Direct contact with the community has always been enormously important to Olli. Especially through the regular exchange with its customers a continuous development and improvement of gongs, mallets and co. is possible. This results in products that are geared precisely to people’s needs. So it’s even nicer that Jamie Bechtold from the Soundbath Center in Los Angeles also made a short detour to Olli on her tour of Germany. We would like to report on the lively exchange here.
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Who is Jamie Bechtold?
Jamie Bechtold is considered a pioneer in the world of sound baths. Her Soundbath Center in Los Angeles, California, opened back in 2004 – the first studio for sound baths and sound healing. She has now been pursuing her dream job as a sound bath player for more than 20 years and has contributed significantly to the further development of the method. She runs her center in Los Angeles with Robert Lee, who specializes in breathing techniques, adding to the sound baths.
Along the way, however, she also developed her own sound bath playing methods, not least through the experience gained from thousands of sound baths in her sound groups. From the beginning, she combined gongs and crystal singing bowls to provide an even more extraordinary experience. As far as we know, she is the first to ever use this method.
Over time, it gained more and more popularity, which now extends far beyond the borders of the USA. She also began combining the relaxing facets of yoga with Sound Healing as early as 2010. Since 2012 she has also been teaching herself and passing on her knowledge about sound therapy and sound healing to other people.
Jamie Bechtold on the road in Germany
In 2023, a big tour of Germany was on her agenda – and it was a very personal concern for her to also stop by the manufacturers of singing bowls, gongs and mallets. Olli Hess was not to be missed – and we are always very happy about that!
Previously, she worked for the gong maker Broder Oetken, with whom Olli has also had a close relationship for many years and who co-developed and manufactured all ollihess gongs. Jamie Bechtold also uses the ollihess and Oetken gongs for her sound sessions.
Jamie Bechtold meets Olli Hess – a meeting with added value
What do two people who share the same passion talk about? About God and the world – the personal exchange was a colorful mixture of professional knowledge as well as very personal topics. Jamie also reported on her private situation in the USA. She herself now lives quite secluded in the desert, taking long drives to L.A. for her seminars and sound baths. But also very general topics such as environmental protection and sustainability, which are as close to Olli’s heart as they are to Jamie’s, were discussed during the personal meeting.
Jamie of course also reported about her very personal experiences with the products of ollihess. She has been using them as part of her sound therapy for a very long time and is convinced of the high quality, but also of the sustainable standards of the mallets, gong drivers and gongs. So the process of their gong baths was also a topic that Olli and Jamie talked about for a particularly long time.
In addition, joint plans were made for the future and ideas were exchanged on how to make the world of sound baths even more varied. Both always find the comprehensive exchange of experience very enriching. For Olli Hess it was of course a very special pleasure that someone from L.A. comes all the way to Uenzen to talk about working with sound and to get to know the new products from our small manufactory.
Finally Olli Jamie presented the brand new ollihess mallets “Soft Line Flex” and “Direct Line Flex”, which she packed directly into her suitcase. Officially, the gong mallets will not hit the market for a few weeks.
Want to know more about Jamie Bechtold?
If you’d like to learn more about Jamie Bechtold and her work with sound, you can stop by the Soundbath Center website. There Jamie also shares many details of her daily work and you will get practical tips around working with singing bowls and gongs. Additionally, get more information and personal insights on the Soundbath Center’s Instagram channel.