Sound Bathing in Northumberland

Picture yourself lying face up on a table. You are fully clothed and covered by a warm blanket. The lights are dim. You ease up on your thoughts.

Singing bowls are skillfully struck around you. And you let yourself be bathed by the intense vibrations.

You can try sound bathing (also called Singing Bowl Sound Therapy) at Shantee Healing in Port Hope, about an hour's drive east of Toronto, in Northumberland County. 

Shantee Healing’s spa owner Jas Dhillon is a reiki master and personal empowerment coach. Jas partners with other holistic practitioners to offer this treatment as a 30-minute session.

How Sound Bathing Can Feel

At Shantee Healing, the treatment room is warm, with a massage-style table in the centre. The bed is made up with purple linens and a hand-stitched top blanket.

Before beginning, Colleen – the reiki master who conducts my session – offers a few of her essential oil mixtures for me to breathe in. I’m immediately drawn towards the first one, with a slightly sweet but earthy, woody aroma. Then she selects some small quartz crystals (energy amplifiers) from her collection.

I breathe in the blend of frankincense, cinnamon, myrrh and cloves. She reminds me that there is ground under me, holding me, and that I should just let it support me while she places crystals on my key chakra areas. I close my eyes.

Colleen uses her padded striker to create the bowl’s vibrations.

Once struck, the waves from the first singing bowl resonate in my left ear. Colleen then slowly circles around my head, sounding each bowl, one after the other. A different tone relays where one bowl ends and the other begins, the sound travelling through my mind, very clearly – just as waves would rise and then ebb away. With that, and with my breath, I am guided to let my mind flow. And surprisingly it does.

With my eyes closed, I imagine velvet light in waves. And when a smaller bowl is struck with sounds that resonate in a higher pitch, I feel emotion well up in me.

More sounds. More gongs. Different, powerful and beautiful tones.

More velvety light. A soft haze.

I’m aware of the waves. More gongs running into one another. Different tonal values that bend and blend together one after another. Is this a meditative state? How can it be? I’m just a beginner.

And then there’s a soft silence, a bit of recorded music in the background. Colleen tells me to breathe deeply, in and out again. Even more deeply than before. With her hands about a foot above my body she’s sensing areas of more and less heat and explaining her findings, which definitely intrigue me.

Stepping Into the Bowl – More than Ankle Deep

I then lift the blankets and move off the table over to the largest singing bowl on the floor. In my bare feet, I take a big step into it. Colleen steadies me. Then she gongs this “senior” bowl at each quarter around its circumference. The sounds are lower than those resonating from the other singing bowls.

Standing tall, I feel the vibrations run through me, from the soles of my feet up my core, to the tip of my head.

I feel very grounded, very rooted in my feet. I step out of the bowl. 

Colleen explains that in this treatment I’m an instrument absorbing the sound vibrations, not only with my ears, but with my body. She says, “The simplest way of communicating with the cells of our bodies is through vibration.”

She escorts me downstairs to sip some water. I relax for a few minutes. My mind is quiet. I don’t hear any reverberations of the sound, no ringing in my ears. I stand up again, and the ground is still.  

Then I leave, feeling a little lighter in my thoughts.

More About Singing Bowls?

You might have heard a singing bowl struck in a yoga session, to frame or guide the quiet savasana portion.

These bowls, with origins dating back thousands of years, are a kind of standing bell often used in Tibetan Buddhist meditation.

Instead of being hung upside down and then struck, the bowl sits upright and a wooden mallet is used to strike the rim of the bowl to create vibrations. With different techniques, and the use of different “gonger” tools, the results are desirable “singing” sounds. Most singing bowls are made of bell metal, an alloy of copper and tin, but they can be made from up to seven different metals, each metal associated with a planet.

Why All the Noise About Sound Bathing

As noted in British Vogue, Kendall Jenner, Charlize Theron, Precious Lee, and the Duchess of Sussex have each embraced sound therapy to some extent or another. The methods are varied, and also disputed. But more and more, bespoke sound bathing or “sound bath” sessions are being sought after by those who want to try sound therapy to work through stress or anxiety.

This growing practice is also known as sound massage since noise and vibration replace human touch. These vibrations are frequencies that can be felt in our bodies and energy fields. In Slovenia, northeast of Italy, wellness resorts in seaside towns like Piran offer many varied sound bathing treatments.

Group sound bath classes are also becoming popular. They can be conducted in yoga spaces, with participants lying on mats, much as they would do during savasana or resting pose.

The benefits of sound therapy and sound meditation are reinforced by Alexandre Tannous. He’s an ethnomusicologist from Columbia University who has spent more than 20 years researching the properties of sound. He states his work has given him an understanding of how sound “reveals and unlocks hidden powers we have within us to promote profound inner changes and healing.”

The Benefits of Sound Bathing

According to sound bath practitioners like Avery Whitmore, while in relaxation mode, your brainwaves can involuntarily change to match the sound, which can bring you into a meditative or dreamlike state. Overall, health benefits can include:

• Calming your body and mind
• Reducing stress and anxiety
• Decreasing tension and fatigue
• Reducing feelings of anger
• Easing certain types of pain
• Boosting your mood
• Improving sleep
• Elevating feelings of spiritual well-being

What to Know Before You Go

• Have the desire to breathe deeply.
• You don't need any experience with meditation. But come with an open mind, and the will to relax and breathe deeply. Jas says that the results differ from person to person "depending on various factors including mental and psychic receptivity of a person towards the healing process.”
• Wear loose, layered clothing.
• This is your own personal session so be as comfortable as possible. Blankets will keep you warm during the session.
• Allow an hour or more.
• Plan to spend 30 minutes in the session, and 20 minutes before to complete your pre-therapy questionnaire and prepare for your session, and some time afterwards to relax and drink some water.
• Most treatment rooms are located on the second floor.
• The spa building is a renovated century home. There is a solid railing to help with climbing stairs to the second floor, but no elevator. If stairs can be an issue, discuss this when booking.

Look into a salt cave experience

You may want to also book time to relax in Shantee's salt cave. Made from six tonnes of Polish pink salt, this space has been designed to re-create the microclimate of an underground salt mine. It offers an interesting experience in halotherapy while you are in the neighbourhood.

Outline anything exceptional about your own health upon booking your appointment. Sound bathing may need to be avoided for certain medical conditions. Understand the precautions, and expect to sign a spa waiver before your treatment.

Northumberland County offers a number of wide-ranging wellness experiences. Follow this link for more details.

By Heather Starke 

(Heather is a journalist who has worked in the news, education and lifestyle fields. She can also be found exploring the world of wellness in Northumberland County.)