This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to London
“Twenty minutes of lying down [at a sound bath] are worth three hours of rest and recuperation,” announces Jasmine Hemsley, a sound healer, as she arranges gongs and singing bowls and I shuffle around on my yoga mat, tugging at my impractical denim jumpsuit. “And if you’re the person who says you don’t have 20 minutes for meditation, then you need an hour,” she adds. This feels personal.
Like many London workers, I have what’s called “monkey mind”: a Buddhist concept that describes restlessness, or the inability to turn off racing thoughts. (Sometimes it feels like I have an entire zoo up there.) And, as other time-poor individuals may find, meditation is not at my top to-do list.
But wellness centres across London are increasingly attracting overwrought workers like me, offering lunchtime “sound baths” to re-centre, re-energise and refocus for the afternoon, suggesting that acoustic immersion is more powerful than a remedial espresso at tempering the midday slump. It’s often referred to as “fast-track meditation” (meditation with no effort, essentially).
There is usually no need to change into gym kit or bring equipment. You lie fully clothed on your back on a mat, with knees propped on a cushion, body draped in a blanket and wearing a weighted eye mask, as you “bathe” in an arrangement of sounds from gongs, chimes and singing bowls composed by the sound healer.
Every session is designed differently: some focus on energising, others on relaxation. The sensation can feel like light waves washing over the body, or can be more intense, as the sound vibrations travel through the bather’s stomach, arms and legs.
The instruments produce vibrations at frequencies said to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps the body rest and digest — and you’ll often hear gurgling stomachs and metronomic snoring as a result. You are encouraged to give in to sleep, or to use the sounds as a tool to ground an anxious mind. Benefits are said to include stress-relief, renewed focus and clarity after the final gong chimes.
Keen to learn how to quiet my mind — and to re-energise during the day without mainlining double espressos — I tried an array of lunchtime sound bathing experiences across London. Below are the ones I liked best and found most beneficial, from community centre sessions to the ultra-luxurious.
A Tempo Sound Therapy with Jane Kight (Twickenham)
ETNA Community Centre, 13 Rosslyn Road East, London TW1 2AR
-
Good for: Winding down for the weekend
-
Not so good for: Travelling far; you’re encouraged to bring your own mat, pillows and eye mask
-
When: Friday, 1.30pm-2.15pm
-
Price: From £13.70
This weekly Friday class is a hub for regular sound bathers, making for a buzzy, community feel. And as it’s just a short walk from Twickenham and Richmond’s riverside, this idyll of a session can feel like you’ve been plucked out of London altogether.
Jane Kight, who runs the session, encourages bathers to come armed with their own mats, blankets, pillows and whatever else they might want. In the session I attended, this included a woman bundling herself in what can only be described as an enormous rug, but Jane encourages you to be comfortable however suits you.
Kight uses a mix of singing bowls and chimes for her lunchtime practice, giving the sound immersion a lighter feel than some gong-led classes. The session is calming and seems to chime particularly with those working from home at the end of the week. She also encourages bathers to try to stay awake rather than fall asleep — a different focus to many other sound baths, which suggest that dropping off is a key part of the experience. “Try to bring your awareness back to yourself,” she says. Kight also prefers to keep snoring to a minimum, so if you are a noisy napper this may not be the sound bath for you.
Re: Mind Studio (Victoria)
25A Eccleston Place, London SW1W 9NF
-
Good for: Variety. There is a range of sound-bath classes targeting different needs
-
Not so good for: The sound of the Tube underneath. I found it relaxing, but it’s not to everyone’s taste
-
When: Sessions vary each week; see programme here
-
Price: £30 per 50-minute class, membership deals available; private sessions here
At this meditation studio specialising in sound therapy and healing that is nestled in a lush courtyard near Victoria station, founder Yulia Kovaleva leads weekday sound-bathing sessions so “busy Londoners and visitors can recover, heal, and transform from the pressures and demands of modern life.”
Her lunchtime sessions are typically held at noon and 1pm, depending on the day of the week. Each immersion lasts 50 minutes, but meditators are encouraged to arrive early and, if they wish, to leave later so they can enjoy the cosy relaxation space, with its big, chunky blankets and extensive tea menu that could rival many wine lists.
I poured myself a soothing chamomile infusion before the session and settled into a cushy armchair, amid 10 or so other women who were donned in expensive Lycra. The healer then called us up to the studio, where everyone hunkered down under weighty linen blankets.
The studio is cradled by the rosy hues of a huge James Turrell-esque light on the ceiling, and a peppering of Himalayan salt lamps on the front wall. The mats are comfy, the eye masks are weighty and the blankets are soft, and I was strangely soothed by the Victoria Line’s gurgles, which roll under intermittently. I attended a Himalayan Bowls class designed for “sufferers of overstimulation”, which was light, serene and curated so that you exit the session feeling warm, fuzzy and tranquil.
Afterwards, some left to head back to work, and others resumed their position in the relaxation area with another cup of tea and a book. There’s no urgency to leave, and guests are welcome to stay a while.
OM by Leo Cosendai at The Other House (South Kensington)
15-17 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JJ
-
Good for: An all-inclusive approach to aromatherapy, sound and relaxation
-
Not so good for: Those who enjoy a lighter practice; the gongs are the stars of the show
-
When: Monday and Friday, 12.30pm. Sessions throughout the afternoon are held at weekends
-
Price: £45 for 60 minutes
In a cosy room in The Other House, a private members’ club in South Kensington, stand two enormous gongs — two of the biggest in Europe, according to sound-artist Leo Cosendai. The club is the home of Cosendai’s latest installation, OM, which was inspired by his decade of facilitating sound baths, and with it he also offers lunchtime immersions. The sessions are twice a week for solo sound swimmers or groups of up to four, and are also open to non-members.
The room has four plush mats laden with blankets, cushions, hot water bottles and eye masks. The two enormous gongs skirt the mats, so mammoth that they loll from wall to wall, and ceiling to floor.
As I slipped under my blanket and popped on my eye mask, Sara Cosendai — Leo’s wife and the session’s “aromatic designer” — sprayed a mix of Hawaiian sandalwood and Bulgarian rose otto on my hands and suggested I create a shell shape over my nose and inhale. The scent was comforting and signalled the start of the relaxation.
The immersion lasts around an hour and uses layers of gongs and chimes to construct a soothing architecture of sound. At some point during my dreamy haze, we were unfortunately interrupted by a fire alarm — the sound-bathing equivalent of a cold plunge pool, I found out. But, within seconds of the alarm stopping, I slipped back into a snooze, only finally snapping back to reality when Sara misted my face with an essence that contained edelweiss to mark the end of the immersion.
Bathers can use the café or the club’s library after the session. I sank into a cushy armchair and flipped open my laptop to continue the working day, my hands still wafting a haze of Hawaiian sandalwood as I typed.
Cloud Twelve (Notting Hill)
2-5 Colville Mews, London W11 2DA
-
Good for: A holistic approach; sound healer Svetlana Chebysheva will even pop a singing bowl on your head if you wish
-
Not so good for: An in-and-out session. It’s worth spending some time in the spa
-
When: Sessions can be booked during opening hours (9am-7pm)
-
Price: Private session, £175 for 60 minutes
Along a quiet west London mews is Cloud Twelve, a chic wellness centre with a crèche on the ground floor and a grown-up health haven upstairs. Its spa offers private sound-immersion sessions for a length of time suiting you — anything from 10 minutes to an hour — with free access to the sauna, steam room and detoxifying salt room tacked on.
Here, sound bathers lie on a towel-lined heated bed filled with rose quartz, made to resemble the sensation of hot sand on a beach. Tibetan bowls teeter on the edges of the bed, crowning your head and skirting your feet, with one poised on your stomach.
As resident sound healer Svetlana Chebysheva plays the bowls, vibrations flow forcefully into the body in a way that is much more relaxing than it might sound. I had told Chebyshev I needed stress relief, and she placed the bowls close to my body so that I’d feel the vibrations deep within, which she said would target the stress. I was dubious and a tad overwhelmed at first, but even managed to fall asleep while she struck a metal bowl just centimetres from my head. The sensation of the vibrations so close to the body worked much more intensely than other sessions I’ve tried, and I left much more relaxed.
Chebyshev’s warm and holistic approach meant that, at the end of our session, I even felt comfortable with her turning one of her treasured Tibetan bowls over my head, balancing it on my skull and playing it with a mallet in a scene that resembled whack-a-mole gone wrong. This, she says, delivers a fast burst of stress relief — a way to very quickly release tension. Chebyshev says she even keeps a bowl in her car to bang quickly when stressed in traffic.
The beauty of the private session is that you can tell Chebyshev how you’re feeling when you enter — whether you want something for stress release, for relaxation or for sleep, she caters instruments and frequencies to each bather’s needs.
Sound Healing at The Mandrake (Fitzrovia)
20-21 Newman Street, London W1T 1PG
-
Good for: Different sounds, from rainforest noises to live singing
-
Not so good for: A budget sound bath. The private sessions are on the pricier side
-
When: Can be booked whenever suits
-
Price: Group sessions from £35, private sessions from £150 for 60 minutes
In addition to its group sound baths on Sundays, The Mandrake, a luxury hotel near Oxford Street, offers a “spiritual wellbeing concierge” service to design rituals or treatments based on a guest’s individual needs. Private sessions booked through the concierge are typically an hour, but can be shortened to fit your lunch break, and range from shamanic healing to sound-frequency alignment or a “cosmic” gong bath.
Sound bathing sessions are held in a private space of the hotel — including the cosy yet contemporary penthouse suite when it’s available, complete with plush black velvet mats on the floor. Clients choose a session based on whether they most need to release tension, restore balance or energise.
My session, focusing on relaxation and regrounding, was shamanic, aiming to lead towards an altered state of consciousness. Over a contracted time of 40 minutes (I had a train to catch), one of the hotel’s sound healing practitioners, Jessii Rose, played a range of instruments and sounds, from a mini-harp and a traditional gong to the natural sound of a rainforest, and even live singing by Rose. A session as such is meant to expose your body and nervous system to a range of frequencies that should plunge you into a state of deep relaxation.
It was one of the most relaxing experiences I’ve had, helped especially by Rose’s warm approach and how she created safe, serene environment that focused specifically on my needs.
Sound Bath Serenity at Four Seasons Park Lane (Mayfair)
Hamilton Place, Park Lane, London W1J 7DR
-
Good for: A luxury spa afternoon
-
Not so good for: A quick fix. With a vitality pool, steam room and sauna, there’s no point popping by in a rush
-
When: Private sessions can be booked whenever suits
-
Price: From £295 for two hours
Looking over London’s royal parks and its hedge-fund heartland, this penthouse spa is a short stroll from many financial offices, offering private sound-bath sessions at lunchtime, which can accommodate up to five people.
After bathers settle on to heated beds with sweeping views across the capital, the session uses a blend of crystal singing bowls, chimes, with a heavy emphasis on traditional gongs (on the slightly more intense end of the sonic scale). I didn’t slip into sleep, as can be the case in some lighter sessions using mostly singing bowls; instead, I was kept in the moment by the vigour of the gongs. But I certainly left feeling energised, and it was a welcome antidote to the calm silence of the spa.
The sessions, which are a partnership between immersive sound company Sahana Sound and the Four Seasons, are expensive, but guests are welcome to use the hotel spa facilities, including a vitality pool, steam room and sauna, for up to an hour before the session as part of the package. Before my session, I was greeted with a hot cloth and herbal tea, before popping on a robe and heading to the warm pool. There are also pods with beds and headphones that you can unwind in post-session — I settled into one and listened to some of the preprogrammed relaxation music. Not quite the gong vibrations of the sound bath, but a nice supplement.
Bonus: Jasmine Hemsley (Online)
-
Good for: An on-the-go fix
-
Not so good for: Office embarrassment
-
When: Any time!
-
Price: £2.99-£4.99 for five- to 60-minute sessions
You might recognise the name Jasmine Hemsley from her sibling foodie double act Hemsley Hemsley. She and her sister Melissa became the fresh faces of British wellness with their 2014 cookbook The Art of Eating Well, and double-handedly catalysed the spiraliser phenomenon (remember “courgetti”?)
Today, Hemsley does sound baths in London, with an evening residency at Notting Hill’s Bodyism. But if you’re determined to beat the lunchtime slump, she also sells downloadable mp3s that you can (technically) listen to at your desk. Each is aimed at a different benefit, including Stress Relief, Energise, Relax and Focus, with lengths ranging from five to 60 minutes, costing between £2.99 and £4.99 per file.
Hemsley recommends using headphones to listen and wearing an eye mask (or pressing the heels of your hands to your eyes).
As I plonked my company-issued headphones over my ears, I couldn’t imagine abstracting my mind to any plain other than my desk. But, the 360-degree “spatial” sound is immersive enough to replicate how the vibrations sweep across the room in a real-life sound bath, with the sensation of sound waves capering from ear to ear.
Hemsley’s practice hinges on variation. Somewhat unusually, she intermittently slips into honeyed asides more reminiscent of guided meditation, and she uses a whole range of gongs, chimes and the most millennial singing bowls I’ve ever seen: pastel-pink glass crucibles.
Once you get past the mild embarrassment of earnestly covering your eyes at your desk for 10 minutes or so, Hemsley’s sound baths are genuinely impressive in their ability to sharpen focus, hauling you out of corporate quicksand for however long you need. She even tailors her Focus session to a “Pomodoro” productivity routine to slot seamlessly into your working day: take 25 minutes for the sound bath followed by a five-minute rest, she says, and return to your work revived. Though if you’re prone to workplace self-consciousness, it may be worth booking a conference room to enjoy your sound bath in peace.
Have you tried sound-bathing, and if so, what did it do for you? Tell us in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter
Cities with the FT
FT Globetrotter, our insider guides to some of the world’s greatest cities, offers expert advice on eating and drinking, exercise, art and culture — and much more
Find us in London, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Singapore, Hong Kong, Miami, Toronto, Madrid, Melbourne, Copenhagen, Zürich, Milan and Vancouver
