If you've been with us for a while, you know Mila Naturals for our body butters and soaps. They're made with simple, natural ingredients, and they're meant to slow you down for a minute while you care for your skin.
So you might be wondering why we're suddenly talking about crystal bowls, breathwork and Reiki.
The short answer is that it's all the same idea.
Beauty doesn't start at the skin
Most of us know what stress does to our skin. Breakouts show up, dryness gets worse, we look tired, and our skin seems dull even when we're doing everything "right." When we run on stress for weeks at a time, it shows.
That's why Mila Naturals has always been about more than what goes into the jar. Rubbing body butter in slowly at the end of the day is a small act of taking care of yourself. You're telling your body, I see you, and we're going to rest now.
Sound baths and Reiki take that same moment and stretch it out a little longer.
So what is a sound bath?
Nobody gets wet, we promise.
At a sound bath you lie down on a mat, get cozy under a blanket and let the sound wash over you. In our sessions, Alani Wilson of Irenic Vibrations plays quartz crystal singing bowls. The tones are rich and layered, and you feel them as much as you hear them.
All you have to do is lie there and breathe. You don't need any experience, and there's no wrong way to do it. Some people drift off, some people cry, and some just feel a lot lighter afterward. All of that is welcome.
And Reiki?
Reiki is a gentle form of energy work. As a certified Reiki practitioner, I use my hands to direct calm, supportive energy to the body. During our sessions I work intuitively, following what the group needs that night rather than a set script.
The best way I can describe it is that it gives your nervous system permission to stop bracing. A lot of us walk around tense for so long that we forget what relaxed even feels like. Reiki is a reminder.
What a session actually looks like
Each sound bath runs about an hour and moves through a few stages:
- Settling in. You arrive, get comfortable and leave the day at the door.
- Humming and breathwork. Humming is a simple, surprisingly powerful way to calm the vagus nerve, which is a big part of how your body switches out of fight-or-flight mode. Then we slow the breath down together.
- The bowls. Alani plays while I guide you through a visualization.
- Reiki and coherence. I offer energy work and lead the group into brain-heart coherence, where the mind and heart settle into rhythm together. When a whole room does this at once, you can feel it.
- Closing. We come back slowly and gently, with no rushing out the door.
How it all connects
Natural health and beauty, at least as we see it, comes down to three things:
- What you put on your body. Clean ingredients you can pronounce.
- How you treat your body. Rest, breath, slowing down.
- How you feel in your body. Calm, grounded and at home in your own skin.
Our body butters and soaps take care of the first one. The sound baths take care of the other two. And honestly, there's nothing better than coming home from a session, taking a warm shower and finishing with a good layer of body butter before bed.
Join us
We host a sound bath once a month at Truth Training Systems (TTS) in Oswego, located at 22 E. Merchants Dr.
Upcoming dates (all 7:30ā8:30 PM):
- Thursday, October 8
- Thursday, November 19
- Thursday, December 10
š 22 E Merchant Dr, Oswego, IL 60543
š² $30 per person
Bring a yoga mat, a blanket and a pillow if you'd like to get extra cozy. Wear something comfortable.
You can save your spot right here in the shop. [Add link to the sound bath product]
We'd love to have you there.
With love,
Michelle (Mila)