A sound bath in a neo-Gothic church? ‘It’s like a massage for the brain’

Adrienne Bawa pulled into the parking lot of the First Congregational Church of L.A., her seven-seater Volvo filled with fabric, gongs and lights. “It looks beautiful already,” said Bawa, a petite redhead and founder of Sound Bird Healing, gazing up at the church’s graceful stone pillars, vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows. “Having Adrienne’s sound baths here fulfills a big piece of that for us.” Lahila Oppenheimer, right, provides soothing light as guests lie on the floor and relax during a sound bath event inside the Shatto Chapel at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. Some of them were like, ‘We don’t understand the gongs or bowls.’” First Congregational Church of L.A., where Bawa has been holding sound baths for two years, was more welcoming. “You don’t go into a sound bath expecting something like that to happen,” Fregin said, “but what you can do is invite people into experiences that have the potential to be transformative.” ‘Modern sacred music’ for the soul Noah Klein has been bringing new age and experimental musicians to churches since 2019, when he started working with the concert series Ambient Church, and more recently as co-founder of Floating, an L.A.-based collective that presents “sonic gatherings” in beautiful and interesting places in several cities across the country.