Impact of Singing Bowl Intervention on Stress and Mental Health
Singing bowls, long used in Tibetan religious and healing settings, are gaining popularity in the West. One of our speakers at the upcoming Healing Arts in Medicine Conference is exploring the use of singing bowls in clinical settings. This piqued my curiosity as to what the research says about health impacts and mechanism of action of singing bowls.
Singing bowls can be made of a variety of materials and are played by hitting or rubbing their edges using a mallet. This creates sound and vibration, both of which are thought to contribute to the mechanism underlying their potential therapeutic effects.
My research led me to two systematic reviews that were published in separate journals in 2025. Both publications sought to evaluate the existing peer reviewed clinical studies to better understand the use cases, potential benefits and/or adverse effects of singing bowl interventions in a variety of settings and patient groups.
Psychological and Physiological Effects of Tibetan Singing Bowl Intervention
The first review I’ll share was published in Healthcare (2025) and evaluated 14 peer reviewed studies published between 2000-2025. All study participants were adults > 18 years of age. Many of the studies included the general population, while few studies focused on specific groups including those with cancer or chronic illness.
Interventions ranged across studies from single to multiple sessions ranging from 7-70 minutes per session. Many studies used Tibetan Singing Bowl intervention alone, however some studies combined this intervention with progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery.
Outcomes across studies were related to psychological and physiological effects. Preliminary results suggest that Tibetan Singing Bowl therapy may decrease anxiety and depression while improving physiological markers of stress response (heart rate and heart rate variability).
Heterogenous study design, small sample sizes, and lack of standardization of intervention methods make it difficult to generalize these results.
Singing Bowl Intervention In Specific Patient Populations
The second review I’ll share was published in Integrative Medicine Research (2025) and evaluated 19 clinical studies on singing bowl intervention across various demographics and patient populations. Studies originated from eight countries, were published between 2008-2024, and consisted of a variety of study designs including randomized controlled trials, case studies and crossover studies.
Due to the variety of study designs and patient populations, generalized conclusions based on meta-analysis were unable to be drawn. While this is certainly a limitation of this study, researchers were still able to extrapolate a few potential benefits of singing bowl therapy within specific patient populations, with the majority of studies evaluating mental health outcomes.
The following are a summary of potential benefits, categorized per patient population:
Hospitalized elderly and those with Parkinson’s disease
Singing bowl therapy combined with usual care demonstrated a significant reduction in depression and anxiety when compared with usual care only.
Adults with inflammatory bowel disease and insomnia
Yoga + singing bowl therapy + usual care reduced depression and improved sleep when compared with usual care alone
Women with stages 1-3 breast cancer
Singing bowl intervention resulted in no change in depression, fatigue, or sleep quality when compared with usual care. Participants reported improved perceived cognitive abilities, mental health and spiritual well-being.
In summary, while the results from both of these publications are preliminary and not generalizable, they do offer hope and direction for future research, which should focus on rigorous study design, clearly outlined intervention structure, and randomized controlled trials. No adverse events related to singing bowl therapy were reported across all included studies.
Overall, these studies suggest great potential for a non-invasive, low-cost tool that can be applied in a variety of clinical and non-clinical settings to address stress and mental health across patient populations.
The science of sound is evolving. Join us at the Healing Arts in Medicine Conference: The Mind-Body Connection this January to hear Anthony Profeta discuss the clinical application of Sound Medicine in modern healthcare.
Resources:
Cai Y, Yang G, Liu Y, Zou X, Yin H, Jin X, Liu X, Wang C, Robinson N, Liu J. Therapeutic effects of singing bowls: A systematic review of clinical studies. Integr Med Res. 2025 Jun;14(2):101144. doi: 10.1016/j.imr.2025.101144. Epub 2025 Apr 11. PMID: 40352083; PMCID: PMC12063014.
Lin FW, Yang YH, Wang JY. Effects of Tibetan Singing Bowl Intervention on Psychological and Physiological Health in Adults: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Aug 14;13(16):2002. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13162002. PMID: 40868617; PMCID: PMC12385955.