Tips to support your first or routine group soundbath experience
Here are some tips + awarenesses to make the most of your first journey in a public setting or refine your current routine.
I have been facilitating sound immersion/soundbaths for almost 4 years now. I have cultivated this list based off of observations from and repeat inquiries following public, group sessions. Please come-and-go with this blog. It is not intended to overwhelm, but rather bolster and inform your first experience so you may achieve the highest outcome for your wellbeing.
Arrive early for space and time to settle in.
Especially if you are unfamiliar with the lay of the land. Giving yourself the opportunity to settle-in beforehand deepens your restoration. When someone arrives right when it starts or just a little after, generally they are arriving with a state of panic, stress, fight-or-flight. It takes significantly longer to wind down from that place and thus prevents one from reaching the depths of rest and relaxation. Not to mention, it is respectful to all others that have invested in their whole-being wellness. Arrive early, settle-in deeper.
Err on the side of extra comfort.
Your physical support is vital for optimizing the benefits received from the sound immersion. Bring extra blankets, pillows and bolstering. Generally, these sessions are offered places with hard flooring. It is amazing how uncomfortable it is on the body to lie on the hard floor even within 60-90 minutes. I generally recommend to bring a yoga mat or portable mattress pad, 2 blankets (one for between you and the floor and one to cover), a pillow for under your head plus a bolster and an eye pillow (this is more for cancelling out the external so you can fall deeper into relaxation). Be cushy!! Bring and do what you know will make you comfortable. This will optimize your energetic receiving. You will want to cushion yourself so that you are able to release deeper into rest and digest states.
Attend your first group soundbath solo.
This is an important one. When we attend a soundbath with a loved one, especially when we have invited them because we are so excited and curious and want to share the experience or feel nervous attending alone, we show up in “host mode”. You may begin to worry about their experience, especially if you sense they aren’t settling-in. This pulls you out from being able to go within yourself and your own restoring journey. You will not achieve your deepest potential with your first session. If you are excited and strongly feeling called to sound as a holistic modality, you will very likely surrender to a high degree. You deserve the initial powerful, transformational effect that your first soundbath can bring. The journey within is innately a solo one.
Do not be hard on yourself if your mind is racing with thoughts for your first one.
If you are attending a soundbath for the benefit of relieving anxiety, do not be discouraged if your mind isn’t wiped clean the first one. We are in a demanding society with an overwhelming amount of tasks requiring our attention here and there. One soundbath is not going to instantaneously clear those thoughts. It is possible in glimpses, but sometimes it takes more routine frequency (i.e. a weekly or bi-weekly regiment depending on level of anxiety). Relaxation is a muscle. The more frequently you receive sound and vibrational immersion, especially in a private session, the benefits will accumulate and you are effectively activating that muscle. With each session, it becomes easier to settle down. Each time, you will go deeper.
It is common to feel fleeting agitation and discomfort with certain sounds, but more likely than not you will not routinely experience this.
Emotional release is a normal way that the body’s intelligence processes out stagnancy in deeper layers of our subconscious. If you have experienced this for your first session, that is excellent! You are clearing out and making space for your highest potential. Certain sounds may elicit certain responses within the body that may feel alarming or unwelcome. Remember that sometimes sound immersion is also called a “sound journey”. The way I personally facilitate is moving from sound-to-sound, each tone and instrument shifting the journey and adding a new layer of awareness. The shifting of the sound releases the hold on that sensation.
You are likely not asleep even though you are breathing rhythmically in a way that resembles snoring.
If you have reached the space in-between wakefulness and sleep for your first session, congratulations! You have achieved theta brainwave state, which is the brainwave frequency just above sleep (delta) where deep cellular repair and restoration may take place. This causes rhythmic breathing and releases that you may hear but be so deeply “under” in a twilight place that you are unable to move. I have observed when a recipient is peacefully in this place, it allows others to entrain or sync up to that frequency. You are therefore a catalyst to helping the room along to the deeper space! Unless, of course, you are loudly and disruptively snoring, which happens and must not be shamed either as it is involuntary and part of one’s journey. If you know that about yourself (snore factor) a private session is appropriate and sensitive to the group dynamic. Funky breathing patterns and sounds are signs for rejoice: you have reached the ultimate destination for nervous system rewiring!
Every soundbath will be different.
The first one can be life-changing, powerful and impacting. A lot of times as adults, we do not remember not having a chattery mind and reaching such effortless states of inner peace and stress relief. The next session hones-in on what the first session starts and therefore may be more subtle in its impact. Every moment our body has different needs. When we receive sound and vibration, the intelligence of our being instinctively utilizes the frequencies to optimize and restore what needs it. One session may be visceral and physically sensational; another visual and dreamy; another inwardly connected and processing. Expect the unexpected each time. Be open and surrender to the magical mystery of your world within!
Courtesies for yourself and all attending:
Silence your phone or better yet, leave in the car.
Use the bathroom beforehand
Reposition yourself mindfully and quietly, so as not to disrupt the experience for others
Be open to your unique experience and ENJOY!!
