About

Gary Diggins began his musical career in the Detroit area working as an opening act for performers ranging from Alice Cooper to Sly and the Family Stone. In his early twenties, Gary met a Columbian shaman. That encounter shifted his orientation from the performing arts to the healing arts. His interdisciplinary studies led him into the fields of psychology, spiritual directorship, grief counselling, and ethnomusicology.

For the past four decades, he has maintained an expressive arts practice that blends the therapeutic use of sound with counselling. His service is called Soundwork as Soulwork. As an educator, Gary has taught internationally at various learning institutes and universities. He mentors practitioners in person as well as online.

Gary’s has written five books related to music as medicine. His current guidebook, is entitled Liminality - Traversing the In-Between - A Guidebook for Therapists and Expressive Arts Practitioners. 

Gary plays a range of acoustic instruments collected from around the world. His musical collaborations have taken him to India, Africa, Europe, South Korea, Israel, and throughout North America, including a performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Gary and his family currently live on a rural property near Meaford, Ontario with three cats and a dog named Sita. 

About Soundwork


Soundwork is a contemporary version of how older cultures, down through

time, have used vocal and instrumental sound to cultivate wellbeing in an

individual or a community. Soundwork is predicated on the notion that

certain types of soundscapes can elicit therapeutic responses in a receiver

as well as call up our imaginal resources.

A soundwork practitioner acts as an expressive arts facilitator who creates

a safe space for clients to receive or express sound. In an interactive

context, Soundwork incorporates user-friendly instruments as well as the

voice as an expressive medium. Soundwork can be offered as an adjunct

to other therapeutic modalities, such as movement therapy and artwork, or

as a stand-alone process. As an accessible discipline, Soundwork does not

require that clients be familiar with musical theories.

Soundwork has proven to be helpful in the following ways:

 Reducing stress.

 Assisting in bereavement processes.

 Supporting the emotional release of past traumas.

 Improving a client’s powers of concentration.

 Increasing a client’s capacity to adapt to change.

 Fostering contemplative and meditative states of being.

 Conducting rituals for group celebrations or transitions.

A Soundwork practitioner is able to:

 Create calming soundscapes to lower anxiety.

 Conduct listening exercises that improve attentiveness.

 Improvise with a client to develop skills of adaptability.

 Generate impressionistic music that appeals to the imagination.

 Facilitate rhythm games to foster interaction and cooperation.

 Encourage a relaxation response via contemplative sounds.

 Facilitate vocal and instrumental laments to support griefwork.