Yoga practitioner Shameem Akhtar’s studio at Linking Road is a doll house of sorts — there are the expected posters of Buddha, bric-a-brac of spiritual value gathered from across her travels, and semi-precious jewellery for sale in glass cases.

Shameem Akhtar also plays the bowls for small groups. Pics/Shadab Khan

But what I am here for is spread out on the floor, on a yoga mat. Seven metal bowls of different sizes are placed in what looks like a random arrangement (which, I will later find out, is not). These are the Tibetan Singing Bowls, but sans the iconography or motifs one finds on the ones often sold online.

Notes from bowls
Akhtar is experimenting with Tibetan Singing Bowl Meditation, an ancient practice which believes that the sounds and vibrations emitted when the bowls are struck by a leather-wrapped mallet and/or a thick wooden wand, have healing powers. Akhtar says she had been collecting singing bowls since the past few years. Last year, when she was travelling in Kathmandu, Nepal, she signed up for a course on the Tibetan Singing Bowl Meditation.

Akhtar admits she did it on a lark, and says she is no expert on diagnosing health issues of the people who want to try out this form of meditation, and neither does she offer health solutions. What she does believe in, however, is the effect that the bowls can have on people. “I am learning from my experiences with the people I practice this on. These bowls synchronise our brain waves with their resonance and since our bodies are mainly made up of water, they respond to the vibrations. Disease is caused by disharmony in our endocrine glands and the bowl’s sounds restore balance,” she explains.

Skinny on chakras
I realise it is better to try the form out for myself, and lie down as Akhtar directs me. She then explains that the seven bowls will be arranged around my body in a way that they are close to the seven main chakras. Between my feet, she places a bowl meant to affect the Root chakra, which is related to the feeling of stability. One bowl is placed near the Sacral chakra, which controls ones sexuality. The bowl near the Navel chakra is meant to affect one’s self-esteem and assertion.