Transcendental sound therapy literally has the power to lift us up—to help us “ascend.” Here’s everything to know about the experience everyone’s talking about right now.
Vogue Arabia, April 2022. Photo: Det Kempke
If you’re in your mid-30s, you may have spent at least some of your youth partying to Lil Jon—anthems like “Let’s Go” with Trick Daddy or “Turn Down for What.” Given those raucous tunes, perhaps you were surprised to see the artist’s new release: Total Meditation, an album of soothing tracks filled with affirmations for personal growth, self-development, and manifesting abundance.
Of course, Lil Jon isn’t the only artist to journey into the transcendental. André 3000’s recently released album New Blue Sun—his first solo album in 17 years—features mostly flute music; one song in particular was recorded after an experience in Hawaii. Personally, I’ve found myself gravitating to similar music—songs by Jhené Aiko, which feature mantras for protection and gratitude, and by Awarë, a duo that creates ephemeral sounds based on responses in the concert setting in which no two songs are ever the same.
It seems that this type of music is becoming more and more mainstream—and aside from the apparent increasing demand, there may be a deeper reason more musicians are called to create sounds at the intersection of transcendental meditation and popular music.
We are what we listen to, and music has long served as a way to connect with the divine, from the rhythmic drumming of First Nations cultures across the United States to the ancient mantra chanting of India. This form of healing is more accessible than others. However, according to a study published by the National Library of Medicine, it has the power to elicit a similar euphoric effect that can reduce feelings of tension, anxiety, and depression. In fact, researchers at Stanford University have found that listening to music can engage brain regions involved in paying attention, making predictions, and updating memory, while another study concluded that music may even have the ability to change what we observe. “In other words, how we perceive the world does not only depend on what we know of the world, but also by how we feel,” the study finds, noting that our mood and mindset—especially when enhanced by music—really do have the power to shape our view.
Spiritually speaking, the word transcendental comes from the Latin word transcendere, meaning to climb over, to ascend, or to surpass. Perhaps the reason why so many people love this growing body of music is that it elicits a subconscious response in the listener, which research shows can shift the brain’s default mode network into a state of waking rest to trigger pleasure centers that release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us feel happy. Transcendental sound literally has the power to lift us up—to help us “ascend.”
If we layer this onto the fact that the human body’s genetic makeup is about 60% water, then it’s easy to see how sound waves might cause the fluids in the body to move—and ultimately move us emotionally and physiologically, too. According to the National Library of Medicine, states of arousal or relaxation can be felt when the music experience is positive and meditative in nature. This is why certain harmonics, frequencies, and intensities can help increase our well-being, improve our health, and enhance our outlook.
On a trip to Bali for a stay at Desa Potato Head, I decided to test how the relationship between the water within our bodies can be moved by water outside our bodies to affect our state of consciousness through sound vibrations. So, I signed up for a Sistrum ceremony, a high-tech sound bath at the hotel’s wellness hub, Sanctuary.
Instead of lying on a yoga mat and drifting off to the sound of crystal singing bowls as is de rigueur in a sound bath, I took my spot on one of a series of water beds. Each was linked to built-in vibrational speakers to allow the user to feel every chant and sound the practitioner makes. When he patted a drum or chimed a gong, the vibration resounded through our beds, altering the chemistry of our bodies. These vibrations were also set to a series of synchronized light frequencies that flashed overhead, creating a psychoactive music experience meant to stimulate brainwave states and elicit closed-eye visionary experiences. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before—and I was even more surprised when he began chanting in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica people of the Aztec Empire; I later found out he was originally from Mexico. In the moment, however, when the distance between my home in Mexico City and me was geographically astounding, I didn’t feel far from home at all—rather, I felt connected to everything.
One need not fly all the way to Bali to experience this type of transcendental sound therapy; many cutting-edge spas and wellness centers worldwide are also offering therapeutic experiences that go far beyond your average sound bath.
At both the Omni La Costa Hotel in Carlsbad, California and the Kiolani Spa at Grand Wailea Hotel in Maui, Hawaii, spa-goers can partake in sound meditation using a a Mind-Sync Harmonic Lounger—a zero gravity chair that has been clinically tested to reduce stress and anxiety levels by syncing sound and vibration. According to Living Earth Crafts, which manufactures the chairs, each ten- to sixty-minute session in a lounger deploys “binaural beats, gamma sound waves, and acoustic resonance therapy focused on the Vagus nerve, which links to the para-sympathetic control system of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract.” Users simply settle into one of the comfy chairs, recline to a position of their liking, and choose from a curated list of soundscapes to listen to via noise-canceling headphones while synchronized vibrations to induce a state of total bliss.
Several wellness centers, spas, and practitioners also offer the opportunity to experience a similar—albeit more analog—version of enhanced sound vibration in the form of “floating” sound baths. At Two Bunch Palms in Palm Desert, California, for example, visitors can experience a gong bath while floating on a raft in the resort’s mineral-rich hot springs pools, while in Mesa, Arizona, Desert Paddleboards offers sound baths under starry night skies at various outdoor pools throughout the region. According to National Landing in Arlington, Virginia, which also organizes floating sound baths, “pairing the weightlessness of floating in water with the soothing vibrational frequencies of sound healing allows frequencies to resonate through every cell in your body, quieting your mind, releasing tension and stagnant energy from your body as you drift deeply into a relaxed state.”
These newfangled transcendental sound experiences call to mind others I’ve recently had—specifically, one during Mexico City’s Art Week at a cultural center in the San Rafael neighborhood. There, after slipping out of my shoes (as instructed) in an entryway illuminated by hundreds of votive candles, I took my seat on the wooden floors of the central auditorium to listen to a performance by Alex Serra. While he sang soft songs of love and freedom to sonic landscaping by the producer Totidub and handpan rhythms by Jordi Cantos, waves of emotion melted through me. By the show’s end, I volunteered to be one of the first four attendees to create a group hug, which ended with everyone in the auditorium forming a communal spiral. The entire production unfolded in a cosmic way, like a spiritual journey, evoking the same response in me as plant medicine experiences I’d done in the past.
Though I’d felt similar sensations of awe during sound experiences before, they’d been disparate in type: energetic performances by my favorite artists or meditative breathwork journeys. These modern experiences are more like a combination of the two—aligning the body, spirit, and mind fully with vibration, sound, and emotion. If the growing research in the use of therapeutic sound is any indication, these experiences don’t just offer a better way to improve your mood, but also the chance to shift your entire outlook.
Originally published in Vogue.com
