Teacher Feature: meet your new sound bath practitioner, Andrea Nicholas
- Isabel Lavercombe
- Aug 28
- 5 min read
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We’re excited to introduce you to Andrea, a gifted sound healer whose work with her voice and ceremony has quietly been transforming lives in our salt room. With an airy, nurturing presence and deep reverence for ancient wisdom, sessions with Andrea offer so much more than relaxation—they offer connection. Whether you're new to sound healing or simply curious about how it all works, Andrea is an open book with a life dedicated to sharing her art craft.
Q: Can you share a bit about your journey — what led you to sound healing?
A: I’ve always felt a deep connection to sound. When I was in my late teens, Vocal Alchemy (what I call “channeled” song/toning) started to emerge. I would be out on my own in nature and these transmissions would come through. During this time, I also began to study the practice of sound healing.
At 21, I moved to Thailand after university and while there kept receiving invitations to share soundscape sessions infused with Vocal Alchemy. It led to spending most the next decade traveling around the world and sharing the art of sound! During this chapter, I was blessed to offer Vocal Alchemy in a myriad of holy locations - pyramids, temples, cathedrals, and many sacred sites on ancient lands.
In 2019, I also began to explore working with other sound tools like a loop station. This opened up a whole new world with sound and, since then, I’ve been delighted to share these more complex soundscape journeys at festivals, private events, intentional gatherings, and beyond! Whether it’s simply singing into an echoic chamber or being on a stage at a conscious festival, I adore getting to work with sound in this way.
Q: What inspired you to specialize Vocal Alchemy and Voice Activation?
A: Vocal Alchemy itself is undoubtedly one of the foundational areas that I’m here on this planet to share. Whether it is in private ceremonies, larger events, rituals, or simply infused in soundbaths like Sound Bowl Sunday that center around other instruments…it is one of my greatest joys!
Voice Activation unfolded naturally some years after working with the voice and sound healing as my primary modality. Once again, There were requests to teach how I learned to open my own voice…and so I began sharing. At first, it was just in private sessions, then it evolved into small groups or as a component of my women’s group programs. Then, it took on a life of its own and I began to create courses - both in-person and online - centered around the practice of Voice Activation and discovering your Soul Song.
Q: What can someone expect during one of your sound baths?
A: Here at the Austin Salt Room, the soundbaths are curated to offer restoration and relaxation. Receiving a soundbath within the space amplifies the healing experience of halotherapy. The crystal bowls, chimes, and harmonic tones of sound therapy quiet the mind, regulate the nervous system, and guide the body into a deeply relaxed, meditative state. The literal vibrations of the instruments encourage the release of stored tension and invite a sense of clarity and inner spaciousness. Vocal Alchemy is gently infused in at intentional points throughout the session.
Q: How do your private sessions differ from your group sound baths?
A: Because of the bespoke nature of a private soundbath, it allows us to curate the experience to your unique situation. In a group soundbath, the focus is either on a pre-determined intention or what the group needs as a whole. Whereas, when we are working one-on-one together, there is an opportunity to speak beforehand on what your desires/intentions are and then the experience is crafted around those. There is also the space to shift moment-by-moment, bring in different intentional instruments, and have time for integration afterwards. Beyond all of that, we can also adapt the setting to how your body would feel the most supported - laying on a mat, sitting in an anti-gravity chair, being surrounded by the crystal singings bowls, etc.
Q: What drew you to partner with the Austin Salt Room, and how do your offerings align with salt therapy?
A: I was invited in as a guest facilitator for a special event they were putting on in 2024 and since then have loved coming in to receive halotherapy for regular sessions. When Isabel mentioned the space opening up to come in as the in-house sound healer, it felt like an immediate ‘yes!’
Q: What are some common experiences or transformations people share after your sessions?
A: There are a myriad of experiences that people have shared over the years! Everything from feeling deep restoration (as if they’d come out of a relaxing massage), a sense of enlivenment and that their whole body is vibrating, like they were on a medicine journey and saw vivid visuals, that there own voice / expression started to be evoked, that emotions that were held in the body finally began to unearth and they were able to touch a place within themselves that they hadn’t in years, etc. There is quite a range and, of course, it also depends on the setting and essence of the sound journey itself.
Q: Can you describe what a typical sound healing session looks like?
A: Within the Sound Bowl Sunday sessions we gather for 45-minutes and the intention is for deep relaxation. Generally, mats are laid on the salt-floor for a layer of softness and elements of coziness are brought in like bolsters and blakets. A mix of sound healing instruments supports the journey - crystal singing bowls, chimes, shakers, sistrum, etc. Often, Vocal Alchemy tones will be gently infused at intentional moments throughout the session. It’s a very relaxing experience and, because there are only 8 spots available, it feels a lot more intimate than larger soundbaths can.
For other sound journeys, there is a vast array of what it can be like! Sometimes, there are more intense sessions that involve drum, breath, some movement, and even finding your own vocal expression. (Naturally, these types are far more activating and will be in the description before booking.)
And then there are more ritualistic experiences that I am brought in for a specific reason and, of course, the intention centers around that. (This could be everything from creating a soundscape for a private ceremony, wedding, birth, or even for someone who is passing over.)
Q: How can someone book a private session with you, and what times are you available?
A: If you are looking to book a session within the Austin Salt Room, I believe there is a spot on the website to do so and then we can coordinate about timing. (I have availability on both weekdays and weekends)
Q: What advice would you give someone curious about sound healing but unsure where to start?
A: Come and experience it! (So much is gleaned from giving the mind a break and letting the body be the receiver.)
BONUS QUESTIONS:
- what’s your favorite way to unwind after a busy day? Connecting with loved ones, being on the earth, eating a nourishing meal, and getting some horse therapy time in.
- What’s one wellness practice you can’t live without? Singing it out!
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