Inflatable mats float in a line across the swimming pool. People lie on them in their everyday clothes, wrapped in blankets and wearing eye masks. By the water, crystal singing bowls and a gong ring out as the mats sway gently with the ripples. This is floating sound meditation, which is spreading across Britain under the name ‘floating sound bath’.
The Welsh regional newspaper The Leader reported on 3 November that the meditation would be held again at Chirk Leisure & Activity Centre in the Wrexham area of north Wales. Sound baths, once found mainly at spas and resorts, are making their way into public pools where local people learn to swim and exercise.
A meditation on water that requires neither a swimsuit nor swimming skills
The session at Chirk Leisure Centre, called The Border Float, took place at 9.30am on Friday 6 November and 3.30pm on Saturday 7 November. It was run by The Floating Sound Sanctuary, an organisation that holds meditations in the same format across Britain.
Participants do not need to know how to swim, or even bring a swimsuit. They simply climb on to an inflatable mat in comfortable clothes. The organisers provide the mats, blankets and eye masks. According to the organisation’s website, participants do not get into the water; their feet or lower legs may get a little wet when they get on and off the mats. Tickets for the Friday session cost £33 per person, and numbers are deliberately limited to preserve the peaceful atmosphere.
Reviews suggest that the experience is accessible even to first-timers. Julie Howell, who attended the Chirk session, told The Leader that she had been quite worried about what to expect, as it was her first time, but that it was an amazing experience to let go while surrounded by beautiful sounds on the water.
Water instead of a mat: listening as your body gently sways
A typical sound bath involves lying on a mat on the floor and listening. A floating sound bath adds the movement of water. As the surface supporting the body shifts ever so slightly, physical sensation becomes an entry point to meditation alongside the sound.
The instruments used by the organisers include crystal singing bowls, a gong, chimes, Tibetan singing bowls and an ocean drum that makes the sound of the sea. Once participants have settled on their mats, a sound meditation practitioner begins to play, and they close their eyes and surrender to the sound and vibrations. There is very little talking during the session. The organisers say they keep the room warm and the lighting low. They say their facilitators have completed courses with the UK-based Sound Healing Academy, training in trauma-informed group facilitation and yoga nidra.
From hotel spas to school swimming pools
The list of venues on the organisation’s website shows how far the meditation on water is spreading. Alongside a resort in Wales and a spa in the Cotswolds, it lists a sports centre in Oswestry, a community centre in Runcorn and the swimming pool at Sir Thomas Rich's School in Gloucester. The 13 November session at a resort in Falmouth, Cornwall, has already sold out and is taking names for a waiting list. The next sessions are scheduled for 21 November at the school pool in Gloucester and 5 December at Chirk Leisure Centre.
The Floating Sound Sanctuary is not the only organisation offering this format. In Wolverhampton, in the English Midlands, Blue Fern Wellness held a floating sound bath at a school swimming centre. A space where children learn to swim and local residents do lengths can, at other times, become a meditation space for people to listen and unwind.
Could local swimming pools in South Korea offer this too?
Many people would like to try meditation but find it difficult to sit with their eyes closed for a long time in a quiet room. This is especially true for those whose thoughts never seem to stop. Meditation on water helps people cross that threshold through physical sensation: the feeling of floating, the gentle movement and the sound arrive before the thoughts in their heads. For those who have already tried a sound bath, it offers a chance to experience the same sounds through different physical sensations; for newcomers, it is an easy introduction that simply involves lying down and listening.
The trend in Britain shows that existing local facilities, rather than purpose-built resorts, can become spaces for meditation. South Korea, too, has municipal sports centres and school swimming pools in communities across the country. If getting on the water is not an option for now, you can still begin sound meditation at home by lying comfortably on the floor, playing a recording of singing bowls and following the sound until it fades away.
The organisers advise people who are afraid of water, are pregnant, have a pacemaker, epilepsy or a recent ear condition to get in touch before booking.
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