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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZPx6zJX6yA

Suren Shrestha is a Nepalese-born sound healing teacher, author, and founder of Atma Buti Sound & Vibrational School, where he has spent decades sharing the wisdom of Himalayan singing bowls and vibrational healing with students around the world.

Growing up in Nepal, Suren was immersed in a culture rich with tradition, ritual, community, ancestral wisdom, and a deep connection to the sounds of nature. These early experiences shaped his understanding of sound as a powerful force for connection, healing, and transformation.

In this conversation, Suren shares his personal journey into sound healing, the teachers and experiences that guided him toward Himalayan singing bowls, and what he discovered through working with these sacred instruments. We also explore the creation of Atma Buti Sound & Vibrational School, his approach to teaching and certification, and his vision for preserving and sharing these ancient sound healing traditions in the modern world.

Join us as we explore the roots of Himalayan sound healing, the power of vibration, and Suren Shrestha’s lifelong dedication to sharing the healing potential of sound.

https://atmabuti.org

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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Craig Shankster is co-founder of Silence In Sound in Mid Wales, UK, where he and his wife, Jacquie, have spent more than four decades exploring the transformative potential of sound. Their work integrates Himalayan singing bowls, singing gongs, meditation, and contemplative listening practices to help people discover greater awareness, presence, and inner stillness.

Drawing from decades of experience researching, teaching, and working with traditional sound instruments, Craig has developed a philosophy he calls The Resonant Middle Way—an approach that invites us to discover silence within sound itself and cultivate a deeper relationship with the sounds that surround us every day.

Join us as we explore Craig's remarkable journey, the wisdom of Himalayan singing bowls and singing gongs, the practice of deep listening, and his unique perspective on the evolving field of sound healing.

Learn more about Craig and Silence In Sound:

https://www.silenceinsound.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/silenceinsound

https://www.instagram.com/craigshankster/

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

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Email: [email protected]

This episode of Sounds Heal Podcast is sponsored by Crystal Tones, creators of the original Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls®. For many people in the sound world, Crystal Tones bowls are more than instruments. They’re companions in practice, meditation, ceremony, and deep listening. Each bowl is handcrafted in the United States from ultra-pure quartz crystal and infused with precious metals, gemstones, and rare minerals through their proprietary alchemical process. Crystal Tones has helped shape the evolution of modern sound culture, with their bowls being used in meditation spaces, healing practices, concert settings, and sound journeys around the world. You can explore their instruments and learn more at http://www.crystalsingingbowls.com.

Across the first half of 2026, sound is increasingly moving across culture, science, and media, expanding from niche wellness practices into mainstream cultural programming, clinical research, and neuroscience. In this episode of Sound Healing News, Natalie Brown explores how sound baths, vibroacoustic therapy, and immersive sound experiences are appearing in concert halls, botanical gardens, healthcare research, and media coverage, while scientists and journalists alike begin to develop a shared language around attention, nervous system regulation, and human experience.

This episode of Sounds Heal Podcast is sponsored by Crystal Tones, creators of the original Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls®.

Crystal Tones bowls are handcrafted in the United States from ultra-pure quartz crystal and infused with precious metals, gemstones, and rare minerals through a proprietary alchemical process. Each instrument carries its own distinct tonal character, harmonic richness, and vibrational quality, making them widely used in sound meditation, contemplative practice, therapeutic sound environments, and performance settings around the world.

Known for their depth of tone and complex overtone fields, Crystal Tones has become a significant presence in the evolution of modern sound culture, with their instruments featured in wellness spaces, ceremonial contexts, and immersive sound experiences internationally.

More information can be found at http://www.crystalsingingbowls.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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Episode references:

Los Angeles Master Chorale – Sound Waves: A Transcendent Sound Bath for the Soul

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/05/12/3293188/0/en/Escape-the-Chaos-Los-Angeles-Master-Chorale-Presents-Sound-Waves-a-Transcendent-Sound-Bath-for-the-Soul.html

Sound in Bloom – Rotary Botanical Gardens

https://events.wiscotix.com/e/sound-bath-june-2026

Sunset Spirit Sound Bath – Sonoma Botanical Garden

https://www.sonomacounty.com/events/sunset-spirit-sound-bath/

Summer Solstice Sound Healing – San Diego Botanic Garden

https://sdbg.org/programs/06-20-summer-solstice-sound-healing/

Floating Sound Bath – Salamander DC Spa

https://www.salamanderdc.com/spa/floating-sound-bath

Floating Sound Bath – Minneapolis

https://floatingsoundbathmpls.com/

Se7en Waves Floating Sound Experience

https://se7enwaves.com/floating

Sound baths are one of 2026’s biggest wellness trends – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

https://www.ajc.com/wellness/2026/03/sound-baths-are-one-of-2026s-biggest-wellness-trends/

The Guardian – What is a sound bath and does it work

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/12/sound-bath-what-is-it-does-it-work-music-meditation-relaxation-nervous-system-science

Traditional Medicine Conference 2026 – Vibroacoustic Therapy program

https://traditionalmedicineconference.com/program/scientific-program/2026/vibroacoustic-therapy-integrating-sound-science-and-traditional-healing

Music-based interventions in clinical settings (PMC)

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5871151/

Computational music cognition and neural entrainment

https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.12280

Neuroscience of rhythm and attention

https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02527

Vogue Arabia – Frequency sound shaping wellness in 2026

https://www.voguearabia.com/article/frequency-sound-shaping-wellness-in-2026

MusicRadar – Sound as scaffolding for the nervous system

https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/when-approached-thoughtfully-electronic-music-can-act-as-a-kind-of-scaffolding-for-the-nervous-system

Bear Love is an internationally respected gong practitioner, educator, instrument innovator, and the founder of B Love Sacred Sound. Based in the mountains of West Wales, he is best known for developing the B Love Flumies®, innovative friction mallets that have expanded the sonic possibilities of the gong by revealing rich harmonic textures, sustained tones, and previously unexplored sonic landscapes.

Rooted in years of exploration and deep listening, Bear's work invites people beyond simply hearing sound and into an immersive relationship with vibration itself. His approach emphasizes presence, sensitivity, and the subtle interplay between sound and silence, encouraging practitioners to cultivate not only technical skill but a profound quality of awareness and discernment.

In this episode, we explore Bear's journey into sound and the experiences that shaped his understanding of vibration and spirit, his enduring relationship with the gong, and the inspiration behind the development of the B Love Flumies®. We also discuss the distinction between listening to sound and entering into sound, the inner landscape that can emerge during immersive sound journeys, the role of silence in practice and teaching, and what he believes is essential for practitioners to embody as the field of sound work continues to evolve.

Whether you're a sound practitioner, musician, gong player, or simply curious about the transformative potential of immersive sound, this conversation offers thoughtful insights into the art of deep listening and the ever-unfolding possibilities of vibration.

https://www.blovesacredsound.co.uk/

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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

This episode of Sounds Heal Podcast is sponsored by Crystal Tones, creators of the original Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls®.

For many people in the sound world, Crystal Tones bowls are more than instruments. They’re companions in practice, meditation, ceremony, and deep listening. Each bowl is handcrafted in the United States from ultra-pure quartz crystal and infused with precious metals, gemstones, and rare minerals through their proprietary alchemical process.

Crystal Tones has helped shape the evolution of modern sound culture, with their bowls being used in meditation spaces, healing practices, concert settings, and sound journeys around the world.

You can explore their instruments and learn more at crystalsingingbowls.com.

After her first strike of a singing bowl in 2019, Monica Mullen has been driven by a “magnetic pull” in her soul to Follow the Sound. She has devoted her life to learning, practicing, and teaching, studying under many prominent sound luminaries. Her practice integrates aspects of Vibrational Radiesthesia and Spirit Science, allowing her to use sound as a tool for spiritual growth and finding inner harmony.

A full-time practitioner since 2021, she also serves as Assistant Director and Senior Adjunct Instructor at the Soundwise School of Harmonic Therapy in Lancaster, PA, alongside founder Lana Ryder.

Monica has completed numerous trainings with skilled teachers such as Alexandre Tannous, David Shemesh, Mitch Nur, Guy Beider, Mike Tamburo, Michael Bettine, and Thomas Orr Anderson, additionally assisting with trainings and events for some of those mentioned. She teaches Sound and Practitioner Energetics locally and regionally, while also offering private and group therapeutic sound sessions and hosting retreats and weekend workshops. Ever evolving, Monica is formulating Sound Mentorship programs.

Beyond studying sound, she has expanded her studies into the realms of Vibrational Radiesthesia, BioGeometry, and Spirit Science with the late Dr. Robert Gilbert. She considers herself a Disciple of Vibration.

Her mission includes teaching the contextual and skillful use of instruments, which starts with tuning oneself as the Instrument of Consciousness through heart centered practices, deep listening skills, attention honing, and the development of virtue. Using Sound as the Call to gather others to connect, reflect, and align with the Divine, she encourages others to harness and direct their creative power as Vibrational Architects to Further the Kingdom of Love.

Monica’s own creative nature explores making mallets and instruments when she cannot find the sound she is looking for. She smells flowers in her spare time and loves eating fruit, cloud watching, and delving deep into mysteries.

https://www.monicajmullen.com/

https://www.instagram.com/monica.j.mullen/

https://www.facebook.com/monica.joan

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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Sharry Edwards, M.Ed., is a pioneer in BioAcoustic Biology, a field she developed through decades of research into how the human voice relates to patterns in the body and its applications in sound healing and wellness.

She created Voice Spectral Analysis and Vocal Profiling—systems that explore how vocal frequency patterns may reflect internal states such as stress, imbalance, and overall physiological patterns. Her work examines how these frequencies can be analyzed to identify patterns in the human system and, in some cases, paired with sound healing and wellness-based approaches.

Founder of the Sound Health Research Institute, Edwards has led research, training, and software development in BioAcoustic Biology for over 30 years. Her work is recognized within integrative health, sound healing, and frequency-based wellness communities.

At the core of her research is the idea that the voice may function as a holographic representation of the body, offering insight into patterns of balance and imbalance through sound and vibration.

Her work bridges sound healing, science, and holistic wellness—bringing together intuitive observation and quantitative approaches to explore the human voice as a source of frequency-based information.

https://www.bioacousticsolutions.net/

https://www.soundhealthportal.com/

https://soundhealthoptions.com/

Email: [email protected]

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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Carmel Diviney is the founder of the Celtic School of Sound Healing, where she teaches an approach to sound, voice, and vibrational practice rooted in Celtic spiritual traditions, land-based wisdom, and contemporary sound work.

Her work is informed by a lifelong exploration of music, voice, and spiritual practice, alongside a deep connection to Celtic heritage and the living landscape. These influences have shaped her understanding of sound as a relational practice, one that is inseparable from place, ancestry, and devotion.

Through her teaching, Carmel integrates vocal toning, chant, and embodied sound practices, guiding students to reconnect with their own voice as a tool for presence, expression, and inner listening. Her approach emphasizes both technical skill and inner development, inviting practitioners into a more grounded and ethical relationship with sound work.

She is the founder of the Celtic School of Sound Healing, a training space dedicated to preserving and evolving Celtic-inspired sound traditions in a way that is accessible and relevant in contemporary practice. Her work also engages with questions of lineage, cultural integrity, and responsibility within the growing field of sound-based practices.

In addition to teaching, she continues to explore the intersections of sound, silence, land, and spirit, and is currently focused on expanding the reach and depth of her school while supporting the development of thoughtful, ethically grounded practitioners.

https://celticschoolofsoundhealing.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: [email protected]

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Tom Kenyon is a sound practitioner, musician, author, and psychotherapist whose work explores the intersection of sound, consciousness, and human neurophysiology. He holds a master’s degree in psychological counseling and spent over a decade in private clinical practice before shifting his focus toward psychoacoustics and the effects of sound on the nervous system and perception. In 1983, he founded Acoustic Brain Research (ABR), an organization dedicated to studying how sound, music, and language influence brain states, creativity, and psychological transformation. His early work combined clinical psychology with emerging research in neuro-linguistic programming, hypnosis, and auditory entrainment, which later became the foundation for his sound-based meditation work.

Over time, Kenyon developed a large body of recordings, teachings, and live workshops centered on the use of voice, toning, and psychoacoustic sound as tools for shifting awareness and facilitating inner experience. His work expanded into writings and publications on sound, consciousness, and perception, including explorations of interdimensional awareness and what he describes as expanded states of cognition accessed through acoustic entrainment.

He is the author of Brain States, Mind Thieves, and co-author of The Hathor Material, which introduced a body of channeled teachings he reports receiving from non-physical intelligences known as the Hathors. His published work extends beyond these core titles to include additional books and co-authored works within his broader body of psychoacoustic and consciousness-based teachings. His work is often integrated into intensive seminars and experiential sound journeys offered internationally.

https://tomkenyon.com/

Provided by and with permission from Tom Kenyon, this episode features musical excerpts throughout the conversation. The Cave of Altruin is a Hathor track created entirely from Tom Kenyon’s voice through multitracking.

At the end of the episode, you’ll also hear the full piece Hymn to the Earth, which offers an example of his use of overtones within composition.

Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast:

http://www.soundshealstudio.com

http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio

http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal

http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Email contact: [email protected]

Don Reed Simmons is a mystic, shamanic practitioner, meditation teacher, and pioneer in the modern sound therapy movement whose life’s work explores how vibration awakens kindness, compassion, and peace.

Raised on a farm in small-town Mississippi, Don’s earliest memories are rooted in sound: the mooing of cows at dawn, the wind moving through trees, the subtle hum of the natural world. It was sound that first soothed him during a life-threatening hospital experience in his early twenties, planting a seed that would later become his life’s calling.

After years in radio and a long career in film production in New York and Los Angeles, Don experienced a profound turning point. A near-death experience while scuba diving in Hawaii and later recognized by a shamanic teacher as a rite of passage. This opened him to a deeper understanding of resonance, spirit, and the unseen dimensions of healing.

Since then, he has worked with thousands of individuals across the globe, integrating shamanism, meditation, hypnosis, and numerology with therapeutic sound. As a longtime President of the International Sound Therapy Association (ISTA), Don helped train and mentor hundreds of practitioners while bringing sacred sound into hospitals, hospice centers, trauma recovery programs, and spiritual communities.

A lifelong meditator who has studied with masters such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Kabat-Zinn, Don teaches that sound is more than technique, it is relationship. It is coherence. It is a remembrance. His work invites people to experience joy and well-being, not as an emotion to chase, but as a state of resonance we return to when body, mind, and spirit are in harmony.

At heart, Don remains a mystic devoted to one simple truth: when we listen deeply healing begins.

https://www.donreedsimmons.com/

https://www.themindfulsociety.com/

Natalie Brown, host of Sounds Heal Podcast:

http://www.soundshealstudio.com

http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio

http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal

http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio

Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA

Email: [email protected]