Once an ancient ritual designed to foster communal healing, the experience is taking a digital-focusedand solitaryturn.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
Wind chimes and gongs reverberate throughout the softly-lit room, and words of calming meditation flow through the air.
Thats the mind-body-soul noise submersion of a sound bathat least as Western culture has come to define it.
The baseline conceptthat sound is healinghowever, dates back centuries.
[Its] ingrained in the human experience to be rhythmic and want to enter into an altered state.
For starters, there are nocrystals.
There is no sit-in-a-circle-and-soak-up-your-neighbors-energy vibes.
But when it comes to techs take on sound healing, well, thereissound.
The community element creates an intentional space to explore emotions we dont have space to do on our own.
Savaa machine helping users reach a higher state of consciousness via vibro-acoustic technologyhas adopted a similar strategy.
Theyre creating music for a sensory-based feeling, says founder Ray Kelly.
This very overstimulating world needs technological solutions to the challenges we face as a society, says Stavitsky.
We use our phones to meditate, to remind ourselves to exercise, and to chat with therapists.
Now, we can partake in the healing rhythms of sound, too.
And that can happen in a spiritually-charged settingor while walking down the street, experts say.
Sound alone is not the salve, though.
According to traditional practitioners, community and connection are equally as important when partaking in a sound bath experience.
Disappearing into our headphones likely doesnt help with the malaise of that isolation.
You cant replicate the difference an in-person clinic can make, Ali says.
In person, certain crystal charges improve the sound bath experience.
Positive energy travels between individuals in a group setting.
A class is a place to meet individuals on similar spiritual journeys or in a period of rediscovery.
Connection isnt only important socially, its inherently key to the practice itself.
Sound healing is actually a very somatic experience, Ali says.
Most tech-based sound therapy mediums commonly lack vibration.
When you are in a class, you are not just hearing the sound, you arefeelingthe sound.
It helps release that stress and anxiety from your bodyyou cant recreate that at home.
While experts see downsides, they also see a boon: access.
Around 10 years ago, sound baths became a little exclusive, Auster says.
But most apps are free and available to anyone, anywhere.
In that way, experts say the tricked-out sound bath can be additivenot a replacement, but an option.
All technologies come with good and badsince the dawn of time, Mambouka says.
And so, we need to see where we can strike a balance.
Read more from the Music Issue
Get the A-list look for less.
I need one in every color.
Princesses, mermaids, and true love’s kiss, oh my!
