Healing Through Sound with Conscious Resonance
Ever notice how the sound of traffic can feel stressful, or how a certain song makes you want to dance? Okay, now think about the sounds that relax you.
An organization called Conscious Resonance is offering Detroiters sound immersion therapy classes. Dilan Wade is the project’s founder and a certified sound therapist. Corie Smale is a longtime massage therapist and works alongside Wade during their classes, which are open to the public. Wade says he uses sounds from nature along with instruments from all over the world to create immersive soundscapes to aid in stress reduction and relaxation. The next class being offered at the Rivertown Warehouse District studio is happening tomorrow (Sunday) at 3 p.m.
“There’s so much stress in the world, and we need this…no one ever stops to put the phone down. Let’s turn the TV off –sometimes you need to go somewhere and have someone tell you to lay down and relax, and you’re like, ‘okay,'” says Smale.
Recent sound immersion classes have drawn crowds of about 25 people, and Wade says attendees range in age and background. “We’ve had everyone from young children all the way up to older retired people and it’s all races, ethnicities. People come from down the street, people come from an hour away –we get a really great mix of people,” says Wade. Smale says she encourages people to bring a blanket and pillow to the class, which typically lasts about 90 minutes.
Wade, who is a native of the Detroit area, says he’s been a musician since childhood, which eventually led him into the world of sound production and recording. “In the years of doing that, it opened me up to how sounds affect us, so I went out to California to the Globe Institute of Sound and Consciousness, and spent a summer out there learning how to utilize sound as a healing modality,” says Wade. Meanwhile, Smale brings 17 years of experience as a massage therapist to her role in helping to facilitate these classes. She says after spending years helping people “destress” one at a time, she was thrilled to learn about this different method, which allows for group healing.
The classes are led by both Wade and Smale. “I typically start out with a little bit of breath work, [to get] people just coming down from being out in the world and being all stressed out and kind of just get people tuned in with their breath,” Wade says regarding the classes.
Now, if you’re finding yourself feeling a bit skeptical, Wade says you’re not alone. “It’s perfectly natural to be skeptical, I was skeptical myself. That’s why I did a lot of research, both from a scientific point and from an intuitive point, but it’s really something you have to experience. There’s only so much you can explain, but just taking that time to really do nothing has some benefits you can feel and are palpable,” he says.
