This guide looks at the background of crystal singing bowls; What they are, How they work and the four different healing modalities that they combine.  

Crystal singing bowls are one of the most powerful, beautiful and easy to utilize healing tools available today. They are made from 99% silica sand (quartz) and are literally spun into being in a centrifugal mould which is heated to 4000 degrees and an electric arc in the centre fuses the individual grains into one whole. This is why the inside of the bowls is smooth and the outside granular and sparkly like tiny quartz grains. When they come out of the mould they are then tuned. This is done through a process similar to sanding down the bowl on the outside or by trimming the bowls height until the required note is found. The outside rim of the bowl is then played by pulling a suede mallet or a beater with a large rubber ball on the end (dependant on size of bowl) around which causes a friction and the sound is then produced. Think of how a sound is produced when a wine glass is rimmed with a wet finger. They may also be lightly taped to create a more bell like ‘dong’. Crystal singing bowls were originally a by product from the computer industry, quartz can be heated to high temperatures so quartz ‘crucibles’ were use to grow computer chips and other components within them. I am not sure when crystal bowls first came into being as healing tools but I have been aware of them for about 15 years or so. Tibetan ‘7’ metal bowls which work in a similar way have been in use for centuries.  More recently the quartz bowls have been fused with other gemstones such as Ruby and Rose Quartz and precious metals like gold and silver. Crystal bowls are so powerful as they combine several healing modalities; sound healing , crystal healing and healing with light and colour. These properties can be further enhanced by the power of focused intention.

Sound healing works on the principle that everything in our universe is energy which has a vibration. Everything in existence within the universe is in a vibrational state. The frequency at which we normally vibrate is called resonance. Certain sounds therefore will resonate with different organs and parts of the body. Sound has been scientifically proven to have an effect on our autonomic, immune & endocrine systems as well as the neuropeptide transmitters in our brain. Sound healing practitioners’ look at their clients from this perspective and seek to balance their clients ‘dis-ease’ through correction of vibrational imbalances in their energetic system i.e. their aura or electromagnetic blueprint. When an organ in the body is not functioning at its optimum its sound pattern will be off, yet by re introducing the correct sound pattern this will help it to heal and return to health through the law of resonance. This law states that when one energetic system encounters another, similar system, their vibrations must come into a state of resonance or harmonic vibration.

It has also been documented how sound can effect matter. 80% of our bodies are water and the effect that sound has on water has been photographically demonstrated in Dr Masaru Emotion’s book ’The Hidden Messages in Water’. Different sounds produced different types of geometric shapes within frozen water. Playing ‘Mozart’ produced beautiful symmetrical snowflake like crystals whilst discordant sound had no clear structure. You can imagine then the power of sound on the Water within our bodies! Dr Hans Jenny demonstrated how matter responds to sound using Cyma tics. Cymatics is the use of ‘Pure Tone’ or ‘sine waves’ within the audible spectrum to produce physical patterns within a medium such as liquid or sand.  A good example of this is how the ‘Shri Yantra’ pattern is produced by the ‘Aum’ sound.

Crystal healing also works with vibration. Scientifically Quartz crystals have been shown to have high piezoelectric & pyroelectric properties. The piezoelectric effect is produced when a quartz crystal is compressed, which causes it to release a voltage of electricity and sometimes light. With Crystal bowls this compression of the crystalline structure occurs when the bowl is played. Pyroelectricy is caused by variation in temperature of the crystal and causes the energy within the crystal to expand when heated and contract upon cooling. This cooling would then store the energy within the crystalline structure. In my experience the crystal bowl ‘warms up’ when played. Even very small changes in temperature have been shown to produce this pyroelectric effect. Quartz crystals have the ability to take in energy, store it, redirect it and amplify it. Quartz absorbs white light and therefore has every colour frequency within it. Our bodies also contain silica and some of our glands are said to oscillate like crystals. Glands like the pineal gland are even crystalline in shape and structure as are cells right down to the molecular level. So quartz crystals will resonate with these structures.  The bowls that have other gemstones fused within them will also have the metaphysical properties of that stone within them. Colour plays a part in this as does the individual mineral content of that stone. For example the gemstone turqouise is good for helping with  joint pain and problems such as arthritus. Turqouise is a mineral rich in copper; copper bracelets have been used for centuries to bring sufferers relief from these ailments so the stone will have a similar effect.

Crystal bowls work as a synergy between all of the above mentioned modalities. As quartz has the ability to take in energy and vibration and as our thoughts are waves of energy or vibration the bowls will absorb these ‘thought vibrations’ and amplify them. Carlos Castaneda said there's an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans called "intent" and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is connected to it. When we focus our thoughts with laser like clarity and precision we are connecting to the vibration of that which we seek to manifest. Quartz bowls will hone our thoughts and make them clearer. Through the law of attraction these clear thoughts then magnetize those things to us. The film ‘The Secret’ clearly documents how and why positive, clear thought brings those things that we focus on into being. It also demonstrates how we create our reality by our thoughts and the vibration that they and we as individuals hold. Positive thought has been shown to produce positive changes in out physiology. Therefore the more we ‘intend’ and believe the crystal singing bowls will effect those and others the more they will.

Written by Ursula Avins Copyright Aphrodite's Rocks 2006