Healers Q&A: Integrating Sound Frequencies into Holistic Healing with Ian Morris and Brittany Churchill.
The following interview is a transcript excerpt from The Heallist Podcast episode. Listen to the full audio version below and subscribe to get notified of new episodes.
Explore the transformative power of sound frequencies in holistic healing on this episode of the Heallist podcast. Host Yuli leads an insightful conversation with experts Ian Morris and Britney Churchill, uncovering the impact of frequencies, from binaural beats for meditation to customized music promoting mental and physical wellness. Explore legal considerations for healers, align personal and business growth with integrity, and learn about the innovative Music Licensing Program by Listening to Smile, offering a comprehensive approach to sound healing. Join us as we reveal the harmony between frequencies, personal growth, and the potential for creating a seamless, profitable system in the world of holistic healing.
Ian Morris is the founder of Listening to Smile, a pioneer in sound healing specializing in sacred frequencies for whole-body balance. Ian is a sound alchemist, a visionary in holistic wellness, and has spent over two decades harnessing the power of sound and frequency to heal hearts and minds. Pioneering “Frequency-Minded Music,” Ian crafts melodies tailored to unique healing needs, offering hope and empowerment to those in need. Ian creates music as medicine along with his life and business partner Brittany Churchill who is the creator of the TAP IN Method and the driving force behind Listening to Smile 's business operations.Together, they guide people on a transformative journey using Frequency Minded Music, fostering a ripple effect of positive change in both personal and business realms.
SPECIAL OFFER: We are thrilled to offer our followers 20% discount on the Listening to Smile membership program with the code HEALLIST. Sign up at https://listeningtosmile.thrivecart.com/lts-membership or explore the music collection at www.listeningtosmile1.bandcamp.com
Integrating sound frequencies into healing modalities
Yuli Ziv: One of my favorite subjects is sound frequencies. I would like for people to become more aware of sound frequencies. It's such a new frontier that I think a lot of people are not aware of.
Ian Morris: Getting involved in sound is very easy to do. So, just having the listeners approach this session with us with an open heart and mind. Just be willing to explore some of the subjects and themes that are brought up in the podcast today. Hear us out and explore it personally and see what their thoughts are through their own intuition and the interaction with it.
Brittany Churchill: I hope that we can articulate enough that listeners would understand that this business Listening To Smile, what we offer, really is an amplifier. It's an amplifier to whatever modality they already have. Whatever you're doing, Listening To Smile can come in and become an amplifier to what you're already doing.
Yuli Ziv: What are sound frequencies? Can you give a little bit more of the basic terms or the physics of it and how does it work?
Brittany Churchill: Frequency is vibration, and so everything down to the cellular level is moving and that vibration is measurable in frequency and we measure it in hertz. When you can start cultivating your life in terms of frequency and thinking in terms of frequency that your body is responding consciously or unconsciously, to these vibrations, to these frequencies, whether it's light, sound, color, relationships, tones of voices, or the stimulation from our electronics. If you're able to understand that all these things are communicating with you on a cellular level, then you can start curating your life intentionally, thinking in terms of frequency, and that is a real game changer.
What we do is we create music. We work with a lot of science-based methods. One of the things we do with every single song is we create a sacred pure tone frequency in every single song. We're able to take very specific frequencies and embed them into this music, so they're working on the cellular level with the listener.
Using binaural beats for healing and meditation
Ian Morris: Basically, we have created what I call enhanced binaural beats, which are a traditional binaural beat—and for people who don't understand what that is, or have exposure to that, my binaural beat would be like if you're wearing headphones, and you have 100 hertz in the left ear, and 104 hertz in the right ear, those frequencies are different. The brain does not like that chaos, so it takes the left and the right hemisphere and synchronizes them. In that synchronization, what ends up happening is the brain hears one tone.
What's really fascinating about this is that the tone is actually the difference between the two. It takes it and steps the brain down into a four-hertz pattern, so 4 hertz to 8 hertz. Some people will say seven, some people say eight but four to eight is basically the theta brainwave state. If we were targeting someone that had restlessness, anxiety, different pain-related issues, or even addictions, I would target the theta brainwave state.
Most hypnotherapists, psychologists, people that are working with audio on patients, especially with addictions or trying to reprogram, it's a really great brainwave state to focus on. Whatever focus that we're going for, the lead singer is really going to be that icing on the cake that helps us achieve that focus or intention with the listener. We try to create music that can walk in all aspects of your day.
Brittany Churchill: The music really is like a ship; it's like a vessel. These carrier frequencies are what's going to help you move from point A to point B. But you hop on to that ship, you bring that intention, you bring the focus.
We're talking about very specific frequencies that we're using. We can align it with the heart chakra, the throat chakra, the root Chakra, or body organs or planetary frequencies. That's all working along with that intention. You hop on that ship, that vessel, and it will help guide you from point A to point B.
It's working along with the practitioner or the listener, whatever their intention they're using, or coming to this music with, or this listening session. It helps them move from point A to point B.
Yuli Ziv: What I’m understanding is that there are basic layers, but there's also slight differences. You can adjust those frequencies for different settings and different purposes. It sounds like there's also the possibility to customize them to specific conditions. If we're talking about a practitioner working with a client, they can use whatever tools they use in our toolbox to diagnose—for lack of a better word—what's going on with that person, and areas of their body, their mind that they need help with. Then they can work with specific frequencies to help get from that point A to B, is that correct?
Ian Morris: We have basically what I would call tools that the practitioners can utilize that are generalized. There's a chakra tune or bowel bone that they have access to volume one and volume two. There's a releasing trauma series volume one and two there. Shamanic drumming that's specifically meant for journey-type sessions. Then we also have a pain relief album.
We also offer what we call personal frequency coaching, where we actually get into the nuts and bolts with the clients or customers and go through how much they're listening to music, what type of music are they listening to, getting to know the individual on a more intimate level so that we can provide the music and the genres that they're going to connect with. Also, the beats per minute: are they slower music or upbeat? We also have the chakras, which are our go-to. It works with a lot of people because they're just such a tried and true method.
Music as a tool for business growth
Brittany Churchill: It is actually pretty incredible how many different ways people are using this music. First and foremost, we create an album every single month that's in alignment with the Vedic Astrology. That's available to our members or affiliate members. It is not available to the public. Our practitioners are able to use these brand new albums every single month, and they can host their own sonic meditations.
What's really neat about these opportunities is that the practitioners actually have the ability to resell the music and earn commissions on the music. This is one of the ways Listening To Smile can amplify a practitioner's business. It's just like another tool, but it's also another form of additional income for that practitioner.
Examples of frequency music use for mental and physical wellness
Brittany Churchill: We've created this entire community and system to be really loving and supportive. We actually call them gratitude payments. What's beautiful about it is that it's giving back to our community and supporting them. We want our affiliates to feel supported in that way.
A lot of these affiliates come from different backgrounds. We have chiropractors, hypnotherapists, life coaches, nutritionists. We have one that's a retired executive from Wall Street, who created a course on money, correspondence, and investing. We worked alongside that affiliate and created mindset-setting meditations. He's using the music in that course.
We have a doctor who is a gynecologist, and he's created a birthing course. He's worked with us in our music to help women who are about to give birth. We've also worked with the Humane Society, veterans who are working with PTSD, highly anxious animals and helping them learn to calm down in their environment, lowering their heart rate and their brainwave state, so they're actually more manageable and calmer in their environment.
This one was really cool because working with these shelter animals and helping them adjust to that environment to calm down was a real-life example of how music is working with the brain and treatment. These animals are coming in, and when this music is turned on, they're learning that this is time to be quiet, this is time to relax, I'm going to rest.
Ian Morris: I'm a visual painter, a poet, and a musician. I play 25 different instruments and have played everything from punk rock bands, cover bands, all the way to classical and folk dance. The thing that I noticed was healers and creative people were drawing from the same source.
Wherever you go into creating a new piece of art, it's the same thing the Reiki healer's tapping into when she's working, or he's working with their client. That source energy is coming through as healing, whether it's a visual painting or music, or whether it's the energy from Reiki or from intentionality and working and communicating with people to help them see their potential.
But what I noticed was all of us need butts and seats. What I mean by that is just supporters of the work that we're doing so that we can focus full time and continue delivering the best highest quality work that we can. Most practitioners or healers have no business model applied to anything they were doing. It was just like giving a sound bath when it feels good. They want to do it full time, but don't really know how.
For me, I started off with the gongs and tuning forks, and the whole thing. It's a big investment, a lot of people don't realize, for musicians, like a guitar player, just his guitar and amplifier could have five or six grand tied up in that rig that he's using. When you look at the whole band, it could be 20 to 40 grand, and then people are like, “Oh, it's $7 to come see you play?” They don't realize how long it took people to get the talent up to that power of performance. They don't look at the amount of money, time, and energy that goes into that.
So, there's no value system there with the public and the performers and vice versa with the healers. A lot of people don't realize the amount of money that some of the healers have put into their education and certifications. I started asking myself, “How can I deliver something that was intentional,” but also what I call, “Subtly epic.” What I mean by that is like going to a coffee shop and seeing a guitar player, you could be moved, you could say he's got a great voice, she's got a great voice, cool songs, but it's not going to be enough.
I don't care who it is, if it was John Lennon before he was famous singing in the coffee shop, no one's going to value that because their life has so much hustle and bustle. They're going to forget about that soon enough. But if someone goes to Bonnaroo or someone goes to Burning Man or someone goes to some big festival where they meet all these people, and it's a week-long, and there's tons and tons of music, and they're just bombarded with all these new things and curiosities to explore, when they get back, they talk about it for weeks and weeks because it was such a big journey.
So, I wanted to create something that was like that experience but was something that could be experienced in peace and in meditation, but it would be something that would stick with you for a long while after you experienced it.
Brittany Churchill: What's really fantastic about our wellness series that's available to the public is that people can take this music and utilize it in their homes on a daily basis. What you're doing is curating a space, choosing to create peace or an uplifting feeling on the frequency level in your home. It's a tool for holistic practitioners and the end user, even by just using it in your home. This is an incredible way to curate their life.
On a very unconscious, maybe subconscious level, we’re relating to the light, sounds, and the feelings of the room around us. Spatial awareness and awareness of ourselves are influenced by the electromagnetic field, helping us associate with the space. A study showed that controlling electromagnetic levels in a room, when taken away, people experienced such a void that they started to cry. On a subtle, energetic level, we respond to the frequencies around us and use frequency music to amplify intentions and create the desired energetic field in our homes and lives.
Legal aspects of using music in healing practices
Ian Morris: I was doing a continuing education class for doctors and nurses at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that was also in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon. One of the people who approached me after the talk was this yoga teacher that had six yoga studios in Pittsburgh. She had 55 yoga teachers that were under her umbrella, and she was getting sued for $150,000 by BMI.
BMI and ASCAP are performing rights organizations, protecting musicians and record labels against copyright infringement. Legal use of music in a commercial space requires a license from organizations like BMI or Spotify. Using music in a yoga studio without proper licensing is considered non-legal and infringing on copyright. The significance lies in integrity, and compensating artists for the use of their music is essential.
The scenario with Listening To Smile involves an independent private contract, bypassing the traditional music industry. Listening To Smile offers a multi-use license, allowing the use of music across various platforms and mediums for a flat fee. Affiliates are guided on how to brand their business with frequency-minded music and create multiple revenue streams.
Listening to Smile music licensing program
Ian Morris: Every month we do a call, where we go over the astrology energy for the upcoming month. We go over the music that's coming in the frequencies that are used. We allow people to ask questions and go through that whole session. They have support for the whole year if they need help making a playlist or help with creating new ideas for events that can bring new clients into their practice.
They also can ask frequency-based questions like, “Is 432 better than 528?” If they have a client that has specific issues that they're having trouble finding the right frequency, they have that support for the whole year. They get two free albums when they sign up. Then they get an album every single month. The album's come with astrology videos about the astrology energy for the month. It comes with all the frequency information and all the intentions of the music so that they can have transparency and share that with their community. They're able to sell albums, the program, and handbooks. There's a lot of different things that they can offer to their community where they can generate money from those exchanges.
To give you an idea, a Spotify license can run anywhere from about $400-600 for the year. There's no way to generate money from that except getting more clients. With our program that costs $777, you can create your own products, you can sell the music to your clients, which you can't do with Spotify. Then you have a lot of different training to host events and ticket prices that you can get to break even and get that return on your investment.
Brittany Churchill: Just thinking in terms of the one annual fee, you're really paying for this incredible multi-use licensing, and you're able to generate income. Then on top of that, we have this awesome album that you get every single month that's in alignment with the Vedic Astrology. We have a community that you can meet with once a month. I feel like it's a lot that's delivered for this annual fee.
Examples of sound frequency integrations into healing practices
Ian Morris: The certification step is more hands-on where they experience five different meditations with the music. Wireless headphones versus surround sound speakers. We do one where we hike in nature, and they wear wireless headphones in nature.
We also use a company called Aires Tech that has a lot of EMF and EMR protectors. If we ever do wireless signals, we always have those to offset it. We show them everything, the “in’s” and “out’s” of not only hosting and then utilizing the frequencies but then learning the next step, which is the business implementation of actually building a community around this and a brand around music, which is a very different approach. So, they get all of that training in those two segments. One segment is like the basic bare bones, which would be the affiliate ship. Then the certification puts them in the level two, which is a little deeper into the frequency and how it all works.
Brittany Churchill: With other sound modalities—those singing bowls—they can get thousands of dollars to get different sounds and different frequencies. With Listening To Smile, you can implement it so easily, whether you're working online, doing online courses, or having in-person sessions. It's versatile in how you can take it with you everywhere you go, without having to pack your car with a bunch of different tools for your session.
Ian Morris: Most people are up and running within a week or two weeks once they sign up. It's really easy to implement. There was a person who signed up and within four days was hosting an event with the music.
Brittany Churchill: It's worth sharing that for people already doing small events, like those working with essential oils, side meditations, can enhance the experience, and people are willing to pay for it. You can bring in your modality or products, like essential oils, and upsell the music and your product. It's a cool, amazing system for holistic practitioners to amplify what they're already doing and increase revenue.
