There was no actual bathing in the lakes; instead, we took a healing journey into sound, led by renowned sculptor Simon Gudgeon, who has in recent years become a wellbeing practitioner.
The Sound Bath takes place in a large, tranquil room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking one of the lakes.
On the wooden floor were 12 padded mats, with rugs and pillows (there is also an option of a reclining chair). Simon’s ‘sound system’ – an intriguing collection of Tibetan singing bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, drums, chimes and other curious looking paraphernalia – occupies one wall.
I am a musician, so I wanted to know how they sounded but Simon asked us to put on a bean bag eye mask. ‘If you hear a sound and don’t know what’s making it your brain gets a bit confused and a little stressed initially,’ he explains. ‘After a while it just gives up and will relax and listen. That’s why I like people to put the eye mask on.’
Simon began to add sound therapy to his sculpture skills when Sculpture by the Lakes hosted a Wellbeing Festival in 2018. ‘The Tashi Lhunpo monks were selling beautiful Nepalese singing bowls. I bought one.’ Then Simon met Tibetan singing bowl practitioner Ali Palmer, aka @blissfulbowllady, and added more bowls to his collection.
While working on a sound sculpture in 2023 Simon decided that he wanted to know more about the potential healing power of sound. He embarked on a voyage of discovery – studying with Ali at her studio in Poole, taking a multi-instrument course with The Sound Healing Academy and another featuring gongs at The College of Sound Healing.
‘Though I don’t call it ‘sound healing’ I call it ‘sound bath’. Any healing is done by the person.’ Before the session he tells us about the science behind the sound bath to explain its potential effect – which might include a sense of floating, or of peace, or of being gently pressed into the floor – it depends on how your body reacts to the sound vibrations. ‘Once you’re relaxed, your body can do all sorts of great things. For some people it’s more profound and transformative than others.’
Once my curious mind quietened, my experience was a profound one. Simon created an extraordinary soundscape. It started with singing bowls, which he plays while softly walking around the room. A more dramatic effect came when he played a shamanic drum over us – I felt a fizzing sensation, as if my body was the drum skin. I discovered afterwards that Stu also felt this. ‘Shamans use drums to get to a trance state, it gets your brain, as well as your heart, down into that frequency,’ Simon explains. ‘The beat goes into you and the vibration runs right through your body. It’s amazingly powerful.’
My favourite sensation was towards the end of the session when Simon used an Ocean Wave Disc, an instrument which sounded exactly like the seashore. It took my mind immediately to the beach – the sucking of the water as it breathes in and out of the shoreline. Then suddenly I was whisked from a shingle beach to a garden in autumn and the smell of a bonfire. I could even feel a gentle breeze on my face and smell the tang of woodsmoke. This, I discovered later, was Simon wafting some incense over us with a feather.
‘Adding the aroma of the incense and feeling the whisper of a breeze is a lovely way of getting the other senses to kick in and gradually bring you back into the room. I like to take people up very slowly.’ The session ended with the ringing of temple bells. As we gradually gathered ourselves, Simon served us herbal tea and fresh dates.
That night I slept better than I have done in months. I can’t wait to dive into my next sound bath experience.
Book at sculpturebythelakes.co.uk/event/sound-baths-at-sculpture-by-the-lakes
