We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenni Shaw a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jenni, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Truth be told, my parents were strict workaholics when I was a child. This impacted me in myriad ways because I inherited their penchant for hard work, but also developed the capacity to understand and beat systems. I was a creative, curious kid who didn’t enjoy restriction so where there were rules and roadblocks I learned to circumnavigate them. The more I was told “no” the more I was determined to create the experience of “yes”. My parents inadvertently honed my innate entrepreneurial skills by generating a desire in me to breakdown walls, barriers and constructs that didn’t suit my insatiable drive to explore.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

The first time I experienced sound therapy was in 2014 during an acupuncture session with renowned healer, author and spiritual counselor Abdi Assadi in New York City. Abdi, known for both his frank nature and intuitive gifts, offered me the following beforehand: “It’s going to be intense.” He rubbed my arm supportively adding “Remember to breathe.” then left the room.

I was then transported to a realm of consciousness I had never previously experienced. The sounds (propagated via headphones) took me through space while dissolving time and simultaneously weaving me in and out of emotional release. It was the only time in life I’d experienced a BODILY cry, meaning my body was sobbing but my mind (initially) held no connection to it. Shortly thereafter my brain caught up and everything flowed. The beginning precipitated sadness, stress and anxiety (sounds terrible but wasn’t!). Humans can store emotion at every level, (including the cellular one), so using sound to disperse this chemical information provides tremendous relief.

After that I entered into a state that can only be described as the PUREST BLISS. I saw a “light” within my forehead that seemed to expand into my brain. I wanted to stay in that experience for eternity. Suddenly, everything shifted including my neurological state. I realized the heavenly light resulted from Abdi flipping a switch in the room. My arms shot up at 90 degrees and he acknowledged the journey I’d taken. “Nice one!” he laughed. I was still lingering between realms but knew without question my life had just changed. I was officially aware of the healing power of SOUND.

That experience coupled with an intense Spiritual awakening propelled me onto the unexpected path of becoming a Sound Healer. As a highly sensitive, intuitive empath, I use my abilities to hone in on where a person’s energy is discordant. This informs my practice as I use sound waves to bring those aspects into a blissfully harmonious state. My sessions are multi-instrumental offering a blend of soothing frequencies from quartz crystal bowls and fully lathed gongs to chimes, rain sticks and the world’s only alchemical crystal harp. My sound baths have been described as: as “a profound meditative journey”, “transcending into a different place or realm”, “floating up to infinity”, “experiencing different dimensions of awareness and calm”, “meditative, relaxing, and invigorating all at once” and “the most transformative experience I have ever had”.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In the beginning of the building phase for bāth sound, I was feeling discouraged about all the doors slamming in my face. I was doing a ton of outreach with very genuine intentions (my biggest goal for my practice is to connect with and help as many people as possible), but everyone’s tired of cold calls and emails, despite how passionate and authentic the initiator might be. I told my beloved friend, Samantha Brown, a very successful wardrobe stylist in Miami (and New York), how I needed SOMETHING to click into place. She reminded me that building business is always challenging and showed me some emails to punctuate her point (despite being all over national tv, having a sizable IG following and being interviewed with work published in every magazine you can think of).

It was helpful to remember that being highly successful still requires hard work and diligence, which gave me the motivation to make one more stop that day. I went into a beautiful unique hotel called El Portal Sedona, and met two of the most adorable women I’ve ever encountered. They were open to what I was doing and we eventually decided to partner and create a gorgeous experience for their guests!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Training and knowledge are very useful in practicing sound healing, but beyond that I think being intuitive, empathic and highly sensitive to energy (especially sound waves) is key for bringing true healing to others. While facilitating journeys, I go into trancelike states, often perceiving energy in visual patterns which guide the movements of my physical body. For example, I might be using chimes with one in each hand. If I see geometric shapes or spirals I simply trace the patterns with my hands which creates a specific, customized architecture of sound for clients. I can also perceive (psychically), where a person is discordant in mind and body when I enter into said states. This allows me to weave the “geometry” of healing sound patterns into their energy fields, causing disruption of stagnant patterns as they experience harmonizing entrainment of brain waves and at the cellular level. (Fun fact: research indicates that our cells emit SOUNDS! It’s even been said that they “sing” as there are different sound wave frequencies emitted for healthy, sick and even dead cells!)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bathsoundhealing.com
• Instagram: @bathsoundhealing

Image Credits

King Lawrence, Bear Prandelli, Isabel de Moraes.