The Science of a Sound Bath

Local practitioners walk us through a session

A quiet room with low light and open mat space on the floor is the setting of the craft for two local sound bath practitioners: Deb Lanning of Wander with Direction and Courtney Wiggins of Joyful Noise Sound Therapy.

What’s a sound bath, you ask? Cleveland Clinic describes it succinctly as “deep sound vibrations made by a soothing instrument may help you decompress,” or “an experience where you’re immersed in deep sound vibrations.”

Read on to get to know Lanning and Wiggins, go behind the scenes of what a sound bath looks like (and sounds like!), and learn about the benefits participants can reap.

Meet the Instructors

Lanning has a background in yoga that she paired with Sound Training years ago. She first delved into sound baths in a spa in New Mexico, giving it a try as an attendee long before she learned how to perform the practice. That came later, following her completion of yoga teacher training at Yen Yoga in Traverse City, where she took a 16-hour, weekend-long sound training to meet continuing-education requirements.

Meanwhile, Wiggins has been certified since 2019, bringing energetic resets to their clients for about seven years.

“I come from a multiracial background with a strong appreciation and respect for the power of rhythm, as well as non-western healing systems, so I was very interested in learning more,” they say. “They happened to have an upcoming training in the metro Detroit area, so I took a huge leap into learning more.”

They attended a weeklong Vibrational Sound Association intensive with 15 other students, completing the certification in September of 2019, and conducting these sessions ever since.

How It Works

Each session begins with a nesting time: a quiet room, with attendees often bringing mats, blankets, and water bottles, with silence to allow everyone to get comfortable prior to the start.

“When you come into a sound bath area, all the instruments are set up and everything,” Lanning says.

The type of sound you can expect to encounter in a session depends on the practitioner, including chimes and crystal bowls to metal or bronze alloy bowls. Soon enough, the sound begins, and while the effects it can have across each participant can vary, the logistics stay consistent.

“When I strike the bowls, they will feel vibrations travel through their body and hear the tones simultaneously,” Wiggins says.

For Wiggins and Lanning, there are two primary principles that play into the sound they create: harmony—often created through playing two alternating bowls at once—and disharmony, typically coming from chimes or playing two adjacent bowls.

“Sound produces physical responses—as an example, getting goosebumps or your arm hair raising from nails scratching on a chalkboard,” Wiggins explains. “And vibrations can be distressing, like a jackhammer, neutral, or soothing; think gentle, soothing pats on the back one might give a newborn to help them fall asleep as they are being held.”

Lanning notes that while disharmony isn’t as audibly pleasing, it has a worthy effect: “It can be jarring, but it can also sometimes jar loose things inside of you,” she says. For her, determining what instrument she uses is up to the energy already in the space, which is an approach that Wiggins echoes.

“I am mostly an intuitive player,” they say. “I respond to the room, but I normally start and end each session with my largest and lowest toned bowl. It feels very grounding and restful.”

How It Makes You Feel

The way that Lanning describes the effect as similar to what Wiggins mentioned: restful. According to her husband, a soundbath is “like the best nap you’ve ever taken and you wake up from it.” Wiggins, on the other hand, notes that they’ve had clients leave feeling energized or more connected to their body.

Cleveland Clinic explains that “sound baths are rooted in the idea that these particular frequencies correspond to specific energy centers in your body,” and that benefits from the practice can include feeling calmer/less stressed, muscles that feel looser, a greater sense of relaxation, pain relief, the ability to sleep better, improved mood, and better body awareness/being more in tune with your body.

Lanning knows that scientific studies surrounding soundbaths are lacking, so much of her attributed reviews and descriptions of the effects come from her years of leading sessions and experiencing the sensations for herself.

“In my training, they said that sound plus intention equals healing,” Lanning says. “So what you focus on is what you’re going to work on. But I don’t think you’re going to heal cancer or anything like that.”

Alongside other holistic wellness and vibrational/sound healing treatments, soundbaths highlight the importance of intentions. Both Wiggins and Lanning note that the experience itself isn’t just the instruments—it’s about the thoughts and feelings each participant brings and what they’re ready to feel or confront throughout the session.

Lanning typically hosts a recurring soundbath on the last Monday of each month, joined by friends who come bearing different instruments and skills to further enhance the sessions. Wiggins offers both group and 1:1 sessions. They say that sessions often run between 30-90 minutes for a group, while individual sessions are 30-60 minutes.

Visit wanderwithdirection.com (Lanning) and facebook.com/JoyfulNoiseSoundTherapy (Wiggins) to learn more.

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