All posts tagged: baths

Sound baths are supposed to help relax and ‘soothe’ your nervous system. But do any of these claims ring true? | Donna Lu

Sound baths are supposed to help relax and ‘soothe’ your nervous system. But do any of these claims ring true? | Donna Lu

Published by Sam Flores

I, for one, am partial to a bath: what’s not to love about a dim room, candles and nary an electronic device in sight? But a wellness trend that has emerged in recent years makes soaking in tepid water seem quaint: increasingly, people are paying to be “bathed” in sound. Social media is awash with clips of sound baths, where participants – for a fee – lie on yoga mats, hang in cocoons or float on inflatable pool loungers while berobed practitioners gently ring chimes and bang gongs for relaxation. Online interest in these experiences has risen exponentially in the last decade. Some are available outside in places such as Sydney Harbour, where you can be “rocked gently by the tide” while blindfolded. High-end wellness clubs, meanwhile, boast of surround-sound chambers complete with subwoofers. The purpose, according to the marketing copy for such classes, is to “soothe and calm your nervous system” with sounds that will “penetrate every cell in your body”, while specific frequencies are purported to promote “healing”. Singing bowls – metal or …

8 free L.A. wellness events in May with yoga, music, sound baths and more

8 free L.A. wellness events in May with yoga, music, sound baths and more

Published by Sam Flores

Who doesn’t love a seaside soundbath or a spa day? But wellness is expensive — and self-care shouldn’t break the bank. So we’ve curated a handful of free wellness activities for the month of May to keep you stretched, sane and grounded. But first: One of these events is blending wellness, culture, community and healing in an interesting way. For more than 38 years the World Stage Performance Gallery, in South Los Angeles’ Leimert Park, has presented live music, poetry, spoken word and other forms of cultural expression in its performance gallery. On May 23, it will stage its first annual Sacred Music and Healing Festival in Leimert Park. It’s an ambitious undertaking, says Executive Director Dwight Trible. The idea behind the festival, he says, is that “music is medicine.” “At a time when many are seeking restoration, grounding and connection,” he said, “we are creating a space where sound, rhythm and collective presence become tools for healing.” We caught up with Trible to learn more about the free event in a conversation that has …

The pet I’ll never forget: Benny the cat, who climbed into my shopping bag – then shared my baths | Cats

The pet I’ll never forget: Benny the cat, who climbed into my shopping bag – then shared my baths | Cats

Published by Sam Flores

I suppose you could say I got Benny from the shops. In 2006, he and his brother ambushed me outside a supermarket in Bahrain. They were trying to climb into the bags of shopping I was carrying to get at the food they could smell. Immediately smitten, I took them in. It was the start of a 16-year relationship that saw Benny and Buster accompany me to Kenya, Qatar, back to Bahrain, then finally to Manchester. I used to say they had seen more countries than most people. I was an advertising creative director and followed the work where I could get it. It was an interesting but lonely life and my new pals, who were about three months old, immediately made a difference. I was besotted with them, but it was Benny, with his endearing quirks, who really stole my heart. Bathtime for Benny … ‘He loved paddling in the bath.’ Photograph: Courtesy Alan Peevers Unlike most cats, he was attracted to water and loved paddling in the bath. He used to jump in …

The best sound baths in L.A. are happening in mattress stores

The best sound baths in L.A. are happening in mattress stores

Published by Sam Flores

I stir in the dark. So do the others. There are around 30 of us, maybe more — all experiencing the soundscape of the quartz bowls; a tech-free hour designed for us to commune with memory, creativity and emotion. A chime brings the sound bath to its formal end, signaling us to reacquaint ourselves with the physical present, to officially “wake up.” Slipping out of blankets and off of tall, puffy mattresses, we give thanks, take a crystal, a mantra card … and leave the giant mattress warehouse for the bright lights of Glendale Boulevard. While not affiliated with any specific modality, the sound bath inside the Atwater Village branch of Mattress Central has a cult-like following. The brainchild of practitioner Alice Moon, the event (which often sells out) is one of many nontraditional wellness offerings from her company Moon Soul Sound Baths. At the monthly event, her patrons gather at the store, select a mattress (alone or with a friend), get cozy and swap the static of the world for the soothing harmonics of …

Kepu Tuipulotu inspires comeback as Bath’s heavyweight bench sees off Sale

Kepu Tuipulotu inspires comeback as Bath’s heavyweight bench sees off Sale

Published by Sam Flores

Ewan Richards picked off a Sale attacking line-out and, from his own 22, Tuipulotu pummelled his way down the short side, running through two tackles, before spotting space in the Sale back field and setting up replacement scrum-half Van der Linde perfectly with his piece of footballing magic. Then came Barbeary’s killer thrust, after 28 punishing phases, to put them within sight of the finishing line. While Sale engineered a great position to steal the win late on, George Ford – playing his first game since February 21 after being dropped by England following the Six Nations defeat to Ireland – lost control of the ball and the chance slipped away. It was Sharks’ ninth defeat of a disappointing league campaign. “I’m crestfallen,” said Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson, who was forced to play a hooker, Nathan Jibulu, at No 7 because of his back-row injury issues. “I’m just gutted for the amount of effort that the lads put in. It is frustrating but it’s seemingly a similar story to how the rest of …

From chemical producers to sento baths, Japan feels the heat from Middle East supply crisis

From chemical producers to sento baths, Japan feels the heat from Middle East supply crisis

Published by Sam Flores

TOKYO, March 19 : Japanese companies, from steel producers to chemical firms and even sento baths, are feeling the heat from reduced Middle East energy supplies, even as the government tapped stockpiles for a record oil release to soften the blow.  Japan relies on the Middle East for around 90 per cent of its oil supplies, which mainly flow via the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed as a result of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. JFE Steel, Japan’s second-biggest steelmaker, on Thursday shut down one of the five power generation facilities in southwestern Hiroshima prefecture, due to the shortage of heavy oil, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson said steelmaking facilities at JFE, a unit of JFE Holdings, are operating as usual. The move adds to the growing number of businesses suffering from the energy supply disruptions.  OIL CRUNCH MAY BOOST NUCLEAR Petrochemical companies are cutting output amid fuel shortages and rising costs, with Mitsubishi Chemical saying it will raise prices by at least 70 yen ($0.4395) per kilogramme from March 20 for products …

Pompeii’s public baths were unhygienic until the Romans took over

Pompeii’s public baths were unhygienic until the Romans took over

Published by skeptic

The Stabian Baths, one of the bathhouses first built by the Samnites in Pompeii Icas94/De Agostini via Getty Images A trip to Pompeii’s public baths meant taking a dip in water contaminated with sweat and urine – until the Romans took over and sanitation improved. It’s easy to think of ancient Pompeii as a typical Roman city, particularly given that it lies only around 240 kilometres to the south-east of Rome itself. But for a large chunk of its history, Pompeii was occupied by the Samnite people, who had a distinct culture. It was only after 80 BC that it became a Roman colony, just 160 years before the city was buried under volcanic ash when the nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted. Like the Romans, however, the Samnites seem to have been keen on bathing. They built at least two public baths – now known as the Stabian Baths and the Republican Baths – sometime after 130 BC. Gül Sürmelihindi at the University of Mainz in Germany and her colleagues have now analysed mineral deposits in …

The best and most beautiful sound baths in Los Angeles

The best and most beautiful sound baths in Los Angeles

Published by Sam Flores

It’s 8 o’clock on a Saturday night and I’m standing in my pajamas on the third floor of a nondescript office building in Beverly Hills waiting for a man dressed in white to clear my energy with sage. Behind me, two women clutch fleece blankets and giggle nervously. “I feel like I’m going to an adult sleepover,” one of them says. But this is no sleepover. We’re about to walk into one of the many sound baths L.A. has to offer. Once a fringe practice more likely to be found in a conference room at the Conscious Life Expo, sound baths have vibrated into the mainstream in recent years, popping up in yoga and meditation studios, public gardens, churches, beaches and even the occasional BDSM dungeon. “When I started in 2003 there were hardly any sound baths in L.A.,” said Jamie Bechtold, a veteran practitioner and co-founder of the Soundbath Center in Eagle Rock, where she offers six to eight sound baths weekly. “Now every time I turn around, I see another one.” With this …