When the Mind Gets Quiet: Sound, Self-Awareness & What Comes Up with Erika A. Segura
What happens when we finally get quiet enough to notice ourselves?
For many of us, life is full of stimulation.
We move from work to family to phones to conversations to responsibilities, often without much space in between.
And sometimes, the moment things become quiet, something interesting happens.
We notice a feeling.
A memory surfaces.
An idea appears.
We become aware of tension in the body that we hadn't realized we were carrying.
Or maybe, for the first time in a while, we simply rest.
In this episode of the #SoRelatable Podcast, I talk with Erika A. Segura, founder of The Sound Bath Studio, about sound as another way of creating space for awareness.
This conversation is part of my ongoing Different Ways of Healing series โ exploring the many ways people create opportunities to understand themselves, process their experiences, and move through life with greater awareness.
Sound as an Invitation to Notice
Erika's relationship with sound grew from both her professional work and her own personal experience.
With a background in clinical hypnotherapy, she began using sound while working with children and young adults.
She noticed that sound could do something very simple but important:
It created curiosity.
Someone didn't have to walk into the room knowing what was wrong.
They didn't necessarily have to explain themselves.
They could begin by noticing.
What am I feeling?
What is happening in my body?
Where do I feel tension?
What comes into my mind when things become quiet?
That idea really stayed with me.
Because sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to immediately know what we're feeling and why.
But awareness doesn't always begin with an answer.
Sometimes it begins with curiosity.
Sound Doesn't Have to โHealโ You
One of the distinctions Erika makes in our conversation is an important one.
The instrument itself isn't going to magically heal someone.
Instead, sound can act as a prompt.
It can create a container where we slow down enough to become aware of something we weren't noticing before.
That might be stress.
It might be exhaustion.
It might be creativity.
It might be a memory.
It might simply be the realization that your body has been asking for rest.
What happens after that awareness is another part of the process.
Maybe you need to reflect.
Maybe you need to talk to someone.
Maybe you realize there is something you've been avoiding.
Maybe you need additional professional support.
Or maybe what you needed most in that moment was simply permission to stop.
Sound doesn't have to provide the answer.
It can create enough space for us to hear ourselves.
Why Quiet Can Feel So Full
Erika and I also talk about something I see frequently in therapy.
Many of us don't leave ourselves very much time to process and integrate our lives.
Something happens.
Then something else happens.
Then we have to get somewhere.
Answer something.
Take care of someone.
Finish something.
And our internal experiences keep piling up without much time to really look at them.
Then we lie down at night and suddenly the mind becomes very busy.
That isn't necessarily because something has suddenly gone wrong.
Sometimes those thoughts have been there all day.
We simply haven't given them anywhere to go.
Sound, meditation, walking, journaling, therapy, quiet time โ these can all become different ways of creating a pause.
And sometimes the pause is where we begin to hear what has been waiting for us.
Rest Is Mental and Physical
One of Erika's observations in the conversation is that true rest often involves both the mind and the body.
We can lie down while our thoughts continue racing.
Or we can mentally check out while our bodies are still carrying enormous tension.
Creating a quieter experience may allow both systems to begin settling.
And sometimes people discover they don't want to immediately get up and return to the demands of the day.
They finally feel like they have arrived somewhere inside themselves.
Creativity Can Live There Too
Not everything that surfaces in quiet is difficult.
Erika tells the story of a chef who attended sound sessions and found herself becoming unusually creative.
She would bring a journal, experience the session, and then begin developing menus and ideas for her work.
I loved that example because it reminds us that slowing down isn't only about finding what's wrong.
Sometimes it gives us access to what is trying to emerge.
Ideas.
Imagination.
Solutions.
Possibilities.
Parts of ourselves that may have been crowded out by the constant noise of daily life.
What If Something Difficult Comes Up?
This is also where thoughtful facilitation matters.
If someone is already carrying significant stress, grief, or trauma, a quiet or immersive experience may bring difficult emotions into awareness.
Erika talks about the importance of not assuming we know what another person is experiencing.
Someone crying isn't necessarily reliving trauma.
They may be grieving.
They may feel relief.
They may be experiencing gratitude.
They may simply be having a moment of recognition.
We don't need to immediately label everything.
Sometimes the most helpful approach is to stay curious.
What are you noticing?
Where are you feeling it?
What seems important?
And if something does feel too big to work through alone, that may be useful information too.
It may be a sign that it's time to bring in someone who is appropriately trained to help.
You Don't Have to Force an Experience
Another idea I appreciated in this conversation is that you don't have to enter a sound experience with a major intention.
You don't have to decide:
โToday I'm going to solve this problem.โ
Sometimes the intention can simply be:
I'm going to let myself rest.
Or:
I'm going to notice what happens.
There is something freeing about that.
We spend a lot of our lives trying to achieve, fix, improve, and figure things out.
Sometimes awareness grows when we stop forcing the answer.
A Simple Question to Take With You
You don't necessarily need a singing bowl or a sound bath to experiment with some of what Erika describes.
You might simply stop for a few minutes and ask:
What am I noticing right now?
Where is there tension in my body?
What emotion might be present?
What thought keeps returning?
What have I not given myself time to process?
And if you don't immediately know, you can borrow a question from our conversation:
If I did know, what might be there?
Sometimes we need to practice giving words to our internal experience.
The point isn't to force an answer.
It's to become a little more available to ourselves.
Hear the Sounds We're Talking About
During our conversation, Erika demonstrated a singing bowl.
Unfortunately, the full resonance of the instrument didn't translate clearly through the Zoom recording.
If you're unfamiliar with these instruments, here are two outside examples that can give you a sense of the sounds we were discussing.
Singing Bowl Example
Single Singing Bowl Meditation โ 495 Hz Frequency
https://youtu.be/sRWAKCdf84A
Gong Bath Example
Uninterrupted 3-Hour Giant Dark Star Gong Bath | Sound Healing & Meditation Music
https://youtu.be/lvbczDY6O4U
These links are provided as listening examples only and are not affiliated with or endorsed by Erika A. Segura or The Sound Bath Studio.
About Erika A. Segura
Erika A. Segura is the founder of The Sound Bath Studio and a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Board Certified Trainer of Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Sound Therapy and Breathwork Facilitator, and Master Certified Behavioral Coach.
Her work combines approaches including clinical hypnosis, guided imagery, breathwork, meditation, sound, and behavioral coaching. Erika is also a Concert Gong Master and Carnegie Hall performer and has facilitated sound bath concerts, retreats, trainings, and immersive experiences.
Learn more about Erika and her work at:
https://www.thesoundbathstudio.com/erika-a-segura-cht
Listen to the Episode
In this #SoRelatable conversation, Erika and I explore sound baths, creativity, physical and mental rest, emotional awareness, body awareness, memories, overstimulation, group experiences, and the importance of thoughtful facilitation.
But underneath all of those topics is a very simple idea:
We may already be carrying information that we haven't given ourselves enough space to hear.
Sometimes we don't need to immediately fix it.
Sometimes the first step is simply noticing.
What might you hear if your world became a little quieter?
Learn more about my relationship programs, workshops, groups, and resources at:
relationshipsolutionsprograms.com