They lift your spirits, prompt you to think, make you feel grateful and inspire you to do more. They connect you to our community, shining a spotlight on what's good about our city. They're stories that are Uniquely Milwaukee.
”Many cultures from Asia, Europe, the Americas always used drums, singing bowls, flutes, gongs and various vibrational instruments for ceremonies. They would use them for healing and for meditation. Sound healing has been going on for thousands of years.”
Djuro Rodic has been sharing his knowledge in this area long before he was co-owner of Angelic Roots in Oak Creek along with his wife Laurie. As for my own journey with sound healing, that only started recently. Like many people discovering it, the immersive experience has been transformative when it comes to relaxation, healing and mindfulness.
“Sound is really profound in many ways,” Rodic said. “These instruments have a lot of tones that are gonna be sharp, some are gonna be low, some are gonna be in between.”
Asked how biology and science fit into the positive effects of sound-bath meditation, he added that “sound has this really inert ability to be able to travel better through water than air, and because our bodies are made of mostly water, you feel the sound just as much as you hear it, and that really sets in that deep state of relaxation.”
Relaxation and mindfulness. In our fast-paced lives, we seldom prioritize self-care for these century-old practices that promote healing. Another member of the Radio Milwaukee team, Madison Hicks, felt it needed some attention in her own life and decided to visit Angelic Roots for the first time — with a general idea of what to expect.
“What comes to mind is, you know when it's really humid out and they say you can cut the air with a knife? That's kind of how I feel like sound baths are,” she said. “Not heavy, but … you can feel the sound instead of just hearing it. I'm looking forward to it.”
Madison’s initial sound-bath experience is actually a continuation of her self-care journey, which began with the simple act of meditating for just five minutes a day.
“I started looking into setting up better systems for my life and kept reading that everyone loves meditation just for a short amount of time,” she explained. “Besides that, I love getting massages the best and just find that so relaxing. Other than that, I try to take moments for myself, but I don't always make the time.”
Rodic used his time with us to explain various aspects of what happens at Angelic Roots every day, including some of the tools of his trade: the instruments he uses during the sessions. He started with a Paiste gong from a company in Germany that’s been making them for more than a century. “This one in particular is one of our newer gongs, but I really, really enjoy its complex, deep tones. … It has a beautiful sustain.”
Another instrument that delivers in a lower register is the Tibetan singing bowl, which starts as a flat piece of metal and gets heated and hammered into its final shape, creating a tool capable of delivering multiple sounds during a session.
The overall experience includes sounds that cover the spectrum, from the low range to higher-pitched tones to ones directly from nature like the water drum. “You can emulate the sound of rain, or you can take it to the sound of the ocean and do waves as well,” Rodic began. “I really feel we're all connected to rain, because rain brings life.”
For more information about Angelic Roots and their different approaches to wellness, visit the center’s website.
