When I first moved away, one of the things I promised myself was that I would try some new things. If these things were out of my comfort zone, even better. Here’s the story of how social media enhanced my life. I’m off the radar when it comes to social media, I don’t do Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and all that other stuff, it’s just not for me, I don’t believe it contributes anything to my mental wellbeing, so I opt to stay away.

However, upon moving I quickly found that using Facebook was going to be the easiest way for me to find a place to rent so I went against my own guidance and reluctantly created an account on Facebook. I quickly found a place and then without hesitation deleted my newly created account and went on my merry way… Well almost without hesitation. As it happens, I logged on ready to delete the account and, on my feed (I think that’s what they call it). I happened to see an advertisement for a brand-new sound bowl class. This ticked the boxes, something new and something out of my comfort zone.

With the date, time and location firmly stuck in my mind, I went ahead and deleted the account ready for my first experience of sound bowls. As Thursday (the day of the class) drew closer, I was having second thoughts, I’d taken a bit of time out to do some research so I could understand what I was getting myself into. I started to tell myself that this isn’t for me. I asked myself, why am I doing this? I searched for an answer, and the truth is, I couldn’t really find an answer. Ironically, being unable to answer this question actually gave me the push I needed to go, I decided that if I don’t have an answer then maybe I should attend and search for an answer. Off searching I went.

I turned up to the location with a slight sense of anxiety, unsure of exactly what to expect, after all it was unlikely that what I had read about the experiences of others would reflect my reality. It was a lovely venue tucked away and surrounded by the peaceful stillness of green leaves stemming from all the plants and bushes. It was called ‘The Spirit House’, a perfect name for a near perfect venue. I knocked on the door, half hoping there would be no answer and I could go away and tell myself “Well, I tried but it wasn’t meant to be”. The door was quickly answered, and I was warmly greeted by a somewhat familiar, smiley face (still being relatively new to the island I didn’t know anyone particularly well). I was invited inside and greeted by several more, happy people all there for their own personal journeys.

With the sound bowls at one end of the room I found a spot out of the way in the corner, as far from anyone else as possible, which turned out not to be very far away at all as the room was small and cosy. I had plenty of space, as did everyone else, but right then I would have rather had more space, a lot more space, I would have been quite happy to be on a different island. “Help yourself to whatever you need to make yourself feel comfortable”, I was told as the vast array of blankets and cushions were pointed out to me. Being a bit of a minimalist, I opted to get a small blanket to lie on and two cushions, one for my head and one to go behind my knees. A keen observer may notice that I still go to the same corner and opt for just one thin blanket and two small cushions, an even keener observer may notice that I try and get the same small blanket and same two small cushions at each session I attend.

With my now ‘furnished’ corner ready, I sat down and started to make myself comfortable. As everyone began to settle down and peace began to reign over the room I lay back, staring peacefully at the ceiling. As my mind slowly started to empty and the soft harmonics of the bowls began to fill the air, gentle words of guidance were encouraging me to concentrate on the feeling of each breath entering and leaving my body, and to feel the sensations of the vibrations caused by the deliberate yet careful, subtle striking and circling of the bowls. As the various frequencies of the bowls continued to be explored for the following hour, I continued to enter a deeper state of relaxation. As the session regrettably started to come to an end, and we were slowly brought back to reality, each with our own individual experience in hand I found myself still unable to answer the question ‘Why did I do this?’. To this day I am still unable to answer that question, but I can answer this question, ‘Why do I go back?’

The answer is a simple one: Tranquillity

Peace and love everybody, peace and love.