Vermont sound healer talks vibes — and holistic theories

Client during sound healing session. Photograph by Kirk Jones.

Vermont “sound healer,” educator, and former environmental engineer, Kirk Jones, isn’t just offering an alternative to mainstream medicine — he wants the medical community to use sound healing in clinical settings.

Jones is a sound healer in and around Vermont and across the U.S., with students on four continents. Jones’ website defines sound healing as “The therapeutic use of audible sound and vibration.” He both works with clients directly and trains practitioners so they can treat themselves and others.

Jones is in Vermont teaching remote sound healing called “The Seven Sacred Flames,” and continues to hold sound baths, including in Winooski, a sound bath last weekend in Essex and another on Church Street, in Burlington.

 The practice is a type of meditation. Jones’ sound healing sessions often use sound baths — public or private events in which he places sound healing bowls on participants’ bodies — in an attempt to heal and release negativity.

These are public or private events where he, and often other musician performers, plays overtone producing instruments like gong, flute, didgeridoo, crystal bowls and bronze bowls to induce a relaxation of the mind and body. The relaxation response is the primary healer.

Jones’s style is unique in that he also, at the client’s request, places bowls on the body, which further incites muscle relaxation and helps to reset the nervous system, melting away stress. Clients often express gratitude and say they feel like Jones hit their reset button. “I haven’t felt this good in 20 years,” is a common response, Jones says.

Some of the scarce research available does support that this practice can relax and soothe the recipient, with one 2017 study finding that the therapeutic effect works for all age groups, but is pronounced in younger people. Other studies show that sound therapy can be part of addiction treatment, though Jones says, patients should approach their addiction treatment holistically and make changes throughout their life, their habits, and belief systems to truly overcome the illness. 

Jones believes the inability of people to “ground” contributes to this buildup of negativity. “The better we ground the better we can deal with anxiety and things that come up,” says Jones. “The more that we can become aware of our vibrational consciousness, the more that we let go of fear and other limiting emotions.”

Jones believes the denial of emotions causes disease, including those that make some individuals more susceptible to COVID-19 than others. He believes that only in addressing and healing those blockages can people truly heal.

“Clearing the emotional body is an important step to building immunity from any disease,” said Jones. “The most fundamental thing that I do is allow the expression of the emotional body.”

Jones is considering earning an MD or DO degree, as well as a Ph.D., and is conducting research to support his theories.

One major distinction Jones makes between holistic medicine and allopathic is the treatment of symptoms of disease versus the treatment of the actual cause. 

“As long as we’re suppressing the denied emotions through painkillers and anesthesia, then we’re denying the emotional body,” said Jones.

Jones hopes to study for his Ph.D. and conduct research to prove his theories. 

 Jones believes people are becoming more open to new theories and modalities of healing but acknowledges that some may be slow to welcome the changes he believes will allow them to live free of illness.

“I think if doctors would just recognize that there may be an emotional component to every single symptom someone has ever visited a doctor for, that would be really huge and could happen relatively soon,” said Jones.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated and corrected throughout. A previous version of this article incorrectly noted that peer-reviewed studies do not support treatment of addiction with sound theory; some do. Jones is also considering pursuing higher medical education; the previous version noted he decided against it.