As they say, there’s not just one way to skin a cat. For hundreds, even thousands of years humans have discovered a plethora of different ways to heal ourselves. From herbal remedies to food, to stones and metals. Today, I had the opportunity to interview a practitioner of a healing practice that utilizes sound. 

Below is the excerpt from an interview on sound meditation with Mecca Elevated, a practitioner. 

What is sound meditation?

Sound healing is sound and meditation. You are put into a state without effort on your end. Meaning, you let go and let sounds do what they’re being instructed to do. You will feel the effects of the vibrations from gongs, bowls, rain, drumming, chimes, etc. all in a perfect concert style. You can drop into a meditative state and go inward. 

Where does it come from?

As I’ve been studying, it feels a bit disjointed. Some say it originated in Africa. I find there’s sound healing that originated in Southeast Asia/India. One may say that sound healing originated in Tibetan/Himalayan cultures. It has evolved through practitioners and the instruments they use. Research goes back to monks in Nepal using sound healing, food, and drumming to work with healing individuals. 

Q: What inspired you to practice sound meditation? Who did you learn from?

5 years ago I began practicing sound meditation. I went to a reiki session where they were using Tibetan bowls. I noticed that my thoughts were like a domino effect. One thought would go to the next non-stop and I couldn’t stop my thought process. But, once that bowl hit it scared me. Nothing, no thoughts were there and I’d never been in a position where nothing was there. I surrendered to that feeling. I trusted the practitioner. Then, I had to know more. From there I started looking up sound healing and sound baths. 

First, I did a gong wash, AKA “the pain killer”. It doesn’t know where the pain is physically, emotionally, etc. It goes in and feels what parts need to be straightened out. It’s like when someone walks in a room and you see they need to fix something on them, that itty bitty thing. Yeah, the gong helps put that thing in place. It aligns it. Initially, the gong feels overwhelming, intense, and intrusive. However, if you overcome that, then a smooth, protective feeling overcomes you. It resonated with me, both with how I was feeling and with how I started dealing with life challenges. 

I learned sound healing through multiple avenues. When I first started it was from a shaman who conducts sound washes around the city. When I lived in DC I found a gentleman by the name of Dante Sound at Recharge. He had definitely come to a certain point in his own spirituality where he was ready to share about Tibetan notes and the technique of performing with the bowls. He taught me a lot. 

Back in Chicago I started taking lessons from a gong Shaman, and then with a world-renowned gong healer. I’m definitely a student of life. I took a lot of classes and had one-on-one instructors to learn my connection to the sounds. From there it became intuitive. It’s very intuitive. It’s like saying “I’ll show you how to play correctly, then from there let your hands be guided. Let them be the conduit.”

Mecca In Session

Q: What are the benefits?

A: Everyday people carry around things they need to heal from. Some are known and some unknown. It’s past crap that we’ve been carrying around all our lives and shows up in how we communicate with people, how we socialize, etc.

Sound healing helps with these issues and the overall body. Frequencies between all instruments and your body, everything becomes aligned. There’s no effort on our end. If I do a sound bath at a certain frequency and I want to bring clarity or self-confidence to my client, the frequency becomes embedded into the client so they move towards self-confidence in their day-to-day. 

When people go home and meditate on their own, they become familiar with that specific state. 

“I want to know what that feels like so I can move forward or not.” If someone comes, they then know, “Oh, that’s what that feels like.” They can move forward on their own….I’m like a funnel for others to explore their own healing in life. 

Imagine running a marathon. There are people on the sidelines handing you cups of water and cheering you on. Healers and practitioners are here to help you move along this journey. It’s like saying, “Here’s the modality that can help you get to the next phase.” “Turn there.” “Let’s talk more.” That’s how I see the role of modern day healers. That’s how I feel about it. I don’t think it should be inaccessible. It shouldn’t be turned over to something that feels commercialized. 

Now that we are in this era of people having a spiritual awakening, or doing something that feels good for them, I think a combo of spiritual awakening and finding a way of life that feels good for them is prime. Now, with that, you can have the purest foundation with which to grab on to multiple modalities. Discernment of what feels good for you, most aligned with you. 

That’s when I myself felt the sweet spot. In my friendships, social life, and career I started to make better decisions. It all helped me grow into who I am now. 

Mecca at Chicago Women’s Park 

Q: Why is sound meditation important to the typical Chicagoan? 

A: If this city had the ability to meditate as a whole on a regular basis we’d be living in a much different Chicago. A common sense-using, considerate Chicago. It would increase empathy for your neighbor and yourself. Many Chicagoans have very little compassion for one another. With this type of modality, you have the ability to create space for yourself so you have clarity. Decisions on home life, work, social, and family. It helps you make decisions better. On the day-to-day if I’m walking around thinking of work, family, job and decisions must be made and I’m still conducting myself daily, those thoughts pile up. Then, they create more piles. We are walking around with piles of unresolved challenges. With sound meditation you unravel this humongous jumble of ideas and challenges like tons of rubber bands being loosened up. We can see more clearly and with compassion and common sense, and shift from being proactive to reactive. We become less reactive with a meditative process. 

In fact, I’ve noticed that people are becoming more curious about it in Chicago. I did a bunch of free events at the park this summer. People came out in droves. They’d lie down for 45 mins-1 hr. Some had never experienced it. They just showed up. You could see that they couldn’t put a finger on what they needed but they knew they needed something. Charter schools reached out to me to offer it to staff. 2022 was the “Year of Healing” for Chicago Schools. How do we incorporate more of this into the city? People are becoming more curious, there’s a want for people to better themselves. 

Q: Can families take it together? Can children do it?

A: Families, yes. I offer private group sessions. For example, if a family is getting over some type of grief and wants to be in a situation where they’re all meditating together. I’ve had kids as young as 6 months. Pre-teens, teenagers, college students. Depends on how the little person’s body receives sound. If you fall asleep you still get the benefits. It depends. I’ve seen as young as 6 months. I was surprised. I started to test it out. A baby in need, a parent in need session. It went over very well. 

Q: Nowadays, mental health is a big topic. Does sound meditation assist with achieving balanced mental health?

A: Yes. I’m not a mental health expert by any means, but I do know that meditation supports people suffering from depression. Usually it happens by giving you a high dosage of high frequency sounds. These vibrations and tones are like a big dose of medicine at one time to help you raise your frequency. If you’re in a low mood, sad, or mentally tired, the sounds go in and provide a natural caffeine, a natural high, or “upper”. Frequencies mimic what people seek in drugs and prescription drugs that give them a false state of movement. Sound healing can help with self-doubt, self-esteem issues, and chemical imbalances. It’s like the dopamine you get when getting ready to go out. It’s illustrated within sound as well. If depression is a lower energy state and life is at a low state and diminished, sound can create an upper energy state for you. It uplifts your state of vitality and creates positive emotional states.

Q: We find ourselves living in a world with questionable human ethics, rampant corruption, and political and economic ambition. So, why sound meditation?

A: Empathy is definitely one. Compassion is another bigger one. It increases energy levels. Many people will claim, “I already have clarity and high self esteem.” If that’s the case, then why do you drink coffee? It’s a mood lifter because that “lifting” doesn’t happen when you wake up. With this practice people will:

A: Illuminate their need to be people-pleasers

B: Create a solid foundation within themselves that will secure sound decision-making and health. 

Crime, for example, happens out of having a lower ego, low self-esteem, and low confidence (money, education, ability skills, experience). People suffer in all various facets. If you can create your own solid confidence and decision-making and solid person, it’ll definitely help with corruption and politics. Many problems are just the result of low-self esteem and working in one’s lower ego. Sound forces you to lean more into your feminine, feelings side. 

What is Mecca Elevated’s vision?

A: My sound is a catalyst to a bigger picture. If I had the dream of having a wellness healing center and it’s still happening, me out there with sound is just the intro. The ultimate goal is to create a space that allows one to go not just because of a specific ailment, but as a way of being proactive. It doesn’t need to just be sound. I want to work with other practitioners. People could come and spend time with themselves for a 3 day period doing dance or Reiki or hands-on, integrative healing. There can be so many pieces. I want a space where I’m doing deeper work. 

Until then, I share what I learned and continue to offer myself as a funnel for people to be curious and explore more modalities or work with me directly to ascend more. I’m not anchored to one outcome. It’s better to know that you simply want better. I would love to create something beneficial for me that’s comforting and welcoming versus competition, secrecy, and something that’s overly hierarchical. 

The studio has taken off. It allows me to do things I love and offer immediate benefits to others. It makes them question themselves and how they move through life. If someone comes and it’s a spark of “that’s different I want to seek more”., it allows them to move further into their own journey. I can do that inside the studio…It’s bringing a practice where one doesn’t need to feel like they need a religion or practice. It takes that out.

Q: Any new, exciting news coming up?

A: I’m traveling to Auroville, India for a course at a sound healing school. The city was created in 1968 as an experiment. It is a caste-less, no-partisan town. Everyone agrees on seeking divine consciousness. Each citizen is a doctor, food worker, gardener, etc. All make the same amount of money. Healthcare and education are free. They would like to replicate the city all around the world. It’s the largest meditation village, a Golden Globe meditation space. 

Q: How can people reach you? Learn with you?

A: www.meccaelevated.com

IG: mecca_elevated

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?

A: I appreciate you (the author) for joining in on the session we had and your openness to listening to the story. If more people were curious like that instead of maintaining their own assumptions we’d live in a more harmonious world. Always stay curious. Follow the sound. Where it goes, I’m following it.