Healing Sound Baths

As part of his ‘https://socratessculpturepark.org/exhibition/planeta-abuelx/Planeta Abuelx‘, artist Maravilla is offering a series of healing sound baths. Some of the artist’s sound baths at the Park are intended to serve the general public, while others are offered to specific identity groups – like people affected by cancer or people who are undocumented.

Maravilla was introduced to sound baths therapy while he was receiving chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer and found it to be a helpful pain management tool. He was also drawn to sound baths as a non-Western, ancestral, and Indigenous healing tradition.

The artist believes that sound vibrations travel through the water contained in the human body on a cellular level – activating a parasympathetic relaxation response. “Human bodies are over 70% water, and the vibration of the gongs can help balance emotional, psychological, and in some cases physical pain,” he explains.

Some https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871151/studies have shown that sound baths can have beneficial effects including releasing muscle tension, decreasing blood pressure, altering brain wave frequency, and facilitating a deep meditative state.

Various methods of sound healing techniques have been practiced for centuries in locations ranging from the Tibetan Plateau to the Yucatan Peninsula. To create an immersive sound-scape for a healing sound bath, sound healers use vocalization techniques and/or play one or more percussive instruments like gongs, singing bowls, and tuning forks in hypnotic sequences.

Maravilla’s healing sound baths at Socrates take place in his ‘https://socratessculpturepark.org/artwork/disease-throwers-13-14-installation/Disease Thrower (#13 & #14) Installation,’ which trained sound healers activate by playing gongs attached to the sculptures. The installation also includes a fire pit that is lit during sound baths and maintained with medicinal and spiritual herbs throughout the ceremony.
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