Sound baths in St. Louis to try

Seeking freedom from stress, anxiety, depression, and a revolving door of illnesses, Lisa Grezlak tried a myriad medications and treatments, including psychotherapy, but none provided the lasting relief she sought. “Sound healing,” however, changed her trajectory.

“It’s cost-effective, it’s non-invasive, and it’s super powerful and transformational,” Grezlak raves. “Getting your nervous system back to homeostasis and back to balance is the key to wellness, and sound vibration is the fastest way to do that.”

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Nearly a decade ago, Grezlak stumbled upon a sound-vibration massage, and the experience had such a profound impact on her wellbeing that she decided to explore the mental, physical, and spiritual implications of vibration- and frequency-based therapies. A couple years later–after extensive studying, training with the Vibrational Sound Association, and practicing in various settings–she stepped away from the consulting agency she had been running to open SVOUND, a Kirkwood-based holistic medicine office that now provides sound therapy and education.

Lisa Grezlak owns SVOUND in Kirkwood, Missouri.

In private clinical sessions, clients often lie down on a table while crystal singing bowls, tuning forks, and a gong are used to target internal imbalances. SVOUND also offers “sound baths” or public sound-healing events, which help attendees reset their nervous systems through immersive sound-vibration therapy–no, there’s not actually a tub of water involved.

“I see people who want stress reduction, who need to heal from something that they’re dealing with, or they’re on this journey of trying to rediscover themselves… They need that deeper connection with themselves to find their truth,” Grezlak describes.

The practice might sound unconventional, but experts recommend skeptics consider how music and sounds in a movie make them feel. Foreboding music can make your shoulders and jaw tense as you anticipate danger, for example, whereas a smooth jazz soundtrack might elicit creativity or romance. The sound of waves lapping gently onto shore likely puts you at ease, but water crashing against a boat stirs up other emotions.

Hollywood sound mixers aren’t the only ones harnessing this power to evoke certain responses. Scientists are studying how various frequencies influence brain activity and ultimately impact health. Sound therapies can reduce stress, anxiety, and pain, especially when combined with guided meditation, and certain types are used to treat other physical ailments, with varying results.

“Sound is one of the most ancient forms of healing, actually, and it has a kinship to meditation and mindfulness practices going back thousands of years,” Diana Parra Perez says. Perez, an assistant professor from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, researches chronic disease prevention and the benefits of mindfulness interventions, including sound healing.

“You’re giving your mind a task, which is to listen for the sounds. It allows for people to become more relaxed–your heart rate decreases, your thoughts become quieter,” Perez explains. “Some people do end up falling asleep; some people are in this in-between state of sleep and awake.”

Grezlak hosts community sound baths once a month in Shrewsbury, which offer an introductory experience for $27 a person. “Bring a yoga mat, bring a blanket, lay back, and just experience sound–sound vibration, deep tones, high tones, all these different noises,” she says.

Grezlak curates private sessions according to the frequency needs of each client, so she encourages those seeking relief from a particular condition to reach out for an individual session. “Everybody’s life is different. Everybody’s biology is different. We’re all eating different things. We’re all working in different capacities, using our mental capacities differently, triggered differently,” she says. “What might work for one person doesn’t necessarily work for the next person.”