Sound Bath: Definition and Benefits

A meditative practice, a sound bath promotes physical and mental well-being through sound waves. During a sound bath session, participants lay on their backs as the meditation teacher uses resonant instruments like crystal singing bowls, metal Tibetan singing bowls, chimes, tuning forks, or gongs to repeat notes at different frequencies. As overlapping sounds fill the room, participants enter a relaxed state that can result in health benefits like reduced blood pressure and improved mental health. Sound bath experiences vary, but some meditation teachers may also integrate breathwork, mantras, and other guided meditation techniques into the session.

Sound healing is an ancient practice for mindfulness and stress relief. For thousands of years, practitioners have believed that certain sound waves can clear negative energy in your body, which provides the mental clarity necessary for physical and mental healing. Today, you can likely find sound bath sessions at your local yoga studio or mindfulness center.

A sound bath can have positive effects on you. They can help with:

• Relaxation. During a sound bath, meditation teachers aim to bring your brain waves into a theta state—a state of deep relaxation detached from normal waking consciousness. This meditative experience helps you unplug from outside stimuli and anything internally causing stress. Participants often report reduced anxiety and depression after a sound bath session.
• Self-discovery. As you enter the theta state, you should experience stillness and clarity without the distractions of day-to-day life. This is an opportunity to reconnect with yourself. Your sound therapist may recommend you enter the sound bath session with certain intentions or questions you want to explore so that you can optimize your meditative state for self-care and healing.
• Physical health. Sound meditation is a stress-reduction technique that can lower your heart rate, calm your nervous system, and counteract the effects of stress on your body.

While both can improve mental health using musical instruments, a sound bath is not the same as music therapy. Music therapy involves a licensed therapist facilitating self-expression, emotional release, memory improvement, or other skills through music. A sound bath experience is a meditative practice that uses sound waves to promote deep relaxation. Though a sound therapist or meditation teacher will facilitate the sound bath session, the healing properties of sound therapy depend primarily on the participant’s mental state.

Find something comfortable to sit or lie on, grab a MasterClass Annual Membership, and dial into the present moment with Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of the Western mindfulness movement. From formal meditation exercises to examinations of the science behind mindfulness, Jon will prepare you for the most important practice of them all: life itself.