Alessandra Mantovanelli, founder of Waves for Thriving, combines a scientific background with holistic practices to guide others on their healing and empowerment journeys. In her exclusive MysticMag interview, Alessandra shares her transformative experiences with Reiki, Sound Therapy, and PSYCH-K®, offering insights into her unique approach to fostering balance and self-actualization.
What inspired you to dedicate yourself to facilitating healing, transformation, and empowerment for others?
As a child, I was highly empathic and connected to nature. In my early adulthood, I trained as a scientist, which sharpened my analytical mind but disconnected me from my intuition. As life unfolded, I experienced profound trauma, unforeseen setbacks, and ongoing stressful situations that motivated me to heal and grow. I initially used food as medicine to heal but soon realized that physical healing was only one layer. Despite progress, I continued to struggle with brain fog, fatigue, and anxiety.
When I was initiated into Reiki in 2009, I entered a blissful state, seeing everything and everyone from my “high-heart” perspective, which lasted for a few days. Reiki brought deep relief, but I was still locked in the trauma response. After exploring various holistic practices, it was Sound Therapy that brought me to a state of deeper relaxation that I had never experienced before. As I learned Sound Therapy to become a facilitator, I reconnected with my higher self and inner guidance. I also learned to better regulate my nervous system in stressful and challenging situations through somatic trauma healing techniques and recently became a facilitator of PSYCH-K®, a powerful set of processes used to shift beliefs that limit our full self-actualization.
These transformative experiences inspired me to change careers and focus on facilitating healing and empowerment for others. I founded Waves for Thriving as a safe and elevated container to help people reconnect with their inner wisdom, regain their power, and find joy and purpose. We heal by returning to wholeness and acknowledging the interconnectedness of the body, mind, and spirit. As we integrate and harmonize these different aspects of the self, along with all our life experiences, we elevate our consciousness. Each person is unique and heals in their own way.
What is Biofield Tuning and how does it work?
The biofield is an energy field that exists within and around us, communicating through electromagnetism and subtle energy with the universal field. It holds emotions, thoughts, and the blueprint for how the physical body organizes itself. Everyone has an energy field with a unique energetic signature, reflecting their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state. This field can become disorganized and dissonant due to environmental stressors, leading to physical and emotional imbalances. Using tuning forks, I align each of the seven layers of the biofield (or aura), which are connected to the seven main energy centres (or chakras) in the body. When these layers are out of balance, they may shift to one side of the body, drawn toward an affected area.
Specific sound frequencies are then applied to restore balance to the biofield, entraining it back into coherence and bringing the body to its natural resonance. Once the energy field is balanced, self-healing follows. A sound therapy session encompasses biofield tuning and energy centre alignment and balance, freeing and restoring energy flow. Depending on individual needs, it may also involve the release of generational patterns, trauma, trapped emotions, repressed memories, and soul integration. Each sound therapy session is unique and transforms the most pressing dissonance into coherence and harmony.
What are the benefits of Sound healing?
Sound healing has a profound effect on us because, at the atomic level, “we are energy and vibration.” On a cellular level, information is exchanged through electromagnetic and biochemical signals, as well as sonic frequencies. Sound healing offers numerous health benefits because it stimulates the vagus nerve, helping to regulate our autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system, in turn, controls most of the body’s functions, including breathing, digestion, heart rate, blood pressure, and the immune system.
One interesting study found that blood samples immersed in different kinds of music (e.g., gongs, chanting, orchestra, guitar, etc.) produced a higher number of viable red blood cells compared to samples immersed in silence. Sound baths with singing bowls and gongs have been linked to a reduction in tension, anger, fatigue, pain, and depression, as well as an increase in feelings of well-being. Sound therapy also increases alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves—those associated with presence, creativity, calm, and sleep—inducing profound relaxation and accelerating healing. Binaural beats can improve brain conditions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD & ADHD), difficulty resting, sleep issues, trauma responses (PTSD), and help regulate the nervous system.
After a sound bath, people often experience a heightened sense of spiritual connection, calm, ease, and joy. There is ample evidence, both from scientific studies and client testimonials, supporting the benefits of sound therapy with singing bowls and gongs. However, I would like to see more robust scientific research in this field and am particularly interested in conducting research myself.
Can you walk me through one of your Reiki sessions?
Reiki is a universal life force energy, known as “Chi” in China, “Prana” in India, and “Ki” in Japan. Reiki helps the body relax and activates its self-healing abilities. As an attuned practitioner, I apply a light touch for a few minutes on (or a few centimetres above) different parts of the recipient’s body, following a series of traditional hand positions, and may use additional positions to address specific issues.
Most sessions last about one hour, and I typically begin with a head position to help promote mental clarity, awareness, and insight. During the session, most people experience a gentle warmth, calm, and relaxation, along with a sense of energy flowing into their bodies. Reiki is an intelligent energy; it knows where to go and what to do, with intention being key to unlocking healing. The practitioner serves simply as a channel for transmitting this life force through their hands. Scientific studies have shown that Reiki is effective in relieving pain, reducing anxiety, distress, and depression, boosting energy and vitality, and promoting inner harmony and joy.
What can you tell me about your Mind and Body Eating Coaching?
It is a beautiful and transformational process that helps people befriend their bodies and their relationship with food. It explores over twenty different dimensions, including, but not limited to eating rhythm, shifting negative self-talk, self-worth, food quality, macronutrient balance, nourishment, embodiment, relationships, deeper desires, and empowerment.
I integrate movement and somatic healing practices to facilitate clients’ embodiment, along with PSYCH-K® to transform subconscious limiting beliefs. This integrated approach acknowledges each person’s uniqueness in terms of food preferences, beliefs, and behaviours, embracing and celebrating the diversity among us. As a facilitator, I offer tools that help people tap into their innate wisdom and hold space for their alchemical transformation.
To learn more about Alessandra’s work, you can visit wavesforthriving.com.au