Kelvin Young with be bringing his singing bowls, gong, ocean drum, and chimes for Sacred Rhythms, sound meditation, and healing experience at the East Side Neighborhood Resource Center on March 19 & April 16.

Originally from Middletown, Young has been leading sound healing workshops for seven years. He discovered sound healing after his own battle with addiction to drugs and alcohol in prison.

“Well, my experiences with addiction actually brought me to sound healing. I’m a recovery coach, I’m a recovery support specialist and a certified sound healer, but most importantly I’m a person that’s in long-term recovery…” Young said. “I began my healing journey at a drug treatment program in prison. And it was within the prison program that I learned about the transformative powers of yoga, meditation, sound healing.”

Young realized that he could no longer use the drugs and alcohol to deal with stress and pain in his life, and that change was needed.

“So I had to try something new and different. And by stepping out of my comfort zone and utilizing sound healing as a vehicle to go within, because I truly do believe that healing begins from within, I was able to find that sense of calmness and inner peace, even being in a very hostile and restrictive environment such as prison,” Young said.  “But most importantly I was able to understand the root causes of my experiences with addiction, and from that lived experience I learned it was the unhealed emotional pain that I had experienced that I experienced in my life.”

The sounds of Himalayan singing bowls and crystal singing bowls captivated Young, who studied sound healing from several professionals after his release and learned more about the healing effects of the practice. He also became a recovery coach and recovery support specialist, doing work with organizations helping those with addiction, including ones in Hartford and Manchester.

“It promotes healing from chronic stress, muscle tension, physical pain that we feel in our bodies, feelings of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, sleep issues, addictive behaviors, it lowers our blood pressure and our heart rate, and it deals with other stress-related health conditions that we experience in our life,” Young said.

With the added stress of the global pandemic, more and more people have been seeking out Young’s sound healing sessions, which he begins by sharing his story and encouraging those present to share reasons why they are there if they feel comfortable. He believes this sharing introduces the power of human connections to make people feel more relaxed and less alone.

“People are dealing with so much anxiety, so much tension, so much stress. People are feeling overwhelmed at the moment, and people are looking for alternative holistic ways to deal with their stress.,” he said.

The feedback from those attending has been positive.

“People love it… some people don’t know what to expect, but there’s so many different things that people research on YouTube about sound healing, but it’s one thing to do research or watch it on video, but it’s another thing to actually experience it in person,” he said. “Not only can you hear the sounds, but you can feel the vibrations from the sounds.”

Young is also passionate about increasing access and awareness of holistic practices like yoga, meditation, and sound healing to communities not traditionally involved in them, as well as breaking the misconceptions that these practices are only for certain groups of people. From the way these activities are marketed in the United States, he had to overcome those misconceptions himself.

“I didn’t see a lot of people that looked like me. I didn’t see people of color practicing these modalities, so I really didn’t think it was for me,” Young said.

He hopes that by bringing sound healing sessions to new people and sharing his story, he can bring awareness to other wellness practitioners of color and show that this holistic approach to healing is meant for all people and communities.

“I believe that no one should be denied the benefits of yoga, meditation, sound healing based on socioeconomic standing, psychiatric histories, experiences of addiction, race, ethnicity, gender, class—it doesn’t matter,” he said. “These modalities is for all of us, because we all can benefit from the health and wellbeing from these techniques.”

In the end, Young is appreciative of the things that led him to where he is today.

“I’m just really grateful that I went through all my experiences in my life. I’m grateful for my experiences being incarcerated, even for my experiences with addiction, because if it wasn’t for those experiences I wouldn’t have found sound healing and chances are great that I wouldn’t be a sound healer.”

Register online or contact the Recreation Main Office at (860) 647-3084. Participants are encouraged to bring their own yoga mats or blankets for lying down and pillow or facial covering for the session.