There’s a new machine for good vibes (and it’s not your iPhone or vibrator). This robot is shaped like a piece of cavatelli pasta on a pedestal, and on a Monday afternoon, I am crawling into the middle of its embrace, ready for my life to be changed in just 22 minutes. The ask sounds pretty simple, especially compared to micro-dosing shrooms, yoga, and mental health practices like cognitive behavioral therapy or journaling (who knew that the secret to working on yourself would be so much work?). All I have to do is lie like broccoli (with the added aid of a provided silk eye mask and a 15-pound weighted blanket). Although my body may be still, my mind will be alive, and the machine (called Sava), will take me on a Sound Journey, a mix of unique sounds and sound healing music said to help calm the nervous system, improve creativity and focus, and send the listener into a meditative, trancelike state.
Sava is just the latest innovation in sound healing, a practice that some of its fans call the “new natural psychedelic.” It’s a gentle modality that uses music in a therapeutic manner, reportedly by “vibrating” the body on a cellular level. All things, including ourselves, vibrate, and resonate in some manner. According to sound healing practitioners, our bodies vibrate at a higher frequency when we are stressed, sad, angry, or in fight or flight mode. Carolyn Ingledue, a licensed massage therapist who offers sound healing in her practice says, “When you’re at that higher frequency, it’s very tense. It’s keeping you alert. It’s keeping you focused. It’s keeping you on high alert for whatever’s coming your way.”
At its very basic level, music can light up the same parts in the brain that food and sex do, and even stimulate oxytocin, according to AZA Allsop, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. A musician and neuroscientist who studies the connection between music and the brain, Allsop says that clinical studies do suggest that listening to sound at certain frequencies and even tempos can help you transcend more easily into a meditative state or even an altered state of consciousness: “There is evidence to show that sound being ordered and having very specific frequencies can not only entrain your circuits, but can also have a positive impact on people’s well-being.”
You may have heard of the Schumann resonances, also referred to as the “earth’s heartbeat.” At approximately 4.83 Hz (hertz), it is the same as the earth’s frequency. At Lanserhof, the fancy health resort nestled in the Austrian Alps where billionaires (and Victoria Beckham) go to “detox,” guests are placed onto a vibrating plate set to the Schumann resonances within the first few days of their visit. Humming Puppy, a luxury yoga studio in New York, plays a sound-engineered combination of Schumann’s 4.83 and gamma frequency (40 Hz) during classes. Jen Carlin, Humming Puppy’s teaching manager, explains that the mix provides grounding and uplifting energy, and the effect is meant to feel like a big hug. Musicians and sound therapists also often talk the healing properties that may be found at certain frequencies, such as 432 Hz, part of a range called the Solfeggio Frequencies, which are often described as “pure sound.” (Jaden Smith even allegedly once created a whole album tuned to it.)
Binaural beats, a phenomenon in which two different tones are played together and registered by the brain as a third tone, are also used in sound healing. Farzana Ali, a sound therapist who practices in London, often does one-on-one sessions with clients and describes binaural beats feeling like when a massage therapist digs deeply into a muscle knot to release tension. “Sometimes when we’re anxious and stressed, just playing really calmly isn’t always going to help you. Sometimes you need a little bit of sonic shaking, as it were.”
While studies on sound healing are sparse, one 2020 study done in Turkey found that dental patients felt less anxious after listening to either binaural beats or 432 Hz–tuned music. Another study found that participants in a singing bowl meditation session had improved mood and less tension, anger, physical pain, and fatigue. The highest benefits were reported by those who had never done it before.
Sound therapy also provides an alternative for those who can’t stomach touch or talk therapy, like those with PTSD or who are feeling strong emotions that can’t be verbalized. Farzana explains, “Psychotherapy is a very important tool, but sometimes we can talk something to death. Not all of us feel comfortable talking about our problems. Not all of us feel comfortable in a psychotherapist’s chair. [With sound therapy], we’re not intellectualizing our problems, we’re not overthinking it, we’re not trying to be in the head. We’re actually allowing our body to guide us. If you think of things like heartbreak or bereavement, sometimes you just do not have the words.” Ingledue particularly likes a form of sound healing called Kita, developed in Japan. The healee listens to binaural beats while hugging a sonic vibrating cushion. “It’s very gentle. You don’t have to get undressed. There are no oils or anything like that. I would say that sound therapy is a modern-day take on an ancient remedy.”
On a scale from one to Gwyneth, Sava, with its $10,000 price tag (and currently sold-out status at tersa.co), is a 13. But YouTube and Spotify are full of playlists with binaural beats, Schumann resonances, and 432 Hz music (you can even find the Hans Zimmer Inception soundtrack at that alleged frequency online). Ray Dietrich, a sound bath instructor at El Elcanto, credits monthly sound baths and listening to the Solfeggio frequencies on YouTube for her better sleep and reduced anxiety. When it comes to unlocking the mind-body connection, your ears might just be the key.
A version of this article appears in the August 2024 issue of ELLE.
Kathleen Hou is ELLE”s Beauty Director. Previously, she held the same title at New York Magazine’s The Cut. She’s appeared in publications such as New York, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue India, Forbes, and Allure. She was also a co-founder of Donate Beauty, a grassroots beauty donation project started during the COVID-19 crisis, which donated over 500,000 products to over 30,000 healthcare workers across 500+ hospitals.