After a transformative experience recovering from breast cancer, Kay Le Sueur discovered the profound healing power of sound therapy. Now a sound healing practitioner, tutor, and wellness facilitator, she integrates Himalayan bowls, shamanic practices, and creative arts to support physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In this interview, Kay shares her journey into holistic healing, the science behind sound therapy, and how she tailors her workshops to help others find balance and restoration.
How did your personal experience recovering from breast cancer inspire your journey into sound therapy and holistic healing?
I discovered sound therapy whilst recuperating from breast cancer treatment. A wonderful local charity, Above and Beyond Cancer Foundation, organise wellbeing days to support patients and their loved ones, seeing the person beyond the diagnosis. At this event, a yoga teacher brought in a selection of singing bowls to assist us with a meditation chant so we would sing in harmony.
Each of us was given a 8 inch Himalayan singing bowl to play. I am right-handed and have had significant surgery to my left chest area which also affects my left hand. I held the bowl in my left hand to play and the moment it sang was an epiphany. I get goose bumps even now, 10 years later thinking of that moment. I had chronic fatigue and nerve damage from treatment and was very aware of the internal tension I held. My whole day revolved around prioritising rest, soothing and healing this, working out what I could do, what made me feel better.
The moment I played the singing bowl, I felt the vibrations travel up my arm across my shoulders, becoming a catalyst around my entire body. The peripheral neuropathy gifts me a heightened sensitivity to the flow of energy and sensations as my nerves heal. I felt the tension in my face lift within seconds, my shoulders relax and a overall feeling of release return. It was amazing, instant and gentle, nothing else has ever come close to this. When my husband collected me, he commented on how well I looked, noting how the tension had gone from my face.
I began searching for information, the tension slowly returning, I needed to find out more. and found two wonderful tutors.
The course was to become a sound healing practitioner. I wasn’t sure I wanted to become a practitioner as I was very aware of my own healing, but I knew I needed to learn about the singing bowls. Without an idea of future plans to support us financially, it was a big investment, the affects were so profound and undeniable I could not ignore it. With encouragement from those closest to me who could see the affect that experience had, I got in touch, initially with the intention to support my own healing.
As I trained, I quickly experienced the beautiful healing power of sound and vibration. I knew then I needed to share this with others. Another key moment was when I began the cases studies, giving 1-1 sound healing to others. I was at home a lot as I needed to pace my day so enjoyed playing my bowls to get to know them. I was having regular blood tests at that time to ensure I didn’t have a mineral deficiency due to the treatment which could add to my fatigue which was physical aches and pains. I ate well so it was always good, so when my GP called back and asked me to come in, I knew it had to be significant.
My GP told me that my blood work was really healthy and there were no problems, in fact my blood work was perfectly healthy. “Ok, that’s good, isn’t it?” I asked. She then expanded and said that I was missing the point, my blood was much healthier than she would expect with my treatment regime and the time scale since chemotherapy. Following chemotherapy our blood carries markers of that experience for years. When having other treatment, we have to give the dates of our treatment to avoid false readings. She said mine had gone, completely.
If she looked at my blood work, she’d have no idea I’d had chemotherapy, something that usually takes 10 – 15 years. She’d never seen anything like it and had called me in to ask me what I had been doing, thinking I had taken a supplement of some sort. With the regular tests, she could pinpoint when the change started, seeing it suddenly, significantly change about 3 months prior and continue to change quickly. I realised the only thing that had changed was having the singing bowls regularly placed on me and completing my case studies. Fortunately, my GP is open minded and with the facts in front of her, was very accepting of my explanation and this cemented my resolve to step away from mainstream teaching and share sound healing with others. My body, my essence has experienced first hand how resonant healing helps and
from this place of fundamental understanding and knowledge grows.
I love learning and as I continue to develop my skills and experience, dedicating myself to support healing the whole world of energetic healing opened up. The physical vibrations opening a pathway to emotional, psychological and physical wellness. Treating the body as a whole person.
Can you explain the unique qualities of Himalayan bowls and how they facilitate relaxation and healing for your clients?
Himalayan bowls have a fundamental frequency/note and a range of 3,4 or 5 harmonics. This gives a richness, roundness to their sound, a quality we find pleasant and soothing. In it’s simplest terms, our bodies have natural vibrations created by our hearts, muscle movement, blood and lymph flow. There are also energetic pulses, the electrical twitch that stimulates our hearts to beat, the nerve messages around our body. These can all be measured. The Himalayan singing bowls are harmonics of these vibrations. If they were exactly the same we would not be able to hear them and prolonged exposure would in fact be detrimental to us.
Tension and illness creates stillness in our body, in our muscles and this reduces the vibrations or stops it completely. Being exposed to harmonic vibrations causes a phenomenon called entrainment where the for example, the tense muscle eases back into it’s natural frequency, it’s natural vibration, it’s natural movement. Working with these frequencies and vibrations the pitch, quality and sustain of a bowl changes when placed on or near solid/tense materials. I know my bowls well, I know their natural frequencies, I know my studio well, I know myself so any changes in pitch are due to who is there. Listening and choosing bowls that ease and restore flow, bringing relaxation and healing as a result.
In addition, specific frequencies can be played together to create an environment which alters brain wave patterns. Many know of how alpha waveforms can support alleviating depression and anxiety. Other wave forms can be induced creating deep meditative states and deep sleep waveforms, thus bringing in our bodies natural response to heal ourselves as we sleep. Something which can be achieved with years of meditation practise or being bathed in particular sounds.
In addition to the vibrations, frequencies and sounds of an individual bowl. There is also combinations and order the bowls are played. The loudness, the tempo, the style, as in struck, rimmed or bowed. The type of mallets used, how many an the myriad of combinations. I’m sure we can all recall music that uplifts, clams or activates. Music that is emotive, creates tension or calm and gives us goose bumps (frisson). These are all created with specific combinations of sound and rhythm. Two bowls played in harmony offer one effect, two played in dissonance another. Each have their purpose, each have their place to support wellness and for me is a distinction between sounds for relaxation which promotes wellness and sound healing.
What role do sound therapy and shamanic practices play in addressing physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being?
A huge topic, as our awareness grows, layer upon layer of support is revealed and how these two seemingly distinct modalities are intrinsically entwined. For me, shamanic practice revolves around gratitude and deep listening. Listening to ourselves, understanding each part of us, our body, our emotions our thoughts, our spirit and our heart. A beautiful gratitude to our uniqueness, the world in which we live and the connection with it all. Seeing our place, our connection, the choices we make and how we impact the world. From listening and understanding ourselves, we hear others, we hear nature, we hear it all. We hear balance and we hear imbalance which then as a practitioner, to help restore balance.
The earth has a vibration known as the Schumann resonance, after the scientist who quantified it. It is ever changing and affected by lightening strikes and solar flares around the world. We are standing on a huge iron rich molten rock with a thin solid crust whose movement creates the earth’s magnetic field and the earth’s resonance. We also have a natural vibration or resonance which unsurprisingly is similar as we are, after all, made from the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe with iron rich blood moving through our body. Consciously or not, we are affected by the vibrations around us.
Shamanic practices embrace all of nature, the seen and unseen, helping guide intention beyond the physical, a commitment to help restore balance and harmony. Understanding that all things have a natural resonance, an energy, spending time, listening and distinguishing between each vibration, each energy and their natural frequency. Seeing where there is difference, disharmony and working with intention and sound to restore natural rhythm, balance. The drum is an intrinsic instrument worked with in shamanic practice, echoing our resting, healthy heart beat and the resonance of the earth itself.
A rhythm that instantly soothes us without thought, a body memory of the first sound we here in the womb, engaging our parasympathetic system, flooding our body with hormones that all is well. With ancient methods handed down through generations, our disconnected world becomes more connected, more in sync, restoring health and happiness in many ways.
An example of working in this way meant after a year focusing connections with water, a beautiful and powerful, unique sound healing with ocean drum healing modality was created. Embodying shamanic practise and sound in oneness.
How do you integrate therapeutic sound meditation with creative arts to explore the subconscious, and what benefits does this bring to participants?
Therapeutic sound with creative art is worked with in many different ways from relaxing mindful drawing, to problem solving, intention setting, healing trauma to shamanic drum journeying. The root principle being to bring relaxation and frequencies that stimulate brainwaves for imagination and daydreaming. The conscious mind is either listening to the sounds, or relaxes, giving space for the subconscious to be revealed depending upon how sounds are played.
Expressive art then moves beyond the constraints of the conscious mind, the self limiting thoughts and reasoning. The addition of sound gives permission to embrace this self expression without judgement, gifting profound understanding and wisdom. A container to explore and embrace all of ourselves, a return to our innocence and joy of creating a return to our felt sense a restoration of connection to ourselves which then opens a pathway for healing and wellness.
As a tutor for the College of Sound Healing and a wellness facilitator, how do you tailor your workshops and sessions to meet the diverse needs of your clients?
Workshops, trainings and sessions are in person. My background is from mainstream teaching in a physical and neurological impaired school. Leading teams and schools to develop curriculum to embrace and engage all diversification. From there, the courses themselves, including the practitioner training, begin with healing self. To understand the modality on a deep level to then become an effective therapist with knowledge and understanding.
As such, I work with a colleague in smaller groups to give the space for individual self development. Each client has their own life experience, their own healing, their own skill set and interests. By working in this way, clients are encouraged to investigate their own experience and interpretation of each modality. Understanding the key principles and becoming an effective practitioner with their own strengths. The more in-depth courses are a year long, experiential study with supporting case studies and assignments to enable each individual to develop in their own way.
The therapeutic sessions are held at my private studio, specifically furnished for comfort, support and healing. Sessions are divided into focused themes and topics to help facilitate cohesive groups. Again small groups or 1-1’s are offered for personalisation and support.
