“A sound practitioner?” He stopped walking, which ceased my forward motion as well. “What the fuck is that?”
I had to laugh because his expression was so serious. “Do you think I would bring you to something weird, Q? Some place where you would experience something unpleasant?”
“Shit, I didn’t think you would, but now? I don’t know.”
I sighed. “A sound practitioner is a person who facilitates sound baths. We’re going to experience a sound bath.”
“In front of all these other people?”
“It’s a couples’ sound bath.”
“So, we’re about to bathe in front of other couples? Are you a swinger, E?”
I let out a guffaw. “Q! Stop being ridiculous. It’s not a literal bath. This isn’t some public bath house. This is a wellness center. We’re about to experience being bathed in sound—with chimes and gongs. Stuff like that.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe you.”
“For a minute, I couldn’t believe you. I thought you were about to have me turn this place out. My baby ain’t getting naked or bathing in front of none of these niggas . . . or white niggas.”
“You’re insane,” I said, tugging his arm so we could start to walk again.
He held the door for me, and I stepped into the wellness center. I was immediately greeted by the smell of chamomile and ylang ylang. “It smells good,” I told Quentin.
He nodded. “It does.”
“It’s pretty too.” And it was. The foyer was painted a very calming shade of green.
“The sign says the room for the sound bath is this way.” He pointed to the left, then led me into the room where the sound bath would take place.
The room was just as lovely and calming as the foyer. It was painted a warm beige, and there were oversized olive trees in each corner. At the front of the room were about twenty vessels and instruments that I knew would be used to create sounds. In the middle of the floor, thick, luxuriant beige mats, each with an eye mask, a pillow, and a blanket were set up. There were enough mats for about seven couples, and many had already been claimed. “Let’s pick our mats,” I told Quentin.
We selected mats next to each other.
“This seems weird but also strangely calming. Between the scent she’s pumping in, the candlelight, the color scheme, and the soft music . . . this setup is a vibe.”
“It is.” I agreed, looking around and taking in the ambience.
After we’d been there for about ten minutes, the practitioner stepped to the front of the room, causing silence to fall over the space. She gave us a big grin. “Good evening, and welcome to the first couples’ sound bath event. If you’ve never experienced a sound bath before, let me tell you about it.”
She went on to explain the sound bath’s ability to induce deep relaxation, to offer calm to the nervous system, reduce anxiety, provide the atmosphere for deep meditation, decrease tension in muscles, and potentially trigger the release of endorphins.
“Please stretch out on your mats.” We all stretched out on our mats, and Q took my hand in his. “Because of the calming and meditative properties of sound baths, the inclination might be to drift off to sleep. I ask that you press against that instinct. To fall asleep would prevent you from experiencing the benefits of the sound bath. Please place your eye masks over your eyes, and we will begin.”
One hour later, she hit the gong to alert us that it was over and that we could remove our eye masks.
“Damn,” Quentin said, making eye contact with me. “I literally feel relaxed as hell.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “We should do this again.”
“We should see if she does private sessions. We should get her to come to the house. That way when it’s over, we won’t have to drive anywhere.”
“Agreed.”
We stood up from our mats with the other attendees and headed to the front to thank the practitioner. While we werethanking her, Q asked if she did private sessions and got her business card. Then we left the center, climbed into his truck, and headed for dinner at Londynville Luxe.
“I really enjoyed that,” I said as my eyes perused the menu. “The brain fog that feels like it’s always weighing me down actually feels like it’s lifted.”
“Say word.” He agreed. “I feel like my mind is sharp like a motherfucka.”
“If I had known I was gonna get results like this, I would’ve looked into a sound bath a long time ago.”
