By Pierre Ratte
It’s a little kooky. A little spooky. A little ooky. Woo-woo, but also pretty cool. It’s called sound bathing. No better place to do it than in the middle of a lavender labyrinth in Sonoma County at sunset!
Bees N Blooms, just across the street from the entrance to Taylor Mountain Regional Park, hosts a weekly sound-bathing experience. It’s in its fifth year. Blue Muse and the Celestial Voice group coordinates the playing of gongs, bowls, native drums, ocean drums, stream rattles, didgeridoos and chimes to create a “massage of sound.” The experience takes place on a circular grassy lawn saturated in lavender aromas.
If you like to meditate and enter a profound connection to the hear and now—pun, drum flair—consider a sound bath. Although there are many ways to enter a meditative state, such as following the rhythm of one’s breath, another easy way is to focus on a single sense. Sound is often chosen because it is uniquely immersive.
Whenever attention is directed to a single sense—whether touch, taste, smell, sight or sound—and focused for an extended period of time, meditation begins. Sensory perception, by default, is in the present moment. Experiencing the present moment is meditation: past hurts fade, future worries lessen, the present enlivens. Enlightened people reportedly integrate attention to multiple senses in the present moment, creating special awareness and a unique presence.
Fun Facts: Bees N Blooms is located at 3883 Petaluma Hill Rd. Sound bathing experiences are every Monday from 7-8pm, continuing through the first Monday in October. Go early to walk around the labyrinth and get a choice spot to lay down for the experience. Buy tickets online in advance. Dress warmly.
Sounds as a form of healing are associated with ancient sources. Tibetans use singing bowls, sometimes crafted from seven metals representing seven chakras. Egyptian and Greek cultures invoked musical elements in ritual purifications as early as 3,000 B.C.E. Modern interest in harmonic healing begins with Swiss scientist Hans Jenny’s work in cymatics. A medical doctor, he pioneered studies of wave phenomena and sounds’ effects on organizing matter, coining the term “cymatics.”
Cymatics, or tones applied to particles, demonstrates order from chaos where random particles self-organize. Play a low tone and sand on a vibrating drum head forms concentric circles. Play higher tones and particles self-organize into mandalas and other complex fractal patterns. Maybe not so woo-woo after all.
