SOUND BATH THERAPY: MY EXPERIENCE

via @cosmicsoundbowls

From screeching subways, to beeping checkouts and the thunderous roar of construction…life in a big city often feels like being stuck inside a ping ball machine.

So one day, while inching through traffic and distracting myself from sensory hell with a podcast, an episode on sound bath therapy felt like a divine calling. 

It’s having a big moment in the West—you might have seen Kendall Jenner playing her singing bowls on insta, or heard in Vogue that the Duchess of Sussex counts gong bathing as part of her spiritual practice—but sound bathing dates back to ancient Tibetan and Himalayan cultures. 

Known as a “gateway” to meditation, sound baths involve being immersed in tones (but not necessarily music) that fill the room and promotes a sense of calm. 

Just hearing the host describe it as being  a “spa for the soul” was enough to lower my blood pressure.

As an anxious little bug, I have struggled with meditation but I’ve had some serious success using brown noise to ‘settle’ my mind…so for those of us who are sensitive to audio, logically, wouldn’t the deep, vibrational tones of singing bowls have to power to ‘sush’ our brains and chill out?

I spoke to expert Danielle Hall, founder and CEO of Sound Embrace–and a pioneer in the sound healing industry. She said that one of the key benefits of doing a sound bath therapy session with a certified sound healing practitioner, is that you can get support as you go into the relaxation response: “This is key for boosting immune system functions (including improving sleep patterns), navigating tough emotions, and finding mental clarity,” she says.

So in the name of a better sleep (and the mission of my blog!), I booked myself an evening sound bath class in my ‘hood.  I wanted to know: could it get my brain to shut the F up? Is there real science behind this? And what impact will it have on my shut-eye?

If you ‘run’ anxious, read on…

Is there science behind how sound baths “work”?

Sound has been used as a healing tool for thousands of years but only recently has research shown how it impacts brain chemistry. Studies have found that sounds can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, a network of nerves that controls the body’s ability to relax. You might know this as the “rest and digest” state.

When the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system increases, our heart rate and breathing slows down, along with a drop in blood pressure...making us calm and cool.

Some experts also believe that soothing tones may influence our brain waves too, moving our beta brain waves to alpha (relaxed) and possibly theta (deep relaxation).

What’s the deal with sound baths and chakras?

Believers say that we are made of energy and sound baths create a healing resonance that connects with our different chakras (aka energy centers). The idea is that sound baths can move energy around our bodies and rebalance us.

Sound baths reverberate at 432hz, also known as a “solfeggio frequency”: a set of nine tones that many believe have spiritually enhancing properties. Women in wellness have been raving about how listening to this frequency at night helps them unwind–bringing them back into alignment and connecting more deeply with their body before bed.

What are the benefits of sound bath therapy?

However it works–altering our brain chemistry or balancing our chakras– the greatest benefit of sound bath therapy is that it can help us relax.

We know meditation is incredible for our health (and sleep!) but it's something many of us struggle to do. For wandering minds, the singing bowls can act as a landing pad–a place to ground ourselves– and since the sound is all about tones, and not melodies, our brains aren’t distracted by looking for patterns.

My experience with sound bath therapy

I arrived at 7pm, mildly intimidated by the notion of lying still for an hour and a half and a nagging concern that I would walk out with permanent tinnitus (there goes my anxiety…).

Everyone around me looked like they knew what they were doing (omg they came with pillows), so I found a little spot in the back and awaited my instructions. 

The sound bath set up was beautiful: a shrine of delicate crystal bowls, a shimmering gong, chimes, and instruments I can only classify as “miscellaneous.” 

The instructor, who was named after a planet, of course, told us to sit or lie down but resist the urge to sleep (no issue here #insomniaproblems).

She said, “let’s just get the gong out of the way so we don’t freak out when we hear it an hour in.” The sound bounced off the walls and the shock reduced us to giggles.

The instructor then warned us about the physical reactions we might have, such as finding ourselves gripping onto the mat tightly, crying during the sound bath even or seeing colours! She explains this all very normal.

And so it began, with the warm sound of alloy bowls—and soon a symphony as she added in a ‘cooler’ tones with crystal bowls. 

The woman to my right began snoring 10 minutes in, the woman to my left, sobbing. I imagined she was going through a recent loss. Then I got cold. Then I wondered how the instructor knew how to play so many instruments. Then I reminded myself to shut up the F up and get back to meditating.

As I was washed in bright chimes and the deep, grounding gong–the response in my body was primal.

The instructor moved around the room with her tools and it created a sort of  ‘surround sound’, bouncing off every surface of the small space. I found it amusing: everytime I opened my eyes, I was wrong about where she was standing. 

The hour and a half slipped away. I felt like my brain had been “cleaned out”. It was as if the gong continued to resonate through my body and that calm carried over to bed time. I’m pleased to report I didn’t need any medication to sleep, as I usually do.

But I’m reminded by Hall that sound healing sessions are not a one-and-done but rather cumulative: “It really depends on the sleep challenges a client is facing,” she says.

“Essentially, we are strategically creating a new sound environment for the body to go into its own natural healing processes. In doing so, we have the opportunity to relieve current stress while also retraining the nervous system on how it works with stress moving forward."

She says this, in combination with lifestyle changes, can escalate the progress for improved sleep.

So would I recommend trying it? Absolutely. Especially if meditating is tricky for you.

✧ Pro-tip: I understand there is a cost barrier to attending these classes for a lot of people, so if you want to try it out at home, this is my favourite crystal bowl playlist on spotify (headphones will give you a more authentic experience), or you can download a sound bath app on your phone. While nothing beats the vibration of the real thing, it's a great way to get your toes well, wet, in sound bathing.