The Power of Sound
Treefort Music Festival is about so much more than just music. To name just a few other attractions, Hackfort, Filmfort, Comedyfort, and Kidfort celebrate the community of people in Boise who appreciate what unique lessons they each have to offer. I was lucky enough to experience the revitalization of Yogafort, led by several studio owners and teachers from the area. On a cool and quiet Friday morning, I jumped at the opportunity to breathe deeply and stretch out the tension that running around at a festival for the last day and a half had built up. I met with two Idaho natives, Erika Hill and Emily Clark, who teach classes at Studio Lotus Yoga in Boise.
Emily Clark had always, “practiced for years, but not consistently, until [she] moved back from Central America,” and “was looking for a new yoga studio,” when she wound up meeting Erika, the owner of Studio Lotus. As a musician, Emily knew that she had a gift when it came to sound. Not only does her immediately calm each person in the room, but it is also a beautiful expression of her compassion for the journey of healing that we are all on. Choosing to “nurture that and learn how to better support people rather than just listening,” Emily wanted to “implement techniques and learn different formulas to create change in people’s lives.” Her history as a music major and her innate curiosity for whatever the world around her has to offer partnered perfectly to create a wonderful presence that she brings to every session. Emily realized how effortlessly sound and science could go hand-in-hand, so she focused on frequencies of sound bowls taking the human brain from a hyper-aware sympathetic state to a more relaxed parasympathetic state. She talked so fondly of her experiences instructing clients, “how to nurture their nervous systems because it’s not something that [they’re] taught.”
Erika Hill got her yoga journey started in college when she decided to take a yoga class which she then went on to teach. To her, yoga was just a hobby to keep her centered while studying for a nursing degree. After college, she continued her practice while being an emergency room nurse for ten years and an oncology nurse for two. She mentioned that her consistent “practicing was [one of] the things helping [her] take care of [herself].” She described the way that continuing her practice allowed her to “recenter so [she] didn’t carry all of that home,” and even though she felt comfortable feeling her emotions, she noted that as a nurse, “you gotta show up and be there for your patients.” Even with the constant recentering, Emily was feeling the full weight of working with extremely sick patients who had extremely unfortunate health outcomes, and her husband suggested a change. He saw how much she enjoyed practicing yoga, and encouraged her to open her studio. Emily appreciated so much how her “nurse friends…came to support and came to the studio,” and felt confident that this was her future.
One of the most important takeaways for me was the scientific aspect of their practices. As a nursing student myself, it was so amazing to have the opportunity to discuss with them certain healing practices that are not typical of Western medicine. There is no doubt that Western medicinal practices have made extreme advancements that have resulted in the curing of millions. However, there are still certain methods that have not been fully explored by professors of Western medicine. Emily mentioned she has read about research conducted with chemotherapy patients that suggests certain frequencies can disrupt the division of cancer cells, and she mentioned a quote by Einstein: “The medicine of the future will be frequency medicine,” which uses magnetic waves to connect to the energy of our bodies. To wrap up the interview, I asked about changes both Emily and Erika have noticed since beginning their practice, and they both immediately lit up. Emily talked about how wonderful it feels to see success in a client who comes in looking distressed and leaves with new breathing skills under their belt. Erika talked about how busy her life can be at times and the gratitude she holds for a moment to breathe after feeling like she’s been running around all day.
All in all, I am so thankful for the opportunity to slow down for an early morning class, spare an hour to reflect on how my body was feeling, and learn the reasoning behind why these wonderful women do what they do.