Healing Energy
My experience with Moon Yoga’s sound meditation practice.
ny trends invigorated Columbia’s cultural scene this year. From the exponential increase in Bird riders downtown to the unwavering popularity of kombucha, our city’s residents have continued to support trends that illustrate the beauty of living in Columbia. Of these many trends, self-care has distinguished itself as the most popular.
Local yoga studios have increased the number and variety of classes they offer to better contribute to their customers’ wellness journeys. Amber Treece’s Moon Yoga, located on downtown Columbia’s perimeter, now offers sound therapy classes.
My encounter with a group session there allowed me to gain physical and mental healing, pulled from the power of sound meditation.
My group was spread across the room, facing the red brick wall on which blue fluorescent lights that spelled “Moon Yoga” hung in the center. We all had our own yoga mat, two blankets, and two yoga bolsters that we could use to support our heads and torsos. As the overhead lights dimmed, I began to focus on the moment, and I centered my mental presence on the room.
Our instructor, Melissa Anderson, ushered us into basic breathing exercises. As we breathed in, we inhaled positive energy. As we breathed out, we exhaled negativity and the stresses that had plagued us throughout the day.
Personally, my exhalation process felt like an ejection of the daily pressures that accompany being a college senior preparing to transition into a professional career. I breathed out any thoughts of studying for the GRE or any homework that was due that night.
After the breathing exercises, the sound healing began. As my eyes explored the darkness that clung to the back of my eye lids, the sound of thunder tubes and quartz bowls resonated in my ears. The instant Melissa played any of the instruments she used for healing, my mind would travel with the sound as it vibrated around the room, bouncing against the walls and the floor. As time passed, and different sounds were emitted, I became fully relaxed and slowly drifted into halcyon until the end of the session.
Sound meditation is a form of self-care that heals the body with instrumental sound. The instructor’s goal is to expose their class to various sounds that provide healing energy to their minds and body.
“Energy centers are attached to both physical and emotional parts of our bodies. Everyone has energy centers that can get out of alignment, and if your energy centers get unaligned, unpleasant things like illness can emerge in your body,” says Melissa.
Melissa uses various instruments including rattles, shakers, drums, crystal bowls, a thunder tube, and tuning forks.
“I use hand-beaten singing bowls from Bali beaten by Hindu men and crystal singing bowls that are tuned to a specific chakra and are set at 432hz. This is good for sound healing,” says Melissa.
The most intriguing of the instruments is the quartz bowl. It produces a kind of cloudy, calming resonant sound. The quartz bowl is especially important because its sound waves release out of the body anything that’s stagnant. According to Melissa, human bodies are made up of mostly water and the quartz bowl helps to insert energy into the body.
For many, a day’s events can deplete the mind and body’s wellness. Sound healing is a practice that counters daily pressures and allows people to function seamlessly throughout the day. The process aligns the body’s energy and allows it to flow seamlessly. Illness becomes a rarity and healthy living is actualized.