The Best Virtual Sound Baths to Ease Coronavirus Anxieties
As many of us in the United States are reaching the one-month mark of COVID-19 quarantine, navigating the new array of digital mindfulness programming for anxiety relief is beginning to trigger its own anxiety. Yoga studios have migrated online; inboxes teem with invitations to breathwork Zooms and streamed full-moon circles; Instagram is suddenly a visual hotline for anti-fear meditations and gurus’ monologues about what it all means. Is it possible, though, to heal without having to stare at a screen? One modality in particular has proven so well suited to streaming that it’s a surprise it was never really a thing before: the virtual sound bath, or sound meditation.
Until last month, sound healing was generally regarded as an analog, IRL-only experience: a group would gather for an hour on blankets or mats with eyes closed, preferably in a visually transportive or acoustically noteworthy location, as a live human played bowls, gongs, and other esoteric instruments chosen for their resonance—sounds you can actually feel. In those cases, “the waves are bouncing around the walls, ceiling, and floors, but also moving around and through you,” explains Brooklyn-based sound healer Nate Martinez, who directs the sound healing program for New York meditation startup MNDFL (which offers them through its MNDFL TV platform) and who will soon begin offering baths for yoga studio Sky Ting’s online channel. “What happens with a lot of people is that it’s a full-being experience.”
That, it goes without saying, is a lot to ask of a Bluetooth speaker. But even through a digital signal, binaural beats (sounds that consist of two frequencies that produce a third) and other resonances utilized in sound healing have the power to entrain brainwaves to a different frequency, causing the listener to drop into a more relaxed state. “When people are able to untether the mind a bit,” Martinez says, “a lot of physiological effects begin to happen, even if they’re not in that physical space.”
Some practitioners were already exploring the format long before the term social distancing entered the lexicon. Los Angeles–based sound healer Susy Markoe Schieffelin first offered a virtual bath in 2018 when the Malibu fires made a planned outdoor event impossible; after a hundred enrollees registered from around the world, she decided to broadcast them regularly. Josh Peck, a recording engineer who runs sound-healing space the Dojo Upstate with his wife Eliza, had been trying to perfect a multi-channel audio capture device modeled after the spatial configuration of the human head when the lockdown began; he quickly rushed it into service. There’s even a sound experience from Iris, a London-based startup that incorporates a proprietary algorithm into its audio signaling to, the company claims, create neurological stimulation, exercising the brain to improve focus and performance.
In other words, a sound bath, even a virtual one, boasts benefits far beyond inducing naptime (though that’s invaluable these days too). Martinez’s live Zoom for MNDFL lulled me into a near-narcotic mood that lasted for hours, while the Dojo Upstate’s prerecorded stream (for which the owners recommend headphones, though I opted for the surround sound in my parked car) could have almost been a live serenade, and blissfully transmuted the tension in my body. In the context of this biblical-feeling moment, the sounds, as my subconscious understood them, seemed like reassuring transmissions from the divine—a framework for connecting to something bigger than the news, a cosmic narrative that I could feel rather than intellectualize.
In a sense, it’s meditation for those who haven’t quite been able to deep-dive with other types of meditation, which is why some practitioners actually call it that. “The term ‘bath’ suggests more of a passive engagement, but where the actual transformation is possible is in the listening, observing, choosing to engage, exploring the feelings,” says Peck.
And there’s another upside to the in-home format: “You don’t have to drive home afterward,” Markoe Schieffelin says. She points out that the quarantine has prompted her fans to design new dedicated zones for experiencing the sessions at home—and, it follows, design new habits. “Those home meditation spaces will last after the quarantine,” she says. “After making this a part of your daily life for this period, you’ll create neural pathways in your brain that say, ‘Okay, this is something I do now.’”
Here, some sound healings that deserve space on your calendar of digital engagements.
Nate Martinez / MNDFL
New York’s go-to sound healer is a busy man these days, between his residency with Manhattan mindfulness startup MNDFL and his own practice. Between the two, he’s hosting several live and downloadable sound experiences per week, which incorporate gongs, bowls, shruti boxes, and the sound of his own voice.
The Dojo Upstate
Husband-and-wife duo Eliza and Josh Peck broadcast an hourlong experience every Sunday from their circular ceremony space, which features a unique binaural audio capture device designed to “really make it feel like you’re in the room with us,” Eliza says. That room is also the shape of a perfect circle, with a 22-channel input, making it a particularly rich sonic experience. The experience streams on the site for a week afterward and is free (donations are encouraged).
The Copper Vessel
L.A.-based sound healer Susy Markoe Schieffelin is offering near daily virtual sound baths and sound meditations for livestreaming or listening after the fact. Some sessions combine the sound with a kundalini practice, while all include a dose of Reiki energy—Schieffelin is a certified master—to magnify their healing impact.
Iris
Ibiza-based sound healer Jeremie Quidu has conducted a special sound bath experience for the audio technology company, run through its neurologically stimulating sound software. Could a session leave you smarter as well as more relaxed? Tune in to find out.
Secular Sabbath
Normally an in-person, all-night experience (that’s taken place from Joshua Tree to Mexico City), Secular Sabbath has curated a YouTube channel that hosts sound baths among other offerings that range from Diplo-endorsed playlists to restorative yoga livestreams.
Sara Auster
The healer who wrote the book on sound baths (quite literally—her recent title is called Sound Bath) is hosting her own on Instagram Live every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
