Mental health awareness efforts are striking up amongst the Gen Z demographic living in their college years. This has a lot to do with the general cultural and societal acceptance of mental health topics and discussions. The Gen Z youth in specific are more comfortable speaking upon their own issues as well as enacting positive habits to better their states, unlike previous generations who thought mental illness was taboo.
Gen Z is also supported by their university communities with mental health resources ranging from hotlines, counseling, and many other student-run organizations. There are some students though, such as a dear friend of mine, who has created her own startup businesses surrounding the benefits of meditation, journaling, gratitude realignment, breath work, and my personal favorite - sound bath therapy. These practices are healthy habits that contribute to moderating mental wellness and stability on a more holistic and spiritual note.
Roni Yohanan, the founder of Vybeshift, started her company roughly 2 years ago with high intentions of helping others reconnect with themselves through mindfulness and spirituality. Her main goal is to advocate healing so people can live their most authentic and fulfilling lives (LinkedIn Profile).
One key integration she suggests to those around her is sound bath therapy. Research shows the positive effects sound baths have on anxiety, pain, depression, and spiritual-wellbeing. In fact, the National Library of Medicine conducted a sound bath study with 62 women and men who reported feeling less tense, less angry, less fatigued, and overall less depressed after the therapy session.
These Tibetan singing bowls, known as sound bowls in Western societies, have been around for over 40,000 years within the Australian aboriginal tribes. The ancient instruments are easy to use as one takes a crystal or wooden mallet and firmly circles around the perimeter of the sound bowl. High vibrational frequencies are made from the bowls which transfer to and through the human body. These frequencies have shown promise in “inducing the relaxation response”, states the National Library of Medicine. Such “relaxation response” is considered to be a physiological response as the body’s blood pressure lowers which counters the body’s “fight-or-flight response and activation of the parasympathetic nervous system” (Par. 2). A considerable amount of time and discipline around sound bath therapy is highly beneficial to one’s mental health which is linked to one’s physical health, specifically the likelihood of contracting diseases. A few more scientific benefits of these practices include “lower blood pressure, improved sleep, reduced stress, reduced risk of strokes, and lower cholesterol level” explains entrepreneur, Yohanan.
This type of meditative therapy is too practiced by Yohanan. In fact, this past weekend she attended a professional Reiki Healing ceremony which lasted 2 hours. Through such experiences, she gained insight on running her own practices. Yohanan specifically finds lasting benefits of sound bath on a spiritual note expressing that the “...sound baths are a reminder to slow down, experience pure existence, and [have the] opportunity to explore your inner world from a neutral place.” While Yohanan performs sound baths for her close friends and family, she hopes to broaden her practices to the larger community. Through Vybeshift, she will continue to provide a positive mental wellness platform with adequate resources to serve her own spiritual journey as well as the USC students surrounding her.
Sound bath therapy is ultimately a niche, yet highly effective mental wellness treatment. By training one’s body to enter a calm state of being and establishing a sense of internal peace, one has the ability to thrive mentally and emotionally for years to come.
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