MIAMI BEACH — Earlier this year after recovering from a COVID-like illness that she called “the worst sickness of my life,” Svetlana Shevtsova began searching for activities to get out of the house.
“When you lose something like the ability to go somewhere or somebody takes something from you, you start to need it very much,” she said.
After learning about sound baths, a meditative experience that immerses participants in sound waves, Shevtsova decided to try out the “Sunday Sound Bath and Yoga” session offered each week at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.
The 30-minute session led by facilitator Franci Blanco is usually held outside in the middle of the greenery, but rain forced the class inside one of the garden buildings during Shevtsova’s recent visit. The 12 participants, sometimes using a bolster under their legs or a pillow for comfort, lay on yoga mats in a semicircle around the sound bath instruments.
Sound baths use a harmonic set of crystal sound bowls tuned to binaural theta sound waves and other instruments such as a rain disc. Binaural sound waves happen when two tones with slightly different frequencies are heard at the same time. Brain activity can match the frequency set by the beats, helping the mind reach a certain mental state.
“It’s to help people interrupt the momentum of autopilot and instead tune back into a deeper wisdom that they have,” she said. “Different instruments and harmonics have different effects, but essentially what it’s helping to do is to slow down those brainwaves.”
The process helps heighten a deeper sense of relaxation, rest and digestion.
“So even if you think that you’re a bad meditator and you’re entangled in thoughts, does it really matter because the instruments are already helping to slow you down,” said Blanco, who has been leading meditation sessions for nearly five years and the Miami Beach Sunday Sound Bath for nearly two.
The practice is designed for all levels, guiding participants to de-stress and feel calmer.
“After the meditation I felt amazing,” said Shevtsova, an Edgewater resident who immigrated to the United States from Russia nearly three years ago. “I felt so relaxed. I felt that my body was so light, and it was great. I felt happier.”
Sound baths have become a trendy form of meditation, including with celebrities and influencers. On the reality television show, “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, “cast member Whitney Rose hosts a sound bath with her fellow housewives. In the Hulu reality show, “The Kardashians,” Kendall Jenner regularly does sound baths.
In South Florida there are numerous sound baths for the public. Many providers also offer private sessions with smaller groups or individuals. Guided sessions can last anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes. Costs vary depending on if it is a private or group session. Blanco’s sound bath group session costs $20 on EventBrite.
Blanco said participants do not have to be “good” at meditation to try it.
“When I’m doing yoga classes, I tell people that it’s not about touching your toes,” she said. “It’s about trying to touch your toes. It’s about how we connect to ourselves when we’re at an edge, how we connect to ourselves when we’re uncomfortable, so that we don’t always slip into the same stories and the same ruts or grooves.”
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Sunday Sound Bath Meditation with Franci is hosted weekly on Sundays, 9:30-10 a.m. at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach.
