College second-year Ayesha Ghosh has already made a strong impact on the spiritual arts at Oberlin. In her first year, Ghosh started the Healers Collective, through which she organizes a variety of programming including sound baths, events that merge collective musical performance with meditation, breathwork, and other reflective practices. Ghosh’s connection to spirituality and music stretches into her personal practice as a singer-songwriter. Ghosh is releasing her album Divine Love next week and will host an event at The ’Sco to celebrate the album.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did the Healers Collective get started?
I started the Healers Collective last spring. I wanted to create a space for artists [at Oberlin], regardless of whether they’re in the Conservatory or the College, that builds community and connects with the divine in different ways. Creative expression has been such a healing, impactful thing in my life that has taught me so much and allowed me to connect so deeply with myself and others. I had ideas for different events, like sound healing concerts, so we just started putting those together. As the Healers Collective grew, I got sound bowls for the group. We started doing monthly sound baths and different art and spiritual events connected to those, and it’s truly just taken on such a life of its own. We have a beautiful board of 10–12 people who have been helping me organize and create more events so that we can grow our community and create more spaces for people to connect.
How did you first learn about sound healing?
I was introduced to it through one of my favorite artists, Jhené Aiko. She infuses it into her music. I also started meditating and doing yoga about three years ago, and sound really helped me on my meditation journey. As I started researching it, I found that it’s scientifically proven to help calm the nervous system, slow the brain, and have healing properties for the mind and the body.
What does sound healing look like?
You use vibrations that are really slow and loud and the brain slows down and matches them, which has a calming effect on the nervous system. During the sound baths, we started doing feedback forms, and people would say that the sound was the most impactful part. It really resonated and allowed people to breathe and go into their inner world. We pair it with guided meditations or other instruments and affirmations, and we incorporate journaling and discussion into the events so people can discuss how it impacted them. It really is different for every person, but I think that sound as a base allows people to just enter their inner world.
What does a typical Healers Collective event look like?
We like to set up scarves, incense, and plants to create an immersive, restful space. When people arrive, we welcome everyone. We’ll start with some grounding movement, light stretching, and breath work to get people present in their bodies, and then we’ll move into the sound healing. We usually have a theme, so we’ll have a meditation around that, and I’ll have different instruments along with the sound bowls for like 30–40 minutes. After that, we’ll bring people back into the space, and then we’ll discuss in small groups or in partners and have time to journal. I feel like there’s so much beautiful community building that happens during that time because it’s a vulnerable space. We like to have people leave with a sense of restored inner peace, calmness, and gratitude.
Tell me about your personal musical practice.
I am a singer and songwriter, and I’ve really been focusing on that for the past two years. I love singing as an ability to express myself, and it’s something that makes me feel connected to my higher self. I feel like singing is one of my gifts that I was meant to have to share. Ever since leaning into that, it has been a beautiful journey of creation, finding collaborators, writing songs, and singing in different places. I’m really intentional with my lyrics and the words that I choose in the melodies because it feels like I have an opportunity to sing love and life into whoever’s listening.
What can we expect from your upcoming album?
It’s coming out May 9, next Friday, and I’m really excited. I’ve been working on it for a year and a half, and the album is called Divine Love. The theme of it is love in its many different forms and the ways that we experience it, learn from it, and grow from it. It has 12 tracks: 10 songs and two poetic interludes.
Next Thursday, I’m performing a concert called “Divine Love Live” at The ’Sco. I want to create a magical portal of love and music for people to enter and be immersed in. It’s actually going to be my last time directing a show at Oberlin because I’m going to be transferring. So it’s also a way for me to say goodbye to this beautiful place. I’m going to be singing the songs from my album along with other songs that have really beautiful messages.
