Sounds Heal Podcast: Sound Healing & Wellness

Sophia Wisdom is a harpist, music therapist, teacher, and founder of Wisdom Harps, a community and online learning platform created to make the harp more accessible to people around the world. Her relationship with the harp began in Ireland and has grown through years of musical study, music therapy, teaching, spiritual practice, and therapeutic work.
Sophia shares how her understanding of the harp evolved through her music therapy training and her experiences bringing the instrument into therapeutic and bedside settings, including working with people who have experienced trauma. She explores the particular qualities of the harp that make it such a distinctive instrument for therapeutic work and what music can offer when words aren't enough.
Our conversation also explores the relationship between what we can understand about music through neuroscience and music therapy and the aspects of musical experience that are more difficult to measure, including presence, beauty, emotion, and connection. Sophia talks about creating Wisdom Harps to make the instrument more accessible, building an online community for people learning to play, and the different ways people are drawn to the harp beyond performance.
We also talk about her experiences sharing music across cultures and her understanding of the relationship between music, spirituality, prayer, and healing. Throughout our conversation, Sophia plays the harp and demonstrates several different styles, giving us an opportunity to experience the instrument as well as hear her speak about it.
A thoughtful conversation about the healing harp, sound healing, music therapy, spirituality, and the many ways music can connect us with ourselves and one another.
https://www.wisdomharps.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sophiawisdomharps/

Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast, founder of Sounds Heal Studio, Sound Healing Academy Lead Teacher for North America:
http://www.soundshealstudio.com
http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio
http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal
http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio
Email: soundshealstudio@gmail.com
Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Layla Minoui is an acclaimed film and television composer whose work has included projects with Disney, DreamWorks, Netflix, and other major productions. Following a cancer diagnosis, her relationship with music shifted in profound ways. During treatment, she began improvising at the piano, creating music as a way to process her experience and navigate her own healing journey. Those improvisations eventually became Journey to Rebirth, an immersive musical experience inviting listeners into reflection, journaling, embodied practices, and intentional listening.
Layla shares how moving from composing for other people's stories to creating from her own lived experience changed her relationship with music and creativity. She explores the role music played during treatment, the evolution of those intimate piano improvisations into Journey to Rebirth, and her understanding of healing as an ongoing practice rather than a destination.
The conversation also explores what music can offer that words sometimes cannot, the importance of slowing down and creating space for stillness and deep listening, and the ways our cultural backgrounds can shape how we experience and create music. Layla discusses her Iranian-American heritage, her studies in Expressive Arts Coaching and Community Building, and her vision for bringing music and creative experiences into hospitals, schools, and wellness settings.
A thoughtful conversation about music, creativity, healing, transformation, and the power of listening.
https://www.journeytorebirthmusic.com/

Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast, founder of Sounds Heal Studio, Sound Healing Academy Lead Teacher for North America:
http://www.soundshealstudio.com
http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio
http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal
http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio
Email: soundshealstudio@gmail.com
Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

AJ Block is a didgeridoo teacher, performer, sound practitioner, and director of Didge Project, where he teaches the instrument through rhythm, breath, circular breathing, improvisation, and musical exploration. A multi-instrumentalist with a background spanning jazz, Western classical music, Indian classical music, and world percussion, AJ brings a broad musical perspective to his work with the didgeridoo.
In this episode, AJ shares his journey with the didgeridoo, from discovering the instrument and exploring its ancient origins to developing a deeply expressive approach that incorporates rhythm, voice, breath, and improvisation. He also plays and demonstrates the didgeridoo throughout the conversation, offering tips, techniques, and practical ways to get started with the instrument.
We explore the didgeridoo in musical, therapeutic, and sound healing settings, including its use in sound baths, shamanic sound journeys, addiction recovery, and prisons. AJ discusses circular breathing, what it takes to develop this technique, and some of the foundational ways to begin exploring the didgeridoo.
AJ also shares about his other ongoing projects and areas of research and exploration, including Dream Seed and Didge For Sleep, as well as the broader questions and possibilities that continue to shape his work with sound, music, healing, and wellness.
https://www.didgeproject.com/
https://www.dreamseedsound.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@didgeproject

Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast, founder of Sounds Heal Studio, Sound Healing Academy Lead Teacher for North America:
http://www.soundshealstudio.com
http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio
http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal
http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio
Email: soundshealstudio@gmail.com
Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

In this episode, musician, kirtan leader, and bhakti artist Jordan Loder shares his journey through music and his exploration of sound as a pathway to connection, devotion, and spiritual practice.
Jordan has an extensive musical background and spent years touring in supportive roles with artists including Deva Premal & Miten, Snatam Kaur, Ajeet, Simrit, and Adam Bauer, and performing alongside many others in the devotional music community. His experiences have shaped his understanding of music not simply as something to perform or listen to, but as a way of creating connection and shared experience.
The conversation explores Jordan’s musical journey and the experiences that transformed his relationship with sound, music, and spirit, as well as the traditions of bhakti and kirtan. Topics include the transformative power of singing together, the role of mantra and repetition, and what happens when we move from listening to music to actively creating sound with our own voices.
Jordan also discusses making devotional music accessible to people from all backgrounds, lessons learned through years of traveling and leading sacred music experiences, his own spiritual practice, and the place of devotional music within the growing interest in sound, mindfulness, and healing.
https://www.jordanloder.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@jordanloder
https://www.instagram.com/jordanlodermusic/
https://www.facebook.com/jordanlodermusic

Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast, founder of Sounds Heal Studio, Sound Healing Academy Lead Teacher for North America:
http://www.soundshealstudio.com
http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio
http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal
http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio
Email: soundshealstudio@gmail.com
Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Dr. Richard Gold and award-winning composer Yuval Ron are the President and Executive Producer and Artistic Director, respectively, of Metta Mindfulness Music, a healing music label dedicated to creating intentional music for health, mindfulness, meditation, and wellbeing.
Dr. Richard Gold is a licensed acupuncturist, psychologist, educator, author, and one of the founders of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Yuval Ron is an award-winning composer, author, and musician whose work explores the intersections of music, spirituality, neuroscience, and healing. Together, they bring decades of experience exploring the relationship between sound, healing, and human wellbeing.
In this conversation, we explore their fascinating project The Secret Songs of Plants, which transforms the bioelectrical activity of living plants into musical information. Yuval shares the creative process behind turning these plant-generated signals into fully developed musical compositions, while Richard offers his perspective from the worlds of East Asian medicine, psychology, and healing traditions.
We also explore the relationship between plants, sound, listening, and intention, the intersection of scientific observation and human experience, and the possibility of deepening our relationship with the natural world through sound. We discuss Metta Mindfulness Music’s broader work creating intentional music for meditation, wellness, and brain health, as well as their vision for the future of The Secret Songs of Plants through performance and education.
Join us as we explore plant music, sound healing, deep listening, and the fascinating question of what might happen when we begin to listen more closely to the living world around us.
Learn more about The Secret Songs of Plants and Metta Mindfulness Music:
http://www.mettamindfulnessmusic.com/
Learn more about Yuval Ron:
http://www.yuvalronmusic.com/
Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast, founder of Sounds Heal Studio, Sound Healing Academy Lead Teacher for North America:
http://www.soundshealstudio.com/
http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio
http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal
http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio
Email: soundshealstudio@gmail.com
Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZPx6zJX6yA