How Sound Baths Are Revolutionizing Healing + How To Try One For Yourself

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September 27, 2021 — 22:05 PM

Sound bathing (also sometimes called “sound meditation” or “sound therapy”) is the practice of mindfully listening to different sounds that help relax the body and mind.

As sound therapist and meditation teacher, Sara Auster explains to mbg, sound baths provide an immersive, full-body listening experience “that can bring balance, relaxation, and a sense of calm to your whole being.”

Unlike certain meditations or breathwork practices, sound baths don’t involve much guidance. Instead, they call on the audience to be present and listen. You can either attend an in-person sound bath (usually in a group setting) or listen to audio at home.

You can create a sound bath experience using many different instruments. Auster, for example, plays “singing bowls, tuning forks, gongs, and other overtone-emitting instruments to stimulate the alpha and theta brain waves,” Auster explains.

When you settle in for your sound bath, Auster notes, you lay down, perhaps get cozy with a blanket and an eye mask, and allow stillness to wash over you. “You feel completely off duty—as if getting ready for sleep,” she explains, adding, “Your body has permission to slow down and rest, to receive without the need to respond or react.”

From there, the sounds begin to provide a stable frequency for fluctuating brain waves to latch onto, in a process known as entrainment.

“By using rhythm and frequency,” sound therapy practitioner Nate Martinez previously wrote for mbg, “we can entrain our brainwaves and it then becomes possible to down-shift our normal beta state (normal waking consciousness) to alpha (relaxed consciousness), and even reach theta (meditative state) and delta (sleep; where internal healing can occur).”

“As sound slows the heart and respiratory rate,” Auster adds, “it can also create a therapeutic and restorative effect on the mind and body.”

Auster explains that sound baths are “are an invitation into a deeper state of consciousness, an opportunity to unplug from external stimuli and to gain perspective of what’s going on within you.”

By accessing brain waves like alpha and theta, we’re able to reach states similar to those achieved in meditation.

And of course, if nothing else, sound baths present the opportunity to relax and recharge. “Many participants have sent notes [to me] expressing that these sound baths have provided a deep rest and release that they haven’t been able to find on their own,” Auster tells mbg.

They provide a chance to “power down your phone, get quiet, and listen without the need to consciously respond or react,” she adds.

And if you opt for the at-home sound bath route, get your recording ready, lay down somewhere comfortable (yes, even on your bed!), and prepare to relax. Dim the lights, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and let yourself become immersed in the sounds. Headphones or quality speakers are recommended, but work with what you’ve got.

Lastly, you can consider getting your own instruments to experiment with different sound therapies yourself, whether you invest in a singing bowl, chimes, or gongs.