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It’s been a few weeks since my first sound bath, and I’ve been back a couple of times. To be honest, I’ve been wanting to tell everyone about my *life changing* new hobby, but based on the cynical reaction I received from a test group of colleagues, friends, my boyfriend, even my sister (“Um, you’re doing what now"”), I kept this one mostly to myself. Because yeah, sound bath meditation seems fucking weird, but it’s also really great. I promise there’s no bath tub or actual bathing, and I really think you would enjoy it, if you just tried it.
But first, let’s back up a bit. For the past seven years, ever since I first fell in love with fitness, music and exercise have gone hand in hand. A rotation of electro house and modern R&B when I’m sprinting on the treadmill, the odd ’90s track when I’m working out outdoors, Beyoncé everything when I’m in the weights room, and hip-hop for yoga. I’m definitely not alone in feeling this way?in fact one study shows that working out with music makes the exerciser less aware of their physical exertion (read: pain), and can benefit athletic performance by an impressive 15 percent. Really, the only thing I ever did at the gym without music, was meditate?until I was invited to a sound bath meditation, and promptly realized that duh, of course music makes that better too. My introduction to the (admittedly new age soundi...