Sound Healing

I recently had a conversation with my dear friend of almost three decades, Dru Ann Welch. Of her many gifts and talents, her passion and care for others as a Sound Healing Practitioner is extraordinary. As we spoke, I realized that her journey into sound healing might be of particular interest to our Pagan Song readers. What follows is my interview with Dru Ann Welch, Sound Healing Practioner.

A Sound Healing Journey

PaganSong: When were you first introduced to sound healing? What made you want to be a facilitator?

Dru Ann:

I first heard about music therapy when my daughter began taking harp lessons around 2002. We spent a lot of time going to workshops with her teacher and I learned how the harp was being used in music therapy. At that time I was also an aura photographer and I had taken a series of aura photos showing people before playing musical instruments and then while playing and after. It really showed me the immediate effect that music has on our energy field.

In 2005 I was at a festival and there was someone doing a sound bath meditation. She had the bowls lined up across the front of the room and they were so beautiful. As soon as she began playing them I was hooked. I went home and purchased my first bowl, a 10 inch crown chakra bowl. From there I studied and kept buying. At one time I owned 30 bowls!

By 2006 I had teamed up with a friend who held training weekends teaching her healing method. I would play my bowls during her meditations. I learned so much from these weekend adventures!

I have always loved singing and presenting workshops. Facilitating sound baths I get to share my knowledge with people and help them relax and take a step away from the grind of every day life.

So Much More Than Singing Bowls

Pagan Song: What tools do you currently use, i.e., singing bowls, chimes, etc?

Dru Ann:

When I started out I only used crystal singing bowls. Over the years I have found so many amazing sound healing tools!

I have a full set of chakra tuned chimes which are like wind chimes that are made and tuned to the musical notes of the chakras.

I often use a tongue drum in my sessions because it has notes which compliment the bowls.

One of my favorites is my angel harp. This is a really fun instrument. Most of us played or remember the autoharp from elementary school music. The sound healing community has taken these forgotten instruments, removed the keys and retuned them to play more as drone harps. you simply strum them in different patterns. The instrument becomes a part of the sound bath. Like the bowls, the angel harp can be placed directly on someone and played to create a sense of peace and a unique healing experience.

Perfect Fifth with Schumann Resonance recorded by Dru Ann Welch, available on bandcamp

Sound Healing Sessions

Pagan Song: What does a typical session entail? Is there a difference between individual and group sessions?

Dru Ann:

Sound baths are designed to help bring a person’s energy into alignment and to open their chakra centers. In an individual session we talk about what they are looking for to help them in their life. If there are specific health issues, I can use the chakra bowl for that area and help open and balance that energy center. If it is relaxation they are looking for, the session is more focused on creating balance for all of the centers.

I always work with the C bowl which is the root chakra and the G bowl which is the throat chakra. The C and G are the perfect fifth in music, and studies have shown that these two notes bring the entire body into alignment.

Most people attend a group meditation to relax and unwind from the day to day. I find that often we are not grounded and our minds are all over the place so focus is placed on the root chakra bowl to help people feel grounded. I use all of the chakra bowls to help bring their energy together. A group session begins with a short breathing meditation to bring us into alignment and then a 45 minute sound bath featuring the bowls and accompanied by either the tongue drum, angel harp or tuning chimes.

Pagan Song: How do you decide what instruments to use in your sessions and in your recordings?

Dru Ann:

In 2018 a musician friend invited me to bring my bowls to her home recording studio. She gifted me a recording of each bowl in separate tracks. I have used these tracks as the base of most of my tracks.

For my other tracks, I actually record in my meditation room using my phone and then use audacity on my computer to mix and create my music. I follow my intuition on any given day as to which instrument or frequency to use to create a song.

Vibrations: Science or Magic?

Pagan Song: Why do you think healing with sound works? Is it science? Is it magic? Is it spiritual?

Dru Ann:

Science has proven that every cell in our body vibrates. We know that vibration creates sound. We are therefore innately attuned to sound healing. It is literally a part of our makeup!

I combine color with my sessions because color and sound are both based on vibrational and frequency healing – they kind of hold hands and work together.

Sound healing is music. The effects can seem almost magical and often it is a spiritual experience. I would say it is a science that allows us to effect change on our physical lives ourselves to create our own healing.

Sound Healing In Community

Pagan Song: I understand that you are offering sound healing within your larger community and reaching folks that are new to the concept. How do you see that changing them and how is it altering your practice?

Dru Ann:

I am blessed to find people who are so open to what I do! I honestly did not expect it as I live in a pretty small town. I offered a sound bath event to bring attention to our city museum and had 12 people attend. It was amazing!

Several people asked if I did the sound baths anywhere else and one of them set up a location for me so that she could relax monthly. Now, I offer monthly meditation in two local neighborhood community clubhouses – including a floating meditation where people float and I play poolside. Each person who comes has become a friend and supporter. They find relaxation they have been searching for.

It is really hard to trust and relax in our society. Some people come with no knowledge and others have studied frequency healing. It is really special.

Through these monthly sessions I have been introduced to Angel’s Animal Sanctuary that holds weekend seminars on meditation and other healing modalities. I love the sessions I do for them because it is so unique. Sessions are outside in the open air barn next to the horse and sheep enclosures with chickens and roosters roaming freely. Often their attendees have never experienced sound healing or singing bowls. Each session is different.

Sound Healing For Yourself

Pagan Song: What advice can you offer to someone who wants to begin using sound to heal themselves?

Dru Ann:

All music is sound healing in one way or another.

Pick a simple piece of music – whether it is Tibetan chants, Bach or a track of the solfeggio frequencies – as long as it makes you feel good.

Then choose one thing in your body you could use as a baseline, maybe a pain in your hand, something you could tell if it felt better after 10 minutes. Set the intention that this pain you pick will be positively changed as you listen.

Now sit down and play your chosen track. Don’t worry if you can’t shut your mind down. Just focus on the intention to feel a change and to relax.

When your track ends, focus in on the baseline you set. The majority of people will notice a positive change in this short time period.

From there, see if there are sound baths in your area and attend a group session. Don’t think of it as meditation. It is not difficult and everyone can benefit from sound and music healing.

Dru Ann Welch is an Author, Oracle Deck Creator, Motivational Speaker and Immersive Meditation Facilitator. Her spiritual journey has led her on a path to sound, color and energy healing. She began working with and studying Crystal Singing Bowls in 2006 and is passionate about sharing her gifts as a Sound Healing Practitioner. Dru Ann lives on Florida’s East Coast, and she offers personal and group sound baths, as well as personalized frequency healing tracks.

Reach out to Dru Ann about her sound healing practice and scheduling a session at druannwelch@gmail.com. Listen and purchase tracks on bandcamp and check out her vibrational tracks on Spotify!

For more information about Mama Gina, including her collected articles here on Pagan Song, her bio, and links to Gina’s sites on the web, check out Gina’s page on Pagan Song.

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