Sound Medicine: How to Use the Ancient Science of Sound to Heal the Body and Mind

The Longfellow poem “There Was a Little Girl” has a line that says, “…When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.” That’s kind of how I felt about this book. At its best, it reports findings about how practices involving sound (i.e. mantra chanting) effect health and well-being, and lends insight into why sound sooths. At its worst, it tries to sledgehammer the square peg religious / spiritual practices into the round hole of quantum physics and foundational physics, often engaging in leaps that are at best wildly speculative, while presenting them as though they are as likely as not.My favorite professor from undergraduate studies was a folksy Religious Studies Professor who cautioned against two opposing fallacies. The first he called “the outhouse fallacy.” This is assuming that because people of the past didn’t have indoor plumbing that they were complete idiots. Let me first say that, until recently, yoga (and other complementary health practices) suffered its fair share from this fallacy among doctors and the scientific community who felt that it couldn’t possibly help with health and well-being because it wasn’t rooted in the latest scientific findings. However, there is an opposing fallacy that my teacher called the “firstist-is-bestest” fallacy, which assumes the ancients figured it all out and we are just bumbling around in the dark hoping to stumble back into what they once knew. Scientists are prone to the first fallacy and the second is rife among religious folk. As a medical doctor who turned to siddha yoga (a form that puts a great deal of belief in superpowers and magic), Chaudhary had a rough road to not fall into one of these fallacies and, in my opinion, she falls more into the second -- sounding at times like the ancient yogis knew more about the subatomic world and consciousness than science ever will. Most of the time, she words statements so that a careful reader can recognize what is well-supported and what is speculative, but she’s rarely explicit about the degree to which speculations are such, and I don’t remember an instance in which she presented an alternative that would undermine her argument. (i.e. The unstated argument seems to be that mantra is special among practices, that its usefulness is embedded in the fundamental physical laws of the universe, and, therefore, that it works by mechanisms unlike other meditative / complementary health practices [i.e. by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system so the body can make repairs using established biological mechanisms.]) In a nutshell, there is a “god in the gaps” approach to the book that says, look we don’t understand consciousness or all the the “whys” of quantum mechanics, ergo there must be supernatural explanations. I don’t think that because we’ve used EEG since the 1920’s and fMRIs since the 1990’s and still haven’t yet unraveled the hard problem of consciousness that we need to say that god / supernatural forces are where we must look for explanation. The gap is ever closing, slowly but surely, and there’s no reason to believe it’s reasonable or useful to cram commentary from Vedas (or any other scriptures) to fill the gap.It's not only the science where Chaudhary presents a belief as though it is established truth without alternative explanations. Early on, she states that colonization is the reason for the decline of meditation in India. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as accepting that colonization resulted in a great number of evils as anyone, but it’s a leap to say that – therefore – every negative a society faces is because of its colonizer. I would point to Thailand, a society that was never colonized (except a brief period by the Burmese) and which is primarily made up of Theravadan Buddhists (a system for which meditative practice is considered central,) most of whom also do not meditate regularly today. I suspect a more logical explanation for the fact that most Indians don’t meditate today is that: a.) it’s hard work and time consuming (as a productive endeavor it’s not bread-winning and as a leisure time activity it’s laborious,) and b.) the majority of Indians (like the majority of Thais) probably never mediated. (When we look back in time, we often want to create this wholesome and uniform image that what we have writings about was how everyone lived, and that probably never reflects the truth.)So now that my rant is over, I should say that I didn’t think this book was horrible, by any means. It has a lot of good information, and some of the speculative bits offer interesting food for thought. As long as one reads it carefully and with a healthy dose of skepticism, it’s a beneficial consideration of sound and vibration in health and well-being. It’s just that when I compare it to, say, Davidson and Goleman’s “The Science of Meditation” (which I reviewed recently) this book is far less careful about presenting the science, eliminating pseudo-science, and letting the reader know what is controversial and speculative versus what is well-supported by sound and rigorous investigation.

So very disappointed in this book. Should have been titled Mantra Medicine. She talks about history of sound medicine, quantum physics, Ayurvedic medicine, yoga and chakras. The only sound healing she talks about is chanting a mantra. I just bought a set of tuning forks and was eager to learn more about the use of them. Also I’ve seen a number of Hz frequency soundtracks I wanted to know if they worked. What about sound baths. Could I listen to sound bath recordings or would I have to hear in person. So many things I was hoping to learn that weren’t even mentioned. Title is very misleading.

It's more about the Hinduism not sound healing, it's so scientific in the beginning and religious in the end.Not what I expected at all.

Dr. Chaudhary gives a powerful story of her own journey to becoming a doctor and discusses the emerging science of sound medicine! It discusses mantras, chakras, and how to determine what Dosha you are in ayurvedic medicine. Phenomenal read!

I can’t express how mind blowing this book is. Between the personal stories and the science, I’m so happy I bought this book. The last chapter about mantras and meditation tips was incredibly helpful to me as well. Thank you so much.

I’ve been studying sound medicine for a decade and never have I come across such a poorly mediocre written book!! This person knows nothing of the subject. It was so bad I returned the book!

I first was introduced to Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, through her first book The Prime. I loved that book so naturally I was excited to read her second. The Prime is full of easy to follow natural advise to reduce inflammation. Her second book, Sound Medicine, is not that. That being said, it is just as significant book as her first. It really explains the importance of sound, vibration, and mantras.I did notice that the other review referenced the cultural bias of the book, but then again she is Indian. It only make sense (to me at least) that this would be her perspective.I do have to say, that I do have a personal bias as I am a big believer in meditation and mantras. Go ahead and read it... You won't be disappointed!

I am reading, reading, reading waiting for it to get to the actual sound healing part. I really think this is a wealth of information book, but I would have never gotten it if I didn’t know it was not about Sound healing, or just a very small part. Kind of decieving

This volume has not been read from start to finish , but having scanned it through I have no doubt that it will become a ready reference within the work of healing through sound and light . It forms a valued book to have in my library which I will readily recommend to others.

The author tries to exhibit all her knowledge about yogic subjects...the subject related to the title is only one chapter, among all the ten chapters!

Excellent Read!! Very Rarely one comes across a book that is well written and easy to understand. The depth of the book, the spirituality and the way it is explained is very powerful. The author accurately compares western and eastern interpretation of health issue and general heath and the way the physical and subtle body energies work towards wellness.Impressive read!

This books gives you the answers to so many questions why western medicine has so many incurable diseases. The fact that the author herself is a neurologist and passionate about Ayurveda Sidha meditations and mantras she takes a complete neutral and scientific approach on what works and why it works and the way forward for the future of healing. The topic human bio field was simply eye opening. Highly recommended to all holistic doctors healers and those interested in mantras chanting and quantum physics.

This is proving to be one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Written in an engaging style and very readable.