ARCHIVE for Wednesday 6th March 2002 - Sound beds

The mystical mathematics of Pythagoras and the ancient sitar music of India are the inspiration behind the Monochord Sound Bed.

Designed by Swiss musician Joachim Marz, this large wooden resonating instrument with 56 strings combats stress and enhances well-being by retuning people to their natural-born frequency with a "sonic massage".

Joyce king, a practitioner of Monochord Therapy, also uses computers to analyse the voice blueprint: She says: "We are all born with a complete voice, but sometimes due to emotional and physical stress we lose some of the notes.

"For instance, a certain missing or stressed note can indicate problems with communication. With this therapy we can find if there is any part of a voice missing. I can then tune the Monochord to the specific needs of a person, enabling the body to retune to the right frequency. It is a unique and powerful process."

Inventor Marz designed the sound bed to have a direct impact on the body, mind and spirit of the person lying on it. The sound is distributed throughout the body via three holes, attuning it to its original state of balance thereby promoting well-being and self-healing.

There are less than ten of the £3,500 sound beds in the UK. King is now organising a network so that more people can benefit from treatment.

A one-hour sound-bed treatment costs £25. For more information call +44 (0)1934 862261.

Sonopuncture is a new type of acupuncture, which also seeks to rebalance the body’s energy to achieve optimum health. It uses small tuning forks instead of needles to heal with sound.

Many readers have contacted us for details of Jill Purce’s Healing Voice workshops, you can find them on www.healingvoice.com or call +44 207 435 2467

Mark Winter