Recently, I attended a peaceful 2-hour Restorative Yoga class at New Moon Yoga in Franklin. I love Restorative Yoga because it’s a chance to relax and unwind with other like minded wellness enthusiasts, yogis and professionals in the community who want to destress.
This particular class was even more lovely because our instructor, Robbie, included sound healing instruments and chakra balancing education as we calmly drifted into various restorative poses. There were about 10 of us lying in a circle on the shiny wood floor with our soft yoga mats, cozy blankets, supportive yoga blocks and cushy bolsters on a low key, rainy Friday evening.
My first experience with singing bowls and other fun sound spa gadgets was at a unique spa I worked at in FL a few years ago. The owner and a fellow massage therapist who also worked there excitedly showed up to the spa one day with various sound healing instruments and set me free with a few to experiment with during massage therapy sessions with my clients. I fell in love with the singing bowls immediately which seemed to put myself and my clients into a trance like state which intrigued me and later had me researching why this was happening. To my surprise, I found that sound instruments have an interesting affect on the brain which is why it is called "sound healing".
If you haven’t experienced it yet, sound healing consists of the immersion of sound vibrations and tones produced by instruments that may include gongs, singing bowls, chimes, rattles, wind instruments, and drums to help relax the mind and body. Robbie used just about all of these during our class that day.
According to Healthline, "singing bowls may produce binaural beats, encouraging brain waves that help us feel more relaxed, such as beta waves or trance-like theta waves, also known as “entrainment”, which is the stimulation of brain waves via pulsing sound (or light)”. So, it wasn’t (and apparently was) in my head that I felt like I was in that trance-like state at the spa in FL when I repeatedly placed the singing bowl mallet onto the bowl for each and every client (once I realized it had such a interesting affect on all) and circled it around the bowl so that it would make that high pitched vibration that quickly became as sweet as the scent of aroma therapy but rather a delicious sound to my ears. Healthline explains further that the reason why we love it is because the sound waves from the bowl “act on the energy field of the body causing it to reduce cortisol” which results in deep relaxation.
There is nothing quite as nice as combining so many of my favorite ways to relax and that class at New Moon Yoga did just that.
Stay tuned, I’ll be adding a sound instrument or 2 to the cozy A Knead for Wellness massage space as an additional way to relax and unwind!
Until then, book online at A Knead for Wellness to experience the most soothing hot stone or Swedish massage by me in Cool Springs!
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