A recent participant in an online Sound as Medicine workshop led by Phyllicia Victoria through the Omega Institute described the experience as deeply calming. The writer, who has been navigating a difficult period in her adult life for the past 18 months, said she took the workshop to find relief.
During that time, she traveled across the country multiple times to support her father through brain cancer treatment. She also homeschooled her oldest son, adjusted to changes in her industry, and dealt with estrangement from a close family member.
She described life as heavy, overwhelming, and relentless. Her usual self-care routines included walking in nature and reading in the bathtub. After the workshop, she said she feels sound baths should become a regular part of that routine.
Phyllicia Victoria works as an artist, yoga teacher, reiki practitioner, and sound healer. On her website, she wrote that she grew up feeling broken, lonely, and unworthy, with trust issues. The workshop participant said she felt an instant connection because she could relate. Victoria began facilitating sound baths after realizing how sound helped settle her own thoughts and quiet mental chatter.
During the session, the participant felt that the combination of Victoria’s soothing voice, uplifting words, and resonant, hypnotic sounds created a transcendent experience. After the sound bath, Victoria led gentle movements and stretches and invited participants to journal about what came up during the meditation.
The participant wrote down several words that came to mind: Release, Peace, Spaciousness, Ease, Clarity, Calmness, Gratitude. Then she wrote a longer reflection: she felt deep relief from stressful thoughts that had been gripping her earlier. The sound transported her in a way words alone could not. She felt the vibrations deep within her body, as if they were cleansing the noise of her own mind and creating space to just be, without judgment.
When she heard other sounds—some from Victoria’s environment and some from her own, like her father moving around and turning on a faucet—she told herself: “No judgment—just new sounds.” She reminded herself to hear them mixed in with the more calming sounds of singing bowls and chimes, then release them without thinking they should not have been part of the experience.
She considered this a wonderful practice for life. Often, people hear more dissonance than harmony in their days, but sometimes it is the other way around. She said it is a gift to train the mind to hear dissonance without getting lost in the story of it, so focus can shift back to what is beautiful and healing.
After the journaling, she chose not to listen to the Q&A session at the end of the workshop so she could remain in the space she had created within herself. She has read that sound baths can calm the nervous system, reduce stress, relieve tension, and ease physical pain. She ended her session feeling deeply relaxed, physically and mentally, and better equipped to handle whatever came next in the day.
The writer said she has been grateful for a recent partnership with Omega because she values their offerings. She noted that Omega has put together a page of free resources for the Tiny Buddha community. She also listed several in-person workshops at Omega’s campus in New York this summer that caught her eye: Get Healthy with Sound: Tuning Forks & Voice for Vibrant Health; The Journey Inward: Frequency, Neuroscience & Longevity; and Holotropic Breathwork: Sacred Geometry & the Healing Nature of Mandalas.
She also reshared previously recommended programs, including Omega’s emotional resilience workshops focusing on training the mind and healing from betrayal and toxic relationships, and Omega’s nervous system regulation workshops covering neuroplasticity and nervous system healing.
If she could attend an in-person workshop at this time, she said she would go in a heartbeat, describing the campus as a true sanctuary for meaningful connection and deep healing. She encouraged others feeling similarly to explore the free resources and to share their experiences if they take a workshop.
