Vibroacoustic sound therapy (VAT), sometimes known as vibrational therapy or whole body vibration, helps reduce anxiety and pain while improving mood, as well as being used to aid the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health disorders.
At a VAT session, you lie on a vibrating bed that emits soothing music as well as certain frequencies of sound waves and vibration. This treatment has many benefits that may help enhance wellbeing such as:
Holistic Mental Health Treatment
As part of a holistic mental health treatment plan, vibrational sound therapy is an excellent way to relax, manage stress and promote emotional regulation. Vibroacoustic sound therapy (also referred to as sound vibration healing) uses low-frequency sound waves that produce soothing vibrations to envelop the body in deep relaxation. Many find the experience highly restorative; relieving tension while improving mood and sense of wellbeing after each session.
Sound therapy sessions involve you relaxing comfortably on a resonance table while the practitioner plays soothing sounds and vibrations to stimulate soft tissues of your body, leading to relaxation and healing at a cellular level. Meanwhile, vibrations soothe nerves and ease pain for enhanced relaxation that’s effective against anxiety or stress-related symptoms.
Sessions typically last 20-30 minutes and leave patients feeling calmer, more relaxed, and less anxious afterwards. This is due to vibrational sound therapy’s noninvasive nature; patients don’t require any effort from themselves in order for it to work effectively. Many individuals fall asleep during sessions while others find themselves entering deep meditative states as the vibrations and low frequency sound waves enter their ears, stimulating calming restorative responses within their bodies.
The body is composed of 60-70% water, making it five times more effective at absorbing sound vibrations than air. This allows vibrational energy to move deeper into tissues and activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for rest and recovery, thus decreasing sympathetic overdrive while simultaneously supporting vagus nerve regulation – providing for more resilient responses and emotionally balanced responses to life’s challenges.
While vibroacoustic therapy is still relatively novel, music and sound have long been used for mental and physical wellbeing. Ancient Egyptians used musical incantations to treat illness while Aristotle wrote of their therapeutic properties before 300 BC. Modern neuroscience has now demonstrated rhythm and vibration’s impactful biological influence.
Participating in sound healing may include hearing soothing singing bowls in the background, pulsing beats on a vibroacoustic chair or layers of tones floating above your head. As these sounds and vibrations envelope you and shift your internal landscape, enabling you to process emotions and gain new insights – many clients find sound therapy an invaluable complement to traditional psychotherapy or holistic services such as breathwork for emotional regulation or meditation for trauma recovery.
Anxiety Treatment
Vibroacoustic sound therapy may offer relief to those experiencing anxiety and chronic stress, serving as a holistic service similar to vibrational massage. Commonly used to help ease PTSD symptoms, insomnia issues and fibromyalgia discomforts; additionally it could even alleviate other conditions like autoimmune disorders and chronic pain symptoms.
Vibroacoustic Sound Therapy (VAT) is an innovative technique combining music and vibration therapy to relax and heal emotional wounds. Sessions typically consist of lying on a water bed emitting gentle vibrations synchronized to soothing music or specific frequencies; although VAT was only recently developed, its predecessors such as ancient Egyptian healing chants or Aristotle writings on mental health use music and vibration in this regard.
Science behind this treatment may be complex, but its basic concept is straightforward. Our bodies are highly sensitive to vibrational frequencies which travel along spinal cord and muscle tissues to soothe autonomic nervous system functions and relax our autonomic nervous system. As these vibrations travel throughout our bodies they engage cellular receptors which encourage deep relaxation responses by shifting hyperarousal states away from hyperarousal states into deep relaxation responses.
Sound therapy is an excellent way to relieve stress and relax the mind, providing both stress relief and brainwave entrainment benefits. It can be used in tandem with traditional psychotherapy as a standalone treatment option or combined for anxiety management or other mental health conditions.
A typical VAT session lasts 20 minutes, and additional sessions can be repeated as necessary to maximize its benefits. Individuals lie comfortably on an inHarmony Sound Lounge 3 Bed while relaxing music plays through speakers and transducers; clients experience both hearing as well as feeling synchronized music and frequencies engulfing their bodies through tactile vibrations that surround their bodies during this experience.
As your body absorbs these sounds, breathing slows and muscle tension eases away, helping relieve symptoms of stress. At this point, some may even experience dream-like or meditative states; by the end of each session many report feeling mental clarity, insight, new understandings as well as reduced stress and pain levels.
Pain Relief
Vibroacoustic therapy‘s vibrations and sounds combined with soothing music can induce relaxation responses, decrease stress levels, and help people sleep more soundly. Vibroacoustic therapy may also be useful in alleviating chronic conditions like fibromyalgia, arthritis, and other musculoskeletal issues; furthermore it may alleviate symptoms related to mental health such as anxiety and PTSD.
Vibrational sound healing has quickly gained in popularity in recent years, yet its history can be found as early as 300 BC with Ancient Egyptians using musical incantations as healing agents and Aristotle writing about music’s healing properties in his works. Vibroacoustic therapy or vibrational sound therapy (VAT) are common forms of treatment used for this form of vibrational healing.
During sessions, patients sit, stand, or lie on a device that emits both sound waves and vibrations at specific frequencies. These frequencies have been carefully selected to match the natural rhythm of human bodies to induce relaxation and promote healing. Some VAT devices offer handheld equipment for targeting vibrations towards specific parts of the body while other take a “sound bath” approach that doesn’t involve physical contact with their patient.
Studies of VAT therapy have demonstrated its ability to alter pain perception. By targeting muscle-skeletal pain through mechanotransduction, it can help inhibit nociceptive pathways and alleviate its intensity – an ideal complement to existing medical treatments for pain management such as opioids or pharmaceutical drugs.
Many clients seek VAT because it can help manage the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychological trauma. While traditional psychotherapy may help overcome trauma, VAT has also proven useful as an effective means of alleviating anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. Furthermore, VAT can help manage muscle-skeletal conditions like fibromyalgia when combined with holistic services like meditation or mindfulness; our team can discuss your specific needs to create a personalized wellness plan tailored just for you.
Stress Management
Sound therapy employs vibrations and frequencies that facilitate healing and relaxation. Sounds can range from soothing, to meditative tones or chanting – it depends on what works for each person! Treatment typically involves sitting comfortably on a chair or bed for some relaxing music to play; sessions with therapists who guide the process can also be included in this practice.
Reflexology can also be combined with relaxing music or brainwave entrainment for added stress reduction and relaxation effects, making it an effective part of holistic treatment for PTSD, chronic pain or anxiety.
Vibrational sound therapy has many ways of helping reduce stress and tension, from helping induce deeper sleep to relieving joint and muscle tension. Furthermore, vibrational sound therapy lowers cortisol levels while supporting your body’s natural ability to heal itself.
Studies demonstrate that whole-body therapeutic vibration can greatly increase quality of life while decreasing pain levels in people living with fibromyalgia, potentially helping them return to daily activities (though more research must be completed).
Our bodies are constantly surrounded by sound waves; however, due to our constantly stimulating environment, many of these sounds often go unheard. Yet certain frequencies can rebalance systems and promote healing.
Montare Behavioral Health offers not only traditional psychotherapy and holistic services, but vibroacoustic sound therapy to help our clients manage symptoms associated with trauma or anxiety and recover.
As part of your session, you’ll relax on our state-of-the-art inHarmony Sound Lounge 3 bed while our patented tactile transducers send vibrations directly into your muscles, tissues and spine – this allows your nervous system to bypass cognitive resistance while relaxing an overactive mind and enter a deep parasympathetic state of recovery.
Vibroacoustic sound therapy can be an excellent complement to physician-prescribed care plans, and most individuals can safely participate. Before trying this type of complementary therapy, however, it’s wise to speak to your physician first if you suffer from serious medical conditions like cardiac arrhythmia or epilepsy.
Do you suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic muscle tension or anxiety? Reach out to us now to discover how combining time-tested treatments with vibroacoustic sound therapy may provide relief.
