The Healing Vibrations of Sound
Our ancestors knew that sound has the potential to heal on a spiritual and physical level.
Anthony BrowderOct 29, 2025
Our ancestors knew that sound vibrations can influence matter and elevate our consciousness.
I’ve spent decades studying the temples and tombs of Kemet and know that music, song, and dance were activities conducted in both environments. This experience gave me the opportunity to recover memories about our ancestor’s sacred architecture and its ability to transform the people who move through these sacred spaces.
Some of my most profound lessons about the power of frequency, sound and vibration came from watching two remarkable women in my hometown of 53 years – Washington, DC.
A few weeks ago, I invited Ayanna Gregory and Free Benjamin on my radio show “The Browder File” which weekly airs on WPFW. We discussed their sound healing work, and they shared stories of how they use music, frequency, and intention to facilitate healing in people’s bodies and spirits.
Ayanna is the daughter of comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, Free is a multi-talented visual artist, guitarist and singer. Together, they create sound healing experiences for their clients.
The first question I asked them was about:
The Journey into Sound Healing
Ayanna said that her sound healing journey began when she visited friends and loved ones in the hospital and would sing to lift their spirits.
Free began accompanying Ayanna on her hospital visits and after their private performances ended, patients in adjoining rooms told the staff that listening to their music made them feel better. The hospital staff also saw a noticeable improvement among their patients.
It soon occurred to Free and Ayanna that their music had a greater impact than they assumed.
They deepened their knowledge of the healing power of music by studying under local musicians Brother Ah and Dr. Ivy Shadia Hilton. Brother Ah (also known as Robert Northern) had performed with jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Sun Ra and Thelonious Monk before settling in Washington, DC. Ivy Hilton is a legendary vocalist, sound therapist and recording artist in the DC area.
While studying under Brother Ah and Sister Ivy, Free and Ayanna learned more about the frequency of sound, and how the frequencies of musical notes correspond to the chakras in the body. They also noticed that performing made them feel calmer or more energized depending on the frequency of the music played and the songs they sang.
Ayanna explained that each time they sat with somebody, something else was given to them and their work evolved with each session.
They began adding more healing modalities such as:
- Aroma therapy
- Touch therapy, and
- Reiki
Before each healing session they would call on the creator and ancestors. That took their performances/healing sessions to a higher level. Invoking spirit allowed Ayanna and Free to become vessels for the universe, ancestors and creator to work through.
Ayanna described the feeling:
“Oftentimes sounds would come out of me.
I didn’t know where those sounds were coming from… I just knew I had to be obedient to what was coming out of me.
And I knew that the sounds were affecting me.”
Free then summed up their approach perfectly:
“For us, it’s not about something that you had to learn,
It’s about frequency and about feeling,
And being the vibration through which those frequencies and feelings come through”
Ancestral Healing Hands in Jamaica
As we discussed their work, Ayanna remembered a phenomenal example of their healing in action.They were in Jamaica, at a retreat at Jackie’s on the Reef, and Jackie allowed them to do musical healing sessions for some of the guests. A woman who had recently divorced came for a session. She was dealing with her loss and deep feelings of loneliness.
They talked with their client to get a sense of where she was emotionally before beginning the session. Free played guitar and sang and Ayanna did her energy work and said affirmations.
The mantra that kept coming up for Ayanna was “You are never alone.”
As the woman was lying down with her eyes closed, she was crying and releasing the pain she had been holding for so long.
When the session ended, Free put down her guitar, then she and Ayanna embraced their client. While the client lay on the table, with her eyes closed, Free and Ayanna quietly stepped out of the room to give her time to process the session in private.
During this time the client said she had felt multiple healing hands on her body, and when she opened her eyes to see who they were, she saw that Ayanna and Free had left the room.
The woman thought about the mantra: “You are never alone.”
And she was hit with the overwhelming realization that, a time when she felt so much loss, she was “Never really alone.”
This is a perfect example of what I mean when I said that Ayanna and Free have tapped into something ancient. Something powerful. They created the conditions for healing to occur and then got out of the way and let the ancestors do the work.
A Transition Without Sorrow
I learned this lesson myself over a decade ago, though I didn’t fully understand it at the time.In 2013 Brother Ah called to inform me that a mutual friend was in the hospital on life support and was going to be taken off the respirator in a few hours. He urged me to come immediately if I wanted to say goodbye. I rushed to the hospital and found several friends gathered around our colleague’s bedside.
We stood by helplessly knowing that our friend was going to leave us soon. Then someone started humming. The sound was soft at first, just a low vibration in the room. Then Brother Ah took out his flute and began to play a soothing melody. One by one, we all joined in humming and chanting.
Soon the hospital room was filled with an energy that enveloped everyone.
We weren’t touching our friend physically, but we were sonically putting our hands on him. We were surrounding him with loving sound vibrations. We were preparing his soul for the journey ahead and making sure he left this world with a light heart and without fear.
And then he was gone.
That was my first time watching someone transition.
At that moment I realised that death didn’t have to be sorrowful. I understood that when you’re in the company of the right people and have uplifting sounds and vibrations supporting you, death simply becomes a doorway to the next life. Tears of sorrow are transformed into tears of joy.
Two years later, I conducted a similar ritual for my mother. I played Nancy Wilson (my mom’s favorite artist) in the background as my daughter and I held my mother’s hands and told her how much we loved her as she took her last breaths.
64 days later, a gathering of colleagues performed a similar ritual for Dr. Frances Cress Welsing at her bedside.
My mom and Dr. Welsing shared three things in common:
- Both were born on March 18, 1935
- Both were raised in Chicago and transitioned in Washington, DC
- One was my physical mother, and the other was my spiritual mother
I once read that sound is the first sense we develop in the womb, and the last sensation we experience before we die. I can’t think of a better way to say goodbye to someone you love than enveloping them in soothing sonic vibrations as you open a door for their soul to the ancestral realm.
The Sonics of Karakhamun’s Tomb
I have spent years in Egypt reconstructing the temple-tomb of Karakhamun.
At one point, I was walking through the partially reconstructed tomb and admiring the pillars and their ancient writing and imagery. And I was struck by the thought of how vibrant that space must have been when it was brand new. This temple-tomb was designed for Karakhamun approximately 2700 years ago. But it was more than a tomb for his body to be buried. It was also a temple where the souls of ancestors could be summoned to assist and advise the living.
The priests and priestesses who gathered in Karakhamun’s temple-tomb came there to participate in specific rituals. They walked in a westerly direction, down the center aisle, towards an image of Ausar standing inside of a “Spirit Door” – a portal to the ancestral realm.
As I stood inside the reconstructed pillared hall of Karakhamun, I imagined how it must have felt when this space was in use. The sonics in that hermetically sealed limestone environment must have been incredible. The words and images carved on the walls and pillars would have been activated by the music, singing and prayers as priestesses and priests moved within this sacred space.
Then the portal would open.
Ancestors would join the living.
And the circle of life, and life after life, would be renewed again.
I feel the work Free and Ayanna are doing is recreating that same energy and power.
Those ancestral spirits who walked in the magnificent temples and tombs in Kemet and Kush, are not gone. They’re with us right now. And they work best through souls that are prepared to receive their wisdom, guidance and protection.
Their energy, consciousness and vibration are accessible to anyone who’s capable and ready to receive them.
Will You Allow The Ancestors to Guide You?
What moves me most about Free and Ayanna’s journey is how organic it’s been.They didn’t set out to become sound healers. They just followed what felt right. And that’s how we access this ancient wisdom in our modern world. We just have to create the conditions for raising the frequency of our consciousness and then trust that the ancestors will show up and do their part.
I’ve seen it happen and been the beneficiary of it.
We’re living through challenging times. These times require us to be strong, centered, and connected to something bigger than ourselves. Sound healing, the work that Ayanna and Free are doing, gives us a tool for that. It reminds us that we carry the same power our ancestors carried, and that we have access to the same frequencies, vibrations and the same divine energy.
All we have to do is open ourselves up to receive it.
Thanks for reading
Anthony Browder
Founder of IKG
Anthony Browder
Founder of IKG
P.S If you want to experience Ayanna and Free’s healing voices for your self, here is one of their incredible songs:
P.P.S If you want to visit the sacred land of your ancestors, join me for My Final Tours to Kemet
July 7th and December 14th, 2026 mark my last Egypt study tours after 39 years.
This is your final opportunity to walk where your ancestors walked, see what they built, and understand why they preserved this knowledge for you.
Reserve your place here.
If you want more information on the tours, I have put together a video which explains everything:
