salento sound bath: six visions
By Shelley Pellegrin
Nov 15, 2025
Nov 15, 2025
1. i was inside the ear of the earth
flowing deeply back and forth, i was composed of the volcanic sediment of porto selvaggio.
waves of the sea adjusted cells in every direction. the earth was me.
2. prehistoric cave ceremony
fire flickered on the stone ceiling, swaying with shadows.
3. bells on our chests
DONG! called to be born into a human body. my partner, also. there were spaces available in the
united states and germany, and we were placed there knowing that we would find each other
again eventually because we are magic.
4. inside a tree
the roots were very high, shafts of light shone in through the toast-thin slices of wood terrain. a
shaman, an elvin guide, another group ceremony.
5. cornfields
a white drone slowly rose up and generated storm-force winds. miniature farmers and i wrapped
our arms and legs around giant corn stalks as we were whipped viciously from right to left. we
were the resistance.
6. i was the earth again
always the sound of the rainstick recalled cascades of pebbles and sands trickling over and
through me. i, the lava rock container of this cascade, was bound in an epic twisted asana. inhale.
exhale. the micro-constellations inside stretched as tiny and tectonic moves reshaped my essence.
flowing deeply back and forth, i was composed of the volcanic sediment of porto selvaggio.
waves of the sea adjusted cells in every direction. the earth was me.
2. prehistoric cave ceremony
fire flickered on the stone ceiling, swaying with shadows.
3. bells on our chests
DONG! called to be born into a human body. my partner, also. there were spaces available in the
united states and germany, and we were placed there knowing that we would find each other
again eventually because we are magic.
4. inside a tree
the roots were very high, shafts of light shone in through the toast-thin slices of wood terrain. a
shaman, an elvin guide, another group ceremony.
5. cornfields
a white drone slowly rose up and generated storm-force winds. miniature farmers and i wrapped
our arms and legs around giant corn stalks as we were whipped viciously from right to left. we
were the resistance.
6. i was the earth again
always the sound of the rainstick recalled cascades of pebbles and sands trickling over and
through me. i, the lava rock container of this cascade, was bound in an epic twisted asana. inhale.
exhale. the micro-constellations inside stretched as tiny and tectonic moves reshaped my essence.
|
Shelley Pellegrin earned an MFA in computer art and street cred in hip-hop. An emerging poet in Berlin, she can be found sipping tea in her chapel and cemetery, writing in violet with a brass fountain pen, or lifting her legs in the sauna. One day, she plans to harvest all those rose hips for more tea.
Find more from her at Substack and Chillsubs. |
|
Author’s Note:
This piece was written at the end of a week-long yoga retreat in Italy. Our group had been doing intense yoga twice a day, as well as hiking through dense pines to explore rugged beaches with gem-like waters. Far beneath our bathing altitude lay remnants of antiquity buried in caves. The location was infused with history, and the power and presence of nature were immense.
I had reached a meditative state from the digital detox, clean food, and yoga practice, which made me especially receptive. As a special treat, we were surprised after our last dinner with a sound bath performed by two locals with golden gongs, singing bowls, and various handheld therapeutic instruments. Our group reclined on our backs with eyes blindfolded in the glassed-in yoga shala.
The performers walked around and gave us an immersive experience. It was during these wavescapes that the six visions appeared to me. After so much yogic cellular restructuring in my body, I truly felt that the earth was me. I associated my cells with cascading pebbles of ages and my fascia with tectonic shifts of great land masses. I visualized from the bottom of Ionian sea caves to the top of the striped strata where we had sunbathed on ungroomed rocks, and felt that it was also my body.
Scale was infinite relativity, and all was in all.
I had reached a meditative state from the digital detox, clean food, and yoga practice, which made me especially receptive. As a special treat, we were surprised after our last dinner with a sound bath performed by two locals with golden gongs, singing bowls, and various handheld therapeutic instruments. Our group reclined on our backs with eyes blindfolded in the glassed-in yoga shala.
The performers walked around and gave us an immersive experience. It was during these wavescapes that the six visions appeared to me. After so much yogic cellular restructuring in my body, I truly felt that the earth was me. I associated my cells with cascading pebbles of ages and my fascia with tectonic shifts of great land masses. I visualized from the bottom of Ionian sea caves to the top of the striped strata where we had sunbathed on ungroomed rocks, and felt that it was also my body.
Scale was infinite relativity, and all was in all.