Lately, we have been asked, after I am certified, can I teach sound therapy to others?
The answer is yes, once you feel you have enough experience, of course. Keep in mind that teaching is a big responsibility, so make sure you are ready. This is not a regulated industry, at least not yet. Hopefully it will be one day.
Many sound therapists today offer their own sound therapy certifications. The industry is getting quite saturated with courses, from cheap Udemy certifications to courses hosted on Zoom Live for thousands of dollars. How to go about designing your own sound therapy course?
The first thing we did before offering a sound therapy certification (aside from having years of experience working with sound and healing), is market research, which consisted of taking several other sound therapy certifications in order to understand what was missing in the market. Then we proceeded to research what was offered for free on YouTube or already written in books. We decided in what respects our course would be different from others. And finally, we decided on the particular elements and structure we believed would bring the most value to people wanting to enter this field.
So what makes a good sound therapy course in the first place?
- Value
- Structure
- Convenience
- Cost
Value
If you are planning on offering your own sound therapy classes or courses, it’s important that you give as much value as possible. Value comes from being able to deliver quality information (that is not already easily found for free) in a structured way so students can efficiently use sound therapy to heal themselves and others. When we speak of quality information, it’s important that you make distinctions between what is a belief and what is science. Introducing someone to sound therapy and making claims of causation instead of correlation will only discredit the industry. True value is delivered through honesty. Value is also delivered by making your course unique, especially in a competitive market. You can bring something different to your course by adding another skill set. For example, if you are a yoga instructor, you can offer them yoga sound therapy and emphasise using mantras or incorporating elements of nada yoga. If you are a musician, you can focus your course on more music theory and using musical intervals. If you produce music, you can dive deeper into drones, binaural beats, and pink noise. If you are a Reiki practitioner, you can offer a course that incorporates more energy healing techniques. Ask yourself what will make my sound therapy course different. And what can I, in my experience, teach others that will be of most value to them?
Structure
Your course layout should be well thought out. With a strong foundation, your students will be able to pick up any instrument and know how to use it for sound healing. Tell them what you are going to teach them, teach them and finish by going over what they have learned. When outlining your course, it’s helpful to start with headers and bullet points, adding the paragraphs later, when you are happy with the layout. Think of it from the outside. Keep in mind what it was like to be a beginner and what you wish you learned more of and why. Once you have a textbook or documented version of your course, then you can focus on using video, powerpoint, exercises, or whatever else you want to offer as part of your course. Many sound therapy courses give students disorganised pdf’s with no structure and do a whole lot of pointless feel good zoom talks. It may be fun and social, but it is useless to prepare you for the real thing. Having a really well structured road map is very important in order for your students to retain and use the information to sound and deliver like a professional. It helps to show your final draft to some friends and get some feedback.
Before launching our course, we had it reviewed by people interested in sound therapy, other sound therapists, healers, musicians, and other academics. So use your network as a sounding board.
Convenience
Time is precious. With access to more and more information, people are generally getting smarter and quicker. Keep in mind that no matter how many presentations, videos and pdf’s you deliver, getting out there and actually doing the work is what matters most. What makes a good sound therapist is gaining experience in how to deliver high-quality sessions to strangers. We know of many sound therapy courses and certifications that take several months or years to complete at various levels. Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with this model. It may work for some and in fact be preferred, but many will choose to learn at their own pace, on their own schedule, and if they already have a gift or a calling, or are looking to add it on as an additional service, they will look for a faster and more efficient way to become certified. When creating your courses, it may be beneficial to have a two-tiered approach of in-person and online as well as creating your courses in a concise modular format.
Cost
Cost is a big factor for people when it comes to course selection. Students will have to buy instruments, so keep that in mind when pricing your courses. There are scammy looking courses online. For example, you might want to consider what value you are receiving from paying $25 or $50 for a certificate. Money can represent energy. If you are giving someone a session or teaching a course, we strongly recommend you do not undervalue yourself. Learning how to heal with sound or receiving a sound healing session is worth every dollar you charge. If you want to help someone that is in financial difficulty, it’s better to offer it for free. That is what we do when we are approached by people claiming they need a hand to pay for the course, and in doing so we energetically get back 10 fold, for that person can go on and help others. With that said, be careful not to overcharge as well. We know for a fact that other course providers/businesses tend to overcomplicate things, making it seem difficult to learn how to become a sound therapist, drawing things out so they can justify the price. Other early providers still charge the same as they did years ago when they were the only ones offering sound therapy courses. Things have changed and they will keep changing, so aim to always do your research, give value and achieve balance.
Conclusion
So when it comes to offering your own sound therapy courses or certification, consider coming up with a strong value proposition. What makes you stand out? How long is the course? Will you offer it online or in person? Who else in your area will be offering courses? Try to find out how much people are willing to pay for your specific course. Will there be different types of courses? What group of people will you be targeting? Will it be mothers and kids? Seniors? Will you target the fitness industry or musicians? Is this for self healing or are your students going to also offer sessions? What do they need to know in order to do an excellent job? How convenient will it be for them? Will it be more of a social thing or a pre-recorded course? Whatever your path leads you to, we hope the information in this article has inspired you.
