‘Beyond words, a sound bath takes us to a restorative space that feels both grounding and connecting to a bigger sense of time and place’
- Sarah Naarden, founder of Turruk and former trustbuilding project manager at Initiatives of Change Australia, and initiator of the new sound healing series The Elements that Connect Us currently running at Armagh in Melbourne.
The Elements that Connect Us is a series of sound healing events that builds on the relationships with First Peoples and allies established through the Turruk trustbuilding program. It is an opportunity to explore collaborations with First Peoples and the Turruk community members curious about cultural healing practice while being supported by healing art practices. It is a time for a collective pause to sit in silence and create the space for inner listening and the impetus to spark change.
The first of The Elements That Connect Us series was launched on Wednesday 29 July with a memorable night integrating Sound Healing and Country. The bespoke collaboration was crafted with master sound facilitator Romy Paltoglou and First Peoples culturalist and IofCA resident Stevie Thorpe.
Under the arches of Armagh a full moon emerged from the clouds and Stevie led an empowering smoking ceremony while participants were serenaded with a yidaki healing by Ray Thorpe. Each person released gum leaves into the fire, keeping one leaf as an offering to a divine candlelit water installation - a table centrepiece crafted with foraged redgum bark and candlelight by Christina Theodorou. In a glowing ballroom, participants soaked up a stunning soundscape masterly facilitated by Romy Paltoglou. A tea ceremony with native ingredients left people with an ember-like inner glow.
Sometimes sitting in silence together, not talking, just absorbing the resonance after being soothed by grounding and angelic tones of sound bowls is just what we need.’ - Participant
‘I left this sound experience empowered, and it made me feel not so alone in this world full of challenge.’ - Participant
The second part of The Elements That Connect us series was a watercolour and sound healing workshop held at Armagh on Sunday 13 September.
First Peoples creative collaborator Kirstine Wallis reflected:
' A deeply resonant day of stillness, laughter, curiosity and so much joy. We began by listening—not only with our ears, but with our whole bodies—as the talented Susan Alexopoulos created an immersive sound bath through vibration, rhythm and resonance. From that quiet, receptive place, we moved into painting: water carrying pigment across paper, colours meeting and transforming, and each person discovering their own visual language.
Sound and water are both forms of movement. They travel through us, around us and between us. Neither can be held completely still; each asks us to release control, pay attention and respond to what is unfolding. Perhaps this is why they can return us so gently to ourselves—and remind us that creativity is not always about producing an object. Sometimes it is simply a way of becoming present: to our senses, to one another and to the living world of which we are part.
It was a privilege to guide the painting and witness a room full of people give themselves permission to experiment, play and create without judgement.
The elements do more than surround us. They move through us, reminding us that connection is not something we have to manufacture…. it is something we learn to notice.’
Join the finale of The Elements That Connect Us on Sunday 11 October at 3pm at Armagh, 226 Kooyong Road, Toorak. It’s an exciting sound healing and art making collaboration with sound facilitator Christina Davidson and creative facilitation of a collective earth mandala with Christina Theodorou.