Autumn term and Gong Baths!
- emmasyogahut
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Hello! I hope you are well and have had a gorgeous summer and enjoyed all the sunshine we have been having?
I am guessing I am not alone in looking forward to the onset of Autumn this September, it is always my favourite season, but especially after such a prolonged long hot summer I am looking forward to a little respite from the heat, a little bit of breezy leaf fall and the odd rainy day!
I am so looking forward to coming back to classes in September, and I also have a new toy and some luscious new offerings that I am so excited to tell you about!
Firstly, after a lot of thought and procrastination, I have needed to slightly increase class prices. Chair Yoga is now £65 for the six week blocks, due to unavoidable running cost increases in the form of twice yearly venue hire price increases. And in house classes are increasing to £80 – weekly class prices have not increased for nearly 5 years and, as you know, costs keep creeping up. If you feel you are unable to manage at the new price point then please do come and speak to me one to one.
We are back to weekly classes the week of 14th September, though of course I will be seeing some of you on Friday 11th for our Cancer Research Friday Night Out – there are still a couple of spaces if you fancy a lovely restful evening of yoga, yoga nidra and a mini sound bath that also happens to be for a good cause then you can join us here: https://www.emmasyogahut.co.uk/service-page/cancer-research-fundraising-evening?referral=service_list_widget
On a linked topic, for a long time I have been contemplating adding a gong to my sound baths. I have been mainly drawn to bowls for sound work, and I very deliberately limit the number of instruments I use in sound baths. Nonetheless, I have been feeling drawn to gongs more and more. Then when we were away for a lovely family weekend in Glastonbury earlier this year, I found the most wonderful gong and I fell in love! But there were issues….Like, it would not have fitted in my car, for starters! So, as divine as it was, and as much as I loved playing with it, it was not the gong for me for very good reasons! Since then I have wanted to find the right gong.
I wanted one that was not too large, because I particularly love offering sound baths in the yoga hut where you get such a lovely sense of connection and community, and I knew that a very large gong would be utterly overwhelming in that space! So I just kept a bit of an open mind and open eye to seeing what the universe put in my path gong wise.
And lo! In July, when I was happily looking for something else entirely, the universe offered me the most beautiful tree of life gong. A tree of life! Gorgeous! I love the sound of her. As soon as I saw this gong I felt that THIS was gong for me, sometimes you just know don’t you? And when I heard the beautiful resonance of this gong my mind was made up. So this summer I have absolutely been spending some serious time holed up in the yoga hut bonding with the Gong!
From Autumn I will be offering luxury gong baths to mark the New Moon. New Moon is a time for setting intentions and embracing new beginnings, and because of the extra darkness on the night of the new moon it is a time of rest and withdrawal, and thus it is a perfect time to lean into that and let the deep resonance of the gong help soothe your nervous system and quieten the mind.
Like all Emma’s Yoga Hut in house sound baths you can expect candles and fairy lights, beautiful essential oils, cosy warmth in the cold and cooling air conditioning in the warm. You will rest on double yoga mats, with fluffy blankets, bolsters, cushions, or if you prefer a seated sound bath then you will be set up with a comfy reclining chair. We finish with organic herbal teas, home made treats, fresh fruit and oracle cards. You only need to bring yourself, maybe some water and some fluffy socks for extra cosiness.
For me, a major draw of sound baths is that I sleep SO WELL afterwards. This is partly because we enter theta and delta brainwave states during sound baths – these are deep rest and meditative state brain waves. Plus, a gong bath will lead you into the parasympathetic rest and digest zone – so your body and nervous system are primed for relaxing into sleep/ Given that we are entering into the cosy season I thought I would offer a further, later in the evening sound bath, a sleepy-time sound bath!
Picture this: It is a chilly October evening, you don’t really want to go out, but then you remember that for an Emma’s Yoga Hut Sleepy-time sound bath you can literally stay in your pyjamas or lounge wear and your favourite fluffy warm socks. You come along to rest on the double yoga mats, the sheepskin, the cushions, I even tuck you in with soft pink blankets….There is a short guided meditation to set the scene and lead you into a blissfully sleepy state, and then the soothing gong sounds wash over you, clearing away your day.
And at the end of your sound bath you get to enjoy sleepy tea and home made cookies which are stuffed with ingredients to support your sleep – things like sour cherry and oat cookies, or lavender and almond shortbreads. You can take your tea and cookie away with you if you are too sleepy to stay, or you are welcome to stay and enjoy a little bit of a wholesome sleepover vibe as you peacefully look at oracle cards and sip tea and enjoy cookies before you head home to bed!
Friday October 9th 2026:
New Moon Gong Bath 600pm - 715pm
Sleepy Time Gong Bath 830pm – 945pm
I am looking forward to seeing you soon!
With love,
Emma xx
(Emma runs Emma’s Yoga Hut in Earley which is now 5 years old! A garden studio for nurturing holistic small group yoga. She is a yoga student and yoga teacher and has practiced yoga for nearly 30 years. She trained with the Traditional Yoga Association right here in Reading between 2016 and 2018 to achieve her 500 hour yoga teaching accreditation. She has additional teaching qualifications in Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra. She is an Internationally Accredited Sound Bath Facilitator and she teaches relaxed and friendly Chair Yoga classes at local community centres. Emma is passionate about getting the beautiful benefits of yoga out to as many people as possible, and she tries her best to practice yoga every day, especially out in the garden on a lovely September mornings!)
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