You Might Be Able To Finally Relax For Once With This Singing Bowl

It'll upgrade your meditation or yoga experience and help you find a sense of calm.

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Many people relax with bowls, but if Mary Jane isn't your scene (and hey, even if it is!), there's another bowl that might do the trick: a Tibetan singing bowl.

Mark Peters / BuzzFeed

Listening to the many tones of the bowl — which comes with its own little stand and whacking stick — is a meditative method for shutting up the voices in your head, on the internet, and throughout the cosmos. A moment of zen, as it were.

This item was a present gifted to me by a friend. Not sure how I became the kind of guy who gets a Tibetan singing bowl for Christmas, but...okay, that’s a lie. Here’s how:

Mark Peters / BuzzFeed

The path that led me to this bowl began a couple years ago, when I realized that I should probably consider therapy. I didn’t look for any type of in particular, and my goals were Hulk-like: “Feel bad. Need help. Talk to someone.”

Through pure flukery, I wound up at Chicago Mindful Psychotherapy, where, in addition to seeing a therapist, I also do mindfulness meditation via a free meditation class. I especially dig sound meditation, in which you get your John Cage on, simply listening to every sound, big and small, beautiful and ugly, for a set period of time. If other thoughts pop in — which they will — you don’t beat yourself up about them. You just notice them, observe them, and get back to listening.

Sometimes there’s a guest meditation leader I call Bowl Man (not to his face). He has dozens of Tibetan singing bowls, which he hits while we do a listening meditation. If sound meditation is my favorite type of meditation, I guess you could say the bowls are my favorite song. (You can read more about the history of the singing bowl, sometimes called a standing bell, here, as a starting point.)

Bowl Man teaches the way of the bowl, which isn’t just about listening, but healing. For more relaxation, you can put the vibrating bowl on various parts of your body. It’s *literally* good vibrations.

Also, the bowl is fun. (Some people use it for music as well.) You can make a quiet boonngg or loud BOOOOOONNNNGGGGG or a REALLY loud BOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG. If you ever wanted to get so centered and meditative that you wake all the neighbors, this is your path to obnoxious enlightenment.

The guest meditation leader says his bowls have even helped his dog: He rings the bowl and then puts it on the pooch, who enjoys the vibrations. My dog, on the other hand, just keeps wondering why this bowl isn’t filled with food.

Mark Peters / BuzzFeed

Amazon customers have spoken, and they, too, are fans of this particular handmade bowl:

amazon.com

"The bowl has a feel to it that is hard to explain. It resonates tones and vibrations through my being. It has helped me relax. I'm not what you would call a child of wonder, more like a man of practical thought. I'm glad I made the decision to make this purchase — it has opened my eyes to other levels of calm." —John

"The sound is deep and beautiful! I am very happy with this purchase." —Jenna

"This is a wonderful bowl. It resonates for quite some time and it is authentic." —Alfred Fredel

"This bowl far exceeded our expectations. We are actually considering buying a second we are so impressed!" —Domenica Palitti

So get a bowl, folks, and hit it early and often. You can find similar bowls here ($19.89) and here ($44.99) as well.

amazon.com, amazon.com

Even if you only get three seconds of peace and clarity at a time, that’s more peace and clarity than you have now, right? Right.

BOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG.

Get it from Amazon for $42.73.

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