March 1, 2025
By Wendy Carlson
Photographs by Ryan Lavine
They seem to be everywhere lately. Sound baths have been steadily growing from the fringes to becoming a mainstay at yoga studios and fitness centers. Listening to the tones and feeling the vibrations from musical instrumentals has been compared to meditating, because of its potential to tap into deep brain waves. But unlike meditation, you don’t have to concentrate or train to benefit from a sound bath. Think of it sort of like a brain massage.
All you have to do is lie down on a mat, listen, and open your mind to the experience. The vibration of sounds helps you reach a meditative state more easily, relieve tensions and anxiety, reduce fear and anger, depression––or simply tune out the world.
A sound practitioner leads the bath using ancient vibrational musical instruments including the gong, the didgeridoo (from the Australian Aboriginal peoples), a bell-like instrument called the Tibetan (or Himalayan) singing bowls, chimes, tuning forks, and flutes.
For Luann Mullen of Litchfield, sound baths have been transformative. “I have trouble meditating at home because I get too distracted,” she says. But when she practices yoga, her instructor, Grace Magnusson at Kula Collective in Litchfield, finishes the class with 20 minutes of sound healing, and she is able to reach a meditative state.
Before practicing at Kula, Magnusson worked with patients at an inpatient rehab center for teens. There, she witnessed sound healing’s ability to make stillness more accessible by quieting the mind and activating the body’s relaxation response.
Similarly, Laurie Antonacci, owner of Guiding Light Wellness in New Milford, incorporates guided imagery and music in her Reiki sessions to promote relaxation. Receiving a gentle bath of sounds allows your body to let go and move into a deeper state of relaxation, she says.
Sound healing may be relatively new to the Western world, but its roots can be traced all the way back to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who utilized sound as a form of medicine to treat a variety of ailments. Recent studies have highlighted the healing potential of sound and frequency to lessen physical pain, help those suffering from insomnia, and complement PTSD therapies.
Sound baths also can serve as an introduction to deeper yoga practices by allowing participants to experience a sense of calmness and openness. Additionally, since there’s such a wide range of sounds emitted from a variety of instruments, no two sound baths are alike.
It’s worthwhile to try a number of options at different venues.
Ah Yoga Center, St. John’s Parish Hall, 9 Parsonage Lane, Washington, 860- 488-1570 —ahyogacenter.com
Charym, 174 West St., Litchfield, 860- 245-8586—charym.com
Guiding Light Wellness, 143 West St., Blg. C, Studio 204-A, New Milford, 475- 289-4991—guidinglightwellness.com
Kula Collective, 499 Bantam Road, Bantam, 434-962-5227—thekulacollective.org
New Milford Fitness and Aquatic Club, 30 Grove St., New Milford, 860-799-6880—nmfac.com
Riga Yoga, 15 Academy St., Salisbury, 347-206-0366—rigayoga.com
Sanctuary Power Yoga, 12 Franklin St., Torrington, 860-497-1500 —sanctuarypoweryoga.com
Woodbury Meditation & Yoga Center,122 West Side Road, Woodbury, 203-263-2254—woodburyyogacenter.org
