Healing Through Sound: My Conversation With Lilli Badcock on Sound Reiki, Trauma, and Finding Peace
Trigger warning: This post discusses sensitive topics, including anxiety, grief, trauma responses, and mental health.
Disclaimer: This content is for education and support only and is not medical advice or a substitute for professional care.
If you have ever felt like your mind will not switch off, or like your body is stuck in survival mode, this episode is for you.
For the very first guest on Riding the Trauma Train, I sat down with someone who has been part of my own healing journey in a really unexpected way, Lilli Badcock. Lilli works with something called Sound Reiki, and she helps people access calm, release, and emotional safety through the vibration of the human voice.
This conversation is honest, funny, deep, and grounding all at once. We talk about what Sound Reiki actually is, what it can do for the nervous system, why “healing” is not about being fixed, and how peace can still be possible even when life is heavy.
How Lilli and I Met (It Still Makes Me Laugh)
Lilli runs a weekly pop-up choir in a local cafe. One day, after they finished singing, I basically sprinted in like a mad woman and asked, “Who are you and how do I join?”
From my side, it was even more random. I had only popped into Boston Tea Party to grab breakfast after a pre-holiday wax, and suddenly I could hear these angelic voices floating through the building. I was upstairs, they were downstairs, and I was completely pulled in by the sound.
That moment turned into a friendship, and eventually into me experiencing Lilli’s Sound Reiki first-hand during some of the hardest, most triggered periods of my own healing.
What Is Sound Reiki?
A lot of people have heard of sound baths. You might picture Tibetan bowls, gongs, chimes, or drumming. Sound Reiki is different, because Lilli uses her voice as the instrument.
In simple terms, Sound Reiki blends two worlds:
- Sound healing, which uses frequency and vibration to support relaxation and regulation
- Reiki principles, which many people know as a gentle energy healing practice often offered through the hands
Lilli trained in Sound Reiki as a modality, and something shifted for her deeply during her attunement and training. As a professional singer, she knows her voice inside out, and she described suddenly accessing sounds and ranges that felt beyond her usual limitations.
What matters most is this: the sessions are not about performance. They are about what the sound brings out in you, and what it helps you safely let go of.
How Can Sound Support Trauma Healing?
I asked Lilli the question many of us are thinking: How does sound actually help the body heal?
The practical and physical side
Sound creates vibration, and vibration moves through the body. Many people describe feeling sensations like tingles, warmth, emotional release, or a deep sense of stillness.
Lilli explained it like this: we are made up of a lot of water, and sound affects water. Even if you strip it right back, we know sound can shift how we feel in our body, and it can help move us into a calmer, more settled state.
She also spoke about how sound can support brainwave states that feel more meditative, which can be especially helpful if you are an overthinker or you struggle to “do meditation the right way”.
The human and emotional side
This is the part that really landed for me.
Lilli said that for her, Sound Reiki is less about “curing” anything, and more about helping people access a felt sense of peace, even if only for a short while.
Because when you have lived through trauma, grief, anxiety, or long-term stress, the hardest part is often this: you lose yourself.
You can feel disconnected from who you are, from your body, from your emotions, from the part of you that used to feel bright and alive. Lilli described that disconnection as one of the darkest experiences there is.
And what Sound Reiki can do is remind you of what is still true underneath all of it.
Not in a forced “positive thinking” way. More like a quiet internal remembering:
I am still here. I can still come back to myself. I can still find peace, even with this on board.
Healing Is Not Curing
One of my favourite parts of this episode was the way Lilli spoke about the word “healing”.
She said something so important: healing is not always about getting rid of something.
Sometimes what you have been through is significant, and it may always be part of your story. That does not mean you are broken. It means you are human.
Instead of living in constant defiance of what happened, which is exhausting, the work can become:
- learning how to carry it differently
- learning how to live alongside it without it driving the whole car
- learning how to come back to peace again and again
Lilli shared an image I love: trauma, anxiety, grief — whatever it is — can be in the back seat. It is on board, but it is not in control. It does not touch the radio. It does not choose the route.
If You Are Skeptical, This Still Might Be For You
We also talked about the people who feel unsure about anything “spiritual” or “woo woo”.
Here is what I loved about Lilli’s take: she is not here to preach. She is not asking you to believe anything.
Even if you come purely for the experience of quieting your mind, softening your body, and having an hour where you are guided into stillness, that is valuable.
I have seen people come in doubtful and leave visibly changed, because the body responds to safety and softness whether your mind believes it or not.
A Simple Grounding Practice From the Episode (Breath + Hum)
Lilli guided a beautiful mini practice that you can try anywhere. This is especially supportive if you feel triggered, panicky, overwhelmed, or emotionally flooded.
- Place one hand on your heart.
- Place your other hand on your belly.
- Close your eyes if that feels safe.
- Breathe in through your nose.
- Breathe out through your mouth, making the out-breath longer than the in-breath.
- On the out-breath, add a gentle hum.
You can try it like this:
Inhale through the nose
Exhale with a hum (soft, steady, no effort)
That humming vibration can feel like a tiny internal massage. And you do not need to be a singer. If you can speak, you can hum.
If your first instinct is to judge your voice, that is okay. Let the practice be about non-judgement. This is your nervous system, your breath, your body.
A small return to peace.
Where To Find Lilli Badcock
If you want to explore Lilli’s work, you can find her here:
- Instagram & Facebook: Sing To Heal
- Eventbrite: Search “Lilli Badcock Sound Reiki” to find her monthly sound baths
- Website: singtohealyou.com (currently being updated)
Lilli also mentioned she is feeling pulled toward hosting retreats in places like Scotland, Cornwall, France, and possibly Ibiza, with details to come.
Final Thoughts
This episode is a reminder that peace is not a personality type. Peace is a practice. A return. A choice you can keep making, even if your life has been chaotic, painful, or triggering.
If you want more conversations like this, with both lived experience and supportive tools, you can explore the rest of Riding the Trauma Train on my podcast platforms.
And if anything in this post brought something up for you, you do not have to hold it alone. Reach out to someone you trust, or speak with a professional who can support you safely.
If you would like to share what this brought up for you, you can message me on Instagram or send me an email. I read every message.