Several weeks ago, Kevin Kraft, musician, sound healer and the author of the children's book focused on mindfulness, "Ohmmmmmmm," joined us on the Bend Don't Break podcast, chatting not just about his work, but also giving us a demo of the sound baths he leads using gongs, harmoniums, flutes and more. It was an aural treat, and those interested in hearing an example of what a sound bath is like should head to our Podcasts tab of bendsource.com to give it a listen.
Soundshala is a unique mindfulness, mindfulness curriculum, combining music breathwork movement and meditation aimed at helping achieve the mindful benefits of a sound yoga practice. This is evident in the soundscapes of voices, gongs, crystal and Tibetan bowls, drums and other instruments that help people relax and release deeply into balance. The below Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.
Source Weekly: Tell us a little bit about what drew you to this work
Kevin Kraft: It was originally a back injury back in 2005 that led me to yoga. I had tried so many things — physical therapy, I even had those epidural shots in the back and nothing, nothing was working. And then someone gave me a Rodney Yee 20-minute VHS Back Care, yoga tape, and really, within seven to 10 days, I felt incredibly better. And from that point, I knew, I'm like, wow — at least for my body type, where I'm at — yoga will be a part of my life forever, so it started with the physical. But that led me to yoga philosophy, which led me into the music and the sound surrounding yoga, which led me to a chanting concert. And that — I'll never forget that day. There was something that happened... something palpable, sweetness in the air that I knew that I would — I was meant to take sounds to people.
SW: Can you describe the experience for people?
KK: It's really, first and foremost, a very individual experience. So it's very difficult for me to say what will happen inside of you? Except I have seen almost everything in the classes that I've offered over the last 15 to 18 years. I've seen laughter, I've seen tears, I've seen anger. I've seen extreme bliss. I've seen frustration. I've seen kind of a connection with something timeless. Something along the lines above a past-life experience.
The energy and the vibrations of the music will interact with you with where you're at, not only on a physical level, but on a mental, emotional, energetic level. So, the result of that is, is this experience — and oftentimes this experience leaves you with more questions than answers because it's, it's tapping into new areas of space inside the body, mind, soul. There are experiences that are almost revealed by being exposed through sound and sometimes they can't even be answered with words.
SW: So for those of us who are the linear, concrete thinkers, I just want to know what is it. If you're telling someone about what you do in an elevator, how do you tell them about it?
KK: Oh gosh. Hopefully we get stuck in the elevator! The best way is — and this is really how I got into this — is I was introduced to these gongs. These gongs, especially these symphonic gongs, are incredibly powerful. The gong is part of the class of instrument called the idiophone; an idiophone makes sounds onto itself. So the first strike against the gong is delivered by me but then the subsequent strikes are delivered by itself. So the vibrations are creating vibrations that are creating vibrations that are creating vibrations. The human mind doesn't like that very much. It gets frustrated because it can't predict the sounds that will be coming next. So within a couple minutes, usually the human brain from a very active beta wave length state will begin to tire, slow down, AKA release. Let go, unwind. So, within a couple minutes we're going from Beta, into Alpha and then hopefully into Theta. That's the place where our body thinks it's going to be asleep for the next eight to 10 hours and kick-starts all the restorative features. So they say, one hour of a sound bath is like three to four hours of deep sleep at night. The best analogy that I've heard that really resonates with me is, well, me, personally, I have a very overactive mind. Sometimes my mind controls me, and I don't control my mind and I think a lot of people struggle with an overactive mind. There's so-called Life, a projector, or call it five or six projectors, playing on this screen of our life. This canvas of our life experience, what a sound bath, or what a gong bath does is slowly turn off one projector at a time. So you're left with maybe one screen or maybe nothing on that screen. What is it? When we are void of story or illusion or stress, anxiety, repetitive thought patterns that we know aren't serving us. So, if we can declutter, relax, release, let go, what are we looking at? What is the authentic experience of who we are in that moment?
SW: It's got me thinking — because you said it's kind of similar to a few hours of sleep — in your experience, with people that you've worked with, have those who experienced, less sound sleep in the night had more profound results?
KK: Definitely sound baths, gong baths are worth trying if you've experienced insomnia. I do want to give a bit of a warning. Sometimes gong baths can be extremely energizing, also. Energy producing. A lot of people think, oh, that's great. Well, sometimes you don't want a lot of energy if you want to sleep, or if you want to be calm. So sometimes it can be agitating, disturbing. It's not always a blissful experience, but a lot of people that do have trouble sleeping are often able to reset their pattern through a gong bath. And there, I would say, if you have any issues with that, give it a shot. It's definitely a natural way to adjust your sleep patterns.
—Listen to the podcast with Kevin Kraft on the Podcasts tab of bendsource.com.
