Podcast – Mindful Chat #3
Sound Healing with Valerie:
Where Science & Magic Meet
Written by Ségolène
Hello lovely Voices and welcome to your first Mindful Chat!
This month, every Wednesday, you’ll be able to listen to a special episode, where I’m bringing on a guest for a little chat. A conversation, something fairly informal and cozy.
My guest this week is a true mindful practitioner and self-care advocate. Our paths crossed over a year ago at a breath workshop organised by Richie Bostock. We promised to keep in touch, and then 2020 unfolded: we each went our separate ways.
Through my breath work at the lodge back in February, I was able to reconnect to this wonderful human. Intrigued by her very unique practice, I invited her for a mindful chat. Please welcome, Valerie Teh!
Between Magic And Science
Valerie is a yoga teacher, a breath worker, a mindfulness and self-care advocate, and…
A SOUND HEALER.
Now, before you run away thinking I’ve lost my marbles, let me tell you a bit more about sound healing.
When we connect to sound, our brain shifts between different states. You’ve experienced this shift before! Yup! For example, when you fall asleep, when you’re in a deep meditative or relaxed state. A moment where your Central Nervous System is at rest, where you’ve left the Fight or Flight mode. Binaural beats and frequency music can also be used to induce this state of deep relaxation, but a gong bath or crystal bowls push the experience further by the clarity of their sound.
Because it’s not just the sound itself that comes into play, but also the vibrations that those instruments emit. Our brains, our flesh, organs and bodies react to these vibrations.
Tension is released on a physical and a metaphysical level. Brain and body respond to the waves of sounds washing over, and the subconscious and emotional work can take place.
That’s why this art, this therapy sits between magic and science. It’s music, it’s just sound! Literally, the only thing you’re asked to do when taking part in a sound healing session is:
To listen.
To lie down with a couple of layers so you don’t get too cold, because with relaxation, breath and immobility, your temperature drops.
To breathe.
That’s it. That’s all you’re asked to do.
Because sometimes what we need is a more passive approach to self-care. Maybe today is not the day you’re meant to run a 5k, crash a workout, revisit a trauma.
Sometime, you’re not in a place where mentally you can push through. Because of exhaustion, because you’re burnt out, because of a brain injury, or because today is just not your day.
Even in the realm of self-care, we can become competitive with ourselves. We can end up thinking that “I should be doing more“, or “I should have gone and done this, I know I feel better afterwards“, or even “I HAVE to do something to ACTIVELY get myself better“.
But in those moments, instead of guilt-tripping ourselves, it is important to remember that sometimes, to make it out of the storm, you have to surrender.
My conversation with Valerie reminded me of just that. The importance of surrender.
The magic that can happen when I give in to more passive methods of self-care, of healing.
The beauty that lies on the other side of the storm.
My conversation with Valerie was very gentle and mindful. She talks very openly about her own experience with grief, of the need for science and holistic medicine to work together so we can always be considered as a whole. On every plane. We explore the meaning of silence, the vibrations of a washing machine and got briefly interrupted by a very fluffy dog – where I confess, I lost my composure briefly.
We laughed, we listened keenly to each others voices. It was a mindful chat and reminder I’ll treasure always.
A reminder that not everything has to be fought.
That sometimes we just need for the emotion, the pain, the tears to flow, to pass through.
There is beauty and gentleness within that. It’s release. It’s healing.
And if this form of musical relaxation can facilitate this and make it easier… Why not give it a try?
To guide you through this week, take Valerie’s wisdom with you:
“No two people walk through this Earth and go through the same things,
wether it’s victories or traumas in the same way.”
Your experience of life, of highs and lows, is yours and yours alone.
It is unique. A one of a kind story of adventure, of grief, loss, pride and joy.
It’s also magical.
And it’s yours.
For more Valerie wisdom, check out her article about emotions stored in the body!
You can also find her on Instagram, and on her website!
For more information about her work promoting wellness and selfcare for women,
head over to VANA!
Have a lovely Wednesday, and i’ll catch you tomorrow for our weekly episode!
Ségolène xx
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