Linda Chambers could be your grandmother; kindly, warm, welcoming. It’s hard to imagine that for all her grounded normalcy, Chambers might just be offering one of the most intriguing alternative health and wellness therapies in Bozeman. In a small room in the back of her store, Dari Rasa Trunk Show on Main Street, Chambers seems to be changing lives for the better.

Many locals know Dari Rasa Trunk show as a wonderful store featuring finds from around the world. One of the finds are crystal and Tibetan Healing Bowls, which, when struck, emit otherworldly sounds. These sounds are said to be healing by no lesser authorities than Andrew Weil, MD and Dr. Oz. Turns out that Chambers, who’s run the store since 2009, is an expert in sound healing through using the vibrational toning in the bowls. Being the alternative health and wellness epicurean that I am, when Linda invited me to have a session with the bowls I could not resist.

Sound healing has been gaining popularity since Jonathan Goldman first popularized the concept twenty years ago. Chanting, “om-ing” Hindu mantras and kirtan, Hemi-sync and tuning fork vibrational medicine all brought forth the idea that listening to certain tones can help balance the body and the seven major chakras — or energy center – in the body.

More recently, new age stores, expos and conventions have seen an increase in vendors offering large bowls made of white quartz crystals which healers are using as an adjunct to their primary therapeutic modality — be in Reiki, massage, or even standard talk therapy. Proponents say that the tones that emanate from the bowls when “played” can have a profound effect on the nervous system and induce relaxation and enervate our vibrational frequency. In plain language, certain sounds make us feel better.

Many of us already experience this phenomena when listening to music. Hearing classical compositions has a different effect on us than does hard rock. Sound therapists say the same is true with the bowls; specific tones affect specific areas of the brain and body to induce positive responses. Having a session with a skilled practitioner can bring forth desired outcomes of greater clarity, deeper peace, relaxation and calm.

So of course I had to try it.

I met Linda at the Dari Rasa storefront, and she guided me upstairs to her cozy studio. I was immediately struck by the wide variety of shapes and sizes of the bowls, from large to petite. They were sprinkled around the studio,   along with some crystals Linda uses to help move energy during a session. I lay down on the comfortable massage table and was covered by a beautiful gold sheet. She placed an eye pillow on my eyes, and put a dab of lavender oil near my nose that smelled wonderful. Linda then used a pendulum to determine if my chakras were open or closed; a few were open, a few needed some help. Since each bowl’s frequency is attuned to a specific chakra, the pendulum’s prescription guided the session’s use of particular bowls.

Linda struck the first bowl, a deep resonant tone that instantly made me relax into the table. I wish I could report with greater accuracy what happened next, but the truth is that once Linda started “playing” the bowls, the different sounds with the resonant energy transported me into another realm of consciousness and I just drifted, drifted….. until suddenly it was time to end the session.

She gave me a little time to integrate the experience and quietly left he studio. I realized I felt grounded, lighter and more alert, and deeply peaceful. I felt as if I’d traveled to a land far away, had a vacation, and came home, all in an hour’s time.

Linda explained, “Sound healing is a vibrational energy modality to bring about balance to our physical, spiritual and emotion bodies.” She first grew interested in the bowls when, following an injury, she was treated by local craniosacral therapist Cyndy Dabny who has the bowls in her office. Linda was immediately struck by them, and when she attended the Tucson gem and crystal show the following January, she promptly bought seven of them to start using on her friends and family.

Soon she expanded her practice to others and now runs it out of the Dari Rasa store (which also sells the bowls). “Sound work helps release stuck patterns, increasing the positive charge in cells and helps all five senses ‘recalibrate,’” Linda says. Sometimes these words can feel surreal or even unreal, but I’m here to tell you, I felt amazing when I got off the table and wanted to hear more. The store sells CDs of bowl music that I will use when I get a jones to be transported to a land of peace and serenity.

Or, I can just go back and have another session with the lovely Linda.

Sound Healing Sessions with Crystal Bowls
At Dari Rasa Trunk Show
132 East Main Street • 406-582-0166
$60 per session; sliding scale available

Liz Harrison is an alternative health and wellness junkie who lives in Bozeman. This column explores the many alternative wellness offerings and practitioners in the Gallatin Valley. Suggestions, raves and rants may be sent to wellnessepicurean@gmail.com