There is a possibility to weaken and even destroy temporary and established neural connections, their sequences responsible for habits, automatic actions and standard reactions.

The transient state of the listener, which sometimes occurs when listening to the sounds of singing bowls, relieves most of the tension in the mind and body.

Medical EIS (altered state of consciousness) is recognized as a healing state, in which a person gets about twice as much rest as during sleep.

A person may spontaneously enter the EIS under the influence of fatigue, information overload, etc. This is how the body protects itself from stress when the amount and strength of stress becomes excessive.