Physiological and Psychological Effects of a Himalayan Singing Bowl in Meditation Practice: A Quantitative Analysis

Abstract

Purpose. To determine the physiological and psychological effects of adding a Himalayan singing bowl (HSB) to a directed relaxation (DR) session. Design. Randomized crossover study. Setting. Community-based counseling practice. Subjects. Fifty-one participants completed two randomly assigned sessions beginning with either 12 minutes of HSB or silence, followed by a 20-minute DR session. Intervention. Random order of HSB intervention/silence prior to DR. Measures. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scores measured before and after both sessions. Analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) compared differences between variables over time between both study days, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) analyzed changes from baseline, controlling for baseline, age, and sex. Results. Fifty-one participants completed both sessions. There was a greater decline in systolic BP (p = .044) and HR (p = .003) with HSB compared to silence prior to DR. Changes in diastolic BP were greater with HSB, with a nonsignificant trend (p = .073). Hypertensive subjects (n = 20) had similar and significant BP changes with HSB and silence when compared to normotensive subjects (n = 31). PANAS scores fell significantly with both interventions. Conclusions. BP and HR responses were enhanced by HSB exposure. HSB may be used as an adjunct to DR to produce physiological and psychological responses prior to DR.