Therapy of Sound with Liam Oragh

The first drumbeat we ever hear is our Mother’s heart and our own heartbeat synchronised with hers as we listened – that truth and connection has always resonated deeply with me – that Sound Healing is something we experienced even before we were born – and how – in a lot of ways – the practice of Sound Healing and Sound Therapy is about trying to recreate that healing womb of sound and that sensation of floating in peace and security and the nurturing and calm feeling that brings, and the comforting knowledge of knowing that you are never alone.

And during a Soundbath, as we immerse ourselves in the hypnotic rhythm of a Native American Buffalo Drum - alongside that womb sounds connection to your own mother and family, is a deeper connection to ancient and indigenous cultures, including our own, where druids and shamans would connect with spirit worlds and ancestors to bring back knowledge and wisdom through beautiful journeys into realms and worlds of the imagination

And during this past extraordinary year of lockdowns and stress, when I started instinctively taking sound healing instruments out into nature - finding myself being drawn to the woods and the rivers and the waterfalls, the hills and the sea – and experiencing that wonderful mix of instruments with the healing sounds of nature, the wind through the leaves mixing with wind chimes and the splashing flow of water mixing with the ocean drum and rain stick, and especially the birds as they would raise their voices  to sing along with the gongs during the outdoor Summer Soundbaths – many of these instruments simply mimicking and mirroring nature’s magic sounds, and realising that, just as all those sounds evolved out of the earth over hundreds and thousands of years - so did we - so it was only natural that the deeper we connected with Nature the deeper we connected with ourselves – and I again started to hear a mother’s heartbeat – the Heartbeat of Mother Earth – whose healing embrace has been the greatest comfort of all this past year – in these times of disconnection Mother Nature provided the greatest connection of all – keeping us grounded and centred.

Sound is my life, my truth and my core, and the healing and stress relieving power of sound and its vibrations and frequencies is an extraordinary, cathartic, primal and therapeutic thing to experience – Welcome to my World of Therapy of Sound

I’ve always known of the healing and therapeutic power of sound and music – my sound healing journey began through music – both inextricably linked - ever since Bob Marley’s spiritual and hypnotic vibe reggae beats spoke to my heart – echoing that Mother’s heartbeat - and helped me through my youth – and even now, one of the best instant mood boosts you can get is to turn on and listen to your favourite upbeat song or piece of music that brings you back to a happy memory - to the sounds of water and nature that have always kept me calm and re-energised – to my own experiences as a singer-songwriter where singing songs about grief has helped other people grieve too – to my own proud achievement of releasing two solo albums of my own original songs – my debut ‘Only too late if you’re Dead’ dealing with the grief of losing my older brother at a young age, and whose enduring spirit lives on in every soundbath as I play his guitar that he left me when he died, and also as a proud way of saying that it’s never too late to do anything once you put your mind to it – that dreams can come true once you believe in yourself and follow your passion – and my second album ‘The Arguments against Insanity’ with its strong theme of mental health and my belief that listening to songs, music and healing sounds can literally keep you sane and calm the crazy and soothe the mind -  music and its sounds have always healed and sustained me and kept me whole and made wonderful healing connections with others– and when I first learned about and experienced the Holistic field of Sound Therapy and Sound Healing – it was one of those wonderful life moments when you discover what you were put on the planet to do – for me it was realising that it was something that I had already been doing in my own way – but like all things in life with deep personal meaning – you get drawn to the right things at the right time – by your instincts and by positive vibes and energy – and when you do find your life’s purpose there’s a beautiful coming together of passion and peace.

The simplest way to describe how sound healing works on the human body is that the vibrations from sound waves cause our bodies to vibrate too in a way that is beneficial – bringing our energies back into balance and harmony – and just like the ripples on a lake after you throw a stone in – our human bodies, 70% water, are amazing conductors of sound and are deeply affected by sound waves too

Our bodies – along with everything else in the Universe – are already vibrating at an atomic level, but, stresses and injuries etc can take them out of balance, and the right kind of sound , and its resonance, its innate frequency of vibration, has been proven to accelerate healing and re-balancing – Sound Healing has been going on for thousands of years – from the Australian aboriginals with their didgeridoos, to the Egyptians with their drums, rattles and chanting, to our own magical harp music – to modern ultrasound technology which physios have been using for years to reduce people’s swollen muscles and pains, - it all makes perfect sense once you’ve experienced it – you can feel it in your bones both literally and instinctively

And the most exciting part is the experiencing of it – feeling the sound waves from the amazing and powerful Himalayan bowls going through your body for the first time, being placed on your body and spine in a one-to-one session or hearing them all together like a healing symphony during a soundbath – beautifully transformative, the first time I heard one of these bronze alloy Tibetan Bowls, which essentially are standing bells, I was immediately transported away in my imagination to a Buddhist Monastery in the Himalayas and a profound sense of peace came over me - and the vast array of tuning forks which are another wonderful world in themselves – to full on Sound Baths with the magical sounds of Crystal Bowls and Solfeggio Pipes and Gongs that feel so ancient it’s like they’re talking to your soul – to the singing of mantras and the boost of joy and positive emotion they evoke – In fact, we all carry the most powerful sound healing instrument of all inside us – our own voice -  which resonates with such freedom, and with such a healing release of emotions and true expression of our soul

Sound therapy is therapy without the talking – it’s meditation for people who struggle to meditate - and its effect both emotionally and physically – unblocking and de-stressing and releasing – can be extraordinary and profound and deeply healing

Sound Healing is simply a great way to Relax, Raise your Vibration, and give your brain a break from everything else going on in your life..

Finally the warmest welcome to anyone who is joining me on this amazing journey – and to those who have inspired me and supported me along the way – I will be eternally grateful

Yours in Sound, Kindness and Appreciation

Liam

Liam Oragh is a professional experienced and passionate Sound Healer/Sound Therapist. He regularly hosts and performs Sound Healing Sessions/Soundbaths, Retreats and Events throughout Dublin and Leinster both indoors and outdoors, with his Soundbath most recently added to the bill at The Irish Musuem of Modern Art (IMMA) in The Royal Hospital Kilmainham as part of their Outdoor Evening Events Summer programme 2021.