Specialty in stress relief: my personal history with receiving sound baths and other restorative service
I have inadvertently developed a specialty in holding space for restorative modalities. I attribute this to my feverish search of receiving them since my early twenties plus providing safe space for direct care as a registered nurse.
My personal history and connection with restorative modalities:
Yin yoga was my first exposure to feeling restful while awake, a sense of spaciousness and peace; a palpable reset in the day. At that time, it was a potent antidote to how I was living with a compressed schedule of long work hours and even longer running miles. This experience of wakeful relaxation completely revolutionized my awareness. I didn’t know that life could be lived with ease. Particularly the principle of Wei wu Wei, non-doing, or effortless action, stuck out to me. This is the notion that everything is happening for us and all we have to do is rest, be and receive it. We do not need to frantically search or worry. All we need to do is tend within and trust. This way of being has greatly and gratefully influenced & impacted my path now and for the rest of my days. Needless to say, I committed routinely to this practice to access the deep restorative benefit found in the stillness and silence.
Next would come the introduction to soundbaths. In Autumn of 2013, I was invited to a 2-hour blindfolded gong bath led by Mitch Nur of 9ways Academia. It was an earth shattering and transformational to the depths of my consciousness. From then on, I sought those mind-altering sound experiences from Tibetan chanting to, what supported my nursing journey the most, private sound sessions from a dear friend, Jennifer of now Shanteel Yoga Sanctuary in Sellersville. I became ravenous for these pauses, resets, mini breaks from the day-to-day; to dip out and into my subconsciousness, the land of spaciousness and peace.
In this mass exploration, I discovered rather quickly how valuable it is to be selective about from whom to receive and what to attend. Not all soundbaths, yin yoga classes or restorative modality of any kind private or ground, are created equally. It does not matter how much someone has spent on their instruments. If their intention is not pure; if the connection isn’t there; if the quality of technique and relationship to what sound truly is, is missing: you, as the receiver, will feel it. And if you are hypersensitive like I am, you will feel it deeply and painfully and not initially understand that it is not yours. The boundaries when receiving become very blurred and that can feel, and is under these circumstances, dangerous. With that awareness (even if it is only subconscious), sensation of pain and ultimately lack of a sense of security, you will not be able to reach any depth of relaxation.
Obviously, no one is perfect, every one is on their journey and has to start somewhere. There is no shame here. We are all doing our best. In my personal experience, I seriously desired (and continue to desire) to understand what made a safe, restful space for deep relaxation. The experience of receiving and also providing safe space for direct care as a nurse helped me to see and understand the role of space-holder with clarity. Look out for blog Foundations for Sensitive Facilitation highlighting what I have discovered to be fundamental attributes of exceptional space holding.
