Recently, we sat down with Ruth McEwen here at Angelic Roots who has a background as a sound practitioner, music-thanatologist, and hospice social worker. Ruth shares her journey, her perspective on grief and loss, and how she brings balance and gratitude into her work and daily life.
Can you share a bit about your journey and what led you to create Rx Sound Journeys?
All of my life experiences and relationships have in some way planted seeds to emerge in the birthing and offering of Rx Sound Journeys. Working with sound in therapeutic ways has been one of those life responses to my questions and curiosities about who am I, what’s my meaning and purpose, and coming at a time of great loss and grief. I was drawn to music and used it personally navigating my loss and grief journey, and then was led into the field and incredible world of Music-thanatology. Music-thanatology is a unique and specific field of care for the dying - using harp at the bedside with prescriptive music to support the complex needs in the dying process.
My professional studies and work as a Music-thanatologist expanded my mind, heart, and soul, deepening the power of presence in my hospice social work and bringing the healing resonance of Harp music to those nearing end of life and their loved ones. My desire to continue learning, and for my own personal growth and well-being, then led me to study other sound modalities and practices beyond Music-thanatology. I began utilizing some of these for my self-care and found great support in those practices and in experiencing individual sound sessions and group sound bath sessions. As friends and family members became aware of my work, they asked me to share and work with them and encouraged me to offer sessions.
Walk us through a typical individual or group session, including a bit about each instrument you utilize and how someone would best prepare.
Prior to your arrival, a welcoming and sacred space is created with sound vibrations used for clearing and opening of the space. Dress comfortably (you will remain fully clothed with the exception of shoes). The degree of your comfort supports the depth of your receptivity and experience in the sound journey. You are invited to be reclined, in a relaxed state and position through the session. Blankets, bolsters, and eye masks are available to support your comfort. If you are not comfortable in this position, alternative positioning will be found for you. Some thought about your desires or intentions for the session is helpful before you come. It may be simple “me time” or a specific life issue. In an individual session, a brief conversation about this and how to best support you is held. In both individual or group sessions, a small notebook is provided for you to write your intention in if you like - there is some power in putting your intention into words and in writing it down. The notebook is yours to take with you.
With your intention in mind, you light a beeswax candle which is provided. The candle burns with your intention through your session. Beeswax clears negative ions and offers purity as the flame holds and carries your intention. At the end of your session when you blow out your candle you acknowledge that your intention lives within you. The candle is yours to take home where you can reignite it when you want to reconnect in a conscious way with your intention and/or sound journey experience.
Intentional and prescriptive use of varied sound vibrations of Tingshas, Tuning Forks, Steel-Tongue Drum, Ocean Drum, and Harp will be offered with some brief periods of silence and stillness all supporting a deepened state of relaxation and natural innate healing processes. Each of the instruments have roots in ancient healing and meditation practices, each with its own resonance and frequencies.
A session begins with the sounding of Tingshas, ancient instruments, that provide a clear focused ringing sound and then gentle dissipating vibration. The clear ring draws energies to a focus as two chimes create one balanced focused sound and negative or superficial energies dissipate as the vibration slowly diminishes and dissipates - opening and balancing energies.
Throughout the session different instruments will be played, sounding at various times each deepening your state of relaxation as levels of the stress hormone cortisol reduce and health supporting nitric oxide levels increase.
Tuning forks are used to tune and calm your nervous system and bring your biochemistry and organ systems into balance through the sounding of varied musical intervals and overtones.
The steel-tongue drum produces low vibrations of pure sustained tones that penetrate the body to deepen relaxation and healing. The varied notes/tones can be sounded in different patterns to support the chakras.
The ocean drum creates and mimics the soothing sounds of waves or gentle rainfall, or the movement of the amniotic fluid of the womb, fostering calm, safety, and deepening relaxation. The drum is also sometimes used with stronger movement producing greater vibrancy and sound for clearing and cleansing stagnant or blocked energies.
The harp considered the most ancient of stringed instruments, offers the greatest capacity of melody, harmony and rhythm through wide range of tones, frequencies, resonances to balance and calm the complexity of body, mind and soul through its gentle vibrational tonal beauty.
All of the instruments and their unique gentle vibrations aid relaxation of your central nervous system and support a shift from the most common “fight or flight” stress state to a more relaxed “rest and digest” state - the state of healing and restoration. Your brain waves may also gradually ease into the theta brain wave state, supporting increased creativity, intuition, spiritual awareness, learning, and reduced anxiety. Some of the physical benefits of a sound session may include lowered blood pressure and heart rate, eased and deepened breathing, increase in circulation, lowered cortisol (stress hormone), and increase in nitric oxide (important for many of our health functions).
Vibrations follow intentions and may affect your energies in varied ways like cleansing, clearing, grounding, calming, freeing, energizing, moving, motivating, creating, or integrating. Vibrations are received in many ways beyond conscious auditory hearing. Your skin is much like the skin of a drum, and the hairs on your body are like little antennas - all receiving the vibrations.
Additionally, a deep inner hearing can occur beyond conscious hearing and listening when you are in a deepened relaxed state. As you relax and experience the vibrations, space is created in your physical, mental, emotional states so your innate inner wisdom can respond, knowing what is needed and what to release. This may be experienced at conscious and subconscious levels in mind, body, and/or spirit during the journey. More conscious awareness can continue to occur. For some, dream work or journaling are helpful tools in the days following. Use of your intention notebook may be helpful following your session.
Can you share a meaningful moment of growth or transformation you've witnessed in a session?
Where deep relaxation may be a “nice experience”, it can also be transformative in dealing with anxiety and depression. My client shared that in the immersive experience and safety of the sound journey they felt an opening and sense of freeing - moving out of what had become habitual reaction or expectation to their life circumstances and now beginning to see and experience that there are other ways and possibilities.
Within the session, the client’s body visibly relaxed with the muscle tension visible as they came in to the session releasing - shoulders relaxing, countenance softening, hand clenching easing with hands relaxed and open. The physical manifestation of their body opening and relaxing mirrored what they expressed feeling internally as their mind and emotions opened and softened.
Another client dealing with major life transitions and loss, expressed feeling able “to breathe” again. They reported decreased physical pain and anxiety and regaining a sense of self. The deep state experienced during the sound journey session opened awareness of the need, possibility, and commitment to care for self and the realization that while “carrying” and caring for another they lost sight of caring for self. Additionally, they expressed realization of the negative impact not only for themselves, but even for the one they were caring for.
How has sound healing transformed you personally, and how does that inner transformation influence the way you hold space for others?
As mentioned earlier, I was led to the work of Music-thanatology in the space of loss and grief following my husband’s transition from physical life. I loved my work as a hospice social worker and was not looking for any other changes in my life. My work was grounding and carrying me through my grief.
But as life would have it, I signed up for a seminar that ended in a life altering journey. I did not know what Music-thanatology was and thought I was going to hear about what types of music might bring comfort to my hospice patients and families. My life was forever altered as this seminar opened a path I hadn't been searching for, yet life had been quietly leading me toward.
The journey, a move across country and a 3-year post graduate education and formation program to become a Music-thanatologist upended my already upended life. It took the liminal and fertile tilled soil of my loss and grief and brought forward much that was already present in the depths of my life and experiences into deeper and fuller ways while it cracked my heart, mind, and soul open to so much more.
My introduction to working with sound as a modality of care and facilitation in the profound work of dying has had a profound impact on my acceptance and appreciation of self and my life experiences, and my acceptance and appreciation of the unique and cumulative experiences that each of us have. The greatest learning has been how to create and hold space and support/facilitate an individual’s processing at conscious and unconscious levels in and through the culmination of their physical life and passage. To do that, I needed first to learn how to do that for me - to create space and willingness and acceptance to grow in my own self awareness.
In order to hold space for others, I must be clear about who I am and neither project or over identify or assume I know or understand another or have answers. It is an ongoing process of living more consciously with love, curiosity, acceptance and openness. My holding space for others is in the presence, acceptance and honoring of each individual’s unique human experiences and utilizing the my knowledge, skills and experience to facilitate their journey of coming more into their balance and full expression of their deepest self.
What self-care tools or practices support you the most in your own well-being?
Just as my harp needs frequent fine-tuning, I’ve learned that my mind, body and spirit also need attention and fine-tuning for optimal beingness and vibration. I used to think “I don’t have time” and found that when I made the time, I ended up with a sense of more time because I was focused and calm and “in tune”. The reality is most of my practices literally take a few minutes each and give me so much more in return.
Here are some of my favorite self-care tools.
Additionally, integral to my well-being are spending time in nature, monthly massages, my continuing studies, and work with sound.
My experiences as a client in individual sound sessions and group sound sessions support me in my self-care and continued exploration of life and becoming more fully who I am in living out my soul path. The gifted practitioners in their presence and sound offerings open and drop me into deeper places of inner knowing and wisdom.
I have had varied experiences including much needed deep relaxation, unplugging from the busyness of life and an energy reboot, freeing up some old stuck patterns and habits, and guided shamanic journeys with new or expanded awareness of supportive beings. All of this creating and supporting a greater openness, appreciation and love for this gift and journey of life, forms the foundation and heart of my desire to help and facilitate others on their life journeys.
I have also been especially blessed this past year as life with a new teacher and expansive learning and experiences in Energy Anatomy and practices with Prune Harris.
The joy in all of this is finding that as I create space for my fine-tuning and care for me, I have greater capacity and desire to hold space and care for others.
If you would like to learn more, check out Ruth's offerings here at Angelic Roots or visit her website RxSoundJourneys.org for more information!
