Elisa Sobo, San Diego State University – What is a Sound Bath? Guidelines on Getting a Good One
Sound baths have become all the rage to increase your health; but what does science say?
Elisa Sobo, professor of anthropology at San Diego State University, listens in.
Elisa (EJ) Sobo, PhD, is a professor of anthropology at San Diego State University. Past President of the Society for Medical Anthropology, Sobo has published thirteen books and numerous articles on topics ranging from maternal and child health to land acknowledgments, generative AI in higher education, and civilian attempts to storm Area 51. Her work on vaccination has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other news outlets.
What is a Sound Bath? Guidelines on Getting a Good One
Sound baths seem to be popping up everywhere, especially yoga studios. Providers surround recumbent clients with an ambient soundscape using simple instruments like tuning forks, gongs, chimes, and especially crystal bowls, which emit pure tones when soft mallets circle their rims.
Sound baths, and their promise of tranquility, are a modern, hybrid invention. Providers and receivers in my research often said they work because vibrations ‘clear energy blockages’ or ‘reset’ the nervous system. Scientifically, however, their mechanisms remain a mystery.
There IS mounting evidence of benefits, such as decreased tension, anger, and fatigue, and improved blood pressure and respiratory rate. This is all good. But given the unregulated, predatory nature of wellness capitalism, one must choose well.
Providers who over-sell sound baths as ‘scientifically proven’ or a cure-all should be avoided. So should those who engage in lots of ‘trauma talk.’ This both distracts clients from a bath’s simple pleasures and fuels a self-fulfilling prophecy, teaching clients to filter experience through a trauma lens, perhaps worsening mental health via what Foulkes and Andrews (2023) call “prevalence inflation.”
Another problem is providers who play too loud, make jarring transitions, forget to pause, or offer songs with lyrics, making meditation hard to maintain.
The site’s important too. You must feel safe enough to relax into the soundscape offered. Studios with locking doors help. Outdoor baths can be nice, but concern over onlookers, noise intrusions, and weather can undermine a sense of sanctuary. So can bright lights and clanging, which counts out most fitness centers.
Sound baths can be amazing, but the effects of even the best don’t last. Until we address the social forces driving demand, the market for sound baths will stay booming.
Read More:
Recent public media:
- A Beginner’s Guide to Sound Baths
- Healing Vibrations: The Sound Bath Boom
- Could ChatGPT Prompt a New Golden Age in Higher Education?
- AI in the Classroom: Faculty Futures Podcast (Soundcloud; Apple Podcasts)
Recent academic publications:
- Addressing Covid-19 Vaccination Equity for Hispanic/Latino Communities by Attending to Aguantarismo: A Californian US–Mexico Border Perspective(Soc Sci Med; open access)
- COVID-19 conspiracy theories and the state(in Viral Loads; open access)
- Cultural conformity and cannabis care in the wake of intractable epilepsy(Medical Anthropology)
- Conspiracy Theories in Political-Economic Context(J Cultural Research)
Recent Books
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Mandy O’Neill, George Mason University – Does Your Workplace Have a Culture of Anxiety?
Is there a culture of anxiety at your workplace? Mandy O’Neill, associate professor of -
Stacey Wood, Scripps College – Our Approach to Fraud Needs to Change
On Scripps College Week: Our approach to dealing with fraud needs an overhaul. Stacey
Re “conspiracy theories”…
Of course by “conspiracy theories” the news outlet shills, the producers of official science, and the social media shills of the criminal establishment do NOT mean the criminal establishment’s OFFICIAL conspiracy theories such as THEIR official Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction conspiracy theory, or THEIR official Assad’s use of chemical weapons conspiracy theory, or THEIR official Russiagate conspiracy theory, or THEIR official JFK lone shooter assassination conspiracy theory, or THEIR official 9-1-1 inept pilots/fires brought down skyscrapers conspiracy theory, THEIR extremely deadly virus Covid conspiracy theory, and on and on with their authorized conspiracy theories they LOVE.
By that PEOPLE MANIPULATION term (“conspiracy theories”) the criminal gaslighting ruling class (and their idiotic followers, willful allopaths and scientists) means those factual narratives that they do not like, that threatened THEIR official lies, that DISprove their official lies — see http://www.CovidTruthBeKnown.com (or https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html)
“There are large numbers of scientists, doctors, and presstitutes who will sell out truth for money, such as those who describe people dropping dead on a daily basis as “rare” when it it happening all over the vaccinated world.” — Paul Craig Roberts, Ph.D., American economist & former US regime official, in 2024
The official narrative is… “trust official science” and “trust the authorities” but as with these and all other “official narratives” they want you to trust and believe …
“We’ll know our Disinformation Program is complete when everything the American public [and global public]c believes is false.” —William Casey, a former CIA director=a leading psychopathic criminal of the genocidal US regime
“2 weeks to flatten the curve has turned into…3 shots to feed your family!” — Unknown
“I just cannot understand why all these damn anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists don’t trust a government that actively works against the public interest 100 percent of the time. I mean if you can’t trust institutions that are deliberately constructed to subvert the common good for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful at every turn, who can you trust?” — Caitlin Johnstone, Independent Journalist
“The REAL conspiracy theorists believe that the government cares about them, the media would never mislead or lie to them and the allopathic-pharmaceutical industry that takes makes billions off sickness wants to cure them.” — Unknown
“The only conspiracy that matters is the conspiracy of the psychopaths against the rest of us.” — Kevin Barrett, Ph.D., Author
“… normal and healthy discontent .. is being termed extremist.” — Martin Luther King, Jr, 1929-1968, Civil rights activist