Mike Reed, founder of Sound Quest, a company that provides sound baths on the West Coast of B.C.Supplied
Paul Constable had tried acupuncture and reiki and mud massage in his quest to relax and destress, but when the Toronto-based actor – you might know him as Gary from the Canadian Tire commercials – tried a sound bath, it proved to be the transformative experience he was looking for.
“It just blew me away, what I was feeling. And I left feeling just happier, you know, lifted,” he says. He now goes to at least one a month at a Toronto studio near his home.
Sound baths – also known as sound therapy, sound immersion and sound healing – are becoming a very popular wellness trend thanks to their promise of blissed out tranquillity. For people living busy, not to mention noisy lives, the sessions that feature crystal bowls, gongs, chimes and other soothing instruments offer the chance to relax and enter meditative states. It’s good vibes only, although science still has a way to go to explain just how sound baths work.
“We do know that a sound bath elicits the relaxation response in the body, which counters the fight-or-flight response,” says Tamara Goldsby, a research psychologist at the University of California, San Diego. Goldsby’s research has shown sound baths can significantly reduce tension, as well as helping reduce anxiety, depressed mood and anger. “Aside from the relaxation response, we only have theories at this point regarding the reasons for the benefits of sound baths.”
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Usually held in dimly lit rooms where people lie on mats with pillows under their heads and perhaps a blanket on top of them, sound baths frequently use breath work and guided meditation to accompany their main feature – the vibrations of the instruments.
The low frequencies produced by sound-bath instruments are used to treat a range of issues, says Heidi Ahonen, a professor of music therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University.
“Music therapists like me are using it to reduce muscle tension and stress and treat people who suffer from insomnia because it brings this sensation of calm, peace and clarity of mind.”
Reed says sound baths calm your nervous system down consistently.Supplied
Most people enter a state of deep relaxation, some people fall asleep, while for others it may prompt an outpouring of emotions, says Julie Cook, founder of Energy With Julie, a Toronto-based studio that offers sound baths.
“You can have breakthroughs and revelations, epiphanies or just, you know, emotions start to flow,” she says.
For those curious to try a sound bath from home, there are multiple videos on YouTube. Some of them have millions of views, proving just how popular sound therapy is becoming.
But those videos are only an approximation of the real thing, Goldsby cautions.
“While it may be relaxing to just lay down and listen to sounds, it definitely is not the same experience as a live sound bath. There is no vibrational component in a YouTube video because the sound is coming through an electronic device and the vibration of the musical instruments cannot be felt,” she says.
Science may not be able to explain exactly how they work, but that isn’t stopping people from flocking to sound-bath sessions.
“It’s one of our most popular classes on the entire schedule,” says Harrison Taylor, co-founder of Othership, a wellness studio with two locations in Toronto.
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“It can really dial us into a state of deep presence,” he says. “Your logical, analytical mind isn’t firing like it always is during normal waking states and you find yourself almost in a haze, in a daydream.”
Kathy Lidder, a 34-year-old in White Rock, B.C., who recently left her job in banking to pursue a career in wellness, discovered sound healing when she was told it helps with inflammation. At the time she was dealing with asthma and eczema. She thought, why not?
She now attends sound-bath sessions about once a month and says they have helped address both her asthma and eczema, and much more.
“Aside from those tangible health problems, it just changes everything,” she says. “Your personality shifts. You become less reactive. I became a better listener. I found myself just starting to listen more in my personal conversations.”
Reported benefits of sound baths extend beyond reducing tension, anger and depressed mood to even helping with inflammation.Supplied
Mike Reed, founder of Sound Quest, a company that provides sound baths on the West Coast of B.C., says these kinds of changes are not uncommon.
“You’re calming your nervous system down consistently. You’re calming the waters of your mind. And therefore, you can interface with the world from a more creative, calm and clear place,” he says.
And yes, the talk of chakras and theta waves you’re bound to encounter in the world of sound baths might make some roll their eyes, but that isn’t stopping a diverse range of people from seeking out sound-bath bliss.
“I’ve seen the full spectrum of society at my events. You can have Bob the Golfer and you can have Rainbow the Hippie in the same room,” Reed says.
For his part, Constable says he doesn’t need to understand exactly how sound baths work to know that they do.
“Whatever those vibrations are, it’s like tuning a guitar. They tune me to a better place,” he says. “It’s like when you eat a chocolate-chip cookie. I don’t really need to know how it’s made as long as it tastes great, you know?”