The year 2025 was filled with unexpected loss, life lessons - and a surprise blessing - for Joel and Jessica Myers. Jessica abruptly lost her beloved mother, Janice, after a short illness. Joel was coping with his own losses too - the deaths of his brother and grandfather - all while the couple navigated the pressures of daily life and entrepreneurship. Amid it all, they learned they would soon become first-time parents too.
The series of events invoked a whirlwind of emotions. The grief was heavy and often arrived in waves that felt disorienting, relentless, and often impossible to bear. In their home, where the weight of unanswered questions often hung the heaviest, sound offered an unexpected form of relief. It resonated from a crystal singing bowl that emitted tones designed to help the body and mind settle.
For the Atlanta couple, this simple practice, known as a sound bath, became a lifeline, an immersive experience in which listeners are surrounded by sustained tones and vibrations produced by instruments such as crystal bowls or gongs. Unlike traditional music, the focus is on frequencies and resonance rather than melody. Many practitioners describe it as a form of auditory meditation; a way to give the brain space to decompress, process, or simply rest.
"Sound helped me detach from the intensity of grief," remembers Joel, a lifelong musician and co-founder of the couple's new tech venture. "Inside the sound, I could visualize, I could breathe, and I wasn't emotionally set back by everything I was carrying."
