Rinse Off the Noise
How Sound Baths Soothe the Mind and Body
Does your mind ever feel like it’s stuck on overdrive and is ::
unable to focus for long periods of time, or
constantly racing with a never-ending stream of thoughts, or
refusing to slow down, even when your body is still?
If this resonates with you, please know that it resonates for a reason, and you’re not alone!
What if instead of resonating with stress responses, you could resonate with having a stable nervous system and an inner tranquility? Imagine if you could shift the patterns your brain responds to, moving from stress to serenity by simply changing its frequency.
The harsh reality ::
Our brains contain millions of neurons that respond to the sounds around us everyday. If the sounds we hear are simply compressed vibrations, then the experiences we have in sound form translate to “something edible” for our brains to digest and adapt to. An example… if you constantly receive soundbites of arguing, loud noises, traffic, and other disruptive frequencies, then these chaotic sounds encourage increased levels of cortisol and put you at risk for a dysregulated nervous system due to these reverberations. While this is the harsh reality we must come to terms with, it is not the only one that we exist in.
Turning chaos into calm ::
Although this reality can be disheartening, since often times, the daily sounds that we take in are out of our control, there is also a dimension of beauty to explore. Sensitive as our brains might be to disruptions, our brains also respond when we wrap ourselves in tenderness and provide respite from the chaos.
This opens up the opportunity to make empowered choices, by providing the space for our bodies and brains to reset from the unavoidable disruptions we experience daily. As yoga practitioners and wellness enthusiasts, we often turn to our daily yoga or meditation practices. These powerful tools help us refine our inner systems each day, maintaining a routine that keeps us balanced and centered. Like a daily shower to cleanse us of the dirt and grime collected just from being in the world.
How often do you slow down really ::
Truly, how often do you slow down to immerse yourself in a bathtub (if you’re so fortunate to even have one), allow the water to fill up around you, watch the bubbles grow, feel the aches of your body be soothed, and listen to the rhythmic trickle of the faucet. Sound baths transcend our daily routines, offering a brief but profound inner retreat. They offer your body an opportunity to settle into deep, restorative rest. Do you ever wish that you could give the grooves of your brain a massage, or a little scrub between the intricacies of your mental space? A sound bath is exactly what you need if this is your desire.
A bath for your brain
::
A bath for your brain ::
Imagine that you step into an atmosphere that immediately invites you to surrender and allows you to sink into the floor beneath you, sonically embracing your entire body and brain. Starting from the ground up, the sounds build and grow into an all-encompassing sonic liquid that imbues your being with ancient tones. Something deep within you resonates with these primal frequencies that calm your mind and soothe your soul. Is it the resonance that so many generations before us have drank from these primal pools of sounds? As you settle deeper into this sonic realm, the vibrations dissolve the boundaries between your physical body and mental landscape.
The return to… what exactly ::
The deep tones vibrate and reverberate through the cells of your body, creating a gentle hum that syncs with your breath, your heartbeat, and eventually, with your mind. As your mind comes into harmony, the nervous system is relieved of the gripping and is lulled into safety, releasing hormones that permeate your cells. This delicate dance of harmony is one that invites you to remember how to return to safety, how to find equilibrium, and that normalizes this state of being within your body rolodex of recollection. As with most practices of this nature, the science is often only a complementary component to the necessary aspect of immersive experience.
The invitation is set from ancient days, and it is simply our choice and responsibility to accept. So roll out your mat, find your sound bath facilitator (if you are local in Long Beach, we’d love to have you :) click here for details about our monthly events!), and welcome your nervous system back to balance.
// source references //
[1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003682X19308679#:~:text=Research%20has%20shown%20that%20noise,different%20stress%20hormones%2C%20including%20cortisol.
[2] https://www.aboutgong.com/post/the-science-of-gong-baths
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ZBJT7KMOs&ab_channel=TheWallStreetJournal
[4] FreedOhm Wellness 200hr YTT curriculum