As Caesars Entertainment of Reno, Nevada, launched a new menu of health and wellness options at Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, it invited 70 meeting planners from across the U.S. to a Wellness Summit so they could experience the components firsthand. One of these, new to many participants, was a sound bath.
Caesars has long promoted wellness to its employee population, says Caesars Director of Marketing for National Meetings & Events Reina Herschdorfer. Employees at the Las Vegas location have access to a gym, wellness webinars, and similar benefits. The new menu available to guests and groups is an extension of that, though Caesars had already been offering digital wellness challenges as part of options for those staying at the property.
“There’s so much talk about wellness everywhere, it seemed like the right time to make that available for planners to incorporate into their conferences,” Herschdorfer says.
Besides menu items like yoga and a health-focused catering menu, attendees got to participate in a sound bath, which is surfacing as a possible add-on for meeting-goers across the U.S. Herschdorfer says sound baths are becoming more mainstream. “They have been around for thousands of years,” she says. “It’s a meditative experience. You’re bathed in sound waves.”
During a sound bath, participants typically rest on yoga mats, though at Caesars some experienced it floating on air mattresses in the pool at its Garden of the Gods Pool Oasis. Some also choose to wear an eye mask, though this is less common during evening sessions where a view of the dark sky is part of the experience.
“While it’s fun to do as a group, it is an activity about getting inside your own mind and your own body—actually, not your mind, it’s your heart,” Herschdorfer says. “It changes your energy.”
International travel planner Yvette Campbell of Meetings Made Easy in Detroit, Michigan, attended the summit and felt the sound bath was therapeutic. “I found it to be very inclusive and easy for anyone to do with a group,” she says. “I would incorporate it in any of my meetings.” Other Caesars Entertainment properties in Atlantic City, Reno, Nevada, and Lake Tahoe either have or will soon offer similar wellness menu choices.
Ellen Hoffman, owner and chief experience officer for The Movement Loft in Dallas, Texas, explains that during a sound bath, a variety of instruments—particularly crystal sound bowls—are used to induce deep relaxation. When struck with a mallet or rubbed with a grater, these bowls produce sound vibrations that fill the space. She cites benefits that include feelings of restfulness, mental clarity and improved focus, lower stress and anxiety, and general improvement in well-being and mood.
“In my experience … sound [baths] are an easier form of meditation for the average person with a ‘busy brain’ to be able to grasp and get benefits out of,” Hoffman explains. “Many people have a hard time turning off their brains and focusing during traditional seated meditations.”
Inn at Bay Harbor, Autograph Collection, in northern Lower Michigan in Bay Harbor, is offering a Sunset Sound Healing experience outdoors on the shores of Little Traverse Bay this summer. Available on Mondays in July and August, Sunset Sound Healing sessions guide guests through meditation and breathing while facilitator Amanda Borghi draws on instruments such as quartz crystal singing bowls, chimes, gongs, and drums—all designed to promote deep relaxation.
The Movement Loft in Texas takes sound baths to groups, from offices to hotels and conference centers. Other location options that might inspire attendees include botanical gardens, downtown rooftops, and other outdoor spaces including public parks. The company also hosts groups in its studios.
“Since participants don’t have to be physically active like they would in another type of wellness activity, it’s a very accessible meditation modality that most people can get into without much prep or practice,” Hoffman says. “And who doesn’t love an excuse to lie down midday with a comfy pillow and blanket and be serenaded?”
