What is sound healing and how does it work?

Sound healing uses vibrations from instruments like gongs and singing bowls to promote relaxation and emotional healing. It helps balance your energy and supports nervous system regulation.

How does sound healing actually work?

Sound interacts with the body through vibration. Because the body is largely made of water, sound waves can travel through tissues and influence the nervous system. Many people experience shifts in breathing, muscle tension, and overall state of awareness during and after sound sessions. In this work, sound is not used to fix or direct change. It creates a steady environment where the nervous system can respond in its own way. Rather than applying a technique, the focus is on allowing your system to settle, organize, and integrate at its own pace. Nothing is required of you during the process.

What is it like to experience sound healing with Julie Jewels Smoot?

Sessions with Julie Jewels Smoot are non-directive and presence-based. You are not guided toward a specific outcome or asked to process anything. Instead, you are met exactly as you are. Through the steady use of gongs, singing bowls, and subtle sound, a space is created where your nervous system can respond at its own pace. There is no pressure to relax, release, or change. You are simply invited to listen. This approach allows the experience to unfold naturally—through permission, not force. Nothing is required of you.

How do you use Chiron, Neptune, Sidereal Moon, Jupiter, and Heart Gongs in your sessions?

I use each gong as a field of sound rather than as a tool to direct or fix anything. Each one carries a different quality of presence, and I choose them based on what is already here—not based on a goal. The Chiron Gong is often present when something is ready to be named, without needing resolution. The Neptune Gong offers a more fluid, spacious field, where there is no need for clarity or structure. The Sidereal Moon Gong supports quieter, cyclical rhythms and inward attention. The Jupiter Gong creates a sense of space and openness, without pushing expansion. The Heart Gong holds a steady center, allowing the heart to be as it is. Sometimes one gong is used. Sometimes they are layered. Sometimes the sound remains minimal. Nothing is directed, and nothing is required. You are simply invited to listen.

I Cannot Heal Where My Boundaries Are Not Respected

Julie Jewels Smoot
Jul 14
3 min read

Hands gently cradle a stone with the word "Healing" and Chinese characters, symbolizing comfort and restoration.

Healing is often described as something that happens within me. I am told to meditate, go to therapy, practice mindfulness, journal, breathe deeply, and learn to regulate my nervous system. While these practices are valuable, I have learned another truth that deserves equal attention:

The environment I live in matters.

No amount of self-care can fully compensate for living in a place where my boundaries are routinely ignored.

As someone living with Complex PTSD, trauma is not simply a memory of what happened years ago. Trauma also lives in my body. My nervous system is constantly evaluating whether the present moment is safe or unsafe. Every interaction either reinforces safety or reminds my body to stay on alert.

One of the most overlooked forms of safety is having my boundaries respected.

"No" Is a Complete Sentence

A healthy relationship does not require me to justify every decision I make.

When I say no, the respectful response is to accept it.

Instead, I often experience something different.

I am questioned.

I am persuaded.

I am met with jokes.

I am asked repeatedly in hopes that I will eventually give in.

Sometimes it happens over something small—a decision about my dogs, what to eat, where to go, or how I choose to spend my day. The subject itself may seem insignificant, but the pattern is not.

Every time someone refuses to accept my "no," the message I receive is that my decision is less important than what they want.

Over time, that becomes emotionally exhausting.

My Nervous System Pays Attention

My nervous system notices repetition.

If my boundaries are repeatedly challenged, my body begins preparing for the next challenge before it even arrives.

My shoulders tighten.

My breathing becomes shallow.

My muscles brace.

My patience shortens.

I become hypervigilant, waiting for the next moment when my voice will be questioned.

This is not weakness.

It is my nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do—protect me.

Healing Requires More Than Therapy

Therapy teaches me skills.

Meditation creates moments of peace.

Sound healing calms my body.

Reiki helps restore balance.

Movement releases stored tension.

But healing becomes much more difficult when, after every session, I return to an environment that continually disrupts my sense of safety.

Healing is not only about what happens during the hour I spend with my therapist.

Healing is also about what happens during the other twenty-three hours of my day.

Respect Creates Safety

Respect is not complicated.

Respect sounds like:

"Okay."

"I understand."

"Your decision is yours to make."

It does not require agreement.

It simply requires accepting my boundary without trying to change it.

When my boundaries are honored, my nervous system begins to learn something I have rarely experienced:

"I don't have to fight to be heard."

That lesson is profoundly healing.

Choosing Peace

There comes a point when protecting my peace becomes more important than keeping everyone else comfortable.

That may mean leaving the room.

Closing the door.

Saying less instead of more.

Refusing to argue.

Or eventually choosing a different environment altogether.

These are not acts of selfishness.

They are acts of self-preservation.

A Healing Truth

One of the greatest gifts I can give myself is permission to acknowledge what my body has been telling me all along.

If I constantly feel tense...

If I never feel like I can truly relax...

If I find myself repeatedly defending my boundaries...

If my "no" is treated as the beginning of a negotiation instead of the end of the conversation...

It may not be because I am failing at healing.

It may be because my environment is asking my nervous system to stay alert.

Healing needs consistency.

Healing needs respect.

Healing needs an environment where my voice matters.

Because the truth is simple:

I cannot fully heal in a place where my boundaries are continually dismissed.

Sometimes the most healing decision I can make is not changing myself.

Sometimes it is choosing an environment where my "no" is enough, my voice is respected, and my nervous system is finally allowed to rest.

Julie Jewels Smoot