🎶 Sound Healing 🎶

25 Jul

🎶 Healing Through Sound: How Uplifting Music Supports Art and Wellbeing

Have you ever noticed how certain music can instantly shift your mood, calm your mind, or make you feel more alive? In Creative Art Therapy, sound is one of the key tools we use to support emotional balance and creative flow.

Whether it’s through gentle instrumental music, nature sounds, drumming, or even guided meditations like Yoga Nidra, sound has the power to regulate our nervous system, uplift our energy, and deepen the healing experience during art-making.

Let’s explore how sound healing and positive music can enhance your creative practice — and why your playlist might be as important as your paintbrush.

🌿 The Power of Sound in Healing

Sound is one of the oldest healing tools on earth — from ancient chants and singing bowls to modern sound baths and music therapy. Why? Because sound doesn’t just affect our ears — it vibrates through our whole body.

When we listen to calming or joyful music, our body responds by:

Lowering cortisol (stress hormone)
Slowing the heart rate and deepening breath
Activating the parasympathetic nervous system (rest + restore)
Releasing dopamine and endorphins (feel-good chemicals)

And when paired with creative expression — such as painting, collage, or journaling — this combination becomes a deeply supportive, transformative experience.

🎨 Music + Art in Creative healing

In a Creative Healing art session, music might be gently playing in the background, used as a prompt for movement or visual art, or introduced as a tool to help clients drop out of their thinking mind and into a more embodied, intuitive space.

Here's how uplifting music can support your creative practice:

Reduces inner criticism – calming music softens the mental noise
Enhances flow – rhythmic or instrumental music helps you stay in the zone
Inspires colour and form – different sounds evoke different emotional palettes
Regulates anxiety – music can be used to anchor breath and body awareness
Brings joy – simply put, music makes art more fun

“I often begin sessions with soft, ambient music to help clients settle into the space. As they paint or collage, I might shift the tone slightly — adding music that feels expansive, warm, or light. It’s amazing to see how their energy and art shift with the sounds.”

✨ Sound Healing Tools to Try While Creating Art

Here are a few beautiful, free resources you can explore during your next creative session:

🎧 Peaceful Instrumental Playlists:

“Healing Frequencies” on Spotify – gentle, ambient soundscapes
“Peaceful Piano” on Spotify – calm piano music for focus and calm
“Yoga & Meditation Music” on YouTube – soft background sounds for mindful creativity

🧘‍♀️ Yoga Nidra + Guided Sound Journeys:

Yoga Nidra for Deep Rest – by Ally Boothroyd (YouTube) – a beautiful 30-min session to relax the nervous system
The Mindful Movement: Guided Relaxation – soothing voice and music to accompany quiet art time

💛 Music, Mood & Meaning: Try This

Here’s a simple HICAT-inspired creative prompt to explore the power of sound in your art practice:

🎶 Prompt: “Paint what you hear.”

Choose a piece of music that feels joyful, calming, or emotionally rich.
Let the sound move through you — no need to plan or overthink.
Use colour, texture, and marks to respond to the rhythm, mood, or emotion.
Reflect: How did this sound affect my mood? What surprised me in the process?

This is a great exercise to shift from anxious thinking into flow, and to allow your subconscious to speak through shape and colour.

🌸 Final Thoughts

When we invite music into our creative practice, we open another doorway to healing. Whether you’re painting through emotion, exploring intuition, or simply seeking rest, sound and art together offer a powerful, gentle medicine.

So next time you pick up a paintbrush, try pressing play on something peaceful — and see where the rhythm takes you.

Lanie Wilton