The World Was Created Through Sound: ANANDA on the Healing Power of the Heart Song

What happens when a child raised in a normal Israeli household is simultaneously immersed in the profound currents of ancient yogic lineage?

You get the multi-dimensional world of Ananda.

We are  excited to share this deeply moving conversation with a truly special healer. Ananda is a person whose very foundation was built on an extraordinary childhood. While his peers were navigating standard school days, Ananda was spending his vacations in ashrams, surrounded by adult seekers. By age seven, he was initiated into his personal mantra , by thirteen, he was officially certified as a yoga teacher—stepping directly into a sacred lineage passed down from the legendary Swami Sivananda, Swami Vishnudevananda, and his own direct mentor, Swami Swaroopananda.

But Ananda’s path is entirely his own. He has beautifully woven this rigorous, lifelong spiritual training into a deeply personal, accessible healing practice. Today, he holds liberating, sacred spaces for artists, people facing major illnesses, and fellow healers who need someone to finally hold space for them. Moreover, as a queer practitioner, Ananda brings a vital perspective to his work—reclaiming the primal power of ritual, community chanting, and sound without the heavy baggage of societal rules.

In this interview, we dive into the mystery of vocal expression, explore why sound bypasses the analytical mind to heal deep emotional trauma, and discuss Ananda’s core belief that because the universe was born from a vibration, sound will play the ultimate role in repairing our world.

Step out of your mind, open your heart, and read on to discover a healer who invites us all to stop overthinking and start listening.

Interview by Frank Roller, Places of Healing

Frank: Ananda, you were initiated on your spiritual path at the age of seven. What did that look like particularly, and what do you remember about it?

Ananda: It was a year after my mom discovered yoga. She jumped right into the deep water, and by the time I was seven, she had already gone through her teacher training course. At that time, she was assisting in another teacher training course where I was just around everyone like a child, participating in the lectures about yogic philosophy. I was a bit out of the ordinary, as most of the people there were grownups coming to have their training.

By the end of that course, there was a mantra initiation. I chose a mantra and got initiated into it. It was a special ceremony—the teacher put sacred powders on my forehead and taught me how to correctly pronounce the mantra. Since then, that was the mantra I practiced. Generally, this was a special part of my life while I was still living a normal life in Israel, going to school. Everything was normal, but I had this special thing where every long vacation we would go to a sort of ashram environment for a yoga vacation. I continued to practice, study, and widen my horizons in that.

Frank: You got certified as a yoga teacher already at 13, which is pretty young. Besides your mother, was there someone else who guided you through this process? Or was she the one who gave you the certification?

Ananda: No, her teacher—who is also my teacher and an important presence in my life, even though I took different paths—is Swami Swaroopananda, and he certified me. There was a system of teachers; actually, there were only about three teachers in the course when I took it. 

These days, Swami Swaroopananda only does a question-and-answer session once a month for the trainees, and the courses are held by his students whom he initiated to do that, including my mom. 

Frank: And that happened in Israel?

Ananda: Yes, in Israel. He is actually Israeli. Because his teacher, Swami Vishnudevananda—who founded the Sivananda Yoga Organization—had a few close disciples, he gave them the responsibility to carry on and to teach.

Frank: When it comes to the yoga lineage, what kind of lineage is it?

Ananda: Swami Vishnudevananda was a disciple of Swami Sivananda, and this whole lineage is called Saraswati. It is one of the lineages that came down from Shankaracharya, who was the teacher of Advaita Vedanta. Generally, in my lineage, we see ourselves coming from Shankaracharya, and before that, from Shiva.

Frank: One of the main things you work with is the heart song technique. What is your connection to the heart song technique and the ThetaHealing Institute of Knowledge?

Ananda: The deeper connection was created mostly thanks to my brother, who became the personal assistant to the founder of the ThetaHealing Institute of Knowledge, Vianna Stibal, for over a year. This created a connection to my whole family. Over time, he and I were asked by Vianna to create a special course to teach the depth of the heart song technique.

The heart song technique is a little different from other parts of ThetaHealing because it is much more physical. Because of our background in both yoga (bodywork) and voice (since we are both musicians), Vianna thought we had something extra to give to teach this technique in depth. She offered many opportunities for us to bring this to a very big worldwide community of ThetaHealing.

Frank: For people who are not familiar with the ThetaHealing Institute, can you give us a brief explanation of what it actually does?

Ananda: One of the unique things about the ThetaHealing technique is that it teaches you that you are a part of “All That Is,” and you have the ability to have an unmediated connection with this energy. I think this is the essence. Like many other ancient and new techniques, what is new about it is that it offers this knowledge in a universal way. You don’t need to come from a religious background or a specific religion; it is offered in a way that is very universal and easy for people to connect with.

Frank: What is the ThetaHealing Institute offering mostly? Workshops, retreats, publishing books, or what are they actually doing?

Ananda: It mostly offers practitioner courses at different levels, starting with a three-day basic certification as a practitioner. You can go very far with more advanced courses.

Frank: Coming back to the heart song technique as a part of the ThetaHealing Institute offerings—why the voice specifically? What makes vocal expression different from other healing modalities you could have focused on?

Ananda: I think this isn’t exclusive to ThetaHealing; we can refer to it directly from the point of view of the voice, which appears in so many traditions and modalities. One of the things that makes the voice so special as a tool is that it stands at a junction where it connects directly to my inner being. It is an expression of myself, my purpose, and my goals. It’s the first thing, basically. You take the first breath, and then your voice is what says to the world, “I am here.”

It also connects me to my body. Sound exists between the material and the spiritual—we can hear it and measure it, but we cannot really grasp it, and as soon as the word is spoken, it’s gone. It has this special presence between worlds or dimensions. In the body, you can really touch your inner parts through your voice because vocal vibration touches everything.

To add to that, it is so important in our relationships with others; it is the way we communicate. As I see it, our connection with others is one of the main ways in which we evolve in human life. The voice is connected with every important thing we go through.

Frank: You describe sound as something that travels through the body and creates healing. What is the mechanism behind it? Is it more physical, energetic, or both?

Ananda: Of course, it’s both.

Frank: The Sound of Creation course draws on mantra, myth, and chanting. Which traditions are you pulling from, and how do you decide what belongs together?

Ananda: Growing up in a normal Israeli house—basically Jewish but not religious—and being exposed to yoga gave me something very special: the understanding that there is more than one way to understand life. Most kids grow up in one system, and it takes time until they open their horizons to understand that there are different religions.

Yoga is not a religion; it’s a spiritual path. It opened up my ability to see the common essence in many different religions, allowing me to do the work of translation and relate to different traditions. I pull from the yogic tradition, which draws closely from the Hindu tradition. But it also opened my way to understand and go much deeper into the Hebrew tradition, as well as be much more open to the Sufi and Native American traditions. All of these are important parts of my life and sources of inspiration.

Deciding what belongs together is a very personal choice. When I create my courses and programs, I clarify: “Look, I’m bringing what influenced and inspired me, and I want to share that. You may be inspired by it, but it’s also an invitation to see what experiences in your own life might be a source of inspiration to you.”

Frank: You explained that chant healing shows up in many cultures—Vedic mantras, Sufism, indigenous chants, Gregorian tones. Do you see a common root beneath all of them, or are they fundamentally different paths that happen to converge?

Ananda: Generally, there is a saying in yoga: “The truth is one and the paths are many.” To me, it’s all really the same; it works in a very similar way. There is a quality where the sound is just as important as the meaning. If you connect with the sound, it has its own healing power that doesn’t need to go through your analytical mind.

Another important aspect is coming to these practices as a queer person. This is very meaningful because many times we connect tradition with suppressing your queerness or you being different. In a way, I feel like I have a gift. Growing up and receiving this knowledge even before I fully realized who and what I am, allowed me to bring much more healing to these spaces. It gives a sense of reclaiming the power of singing together, the power of ritual, and the power of connecting to the energy of “All That Is” without the obligation to follow the rules of society.

Frank: Is this something people can practice alone at home, or does it require a facilitator, a group, or a specific container to work safely?

Ananda: It is definitely something that people can practice by themselves. However, I do think that going through the first stages with a facilitator allows you to understand and feel the experience on different levels, deepening it in a way that will serve you more. People do it naturally—they sing along with the radio and know that it makes them feel better. But when you are more aware of exactly what is happening, and more aware of how you are able to process and transform emotional energy, the practice becomes much more effective.

It will feel different practicing by yourself at home, in the shower, or while driving, compared to taking the time to go out into nature or doing it with a group of like-minded people. Doing it in a group usually has a stronger effect, but they complement each other.

Frank: For people who want to learn more about the heart song technique and take a more intentional approach, are there retreats or online workshops you offer?

Ananda: Yes, I offer retreats all over the world, like for example in Israel or Japan. I do both standalone retreats and collaborations with other centers.

Aside from retreats, I also offer monthly online webinars that focus on one specific aspect at a time. This creates a group that evolves together, which I’ve been doing for the last four years. On a personal level, I also offer one-on-one sessions to help people create their own path of growth.

Frank: Who comes to these sessions? Is there a particular kind of person or life stage where this work lands the best?

Ananda: The people who come are from a few different walks of life. Many are healers and practitioners of yoga or other healing modalities who feel they need support integrating spiritual knowledge into their daily life. Because I grew up with it and it’s very natural to me, it helps them. Generally, people who spend their lives facilitating for others come when they need someone to be there for them.

Another group are people from the queer community who are looking for a deeper spiritual essence in what it means to be queer, and they are inspired by the way I combine these aspects. I also get artists who want to go deeper into the spiritual side of their work.

Finally, I work with people dealing with trauma, helping them to reconnect with their spiritual power to overcome the illness “ – “of course this doesn’t replaces consultation and treatment by a health professional, but simply compliments the medical process.

I also accompany people on their final path, acting similarly to a death doula, and supporting the family afterward. I feel a real calling for that, even though it’s just something that naturally developed.

Frank: For someone who has never done any of this—no meditation background, no sound baths, no ThetaHealing—what would you want them to know before they show up for their first session?

Ananda: The first thing I want them to know is that analyzing through the mind is only one way of perceiving reality. In order to widen their life experience and open up to what is available to them, I invite them to be open to experiencing through other ways. Experience something just because it makes you feel differently in your body, don’t be afraid of what touches you emotionally, and understand that inspiration can come even when you don’t exactly understand how or why it works.

Frank: My last question is a big one: Do you believe the answer to our planet’s healing also relies on sound?

Ananda: I believe the world was created through sound, so I believe that sound is playing a major role (not in the future but in the present) and will help in the healing of this planet. I don’t think it sits entirely on our shoulders as humans, but a big part of bringing healing to this Earth is healing our relationships with each other. We do a lot of that through sound—through communication, talking, and acknowledging each other’s pain, as well as through singing, dancing, and making our lives a form of music.

Frank:  Thank you for your time, lets keep on singing.