The Healing Power of a Sound Bath
Relieve Anxiety and Stress
More than Meditation, A Sound Bath can aid in Stress Relief.
We are holistic beings. When we experience pain or stress to a muscle, we register it mentally. Similarly, when we feel the impact of someone’s words, full of compassion or criticism, we feel it in our body. Over a span of hours, days, or years, we can find ourselves carrying the emotional weight of all these actions and interactions. Sound healing can help to balance all of this.
Over the last year, I have introduced over a thousand people to the healing power of sound hosting sessions throughout the Midwest using crystal sound bowls. Sound healing or sound bath workshops have gained popularity, becoming trendy in cities beyond the California counterculture - including a growing demand in my hometown of Chicago. I’ve partnered with companies like Lululemon and Outdoor Voices, yoga studios, trendy co-working spaces, with corporate workshops with Yelp, at Brooklyn Boulders’ climbing gym, for weekly sessions at CH/LL Meditation and Massage and as a featured presenter opening for the popular, TheClass workout. The thing participants have in common? They are seeking more than meditation. From pre or post workout focus, to a meditative sense of calm in the mind, and to aid in mood enhancement, sound has been used as a healing tool for centuries proven to improve mood and reduce stress.
What is Sound Healing?
What’s sound healing?
Using sound as a tool to support inner harmony for the body, mind and spirit - typically experienced as a sound bath.
What’s a sound bath?
A sound bath is a meditative experience where the body, mind and spirit, the whole self, is introduced to waves of sound from an instrument (commonly an acoustic instrument) that help support inner harmony. A sound practitioner, musician or healer uses the instrument(s) with the intention of meditation rather than a concert. Instruments like singing bowls, a gong, or tuning forks, natural producers of sound waves due to their percussive quality, are typically used. The sound waves that are created from the instruments reverberate and amplify naturally within the room and stimulate sensations in the body, emotions and mental state.
Typically held in a yoga or meditation studio when offered for a group, private sessions can be held in a home or anywhere that is quiet and free from distractions. The open space found in a studio, with limited furniture and high ceilings, offers grand acoustics to promote the swelling of sound throughout the space. Just as the vibrations from the instrument move around the room, bouncing off the walls acoustically, they also travel easily through conductive material like hardwood. The hardwood floors allow the sound to move along the surface where the participants are seated or lying down, often feeling the vibrations physically in and on the surface of the body.
How does sound healing work in the body?
Science to showcase the profound effects of sound healing sessions are growing. A few of my favorite studies include:
The internationally renowned, Gong Bath™ master, Richard Rudis, has collaborated with scientists on fascinating brainwave mapping that show the undeniable effect that sound has stimulating alpha and theta waves usually only found in deep sleep or meditation practice. Richard has also demonstrated blood cell testing that showcases the ability to increase oxygen and nutrient flow, immune system stimulation, and decreased inflammation.
The late Oncologist, Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, Director of Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine at the Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center in New York documents his work with cancer patients in his book, The Healing Power of Sound.
Enjoy a 20-min sound bath filmed live at the Lofti home studio.
Marlynn Wei, M.D., J.D., board-certified Harvard and Yale-trained psychiatrist explores research that suggests “sound is a powerful tool to reduce pain, anxiety, and more” in her article, The Healing Power of Sound as Meditation.
In my own experience as a participant, and the firsthand comments from the thousands of individuals I have played for, here are a few of the typical responses I hear:
“I feel a sense of calm in my whole body”
“My mind stopped racing for the first time in my life”
“I feel like I just woke up from a deep sleep”
“The tension in my body is gone”
With our busy, ever changing world filled with high-speed technology and stress, focusing on self-care is more important than ever. Sound is a tool that has been used for thousands of years to calm the mind and reduce stress and provide more focus, awareness and clarity in life.
Curious about trying a sound bath? Check out my workshop schedule here. And if you are interested in designing a custom self-care experience for your team or next executive retreat, shoot me an email: karianne@getlofti.com