What happens in your body during a singing bowl massage?
You lie down with the bowl beside you. The sound reaches your ears, and the vibration slowly reaches your body.
What is happening in your brain and body at that moment? In 2022, researchers in Germany measured people's brainwaves, heartbeat and breathing at the same time.
The short answer: after a singing bowl massage, brainwaves got weaker overall, the heartbeat slowed, and most people said they felt more relaxed and more balanced. But there was no comparison group, so we cannot yet say the singing bowl caused these changes.
What did the study see?
The researchers found 34 healthy adults. They lay on a massage table while a trained practitioner gave a 20-minute singing bowl massage, with quiet rest before and after. Devices measured brainwaves, heartbeat and breathing, and afterwards everyone filled in a questionnaire.
- How people felt: of the 34 people, 33 felt more balanced, 31 felt their body was more relaxed, and 28 felt calmer in their emotions.
- The brain: brainwaves got weaker overall, a direction that matches what is often seen during relaxation or meditation.
- The heartbeat: it slowed from about 75 to about 71 beats a minute.
But some results did not point the same way: changes in how the heart beats from moment to moment were not clear, and breathing actually got a little faster. So the body's results were not all pointing toward "more relaxed".
What we cannot tell yet
The experiment had no group who lay down for 20 minutes without a singing bowl, so we cannot tell whether the changes came from the sound, the touch and the vibration, or simply from lying quietly for a while.
Also, this was a singing bowl massage, not just listening to the sound, so we cannot say listening alone would do the same. The questionnaire was filled in afterwards, and everyone knew they had received a singing bowl massage, so their answers may have been shaped by expectation.
Either way, giving yourself some quiet time is never a loss.
Three minutes to try tonight
A singing bowl massage needs a trained practitioner, but you can try this at home. It is not what the study did. It is just my invitation:
- Lie or sit comfortably, rest one hand lightly on your chest, open reCalm, and pick a singing bowl.
- Close your eyes. Feel the sound, and feel your own breathing under your hand.
- If other thoughts come, that is fine. You do not need to chase them away.
Afterwards, notice whether your shoulders or your breathing feel even a little different. If not, that is fine too. You can try again tomorrow.
If you are struggling with poor sleep, anxiety or anything else that feels wrong, a singing bowl can be one part of how you look after yourself. Please let a doctor or other professional help you as well.
From my practice
This section is personal experience. It is not scientifically verified.
After a session, people usually say they feel relaxed. But because I use many different techniques during a session, I am not sure which part brings it about.
With a singing bowl massage, the feedback I often hear is that people feel their body vibrating along with the bowl, and that the feeling is amazing.
I often hear people say that a singing bowl massage can help ease pain. The people I meet who especially love singing bowl massage do indeed tend to have pain of their own.
Limits of this research
- Only 34 people took part, all healthy adults, and it was done in a laboratory.
- There was no comparison group, and no comparison with lying quietly without the bowls or with listening to the sound without a massage. The authors admit this themselves.
- The intervention was a singing bowl massage (the Peter Hess method), not just listening; the paper does not say which bowls were used or how they were placed.
- The questionnaire was filled in afterwards and asked how people felt things had changed; participants knew it was a singing bowl massage, so what they felt may have been shaped by expectation.
- The changes in brainwaves and heartbeat were mostly small; heart rate variability did not change clearly, and breathing actually got faster.
- The paper reads the results as "closer to a focused, meditative state"; that is the authors' reading, not something the experiment proved directly.
- The paper does not mention whether anyone felt unwell.
- This experiment did not measure pain, so the pain mentioned in "From my practice" is not something this study measured.
Sources
- Walter N, Hinterberger T. Neurophysiological Effects of a Singing Bowl Massage. Medicina (Kaunas), 2022. doi:10.3390/medicina58050594 · CC BY 4.0
If you would like to try it yourself, ten quiet minutes are waiting. Open reCalm
This article is a general introduction to research. It is not medical advice and does not replace care from a health professional.