Benefits and Dangers of Using Tibetan Singing Bowls

At this point, we all know what bowls are and what they are used for. They are everyday household utensils that we use to drink soup or have food. But what if the bowl is made with a unique combination of metal alloys that vibrates at a specific frequency? You get an almost magical bowl from Tibetan culture; Tibetan singing bowls! In this blog, you will learn what is Tibetan Singing Bowls and the benefits and dangers of using Tibetan Singing Bowls.

Tibetan singing bowls are widely popular for their healing practices use in sound therapies and meditation worldwide. This is not without any reason, as Tibetan singing bowl therapies do indeed vibrate at specific frequencies that aid in stress relief, even if you only hold them for a few seconds. 

Imagine what would happen if you find out using singing bowl have therapy benefits? The answer is relatively simple – you will find that there is more than meets the eye with this seemingly simple bowl made from alloys. 

What are the benefits of using Tibetan Singing Bowls?

Whenever you think about Himalayan singing bowls, one of the first benefits that come to your mind is “relaxation.” And indeed, helping you relax is among the primary crystal singing bowl therapy benefits. That said, the benefits of this simple-looking bowl are not limited to helping you relax. 

So what are some Tibetan Singing Bowl Benefits?

Benefits of Tibetan Singing Bowls

The benefit of Tibetan singing bowls is presented below:

1) Relaxing your mind and body

The primary feature of Himalayan Singing bowls is that they vibrate and produce a subtle sound that feels strangely relaxing. This is because when you strike the edge of the Tibetan singing bowls with a mallet, they vibrate at a frequency that resonates with our human body. 

As you may know, we hear sound through vibrations. By listening to the sounds produced by resonating vibration of the singing bowl, we let our body experience a profoundly immersive full-body experience that relaxes both our mind and body. This is among the primary benefits of the singing bowl.

From this, one can easily guess some of the subsequent Tibetan singing bowl benefits, which will cover in a bit. 

2) Stimulates brain waves

A research paper published in 2016 titled “Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension, and Well-being: An Observational Study” found that crystal singing bowls and sound bowls/ sound healing stimulate brain waves, more specifically theta brain waves, and provide an overall relaxing sensation to the participants. As per the paper, this psychological effect is higher in older people. However, the younger people were still prone to the benefits i.e., improved brain health. 

The participants of the research had an overall increased sense of peace and decreased stress levels through the use of singing bowls. However, the paper also mentioned that there are still grounds for future research on the singing bowl/ sound bowl benefits. This means there are still more benefits of the singing bowl waiting to be discovered and proven. 

3) Help in reducing pain

Pain is somewhat of a weird phenomenon. This is because pain primarily functions as an alarm mechanism to warn the body of a wound or harm. This is not why pain is weird. Instead, it is weird because different people have different sensitivity towards pain. 

The singing bowl/sound bowl reduces pain in two ways. First, the vibrations and sounds from the sound healing stimulate our brain, increase our pain tolerance level, and improves our brain health. At the same time, the vibrations also aid in healing our body and reduce pain in the affected areas. 

4) Improve health

The benefit of the singing bowl in improving our health should not be surprising anymore. Firstly a singing bowl improves our health by keeping us mentally healthy. When we are mentally healthy, we make better choices, drastically improving our lifestyle, including our health.

Secondly, using vibration/ singing bowl therapies aids in healing our body subtly as well. When this is combined with a healthy mind, singing bowls will have an overall positive effect on our health even resulting in lowered blood pressure. So singing bowls are beneficial for high blood pressure people.

5) Reduced anxiety and increased inner peace

Although the modern world is much better than the past with increased health, employment, education, and whatnot, it is also filled with increased anxiety. This is a world that is filled with competition, after all. However, humans are not meant to be filled with anxiety all the time like we are now. 

The good news is that there are grounding and breathing exercises that aid us with our daily anxiety. These techniques are good on their own, but their psychological effect is highly amplified when combined with resonating vibrations from singing bowls. Tibetan sound bowls were intended to be used for meditations. So it should not be a big surprise that sound meditation reduces anxiety and increases inner peace. 

6) Singing Bowls for Meditation

Buddhists use singing bowls in meditation as a means of facilitating deep meditative states. Using a singing bowl before you meditate will allow your brain to synchronize with the bowl’s sound and allow you to maintain focus and relaxation. Beta and theta waves are generated when sounds are played, which induce deep states of relaxation in the brain.

So Tibetan sound bowls are beneficial for meditation also like mala beads. 

Dangers or Risks of using Tibetan Singing Bowls

There is nothing in the world that doesn’t have a dark side or drawbacks. Similarly, Tibetan singing bowls/ sound bowls too can be harmful to you under specific circumstances; although these circumstances are not all that common, a lot of people use singing bowls. Therefore, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Dangers of Singing Bowls

This popular religious and ritualistic accessory functions through vibrations and sound. As such, the dangers of singing bowls are primarily associated with aspects of life that are easily affected by sound and vibrations. This includes heartbeat, thought process, and general bodily functions. Some of the primary dangers of singing bowls are:

Dangers for those with Epilepsy

If the singing bowls are not used properly, the sound and vibrations produced by the singing bowls can easily trigger seizures. If you are prone to seizures, then you should avoid singing bowls.

Dangers for those with Metal Implants

One of the primary dangers of singing bowls lies for those with metal implants such as pacemakers, coronary shunts, artificial heart valves, metal pins, and more. When people with metal implants use a singing bowl, the vibrations from the bowl can displace the implants or cause more sensitive implants like pacemakers to malfunction, causing severe injury or possibly worse.

Dangers for those with skin conditions

Unlike the previous two dangers of singing bowls, this one has nothing to do with sound and vibration. If you have a skin condition, you can get allergic to the singing bowl’s material. This is especially so if you have a skin condition related to metal or wood allergy.

For those with fresh surgery

The danger of singing bowl for those with fresh surgery is rather simple yet risky. If you have fresh surgery or sutures, the vibrations from the singing bowl can detach them, leading to the worsening of the wounds and infection.

Pregnant Mothers and Children

Children and pregnant mothers are highly sensitive to vibrations and sounds. They are in a sensitive period of their life. This causes them to be highly sensitive to the sounds and vibrations of singing bowls. Although the dangers of singing bowls are not apparent, incorrect use and mistakes in using singing bowls can harm children and pregnant mothers.

Precautions for using Singing Bowl

By now you should already be well aware of the dangers of singing bowls. However, the dangers can easily be avoided if you use a few precautions. So to be safe from Tibetan Singing Bowl dangers,  here are some of the precautions for using them:

1) Be Careful of Pacemaker

It is unlikely that an average person would need a pacemaker. However, if you are among those unlucky few, we advise you to be careful while using Tibetan singing bowls. We gain benefits from singing bowls primarily through vibrations; at the same time, people needing pacemakers have a slow heartbeats. While unlikely, there is always a chance of vibrations of Tibetan singing bowls interfering with the heartbeat. Along with this, it may also affect the signals of the pacemaker. This can lead to the pacemaker being less effective than it should be. 

2) Allergies

We can find people allergic to just about everything in the world. So it is not far-fetched to think that some of you are allergic to the materials of our Tibetan singing bowls. If you feel that you are allergic to materials of sound bowls, stop using them immediately, or at least safely use them. 

How to use a Tibetan Singing Bowl?

So far, we have assumed that you know how to use singing bowls to gain their benefits. But if you don’t know how to do it, the process is relatively simple. 

You need to hold the bowl in the palm of your left hand and lightly strike the bowl on the mid-exterior wall. While you will need a bit of practice to find the proper force, once you figure that out, it will produce a nice ring with a hum-like vibration that travels through your palm to your body. 

Conclusion

The Tibetan singing bowl is a Buddhist artifact globally known for its pleasant sound, that’s why it’s also called the Tibetan sound bowl. But very few people know of its actual benefits. While the primary perk is an aid in meditation and relaxation, it can also heal your body, albeit subtly. 

So now you know the benefits of Tibetan singing bowls, you can simply aim to buy the best singing bowls for their aesthetics. They are among the best-looking and best-crafted decors. 

We hope you found this helpful. To read more helpful blogs like this click here. And as always, thank you for reading till the end! 

FAQ on Singing Bowls

Q: Are singing bowls dangerous?
A: Singing bowls are generally safe to use. However, they can be dangerous if you use them on top of or near your head and heart. Along with this, Tibetan singing bowls can also be dangerous if you have a pacemaker in your heart and are allergic to the metal of which the singing bowls are made.

Q: Is it safe to use a singing bowl?
A: Singing bowls work through vibrations. Because of this, it may be unsafe to use if you have a physical or mental condition that adversely reacts to vibrations, has a pacemaker installed in you, or is highly sensitive to vibrations.

Q: What should you not do with a singing bowl?
A: The first thing you should consider is that you should not use a singing bowl near or on your heart and head. The vibrations can make you feel dizzy and uncomfortable if directly played in the said area. The vibrations can also interfere with the subtle workings of heart implants and other chips installed within your body. Another thing that you should not do is touch the edge of the singing bowl with your naked flesh, especially if the edge is sharp. If you touch the edge, the frequency of vibrations can turn from positive to negative, and the vibrating sharp edge can easily cut skin and draw blood.