Recently, the press was all over a story about Pop Diva Britney Spear's visits to a Los Angeles Sikh Yoga Master for 'sound healing' sessions. Does Britney know something we don't?

Reportedly, as part of their session, clients like Britney are exposed to sound vibrations as they lie on a special couch. Sound like weird, Hollywood hocus-pocus? Not really, say experts who see alternative health medicine, especially sound healing, gaining wide acceptance in the medical community. "Sound and voice healing are really becoming an accepted means of therapy,” says Beth Lawrence, sound therapist and CEO of Viva La Voice in Midway, Utah. "Sound has been used since ancient times by medicine men, tribal shamans, and figured heavily in the medicine of ancient Egyptians and Greeks.” Lawrence, talking about her upcoming Chakra Tuneup Workshop states, "I want to make sound healing accessible to everybody. It's not just for Pop Divas, it works for the common man, too!”

Sound healing works to restore the balance and flow of energy, or 'chi' as it's called in Chinese Medicine, which is necessary to good health, and emotional well being. "Sound and music have the ability to bypass the thinking part of our brain, going straight to our core essence,” says Lawrence. "Sound is so primal, it works on the deepest level of our being, affecting us in profound ways that traditional medicine has yet to fully understand or embrace.” But that may all be changing as more and more studies are being done to test these ancient methodologies.

Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University studied patients recovering from minor surgery in hospitals and found that listening to your favorite music can reduce anxiety levels and speed recovery.

Dr. Stephen Malloch of the University of Western Sydney studied 40 infants over three years and found that the babies who were held and sung to gently by doctors had shorter hospital stays, faster recoveries, conserved energy and were less irritable than those without music.

Shamans and Priests have used voice, rattles, drums and bells to stir the soul and

free the body of physical pain and emotional suffering. "Toning, using the voice as a healing tool, is incredibly powerful, and is used by everyone from sound healers to music therapists for grief therapy, energy balancing and emotional recovery,” says Lawrence, who uses toning as part of her Chakra Tuneup workshops. "If the thought of 'toning' makes you uncomfortable, let me tell you that you use toning every day without thinking about it.” "Imagine,” Lawrence continues, "you've just hit your thumb with a hammer. You unconsciously scream in agony. Can you imagine how unbearable the pain would be if you couldn't release that pain with your voice? You didn't even think about it, you just naturally expressed your feeling with the sound of the pain!” Lawrence sums it up by saying, "Toning is simply a means of creating a healing, expressive vibration with your own voice”.

There is much emerging data to confirm what sages have known for centuries, that sound, voice and music have the potential to heal the world. More and more people are seeking alternatives to the high cost, invasive, and often-ineffective nature of western medicine. If you think sound healing is only for Pop Divas and movie stars, think again. With a melodious voice Lawrence reminds us, "The power of sound is available to everyone, and worthy of continued investigation by the scientific community, as well as those seeking personal harmony and health”.

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