Courtesy Natalie Valle

The world is inching towards normalcy, yet the stress and anxieties we’ve picked up along the way continue to cling to us as tenaciously as those pesky pandemic pounds. Well what if a bath, a sound bath, could rinse away our worries and maybe some aches and pains? Despite its name, there’s no need to get undressed or wet — this practice has nothing to do with actual bathing but rather utilizes sound and vibration (not water) to cleanse us of stress and bring back our balance. Charlize Theron, Kendall Jenner and Adele (who incorporated it into her post-divorce regime) are all devotees. And if gorgeous, glowing Adele 2.0 is a result of sound bathing — SIGN.ME.UP.

Although it has all the attributes of a trendy, New Age wellness modality, it would be a mistake to dismiss this as just another fad. Sound or vibrational therapy is one of the most ancient forms of healing. It’s been used for centuries by multiple cultures around the world for the treatment of both mental and physical maladies — from Aristotle’s ancient Greece to Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. Natalie Valle, a multi-disciplinary healer with a focus on sound healing, reiki and meditation at Unplug in Los Angeles attributes its increased popularity on the world’s collective experience of the past few years. “With quarantine and being stuck inside people reflected on areas of their lives that are not working, their anxieties and stressors and the lack of self-care and self-nourishing,” says Valle. “People are curious and are seeking things that can help them.”

The benefits of sound bathing are said to extend beyond relaxation explains Valle. In fact, she says it’s credited with offering deeper healing benefits that range from increasing creativity and focus, reducing chronic stress, depression and anxiety, to alleviating high blood pressure, sleep deprivation and physical pain. “And at a more esoteric level it can facilitate connecting with your higher self, with the spirit, with the universe,” Valle says. “It can cultivate a deeper connection with yourself, and that is really beautiful.”

To achieve this, Valle uses a variety of instruments including quartz and metal singing bowls, gongs, tuning forks, chimes and cymbals amongst others to produce repetitive notes and different vibrational frequencies. Scientifically this works through brainwave entrainment which is basically a synchronization of simultaneously vibrating frequencies. Through entrainment the vibrations that are produced in a sound bath can influence our brain waves to slow down. “When we turn off the thinking mind, we drop into the subconscious…into the deep meditative states where you are just present. You are not thinking, you are not doing, you are just fully in the present moment,” explains Valle. “And sound bath can help us get there. It’s so, so powerful.”

Courtesy Natalie Valle

Providing both physiological and psychological effects, each person will have different experiences during a session. The vibrations and sounds stimulate our energy centers, or chakras, through the triad of physical, emotional and spiritual healing, to bring the receiver into balance. The instruments’ frequencies guide most participants into a relaxed state — ranging from flat out sleep to a trance-like state hovering between slumber and wakefulness. Sound baths, however, can also release issues lurking in our subconscious, evoking intense emotions resulting in cathartic crying and even sadness. “I’ve had people giggle during sound baths,” says Valle. “I’ve had people just straight-up cry.”

Since the bath amplifies your current situation, an individual can have a different experience whether it is their first or 50th. “It’s really a great way to work through stuff you are going through,” says Valle. “Or again, to just relax — it’s like surrendering to just relaxing which in today’s modern society so many people find hard to do.” She recommends setting an intention for yourself before each session. It can be very specific or general such as an intention to be open to whatever you are meant to receive. “This will allow you to get the most out of your sound bath,” she explains, “You set the tone for the whole experience to be really intentional, to be really present.”

With all the distractions of the modern world, staying present may pose the biggest challenge of all. So, if you’ve tried meditation and find your monkey mind jumping about, you may find it easier to reach a meditative state during a sound bath. “It’s a passive way of doing the work in terms of taking care of yourself and taking care of your mental health,” says Valle who refers to sound baths as a “gateway to meditation.”

Though diehards like Valle may participate in hours-long sound baths, a typical bathing session lasts from 20 minutes to an hour. Valle recommends incorporating a weekly or monthly session to your routine.
“If you can figure out a way to have some form of mindfulness practice every day it doesn’t have to be a sound bath,” she says. “That is going to change your life tremendously.”

Now dip your toe into the proverbial water — the only thing you have to lose is your stress.