What’s a Sound Bath?
For starters, you won’t get wet and you’re not taking a bath. 🤪
A sound bath is a full body experience for the mind, body and spirit meant to offer space for healing, and relaxation. It has also been referred to as a form of meditation where you do nothing other than listen. They often last an hour or more.
Sound baths often begin with…
Things like journaling, discussion, setting of intentions, and maybe guided breathing/breath work to help you settle in.
You then lie down or sit up if you prefer.
You might be placed or choose to be in a restorative yoga pose using props like blankets, pillows or essential oils to enhance the experience.
Then, your only task is to close your eyes {or not} and simply listen to the sounds.
An array of sounds that include but are not limited to instruments such as crystal singing bowls, himalayan bowls, vocal tones, gongs, koshi chimes, shruti box, tuning forks and more.
The instruments pull you inward and away from other distractions. Even your own thoughts.
But it will not necessarily stop or cease thoughts. The sounds often encourage a deep state of relaxation that’s often difficult to achieve while being awake.
It’s much like hypnosis or guided yoga nidra meditation. It’s like you’re in a daydream.
And, science tells us that this relaxed state is healing.
You first hear sounds.
Your brain tunes in {pun intended}.
The science
Then the brain waves start to shift so they can match up with the sound waves {sound is energy} both sound and brain waves are measured in hertz {hz} and your often sporadic busy mind and brain waves start to slow down.
We go from busy betas to slower alpha, theta sometimes even delta.
Here’s a cool photo of what happens to your brainwaves and why that matters and is super cool.
“A full body experience and the best savasana I’ve ever had.”
This process is called “entrainment.” When your brain waves tune in and match to the pace of sound.
But it doesn’t end there.
Your body, which is made of a significant amount of water; {which is an excellent conductor of sound} also feels and experiences sound. It’s like your skin is a giant ear.
And since water is an excellent conductor of energy and sound is energy, the sound impacts your cells
So cool!
Cells shift and shape change when they hear sound.
It’s like your cells start to dance, literally and purge all that you need to let go of!
I love that visual btw.
Since cells are what make everything else up, bones, muscles, joints; you might feel the sound somewhere in your body that needs it.
Sound travels to where it needs to go.
”I once attended a sound bath with a broken toe and the entire time my toe was throbbing in pain. The second it was over the pain was gone.” - Me
The experience
Is often described as:
One of much needed deep relaxation
Renewal
Deep Relaxation
Feeling Nourished, energized, alert
A safe space to deal with and maybe process your feelings, emotions and physical stuff.
An opportunity to take time for yourself to actually pause in life
AFTER SOUND BATH
The effects last for days after, not just that hour.
I encourage you to drink twice as much water as you normally do as you can see the tremendous impact the sound bath has on your body {inside and out}. It’s like a detox without having to detox.
People say that they have found:
They sleep well that night even several nights after
They process and digest food better
Feel grounded, focused, calm
Feel unbothered, less stressed, patient and capable of handling daily triggers and stressors with greater ease
The benefits are endless.
TESTIMONIALS
““After my father passed away almost 3 years ago, a friend (Susannah) told me about your Soundbaths and how it helped her release and deal with her own sadness.
She told me that she would let the beautiful sounds rush over her and would find herself with tears streaming down her cheeks and afterwards feeling such peace. She thought it would help me to release some of my sadness and help with my healing process. I started my yoga practice 30 years ago to fill the emptiness over the break up of a long relationship so the idea of something else to release “that which does not serve me” sounded like something I might like.
Then you happened to sub a yoga class I was in one evening and ended with a brief Soundbath and I was overwhelmed with how like my friend said, the sounds reverberated through my body and seemed to shake out stuff that might have been stuck.
I felt so calm and at peace, it was like no other Savasana I had ever experienced.
I started signing up for every Jen Vagios Soundbath that was offered since and found that the full hour or more of Soundbath created a peace that lasted within me for days. I started bringing friends and family to join me.
One of my friends (Sitij) and I would joke that we needed “our Soundbath fix”, looking forward to the next opportunity. I started celebrating the moon, the year and Sankalpa with you. Once the world shut down, Soundbath was one of the things I missed terribly.
When you offered zoom Soundbath, I knew I would “come” but was afraid I’d be disappointed, that the sound wouldn’t rush over me...but thankfully it did and I found my peace. Thank you Jen for bringing me to a place where I can find peace and calmness from deep inside.” ”
“I really enjoyed the sound bath last Tuesday. I find it empowering, because it makes me feel more confident, like I can take whatever life throws at me. Overall, I have found the past two sound bath sessions such a positive experience and I really look forward to the next one. ”
“The sound bath was AMAZING!!!
I Love your sound bath and your voice”
“ I actually felt a bit woozy and ‘out of it’ after the sound bath. I fell asleep during part of it, and I definitely have that feeling after a nap. So that was part of the reason. I also haven’t been able to sleep much lately, and I was able to get a rare night of decent sleep afterwards. I felt like I was able to let go of some negativity/anger last week, so that was really good. I felt lighter and calmer.”
“I wanted to reach out and tell you I’m still absorbing the depths of my Sankalpa experience. I got a really clear vision that I’ve continued to nurture through the weeks.
I have been incorporating the Mudras into my daily meditation practice with beautiful, grounding effects.
Today I taught others about them !
Thank you so much for holding such a rich container for us. You are a special being, and I see you!
Love, hugs, sparkles”
VIDEO CLIPS from PAST EVENTS
This was the Annual Sankalpa + Sound Event at the Deepak Chopra Homebase {ABC carpet and Home} in NYC I accompanied with my teachers Alan and Sarah Finger along with Deepak.