Sounds have great influence over our lives. They can make us excited, anxious or sad, and healer Diane Hayes suggests that sound can also heal. Through her business, Song of the Spirit, Hayes practices, among other things, primordial sound balancing — guiding others to experience peace, harmony and balance through sound. Unlike some practitioners, Hayes' tool isn't singing bowls or bells but rather her own voice.
She found her gift during a daily meditation session in 2005, when she spontaneously created a beautiful and joyous sound. The noise, she says, comes through the spirit. "I look at universal energy as source energy," Hayes says.
As someone who has a particularly heightened sense of sound, I was intrigued. At the beginning of my session (hour-long sessions are generally $150), Hayes asked if I believed in God. I explained that although I grew up in the Presbyterian church, these days I'm more of an aspiring Buddhist. "You have to give yourself permission to heal," she had assured me earlier, emphasizing that an open mind, not religious beliefs, is what allows healing to occur. "And you have to start by being good to yourself. I don't fix anything. The person I am working with says, ‘I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.' "
Hayes stood before me as I sat on the couch in her North Side home. She opened her mouth and sound charged out, in long and short notes. The pitch and volume changed as she leaned forward and backward, as well as when she placed her hands above her head and in various other positions. Before long, I closed my eyes and let the sound envelop me. It was as if an entire church choir surrounded me. I could feel the sound pass through my ears, vibrate in my heart and rest in my belly. I was full and at peace, if only for a moment.
