A sound bath is a guided listening experience in which a facilitator plays crystal and metal singing bowls, chimes and gongs while guests lie or sit still. Guests do not move, change clothes or need any prior experience. Experiences typically run for 60 minutes. A corporate sound bath suits mixed-ability and mixed-age groups particularly well, including guests who would decline a yoga experience.
What actually happens during a sound bath?
Guests arrive and settle, either lying on mats with a blanket and a bolster, or seated in the chairs they are already in. The room is dimmed where possible.
The facilitator begins to play. Crystal singing bowls produce long, sustained tones that overlap and resolve. Chimes, gongs and occasionally a rain stick move through the room. There is no instruction to follow, no posture to hold and nothing to get right.
Guests close their eyes, or do not. Some fall asleep, which is entirely welcome. Most describe a sensation of the noise in their head gradually turning down.
After 45 to 60 minutes, the facilitator brings the room back slowly. There is usually a long, slightly stunned silence before anyone speaks. That silence is the point.
What a sound bath is not
Worth stating plainly, because this is the question corporate organisers are too polite to ask.
It is not religious. There is no chanting, no doctrine and nothing anyone is asked to believe.
It is not therapy. It is a restorative experience, not a clinical intervention.
It is not a performance. Nobody is watching your guests, and your guests are not watching each other.
And it is not something anyone can be bad at. That last point is why it works in a corporate setting.
Why does a sound bath suit a corporate group?
Wine Body & Spirits curates mobile wellness experiences across the Hunter Valley, Sydney and Australia's major wine regions, and of everything we host, the sound bath is the experience we most often recommend to corporate organisers. Four reasons.
Nobody has to move. No fitness, no flexibility, no balance. A guest with a knee injury, a guest at 40 weeks pregnant and a guest who ran a half marathon last Sunday all have the same experience.
Nobody has to change clothes. Guests remain in whatever they wore to the conference. There is no bag to pack, no hurried change in a hotel room and no returning to the afternoon session in activewear.
It converts the sceptic. Every corporate group contains someone who has quietly decided this is not for them. In our experience, that guest is the one who approaches the facilitator afterwards. There is no self-consciousness to overcome, because there is nothing to be observed doing.
It suits any room. Your conference room, your boardroom, a cleared function space, or a lawn at dusk. If it can be quietened, it works.
Where does it belong in a corporate agenda?
Mid-afternoon on day one. The classic placement. It catches the post-lunch dip and returns a genuinely restored room to your final session.
Before a significant keynote or strategy session. Where you need a room thinking clearly rather than reacting quickly.
As the closing experience. Particularly effective after a demanding two days. Guests leave settled rather than depleted.
On the final morning of an offsite or retreat. Gentle, and it sends people home in the right state.
What does the space need?
Very little. A room that can be dimmed and kept reasonably quiet. Enough floor space for guests to lie down, at roughly two metres by two metres each, or simply their existing chairs.
We bring bowls, chimes, gongs, mats, bolsters and blankets. Your venue provides the room.
How many guests can join, and what does it cost?
For corporate and conference groups, a sound bath is priced per experience rather than per delegate, from $495, in capacity bands up to 150 guests. You book the capacity; delegates join as they wish. A minimum of ten delegates applies.
For private groups, a sound bath on its own starts from $49 per guest, for two to 25 guests. Paired with a curated tasting as a two-hour signature experience, it starts from $129 per guest.
Send us your numbers and your setting and we will come back with a tailored quote.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a sound bath last? Typically 45 to 60 minutes. It can be shortened to 30 minutes where a conference agenda is tight.
Do guests need to lie down? No. Seated works well, and many corporate experiences are hosted entirely in existing conference chairs.
Will anyone fall asleep? Frequently, and that is a good sign rather than a problem. Facilitators bring the room back gently.
Is a sound bath safe for everyone? It suits almost everyone. Guests who are pregnant, wear a pacemaker or cochlear implant, or live with epilepsy or severe tinnitus should mention it when booking so the facilitator can adjust placement and volume. Anyone with a specific health concern is best guided by their own practitioner.
Can you host a sound bath in our Sydney office? Yes. We host in-office experiences across Sydney, as well as in the Hunter Valley and other major Australian cities and wine regions.
Explore our corporate experiences, or tell us about your group and we will suggest where a sound bath belongs in your day.
Shane Blackett is the founder of Wine Body & Spirits, curating mobile wellness experiences across the Hunter Valley, Sydney and Australia's major wine regions for corporate groups, conferences, weddings and private celebrations. Her guests have included BHP, Sony, Commonwealth Bank, the University of Sydney, Suntory and the NRL.
