What is a sound bath?
A sound bath is an experience for relaxation, stress reduction, improvement of sleep or mental clarity, depending on how your body responds or how you engage with the practice. Ideal for your mental health and physical recovery because of its benefits.
It’s approximately a 45-minute journey where participants sit or lie down receiving the sounds, vibrations and frequencies of healing instruments. The most popular ones are Tibetan singing bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, shakers, chimes or tuning forks. I play with instruments I’m most connected with, such as the gong, Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks and buffalo drums.
You’re “bathed” in a journey of sounds of instruments with their own history. Originally used on their own, for example in Buddhist temples (singing bowls for meditation), in people’s homes (gongs), in the garden (chimes) or by musicians (tuning fork), now played as a symphony developed in, you won’t guess: California in the sixties “hippie era” of the 20th century.
The experience can be a passive practice of receiving for relaxation; however, my interest lies in the deeper exploration of who we are that emerges when we reach stillness.
The stillness is a meditative state where we allow ourselves to reflect, experience awareness or temporarily disconnect ourselves from our five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing and the mind (Mano) as an internal sense base broadly discussed in Buddhism. I will write a post about my yoga nidra practice that aims for temporary disconnection from our six senses and why I enjoy guiding the practice in another blog.
After your experience, I will guide you back to a waking state and help you ground before continuing your day.
The sound baths and gong baths I facilitate for groups are in the simplest format, “receiving” for relaxation, or in combination with workshops centred around tapping into our creativity and imagination for change, by inviting people to deeper engagement, including integration.
My clients differ from individuals seeking new perspectives because of stuckness in life, wanting to stop their overthinking mind, to athletes needing support with recovery, sleep-deprived parents or those having relationship challenges with family, friends, partners or colleagues.
The practice doesn’t need experience and is accessible to all. My first experiences with sound baths were for deep rest; however, I gained more benefits when I experienced them with intention or curiosity, helping me release emotions, even gain clarity, and process challenging experiences I had to deal with in life.
Get in touch if this piece sparked your interest in self-exploration. I teach, hold space and do 1:1 sessions in London, Amsterdam or Stockholm.
