The Sonorium

I love this time of year. I love the build-up to Christmas, and the way that work sort of gets slower and slower and deadlines get less and less compelling until it all just stops in the week before the New Year (hurray, and also sorry to the colleagues feeling the brunt of my lack of productivity). I also love the fact that I either have end-of-year travel to look forward to or HARDCORE NESTING, and this year it’s a solid combination of both.

Obviously that end-of-year retrospective vibe has me thinking about 2018 and it has been…significant. I did a bunch of things I’ve wanted to do for ages, not least of which was really turning my relationship with my own body around. It kicked off on a trip to Thailand in February (possibly the best birthday gift I’ve ever given myself) to do Muay Thai and train with my husband and two super-close girlfriends and it’s also been a rollercoaster professionally, in all sorts of ways that are too boring to really go into here. I also dealt with a lot of shit I realized I’d been carting around for a lot of my adult life, a release that was liberating in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Oh, and The Tonic went to Magnetic Fields festival where we curated the Sanctuary, a chill decompression zone that served as a retreat from the bustle of festival life. Over two days there were AcroYoga sessions, custom-blended aromatherapy, and sound baths, and I was blown away by the sheer numbers of you that came and made it special. Thanks dudes.

As we close 2018, I’m taking all the year-end lists and new year trend predictions and putting it through my personal lens to leave only what feels really resonant to me at the moment. It is likely different from what each of you need, so do that, if you do nothing else: stay focussed on your deepest needs and build from there.

Between holiday parties, winding up work before a break, or just recovering from a headspinner of a year, find some time to wind down. My top pick? Visit the Sonorium, because Adnan Vahanvati is a master of sonic ritual.

“There is a healing component to sound that’s sort of difficult to quantify but cannot be denied.”

I visited him in Surajkund in the basement of his family home which is full to the brim with 600 kilos of gorgeous instruments and other tonal treats, and a one-hour session will deliver you to a place of calm contentment, something that we’re all sorely in need of as the year draws to a close. Sound baths temporarily sever your connection to digital reality, and it feels very much like a bath of some sort, washing you clear and scrubbing you clean of the energetic grit of city living. The thing I found particularly compelling and lovely about them, as someone prone to scheduling every second of the day, in that all you have to do is just lie back and…receive. There is a healing component to sound that's sort of difficult to quantify but cannot be denied, particularly when you waft out the other end of this meditation-meets-listening session feeling insanely relaxed and feeling (literally) as clear as a bell.

Sadly, Delhi-walas, you’ll have to wait til the new year if you want to experience the Sonorium as Adnan’s relocated to Goa for the winter. If you’re in Goa though, highly recommend you seek him out.

For more information, visit the website.