The Benefits of Sound Healing and Cannabis

Cannabis has long been associated with heightened sensory perception. It’s no secret that being high can make music sound richer and more profound, opening new portals for listeners and enabling them to experience deeper emotional connections that can be healing for the mind, body and soul.

Musicians and sound healers Seth Misterka and Jenny Deveau are passionate about the plant and its possibilities to strengthen the sound healing experience. “Cannabis is a perfect complement for sound baths,” Misterka says. “Since it enhances your senses and your sense of relaxation, it’s perfect to experience this audio, inner journey kind of experience that you have during a sound bath.”

Deveau and Misterka are the creative couple behind Dynasty Electrik, a music and sound healing duo that combines ancient wisdom with their respective musical skills. They describe it as a bridge between the ancient tradition of sound healing and contemporary artistry combined with nature’s healing plants. The distinctive sound encourages listeners to reflect deeply, guiding them on a personal journey of growth and rejuvenation.

Misterka says that the duo’s discovery of combining cannabis and sound healing was natural. “We were already using cannabis for its relaxing and spiritually uplifting qualities before we started practicing sound healing,” he says. “Cannabis is medicine and sound is medicine, so together they can really amplify each other. The relaxing and sensory enhancing effects of cannabis are a wonderful complement to a sound healing journey.”

The couple met at a chance encounter in a New York bar in the early 2000s and developed into an electronic musical act. However, in 2012, their path took an unexpected and transformative turn to sound healing, an ancient tradition that uses the principle that specific sound frequencies can bring our bodies back into harmony. They began working with Lisa Ishvara Murphy, an energy medicine healer based in Fairhaven, MA.

“Sound healing is a major part of her practice,” Misterka says. “We began working and studying with her after seeing the amazing results she was getting when working with people with supposedly “incurable” conditions.”  Murphy sent them to the small, artsy mountain town of Brevard, NC. There, they “ived in a little cabin in the woods for six months. They spent their days making music and visiting waterfalls while studying energy and sound healing medicines. They learned to play the singing bowls, ancient instruments used for healing and transformation.

“It was such a magical and wonderful time,” Misterka recalls.

With a desire to hold onto that magic and share it with others, Misterka and Deveau dove deeper into shamanic sound healing, opening profound dimensions that enriched their artistry as musicians and guides. They decided to head west and opened their first sanctuary, Mile High Retreat, in Southern California in 2018.  

“We wanted a place where we could retreat into nature and have that peace and serenity to explore our creativity, sound healing and energy healing,” Misterka says.

During their time in California, Dynasty Electrik was also the resident sound healer at the renowned Mystic Journey Crystal Gallery in Venice, CA, where they hosted many celebrities and large companies during these sound baths, including Usher, Snapchat and Marvel Studios. “Every week, we cultivated an amazing community, which sold out for two and a half years,” Deveau says. “We did a number of collaborations, particularly with CBD companies. CBD is a great medicine in its own right, especially for people that don’t like the effects of THC.”

Misterka and Deveau then relocated to a remote beach town in Nova Scotia, Canada. In 2022 they established Seal Harbour Sanctuary, a sound healing retreat center on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. According to Misterka, the region has long held a magnetism for them. “Lisa Ishvara Murphy had a place in Nova Scotia and always talked fondly of the mystical quality up here,” he says. “And Jenny’s great-grandfather is from Nova Scotia, so it always held a place in our imagination. It’s an opportunity to live here on the ocean, exploring kind of our ancestral roots in a landscape of magic and mystery.”

Seal Harbour Sanctuary hosts three-day immersive boutique retreats which indulge in the profound connection between yourself, the Earth and the cosmos within the serenity of a stunning natural setting. It’s a sacred space where shared energies enable guests to transcend beliefs, patterns and fears. “Cannabis is completely legal everywhere in Canada, which creates an even more tolerant environment than in the US—Nova Scotia is particularly cannabis friendly,” Misterka says. “And Seal Harbour Retreat is a safe space to enjoy cannabis in all its forms.” Still producing music alongside their in-person sound baths, in August 2023, Dynasty Elektrik released a new, mesmerizing sound-healing album called Journey to Tranquility. The album’s 12 tracks offer a captivating fusion of cosmic frequencies, binaural beats and ethereal vocals, guiding listeners to a serene haven of relaxation and meditation as they melt into their bodies and tap into that mind-body connection.