Sound and Awareness

Feeling sound in the body: live flute, shamanic drum and didgeridoo.

No substances. Sound, breath, and attention.

Sound is felt as well as heard. In this workshop we train awareness at three places in the body (the brow, the throat and the heart) and link each to a sound.

We begin with gentle movement, breath awareness and a short scan of those three centers. Then two arcs. In the first, Rob Heffernan's flute and a drone guide a simple descending chant, one note at each center. In the second, Henry Kandel's didgeridoo guides a vowel sweep from brow to chest. Each arc is followed by shamanic breathing into shavasana, where the same sounds return while you simply listen, to see whether your awareness now follows on its own. We close with free sound and movement.

No musical experience needed. You don't have to sing well; you only have to be willing to make a sound.

What you take home

Recordings of both practices, so you can keep working with them after the evening.

What you are joining

The Psychedelic Yoga Research Collective is a small nonprofit building something that does not yet exist: psychedelic yoga as a real body of practice, developed in rooms like this one and written down so other people can use it. Every workshop we run makes original material, and the people in the room make it with us.

The research

A brief questionnaire supports our research. Each follow-up check-in you complete earns free admission to a future PYRC workshop. Taking part is optional, separate from your ticket, and you can decline any part of it without explanation.

A note on fit

The breathwork is vigorous. If you are pregnant, live with a cardiovascular condition or epilepsy, or have a history of fainting, please check with your own clinician first. You can breathe gently or sit out any portion at any point.

This is a yoga and sound practice, not therapy or medical treatment, and you take part at your own risk. No substances are involved and we ask that you don't take anything beforehand.

Your guides

Rob Heffernan is a certified Shamanic Breathwork facilitator and Integrative Sound and Music Practitioner, a long-term Buddhist Dharma practitioner, and co-founder of the Sacred Plant Alliance. Henry Kandel is the founder of the Psychedelic Yoga Research Collective.

Practical

Sunday, October 18, 2026, 6:30–8:30 PM.

55 Meadow Street, Unit 111, Brooklyn, NY 11206 — Matka's ground-floor space on Meadow Street. ⚠️ Matka also has a studio at 35 Meadow Street. Please come to 55 Meadow.

Please bring a yoga mat if you have one — there are ten on site. Wear something you can move and lie on the floor in.

Questions: henrykandel@gmail.com

Presented by the Psychedelic Yoga Research Collective, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in collaboration with the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society, with Rob Heffernan.