A refuge from the sounds of the city

ABU DHABI // There is no getting away from it. Life in the UAE, where construction pounds away night and day, cars beep their horns ceaselessly and people crowd into malls and supermarkets, can get a little stressful. It might seem odd, then, that some people seeking a sanctuary from the demands of modern living are turning to a somewhat unlikely alternative treatment: sound therapies.

Devotees insist the therapy, which make use of singing bowls, gongs and drums, may seem slightly barmy, but really works. Manjula Srikumar, who works for a bank, and her husband, Nagarajan, an employee of an oil company, were turned on to the idea after hearing an American gong master named Don Conreaux perform a "gong bath" for some 200 people in Dubai's Zabeel Park in February. The event made them feel relaxed and refreshed at the same time, says Mrs Srikumar, 44. "There was a part, definitely," she says, "where both of us felt we were in a zone."

Mr Conreaux says many people who come to his events are already seeking alternative ways of relaxing. Others who come out of curiosity, such as the Srikumars, are often surprised to feel their stress melting away. "For them, it usually has a powerful effect," he says. "We have to try things ... once they come, they're sold." Those who work in "sound healing" believe our bodies react differently to all kinds of noises. The vibrations emitted by traffic and construction, for instance, are disharmonic.

Even the sound of air conditioning can be disruptive, they say, noting that people often drop their tensed shoulders once the machines are switched off. Zita Teimel, founder of the Academy of Sound Resonance Dubai, recently travelled to the capital to conduct a workshop on Tibetan singing bowls at Yoga Tree and Soma Pilates Studio. She says modern life is "actually putting the nervous system into such an alert state", and adds that "it's no question that people are losing balance in such a way they are losing their health".

Ms Teimel uses singing bowls as part of massages or alone to provide an auditory experience. She rubs a mallet around the sides and rims of the bowls to make a continuous series of overtones. Each bowl produces a different sound depending on their weight and creates a sympathetic resonance in the body. The vibrations, she explains, travel into places that cannot be manipulated any other way. "It's very simple," she says. "Once you hear the harmonic sound, it's very soothing and calm. You immediately feel it takes out the stress and pressure."

A slightly more conventional form of sound therapy is drum circles, which are popular around the world. Julie-Ann Odell founded Dubai Drums seven years ago and now holds regular sessions in the city. She says drumming with both hands is beneficial because it involves the left and right sides of the brain. And when people drum together for an extended period of time, their brainwaves become entrained, falling in sync with the dominant rhythm, putting them in a kind of meditative trance.

"There are no two drum circles that are ever the same," says Mrs Odell. "Sometimes when I do a community drum circle, someone will come up to me at the end, crying, tears of happiness. They will say, 'That was so amazing'." Jonathan Goldman, a writer, musician and teacher in Boulder, Colorado, and director of the international Sound Healers Association, says people are using sound therapy to treat a variety of ailments.

"We live in a very noisy world, and loud sounds trigger what is called 'fight or flight response'," he says. "Certain types of opposite sounds can have an opposite effect." People automatically adjust their movements to the sounds around them, he explains. Fast food chains play up-tempo music because it tends to make people chew to the beat and leave faster. Sound therapy has even been shown to reverse stress right down to the genomes.

Barry Bittman, a neurologist who operates the Mind-Body Wellness Centre in Meadville, Pennsylvania, has shown through blood testing that playing a keyboard is more effective at reducing stress than reading newspapers or magazines, for instance. He also studied drum circles in long-term care facilities, finding that residents reported the sessions had a positive impact on their overall outlooks and helped them feel more connected to each other.

People turn to yoga for relaxation, but many classes also start and end with a teacher encouraging students to join together in making the "om" sound. A sacred symbol in Indian religions, om has been increasingly adopted for a more secular, albeit holistic, purpose in yoga. "I'm not really a yoga person," says Nayla Naufal, 33, an urban planner. Nonetheless she appreciates the occasional "om" experience when she does attend a class. "You definitely feel that you are bonding with the class," she says. "You feel the vibration. It's soothing."

Elina Nykanen Rozycki, the owner of the Yoga Tree studio, says the "om" chants at the beginning of the class can also give a teacher valuable clues about the mood of her students. When people are stressed, "you can hear the disharmony", she says. "Even from that 'om', the teacher can hear, 'OK, this is what's going on today.' You can tell, 'these people need nurturing'."
amcqueen@thenational.ae