You do not need to listen the entire time. You do not need to stay near the sound. You do not need to “work with” the vibration. Turning the sound off is part of the practice. Leaving the room is part of the practice. Needing quiet afterward is part of the practice.

In many sound spaces, staying is treated as success. Staying present. Staying through sensation. Staying until the end.

There is a point in many healing journeys where stopping feels wrong. Not because something is unsafe—but because leaving feels like failure. We are taught, often subtly, that healing requires endurance. That staying longer is better. That pushing through discomfort is progress. That stopping means we didn’t try hard enough. Trauma-informed sound challenges this belief. You are allowed to stop.

Julie Jewels Smoot continues to expand her sound alchemy practice with a variety of newer albums, single tracks, and immersive sound experiences that build on and diversify her earlier Threads of Trauma work. This evolution in her artistic journey reflects not only her commitment to exploring the depths of sound but also her desire to connect with listeners on a more profound level.

Many people come to sound healing expecting peace.

If you come to sound seeking escape, you may be surprised by what you find. Sound will not carry you away. It will sit with you. It will listen with you. It will invite you into the body you already inhabit and the moment you are already in. Sound alchemy is not about leaving this life behind. It is about meeting it fully—one vibration at a time.

There are moments in sound work when nothing seems to happen. No waves of emotion. No visions. No release that announces itself. Just sound, breath, and the ordinary awareness of being in a body. These moments are often misunderstood. We’re conditioned to look for signs—proof that something is working. When nothing obvious occurs, it’s easy to assume the session failed, that the sound missed its mark, or that we somehow did it wrong.

The body listens long before the mind understands. Long before language, before story, before memory has a name, the nervous system responds to vibration. Tone, rhythm, resonance—these are the first languages we ever knew.

During the energy of the Wolf Moon — often seen as a period for deep reflection and confronting inner truths — Smoot’s gong bath transcends meditation, becoming a transformative ritual. The gong’s slow, flowing tones, with their deep low frequencies and lingering harmonics, lead listeners into states of release and renewal, reflecting the moon’s own cycle of letting go and enlightenment.

Sound meets you exactly as you are. When you can’t meditate, it’s often because the nervous system is already overwhelmed. Asking it to quiet itself through focus or technique can feel like asking a storm to politely stop. Sound works differently. It doesn’t demand control—it offers companionship. Vibration enters the body whether the mind agrees or not.