Aside from playing the flute, singing in two choirs and karaoke-style too, I’ve been on an enlightening sound healing journey over the past two years, and especially this past year. I am fascinated by the way in which sound can heal your body, how the frequencies of sound can be incredibly relaxing, energising and such a great release for the body and mind.
I participated in a sound bath using gongs at the end of the Chakra Dance retreat I attended in April 2023, which this was the start of my sound journey.
To give you an idea what it’s all about, to start with, we lay down as if we were about to meditate (or have a nap) under a nice, cosy blanket. It was an incredible experience – I’ve never experienced anything like this. It really felt like I was having an internal massage, that I was able to breathe like I’d not done before in such a deep way, unknotting any balls of tightness and stress as the frequencies of sound travelled up and down my body, making me feel so expansive, taking me to an amazing, peaceful place. I ended up being the last to wake up from this trance-like state though I could have stayed there for ages, but at some point, I did have to wake up!
Since then, I’ve had lots of other sound healing experiences locally, otherwise known as sound baths, and found a nice, warm community at The Silo at Hill Farm in Radlett run by Natalie Faulkner. I’ve really enjoyed the sound baths run there every month by Sanchia from Head to Toe Harmony who always runs a great sound bath, all of which help to fill my cup with more positive energy and have brought me more calm and peace in my busy everyday life.
For those who don’t know, sound baths are a type of meditation. I love meditation already and the sound just adds an extra dimension to how I experience it all. During a sound bath, all you need to do is lie down, close your eyes and focus on the musical instruments being played. Nothing else.
Instruments can vary and can include for example, gongs, crystal and Himalayan bowls, chimes, shamanic or ocean drums, rain sticks and lots more.
Each of the sounds played on the instruments resonate with the frequencies within our body. It’s a very relaxing experience. It really helps to calm down our nervous system and helps with managing any anxiety or overwhelm you might be feeling, and especially if you go on a regular basis. None of us are immune to the feeling of being overwhelmed – there is so much digital clutter and overwhelm as well as all the to do lists that we plough through in our everyday lives, varying of course from person to person.
As someone with moderate hearing loss myself, music is one of my big passions. You really have to experience a good sound bath to understand what it’s all about and how good it can make you feel. I am so grateful for music and to be able to access the sound frequencies that I can’t hear without hearing aids, which for me are the highest frequencies and ironically the ones that are the most healing for me. For this reason, I love to empower others to look after their own well-being and discover some new forms of self-care that are really very nourishing for the mind, body and soul. I only discovered it recently and would love for others to discover the benefit of it for themselves. It’s also a great way of connecting with ourselves.🎶
Another sound bath I experienced that has stuck out in my mind is one that was performed by a lady based in Elstree called Claire Freeman who runs an amazing Gong bath, but also uses crystal and Himalayan bowls, rain sticks, amongst other instruments. I am going to one of her sound baths next Saturday 22nd December which I’m really looking forward to. It’s a great time to do this sound bath as we approach the end of the year. It’s also a perfect way to release and unblock stuck energies in the body, and simply relax as we all need to do at this time of year.
I thought I would share a review of my first session with Claire:
“What Claire did at the beginning was really nice, which was to prepare us all for the experience in doing some simple relaxing deep breathing exercises and some gentle self-massage to get us in that relaxed state for when we lay down on our backs snuggled up under a blanket, closing your eyes, and drifting away to the relaxing music started to play using various different instruments including the gong, Himalayan and crystal bowls, rainsticks and more.
It was a really divine experience. A piece of heaven. I really felt like I was able to drift away into a peaceful, blissful state, that nothing in the world could take away from you. It is such a great release from all the everyday stress and worries some or probably all of us experience to different degrees.
I felt like I could lie there for ages but after an hour and a half, I had to wake up! It was almost bedtime when it finished, ie 9.30pm, so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go to bed straight away but I was still tired as usual and slept really well that night”.
I’d definitely recommend Claire’s sound bath – she is based in Elstree, so for those of you who are local, do message me if you are interested in joining this session as I’d love for you to try it out in December before the chaos of Chanukah/Christmas kicks in and our diaries get overwhelmed with events and ticking off items on our to do lists, otherwise if you have an opportunity to find a lush sound bath near you, then that’s great, I hope I’ve inspired you to try out a new form of self-care.