Sound Bath Sessions

Candace sometimes organizes a collaboration between interesting people she meets. This collaboration is with Hafsa, and Karina a yoga instructor. Hafsa worked as a professional singer in the past and she improvises some lyrics and drum chanting over Candace’s crystal bowl drones. Karina also plays the bowls lending another layer to the performance.

Yumi gives regular gong baths around Hong Kong. Her humorous and welcoming character complements the emotional sound baths that she performs. Yumi has practiced Reiki for many years and spends her time between Hong Kong and Japan with her family.Yumi gently begins by singing in her gong before enveloping you with sound. She had just gotten her new titanium gong and this was the first time performing with it. As it is a smaller gong, it has a higher, sharper tone than her large symphonic.

June has been a sound practitioner since 2016 and has developed a unique style creating interesting two-handed rhythms with the bowls or tuning forks. In this recording June begins with tuning forks which is unique. Tapping metal, the magic is revealed as she gets closer to the mic as another sonic world appears. She moves onto the singing bowls in a soft melodic song with higher tones. I enjoy her dynamic playing as she plays with tempo and loudness, varying the strength at which she hits the bowls. At one point she begins to play the tuning forks with the bowls, playing a sequence from the bowls and then answering with a strike of the tuning fork. She finally finishes with the tuning fork slowly awakening you from slumber as you take a deep breath.

Yumi introduced me to Queena whose studio is in the same building as Ore Art. They wanted to improvise a sound bath together. Improvising with other people is always a challenge but the rewards can be great. Trust is a big part of a successful performance and their performances were pretty amazing. Queena played a single medium size gong while Yumi played her large symphonic gong. Their improvisations yielded emotional and moving recordings and are some of my favorite. Even though they seldom play together, their connection and dialogue borders on instinct.This session was recorded with Queena and her gong on the left and Yumi’s large symphonic and titanium drum on the right. Queena played a slow, subtle, monotonous rhythm as the sonic foundation for Yumi’s powerful playing. The steady rhythm is your anchor, guiding you through the wilderness of sound.

I recorded Calvin at Room Ganesha in Mong Kok. He combines the sounds of several instruments in his sound baths using metal singing bowls, tongue drum, and hand pan. Not formally trained in sound healing or music, Calvin’s approach is more about freely exploring sound for relaxation, meditation, and performance. He experiments with interesting combinations of instruments and sounds. The busy street below can be heard in the space.In this session, Calvin uses several instruments in this recording. He begins with a hand pan, ocean drum, crystal harp, and finishes with metal singing bowls. He concentrates on each instrument as he walks around the room with the more portable instruments. He also played to the stereo microphones moving back and forth, front and back.

Rosan Cruz is based in Manila and was one of the practitioners that I was able to record earlier this year on my visit to the Philippines. Her sessions were recorded in her apartment in Green Hills where she holds sessions. She usually plays planetary gongs which as I learned are gongs tuned to a specific frequency and have a more controlled sound. Symphonic gongs are more musical and random in nature yielding other-worldly, ethereal sounds. Planetary gongs also have spiritual meanings that sound healers use to create gong combinations according to clients needs. In performance, I feel planetary gongs lend a narrower, stable sonic spectrum within a wide and powerful image.For this session, Rosan used a single Pluto gong for this recording. Pluto is used to eliminate toxicity, clear emotional trauma and aid in major life transitions such as life and death. This recording is so moving and heavy. Prepare to be crushed.

Sheung Ning began learning about sound baths a few years ago and regularly performs sound baths. A self- proclaimed introvert, she finds that sound baths allow her to express herself creatively and makes her more outgoing. These recordings were recorded one evening in Lai Chi Kok. In the recordings, you can hear the sounds of late evening in the building as the shopkeepers close their roll down gates, Jangle keys, and leave footsteps that disappear in the distance. It is a great description of place and location.Sheung Ning’s style is quite slow, and very minimal. In this recording she moves with the bowl around the room striking it at every breath. The rustle of her clothes as she moves adds to the mystery and anticipation of the experience. As she slowly swipes the rim of the bowls the pulsating sound draws you deep. Until everything stops. She plays with silence as if it were a sound. The power of stillness, of quiet.

Yumi gives regular gong baths around Hong Kong. Her humorous and welcoming character complements the emotional sound baths that she performs. Yumi has practiced Reiki for many years and spends her time between Hong Kong and Japan with her family.This was recorded at Ore Art in Sheung Wan. It was the first solo gong bath I had recorded and it blew me away. I had no idea a single gong could have so much power. Her symphonic gong is very musical with each hit creating a new layer of sound upon the last resulting in an overwhelming wave of sound that fills your mind. I felt new ideas and inspirations emerge perhaps because deep down that was what I was seeking. I would anticipate our future recordings as a time of creation and release.In the middle of the recording, I had heard a unique sound inbetween the layers. She revealed that she sang into the gong with her voice. It was amazing how it became one with the sounds of gong softening it, making it more human.

During the course of recording for the Sound Bath Sessions project, I wanted to see how sound baths were like in other countries around Asia. I scheduled a trip to the Philippines for a few days to see family and record a few sound baths. I was able to get in contact with three practitioners in or near Manila: Rosan Cruz, LJ Navera, and Arianne Olegario.Arianne began her journey of self-healing around 10 years ago when the life she had planned out for herself couldn’t happen. She has learned Reiki, Innerdance, and more recently sound baths for her own self-healing and the healing of others. Arianne works as a consultant for USAID specializing in gender equality for development projects in southeast Asia.Arianne plays metal singing bowls for these sessions and all tracks were recorded at Yoga Shala in Quezon City. In the beginning of the track, you can hear her say in the beginning of the track, "creation and communication". This is the intention that the practitioner puts on the sound bath.Her session starts by sounding individual bowls several times before moving onto the next. Sometimes each strike can have a different energy; tapping the bowl harder or softer can release hidden overtones in a bowl. She slowly begins to incorporate more different combinations of bowls with dynamic tempos that change the depth of your experience. The busy street below can be heard creating a great sense of place. 

This was the second recording of Manuela (@yoga_heartin) at her studio in Lai Chi Kok.Manuela laid her bowls in a large triangle formation on the floor and said that for her individual sessions, her client would lie in the middle of the shape while she performed her sound bath. I thought it would be interesting to hear a sound bath from the client's perspective and placed my stereo microphone on the floor where the head would be. The result is a very immersive, intimate sound bath with a great sense of space and distance. Her movement between both sides of the body adds a dynamic, 3-dimensional feel to the performance.Manuela also contributes her time at her local community center where she performs sound baths to the elderly community to help them with their anxiety and pain.

This is the first track I recorded of Vicky and Emma (@em.kysoulhealthy) at Omoon Studio in Tsim Sha Tsui, HK. Emma and Vicky usually work together as a duo during sound baths.Emma's focus is with the individual sound healing aspect of sound therapy while Vicky's interest lies in group sound baths. The combination of their two interests creates an interesting sound bath experience where Emma journeys around the room and plays singing bowls or other sound instruments to each participant while Vicky creates the overall mood in the space from a stationary position. Playing as a duo allows them the freedom to explore new concepts and styles of playing in every session.Their busy work schedule only allowed one recording a month. This let them plan their next session and resulted in three unique recordings. In this recording, Vicky played the singing bowls and tongue drum and Emma played the rain 'ring' and some bowls. Omoon Studio is located at the end of a cul-de-sac which is usually a rarity in cities. Sheltered from the urban noise of slow moving traffic and impatient drivers, even birds find respite in this unique location and can be heard twittering outside the window.

Kaman (@kamana_y) plays her monochord outside in a park in Shatin. We sat under the shade of a tree on a hot spring afternoon. I love this recording because the instrument drone seems to disappear into the eclectic hum of the surrounding environment. Amidst distant traffic, a waterfall feature, karaoke, groundskeeper sweepings, and leaves rustling, the monochord's amorphous sound seems to take the shape of its surroundings, being neither too prominent and nor too subdued. It belongs. It is a wonderful slice of a moment in time.

The ocean. A powerful, untamed force. Beautiful yet merciless. Giorgio (hometosound.com) performs a mesmerizing sound bath on a large ocean drum. His skillful, steady hands mimic the muted nuances of waves crashing on a distant beach. The drum subtly revealed though the tiny balls hitting the wooden frame so as not to lose you totally in its sonic swaths. My throat dries as I see myself standing on the shore, breathing the salt in the air. As I come back to here, the traffic hums as I take a final breath before I open my eyes.

Michelle Chow (@murmuringmoon) has been a sound bath practitioner for a few years and has recently been learning and using tuning forks in her therapy sessions.This was the first time I had recorded a sound object other than singing bowls or gongs for Sound Bath Sessions. It was interesting to hear how tuning forks is used as an instrument. Multiple forks can be held to create complex frequencies for new experiences. In this track she held one or two forks at the same time- sometimes in one ear, sometimes in both- creating this enveloping sound that pierces the brain. As the strike of the forks by a rubber mallet activate them, the room slowly disappears as they come closer to your ears for a few seconds. She activates them again as they weaken over time twisting and turning them to create a swirling sensation.

"I felt they weren't very awake just now.", June said as she struck all the bowls in turn. Just this awakening ritual could be a sound bath in itself. We had just finished our first recording and talking about her relationship with her bowls during our break. "Years before, when I was crazy about my bowls, I would wash them, put them in sunlight, burn incense over them, like a spa", she said. "They have names too. I call this one, beauty."  I recorded June's three sessions at a rented yoga studio in Kwun Tong she usually holds her sound baths. She had decided this recording would be more energetic and awakening. In this recording, June's style begins subdued and gentle, almost timid. It feels loose, as she gently tip-toed around the bowls with her mallet. Slowly the piece gains composure and clarity, with more defined movements and improvised combinations. The clustered rings of high frequencies provided a playful, fresh feeling in the windowless studio. As the adjacent offices shuffle and shut doors I do not hear them. She plays her gong at the end. Its grounding low tones are very welcome and warming; played in a heartbeat rhythm. A much needed contrast before settling back down and finishing with the tap of a tingsha bell.

This was the second recording I did of Helen (IG: mettawellnesshk) at her studio in Wanchai. When selecting sessions to release for Sound Bath Sessions, I always want to offer unique sound baths to challenge listeners with new styles and experiences. I had never experienced a solo shamanic drum session before this and was excited to hear and feel what it would be like. Queena and Yumi's session (SBS 013) was the first time I had experienced a shamanic drum and its effect on me with the gong was intoxicating.   This is as minimal as it gets. Stripped down to a single sound, but with infinite possibilities in rhythm. Helen told me that there are certain rhythms for different conscious states and that when she plays during a session, it also affects her conscious state. I assume that this is because the drum is stationary, so she does not need to open her eyes to see where to strike next allowing her to focus and participate with the listeners through her own performance. I can see why this can be a desirable, powerful shared experience for everyone involved.   She begins with a slow, steady tempo to bring you in. As the tempos speed up, different rhythms cleanse you as they entwine you in their pace, as steady as a heartbeat. Helen's play with loudness and softness adds a deeper, physical dimension to the session. The soft, slow strikes allow the sounds of the city beyond to creep in as you are gently lowered to the reality where you started, the louder strikes pull you back into an entranced state and demand your attention as it leads you in a spiritual dance- spinning, whirling, exhausting you until.   Silence. As if the world stopped to listen. Welcome. You are here.   The drum commands your breathing, its tempo your breaths, its volume the depth of each. The drum's spell holds you just under the surface but you don't want to leave. The drum slows, softly into the quiet abyss.   Helen slowly plays some singing bowls to slowly bring you back to the surface and concludes with the chimes.   Every time I listen to this, it always affects me in this way. How a single instrument can command so much of me is beyond my knowledge. Purity of tone, purity of experience.   I hope you enjoy this one.

Grace. South Bay Beach HK, 4am. Playing a lyre made by Andreas Lehman by the ocean.   "You know if you want to do this right, we need to record in the early morning.", I said. "Like how early?", she asked with a teary-eyed emoji.   I woke up at 3am after a sleepless night, anxious with anticipation. I met Grace and we drove to South Bay Beach. There was more sound than light there. Tiny ocean waves lapping on the shore. We set up near the waterline and she began tuning her lyre.   "Give me 10 minutes, I need to connect with my instrument.", Grace said. "Ok. I will start recording. Start whenever you want.", I said not wanting to distract her from her meditation.   She walks to the water's edge with chimes and stands still, listening. She comes back and begins, playing with the ocean.   She eventually stops and sits there, reconnecting to the moment. A distant fishing boat starts up and slowly drifts into silence. A ship's horn softly bleats. "Should I stop?", I say to myself, biting my lip. "No, let's just see what happens."   She picks up the chimes and walks along the beach this time, coloring with sound. She returns and plays again. Insects and birds begin stirring. Daylight breaks and I notice the tide came in. Did you hear it? You can, you know.   She looks at me and I stop.   I drive her home as the sun peeks over mountain tops. The city begins its daily rituals, unknowing to what had just happened.

Grace. South Bay Beach HK, 4am. Playing a lyre made by Andreas Lehman by the ocean.   "You know if you want to do this right, we need to record in the early morning.", I said. "Like how early?", she asked with a teary eyed emoji.   I woke up at 3am after a sleepless night, too anxious with anticipation. I met Grace and we drove to  South Bay Beach. There was more sound than light there. Tiny ocean waves lapping on the shore. We set up near the waterline and she began tuning her lyre.   "Give me 10 minutes, I need to connect with my instrument.", Grace said. "Ok. I will start recording. Start whenever you want.", I said not wanting to distract her from her meditation.   She walks to the water's edge with chimes and stands still, listening. She comes back and begins, playing with the ocean.   She eventually stops and sits there, connecting again to the moment. A distant fishing boat starts up and slowly drifts into silence. A ship's horn softly bleats. "Should I stop?", I say to myself, biting my lip. "No, let's just see what happens."   She picks up the chimes once again and walks along the beach this time, coloring the space with sound. She returns to her lyre a second time and plays. Insects and birds begin stirring. Daylight breaks and I notice the tide came in. Did you hear it? You can, you know.   She looks at me and I stop. I drive her home as the sun peeks over mountain tops. The city begins its daily rituals, unknown to what had just happened.

Sound Bath #014 featuring Queena and Yumi at Queena's studio in Sheung Wan now available to listen on all major podcasting platforms. Search for Sound Bath Sessions on your favorite podcast app. See sbsessions.com for details. Queena and Yumi played together for their sessions. This is perhaps the most musical and expressive recording I have recorded so far and is representative of the kind of recordings I have been fortunate to record these past few months. It is the one that had the most effect on me. Every time I listen to this, I am just overwhelmed. It is just beautiful. Yumi had just gotten her new titanium gong the day before and this was her first performance with it. She combined Queena's gong to make a super 3-gong combo. Queena played her singing bowls, rain box, and shamanic drum. They had decided that the titanium gong sounded better with the bowls and the symphonic gongs paired best with the drum.  They begin playing the bowls and titanium gong. Starting at the pace of life, it is full of energy and music. Heavy hits on the bowls shake the senses as mixed musical sequences create a pleasant environment. Queena plays with the dynamics playing louder and softer letting the performance breathe. She shares the sonic space with Yumi as she awakens the gong- swelling, swallowing everything. As she retreats, the bowls slowly come up for air with their song. The bowls begin to become less varied as Queena strikes only a few bowls at a time, sometimes striking a single bowl until its constant ring fills your ears. The striking stops. Decent is imminent. A rain box is flipped as it creates a constant shower. The next scene begins. Everything slows way down. The last rhythm is played as Yumi signals a transition with a single hit of her large symphonic gong. What happens next is a dance. The synergy between them is amazing. You are enraptured with their song as it embraces you and take you lower and lower until the veil is removed and you realize where you are. Love and loss. Light and dark. Everything and nothing. It is balance. It is powerful. It is deep. The pressure crushes you as you take shallow breaths. You find them again as they pull you to the surface. They conclude playing with the rain box. As the last few stones trickle down, they end with their final note as you break the surface and take a breath.

This is the last track I recorded of Ravina. Every time I met her I always heard some faint music. I always thought it was coming from a different room. One day it was a bit louder and I asked about it. "It's a mantra chant from my teacher", she said. She keeps it on even at home to just fill the air and space with good wishes. For this one, I wanted the mantra a little more noticeable and just left it playing during the sound bath. It is a bit challenging at first when you listen as it contains a constant beat that keeps stealing your attention. But as you have experienced in your own sound baths, life is happening all around us- be it cars, or birds, we have to find a way to focus and integrate with the present.I have found- even when listening outside- the key is not to separate, it is to combine. Hear everything at once. When I first realized this almost 20 years ago (2004), it changed the way I hear. It changed how I experienced the world.We filter, or separate, sounds when we are conscious and that is what makes us so tired. Keep an open mind, focus between the two sounds, and welcome what is given.This skill will make the future Sound Bath Sessions recordings more enjoyable. Once mastered, you may never hear the same way again. Recorded in Ravina's studio in Hung Hom.