Entry No. 31 — the Buffalo file — filed under: soak
Ambient Sound Healing
In a unit at 7225 Campbell Blvd, practitioner Rachel runs sessions on vibroacoustic soundbeds — the first fifteen minutes are 30–40Hz vibrations run through the bed itself, then she works through gongs, singing bowls, tuning tubes, chimes, rainsticks and an ocean drum while you lie there and your nervous system files its objections. The couples version pushes two beds together and projects visuals overhead; add-ons include a cacao ceremony ($25), an intuitive reading ($40) and a hammock sway ($30). The public calendar runs full-moon cacao ceremonies, breathwork-plus-sound sessions, themed thunder-and-rain journeys and five-hour silent retreats ($140), with dates posted through October 2026. People routinely fall asleep mid-gong, which the house considers a success.
→ Three at a time, never the same twice — explore weird Buffalo
The story
Unit 2 at 7225 Campbell Boulevard is a plain commercial door on the eastern edge of North Tonawanda, out where the town runs into Clarence, and nothing outside advertises the four vibroacoustic soundbeds and four loungers behind it, all wired to convert music into vibration you feel through the ribs rather than hear. Rachel runs the studio, having come to it from a corporate career, and she and her husband Steve co-created the beds themselves. Her account of why is unusually plainspoken for a wellness business: childhood bullying, a home marked by neglect and unpredictability, and reading Masaru Emoto's rice experiment and recognizing herself in the jar nobody talked to.
The instrument inventory reads like an estate sale at a monastery: crystal, glass alchemy, Himalayan and Tibetan bowls, a wind gong and a Chao gong, ocean drum, rainsticks, handpan, monochord, tuning tubes, Koshi and Zaphir chimes, a singing merkabah, a quartzophone, and a theremin that comes out for the cosmos-themed nights. The rest of the room is plants, dreamcatchers, candles and neon. A session opens with the bed doing the work at low frequency, down in the 30–40Hz range where you stop parsing it as sound, before Rachel moves through the instruments around you.
Eight beds and loungers means eight people, the cap on every group event, so the room never scales into anonymity. The calendar is posted months out and runs $20–$140: full-moon cacao and oracle ceremonies, a Rolling Thunder & Rain journey with the storm delivered through the furniture, a two-hour sitting built around an hour-long Chao gong performance, and a five-hour Retreat Into Silence with a vegetarian meal. Rachel also certifies sound healers, takes apprentices, and officiates weddings. This is the whole practice, not a sideline.
What it's like
Doors unlock fifteen to twenty minutes before a public event, enough time to pick a bed or a lounger and lose the argument with yourself about whether you're the kind of person who does this. Wear something you'd nap in; the beds handle the vibrating, so you are only responsible for lying still. The first stretch is pure low-frequency hum through the mattress, more felt than heard, and then Rachel works the room, gongs and bowls and chimes arriving from different directions while your nervous system files its objections and is overruled. Talking stops when the lights drop. People fall asleep mid-gong routinely, and the house counts that as the session working rather than as bad manners.
The move: Book the private couples sound bath — $120 for the hour, beds pushed together, Rachel on the gongs — through the site's scheduler or 716-266-9189, and tack on the $25 cacao ceremony so the night opens with a ritual instead of a menu.
📍 Before you go Appointment-only, no walk-ins — book the couples slot via the website scheduler or 716-266-9189. Public group events run roughly $20–140 and sell by the date, so check the calendar. It's a unit in a low-key suburban building on Campbell Blvd near the Clarence line; free parking on site. Wear comfortable clothes — the beds do the vibrating.
- 📍 North Tonawanda
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoor or outdoor
Where: 7225 Campbell Blvd, Unit 2, North Tonawanda, NY 14120
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum — Fifteen minutes west in the same town, and its Wurlitzer Music Roll Department is the industrial ancestor of the idea that a machine can play music at you.
- Riviera Theatre — Downtown North Tonawanda's other room built around one overwhelming instrument — a Mighty Wurlitzer instead of a Chao gong, and considerably less lying down.
- The Old Chapel Antique & Artisan Market — A deconsecrated 1894 church full of vendor stalls, ten minutes away, for the daylight half of a North Tonawanda run.
More weird in Buffalo
Good to know
Where is it, and can I just show up?
7225 Campbell Blvd, Unit 2, North Tonawanda — a low-key suburban building on the Clarence side of town, roughly half an hour from downtown Buffalo, with free parking on site. No walk-ins: everything is appointment or ticket only, booked through the site's scheduler or 716-266-9189.
What does it actually cost?
Most public events run $40; shorter midday ones are $30–$35, the two-hour and readings nights $50–$55, and the five-hour Retreat Into Silence $140. A private couples session is $120 for one pair, $180 for two pairs, $270 for four. Add-ons: cacao ceremony $25–$30, intuitive reading $40, hammock sway $30, gong you-play $40, extra time $30.
How far ahead should I book, and what if I cancel?
Group events cap at eight people — five for the readings-and-tea night — so good dates close. Personal appointments need 24 hours' notice to convert to credit, group events 48 hours, retreats two full weeks. Inside three hours of an event you get nothing back, and no-shows get nothing at all.
Is there a reason to pick one night over another?
The full-moon ceremonies are pegged to the actual moon and pair an oracle pull and ceremonial cacao with the sound bath. Otherwise most events start at 7pm and run 90 minutes, with occasional noon sessions. The calendar is posted well in advance, so choose by theme rather than by date.
What if I don't feel anything, or I fall asleep?
Falling asleep is the common outcome and is explicitly treated as a success. The vibroacoustic beds do the physical work regardless of what you're doing, so there is no technique to get wrong — you lie down and let the furniture argue with your spine.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-25