Joda Cook, a vibrational sound therapist, and Tecia Linville, a musician and yoga teacher, utilize a didgeridoo, gongs and other instruments to offer a sound bath meditative experience. Photos provided
By Jan Engoren
The Boca Raton Museum of Art is hardly the first thing that comes to mind if you’re contemplating a bath.
We went for a bath there recently and found no luxurious tub laden with bubbles, no rubber duckies and no woman imploring “Calgon, take me away.” Also: Everybody had clothes on — comfortable clothes.
That’s because it wasn’t that kind of soak.
This was a different kind of bath — a sound bath.
Apropos to the location, there was art — a large glass chandelier, Big Brother, by Chinese dissident artist Song Dong — hanging in the corner of the museum’s bright and airy education room.
The primal, hypnotic sound of the didgeridoo floated through the air, led by musician and yoga teacher Tecia Linville (aka Sri Prabhavati Devi) and vibrational sound therapist Joda Cook.
“We’re here to help you relax,” Linville told the group of 20 people stretched out on yoga mats or seated in chairs around the room. “We will share our hearts with you and help you keep your heart open. Life is better when we smile.”
A practitioner of Sivananda yoga, Linville sees her life’s mission as helping others reconnect with their own strength and rediscover the peace that lives within them. She has done this work in addiction recovery centers and mental health facilities and now at Boca Raton’s art museum.
A sound bath (or sound healing) is a meditative experience where participants are immersed in layers of different sounds, often done after a yoga class or on its own.
The practice has become popular in recent years as a way to help folks decompress, relieve stress and enter a meditative space.
Many of the instruments used in sound baths have old cultural roots and healing traditions and are meant to connect with the spirit world.
Using instruments tuned to 432 Hz — including Tibetan and crystal singing bowls, Native American drums and wooden flutes, gongs, crystal harps and pyramids, and a rare Indian metallophone that produces a pure svaram tone — Linville says the vibrations and frequencies help release tension, slow the nervous system, and guide the body into deeper relaxation and a heightened consciousness.
Cook says the low, resonant hum of the didgeridoo, an indigenous Australian instrument, creates vibrations that can be felt in the chest and can open the heart chakra.
Linville, who has been doing this for more than 25 years, met Cook at Hippocrates Wellness in West Palm Beach, where Cook was working as a sound therapist. The two have been working together for 15 years.
Cook first encountered the didgeridoo at a Renaissance festival in Miami and took to the instrument immediately.
And, while definitive research into sound therapy is still developing, several studies point to its therapeutic potential. Washington University mindfulness researcher Diana Parra Perez notes that sound is perceived not only through the ears but also through body vibrations, which can deepen relaxation.
Psychology Today’s research indicates that tension is significantly reduced following a sound bath, and negative mood states (such as depression and anger) can be substantially reduced.
Laura London, a Delray Beach personal trainer, uses singing bowls in her practice.
Another local sound healer is Laura London, a Delray Beach personal trainer. She uses singing (crystal) bowls in her sound baths and performs at various locations in South Florida. London describes sound baths as “a form of meditation — a way to train our brains to relax and enter a restorative state.”
Practicing in a group, she says, creates “a beautiful sense of connectedness.” As the body relaxes, she adds, breathing slows, the heart rate drops and cortisol levels decrease.
Back at the museum, Linville begins the meditation with tinkling bells and sounds of the ocean, which soon segue into the bassoon-like sounds of the didgeridoo, handmade and carved by Cook.
Hearing the instrument evoke sounds of wildlife, one can imagine the jungle with herds of elephants and other wildlife roaming around.
Boca Raton resident Beth Weiss, an avid tennis player, was at the session with her friend Peg Castronovo, a retired nurse originally from Buffalo, New York. While neither one of them had ever practiced yoga, they were intrigued by the description of the sound bath and decided to try it.
“My older sister is obsessed with sound baths,” says Weiss. “She encouraged me to come and try it.”
Although her mind wandered and various thoughts poked through, she says the sound of the didgeridoo resonated in her heart.
“This is a new experience for me,” she says. “I’d love to try it again — maybe the next time on a beach.”
For Weiss and Castronovo, the experience was less about understanding the mechanics and the meaning and more about being open to new experiences.
Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.
If You Go
What: Sound Healing at the Boca Raton Museum of Art
When: 3-4 p.m. June 13
Cost: Members $20; non-members $40; register at bocamuseum.org/visit/events/sound-healing.
Also: Reach Laura London at lauralondonwellness@gmail.com.
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