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.
I just wanted to share details about this Jewish book I have started to read to my son called “A Time to Hope” by PJ Library. It’s a really lovely book for kids.
I went to a 
Singing is such an uplifting and spiritual experience for me which I why I was curious to try out 
I was listening to this
It’s October 7th today. It’s now been a year.
A year of still being shocked to my core by those people who choose to stand on the side of evil by standing against Israel and the peace it stands for. Not realising the sacrifices Israel is making for the West in eliminating the evil in the Middle East that threatens the security of Israel but also eventually, the security of the West. Even after the deadly missile attacks by Iran, knowing full well they are behind all the attacks on Israel and are determined to wipe Israel off the map – and all the Jews off the planet too if they have their way. Still frustrated after a year that there are still so many ignorant people – even after so much truth has been put out there – who prefer to be sucked into the lies and Jew hate instead.
A year of getting my head around how the Jewish people who have suffered so much trauma can bring so much light to the world. The courage of the Holocaust survivors who are suffering now as they didn’t imagine they would witness another one in their lifetime. The courage of the Nova survivors to tell their story to the world about what they endured. The brave, young soldiers who left their families to fight in the war not knowing if they are going to come out of it alive. The grief of all those families, those children who are learning to live now without their mum or dad, or neither parent. Those people who were torn apart on that awful day and lost their entire families. I still can’t believe that such evil exists on this planet. At a peace festival. How could this be.
A year of holding onto hope that Israel can bring more light upon the nations of the world despite all that has happened. Of hoping that Israel and the Jewish people can persuade all those who are against them that they have gotten it all wrong and not to believe all the lies and propaganda in the press and social media.
A year of holding onto hope and praying that Israel can destroy the evil that has been bestowed upon them once and for all knowing that G-d is behind us.
A year of enlightenment, of realising that despite the atrocities of this year, in ways I can’t yet comprehend, that G-d is with us doing his best to protect us from the evil that is on our planet right now.
We are the Jewish people, and we aren’t going anywhere!!! We are just as human as everyone else and have every right to live peacefully on this planet. Any Jewish person alive today is a walking miracle, and over the past year, I really do believe this and am so grateful for all the values I hold that make us who we are, the special traditions we have, and moreover the love we have for life and bringing ourselves joy. I cannot be prouder of my Jewish roots, more than ever before.
Dancing to this music this morning in memory of the beautiful souls lost on October 7th in Israel. It very randomly came up on YouTube but it was such a perfect choice of song to listen to.
One of my friends told me about a Lighthouse she visited in London today that contains a Longplayer that basically houses a large collection of singing bowls – normally an instrument used in the sound baths I have experienced until now, which are very relaxing. I love this instrument!
Last night, I went to a talk last night in Edgware, North London about neurodiversity with Ashley Blaker and Gemma Blaker, and guess what song I heard on the radio on my way home 🤔
Thought I would share a