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Sound Baths in the Himalayas

         IN THE SUMMER OF 2022 my friend Jakob & I went on a journey. Through the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, to the cities of Chandigarh and Agra.
12 sessions offered within 3 weeks with a 40kg-heavy plywood box full of instruments.

Only afterwards when relaxing on the Ganges in Varanasi we realised what we have just done. How crazy of a ride it was.

How it all started

         In Auroville - a small experimental international community in the south of India - we already had volunteered for some months together at a sound institute called SVARAM.
SVARAM is a growing global community of sound enthusiasts, artisans, designers, musicians, therapists, researchers, trainees and associates. It is based in Auroville in the south of India.

Working there Jakob and I tapped into exploring the subjective experience of sound, its therapeutic benefits and the craft of conducting sound journeys.
We contributed to the major sound baths offered by SVARAM for up to 170 people every Wednesday. Sneak in with the video below:

Jakob also introduced a weekly sound bath for a group of autistic children at Deepam School near Auroville.

Calm: Handling autistic children is a challenge. In those playful sessions we could rely on the sounds soothing them.

So a friend pointed out to us that there would be an amazing venue in Dharamkot called Vishram and that they would be open for a program of Sound Baths.
So we made a big plywood box of our instruments and shipped them up to the Himalayas.

Travelling with 40kg of Instruments

         AFTER we received the call from the post office that the box arrived we were super excitement. The excitement got bigger once we realised at the post office that the box is way to heavy to be carried any further than 100m.

So we put it in a taxi. As it took the whole back seat space of the vehicle, Jakob had to jump on my lap like a cute puppy.

At 1900m altitude we reached our destination. Vishram. A community space at the top of Dharamkot.

Stuffed: We had to roll down the back windows so the corners of the box would fit.

The village of Dharamkot is a refuge for Indian as well as international backpackers.
It is just 5km away of the Dalai Lamas domicile near the city of Dharamshala in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

We were welcomed whole-heartedly by the community.
Quite an interesting concept btw: Vishram Community is a colourful bunch of digital nomads with similar mindset and view on life. In order to raise quality of life, instead of travelling alone, they join forces to rent out a full hostel/hotel for several months at beautiful locations like Dharamkot. This enables them to have full control over the everyday life in the hostel, like food & kitchen, common spaces, room usage, who goes in and out etc. Among them the members of the community would exchange their skillsets for free, so that the financial stability of the community increases over the years.

Variety: Our cute selection of instruments ready for action.

So finally we had a place to store those instruments.
Next step: planning our sessions.

Sound Journey vs. Music
- a conceptual comparison

         THE POWER OF SOUND can be experienced in a variety of ways. In everyday life sound is delivers a sensual input that complements the visual and tactile human experience. In classical music you can experience harmony, dynamics and melodic patterns moving you. On a proper techno rave you can experience the physicality of sound through the enormous amount of bass.

So in Auroville I discovered another approach to sound for myself. The concept of mediative sound journeys or so-called sound baths.

In the flow: Tomasso & Nassib during one of our sound baths in Auroville.

         In music it is the goal to tickle the audiences emotions or thoughts by delivering a certain set of emotions or a message encoded by the chords, selection of instruments, tempo, intensity and lyrics of the song. Musicians willingly and generously put coloured emotion and subjective intention into their process of creation. Often those can be identified by the title of the song.
Therefore in a piece of music remains a limited subjective range of interpretation for the listener. Which is good. There is such a variety of music out there, that all realms of emotions are covered. As a listener you decide which realm you want to tap in by selecting a song, playlist or artist.

Sound Journeys drift away from forcing a limited range of interpretation to the listener.
         In a sound journey the journey is triggered and facilitated by the sound, but actually it happens in everybody’s imagination. The range for subjectivity in interpretation is pushed to much further extents. For example there would be more harmonious or dissonant sections in a sound journey that surely set boundaries for interpretation by their psychoacoustic nature. But the absence of lyrics, melodies, chord progressions or other recognisable musical structures turns the sound experience into blank canvas for the subconscious mind to paint on throughout the experience. A pop song as a comparison would be like a already painted picture that gets projected into the subconscious mind by listening.
There is significantly less co-creation from the side of the listener.

The Jakob & Marc - Experience

         IN AUROVILLE Jakob & I learned the skills required to give sound journeys from the scope of the SVARAM sound experience.
We learned how to put guidance and shapes of intention in the choreography of the sound journey while leaving freedom for intuition. During our sessions on this series in the north we could play around with variations in the choreography and hone the skills putting intuition in them and also executing them.

Even better in candle-light: Let's sooth the minds of the lovely-hearted people of Chandigarh

         We offer the participants a journey through:

   • ethereal harmonious and relaxing spaces
   • deepening sound scapes to sink to the antipodes of your consciousness
   • natural spaces to reconnect to former evolutionary states of mind
   • challenging sound scapes to confront hidden wounds of the psyche
   • integrating spaces of calmness
   • elevating spaces to higher realms
   • relaxing spaces of bliss and spaces of returning to blissful stillness

All these spaces can be selected and arranged to the requirements of the session.

Intimate: A session in the small Jegriti Dome. Domes have interesting acoustical properties.

This is realised using a selection of instruments with various sonic characteristics. The scene is set by a fully live-controlled electro-acoustically produced sonic carpet.

         (Re-)Connection to your own vibrations is part of the experience. Chanting and a sense of frequency and resonance can be help by deep sound experiences. Watch and listen to our folks in Chandigarh. Their OM-Chant becomes much more harmonious during the session:

Electronic Enhancement of the Sound Bath

During his time in Auroville, Marc extensively focussed on creating a flexible live setup to play with the electronic sound depending on the situation and intention.

Making waves: Marc in the electronic cockpit during a Sound Journey in Auroville.

The result are electronic ambient sounds that feature plenty of bass, natural soundscapes and various psychoacoustic effects like Shepard Tones and Isochronic Beats. The live controlled electronic sounds act as a foundation for acoustic instruments to be played closer to the participants.

The setup can be used on stereo speakers or on any surround system to introduce a more profound 3-dimensional spaciousness to the sonic landscape.
Most notably the setup offers tuned and alive bass - that makes people feel like "lying down in a gentle hammock" - as well as nature sounds that draws a setting and scene in the listeners subconscioussness.

Combining Breathwork with Sound

         THE MOST INTENSE SESSIONS we gave where those when we collaborated with a breathwork instructor.
They would be 2h long and subdivided into two parts.
In the first hour participants went through heavy breathing exercises guided by trained breathworkers.

Introduction: Rahul teaches the breathing techniques prior to the session.

         Jakob & I were more than happy to work together with Arija Rasutis and Rahul Mangal. This was facilitated by loud music and noises, so everybody would have their own private acoustic space.
This is important, because one might make unusual sounds during the breathing exercise, that are actually beneficial, but some people might be too shy to let such sounds out if others can listen. People undergo profound experience during the breathing. Depending on the intention of the session that can be spiritual experiences, emotional openings, the bringing up of suppressed traumata etc.

Breathed to outer space: Arija, Rahul & Marc in the middle of breath retention guided by Arija & sound.

The 2nd hour would offer a space of integration and Savasana.
         After an intense breathwork, the intense experience has to be digested by brain before people can safely come back to their senses. Therefore participants would lie down for at least another 15 minutes in silence and peace.
Instead of a silent space, we added a sound journey for the integration. The sound journey so to say took the momentum from the intense breathing, and over the course of one hour brought the people back to calm safe waters. The big benefit of having a sound journey during the time of integration is, that people will stay in this space of integration for longer and more intensely. The sounds will be shields for distracting thoughts that might disturb the integration after a few minutes. Guided by the sound, the experience of the breathing exercises can slowly fade to peaceful equanimity instead of ending comparatively abruptly.

The response we received after these sessions was overwhelming.
Jakob & I are eager to pick up on that loose end in the near future. More to come :)

More Travelling with 40kg of Instruments

At some point it was time to move on.
Jakob had to go back to Auroville and I was compelled to travel to Kathmandu.
At sessions in Dharamkot we were invited for follow-ups in Chandigarh and Agra. This meant more fun with trains and taxis to get our plywood box of instruments through.

Our instruments and us survived. Safe and sound. Ready for more adventures in the future. We hope you enjoyed coming on this trip with us via this blog. Contact us for more information about Jakobs and our current doings and for booking & collaborations.

Back 2 the road: Having our sweet time when leaving Vishram (that fancy building in the background).



Big shoutout to all the following lovely people & projects & people behind those projects:

Vishram Mandir Community
SVARAM [Musical Instruments]
Jegreti Dome [Venue in Dharamkot]
Trimurti Garden [Venue in Dharamkot]
Blissful Awakening [Well-Being Project in Agra]
Aditya Sasidharan [Contact Dance]
Yogamoreshala Studio Chandigarh
Rahul Mangal [Breathwork]
Arija Rasutis [Breathwork]
Shannel [Healing Arts]