Walking up to the Mandrake, a boutique hotel in central London where Maria Lodetoft, Head Of Spiritual Wellness there, holds her sound healing sessions, we felt a little out of place. Me and Iz aren’t exactly aligned with the luxury lifestyle and in our matching red hoodies we stuck out like a sore thumb, so when met by the Mandrake’s doormat and welcomed into the building by a dimly-lit, artistically decorated corridor with calming, spa-like sounds, it gave us a moment to ground ourselves before ascending to the heavens and entering the fourth-floor penthouse to meet Maria.
Music plays such a massive role in both of our lives and during Broke’s first-ever festival season last year, I spent a lot of time exploring intuition before ultimately having a spiritual awakening in a tent at We Are Festival of all places (the final event on our roster which felt symbolic in itself). As a magazine centred on all things rave culture, we’ve concluded that it’s only right that we integrate the topic, so have taken it upon ourselves to discover authentic teachers and road-test healers so you know who to trust for some spiritual aftercare.
Stepping through the door to the room we were met with a view of London basking in some unexpected sunshine and led into an expansive white marble room with three mats set with bolsters, cushions and blankets. We’re both new to spiritual practices and before we get any further into this feature, would like to offer a massive apology to Maria for mistaking her deck of tarot cards for coasters (a realisation I only had after leaving the session and watching our videos back), so being settled to the space by such a gentle and inviting soul set the tone for an extremely special experience.
I’ve come to learn that there’s no such thing as coincidence and when Maria appeared in our inbox after setting an intention to integrate more spiritual content we felt an immediate pull to try it out. Opening the session with a chat we discovered she’s a techno fan who tapped into spirituality through music and found herself at festivals, between that and the Dr Marten boots we spotted at the door we knew a cosmic connection had been made.
A clairvoyant medium and CMA-accredited sound healer originally from Sweden, Maria moved to London in her early ’20s to pursue a career in events management, her fast-paced life at the time led to professional burnout and she found her way into holistic healing. “Having Inherited the clairvoyant gifts from my grandmother, I’ve always felt a strong connection to otherworldly and galactic realms, and I’ve frequently received telepathic messages from spirit and light beings, and I’ve always been able to read the energy of people (and situations), but it was following my reiki attunement in 2018 my mediumship fully activated and I began to offer readings to others.”
Filling us in on the benefits of sound healing before our session began, Maria explained how the energies trapped at the top of our bodies would be brought back down and into their natural flow, allowing our minds to live more in the present moment, provide a sense of inner peace and help us align spiritually. For anyone feeling called to the practice, but perhaps aren’t sure why, you’re probably in need of a little help with unblocking.
The curtains closed, we lay down with open minds as instructed, and allowed Maria to begin her work. First placing her hands on the top of our heads, I underwent an experience that can only be compared to having inner chaos massaged out of my brain, it’s here that I felt my crown chakra starting to open. As she moved through the session, shamanic sounds came into play and metal bowls were placed on our chests their vibrations resonating deeply in both my physical body and inner psyche creating a deep trance-like state. As the ceremony continued, I became extremely aware of the energetic side of myself, which felt more and more secure. The sound of Marias’ soothing, safe voice and sacred frequencies resonating from her Alchemy bowls consistently brought my mind back to the present moment and the buzzing feeling gradually growing between my eyebrows reminded me of how my spiritual journey began less than a year ago.
It wasn’t until Maria started closing the session by asking us to slowly wiggle our fingers and toes that I realised how detached from the physical body I was during the healing ritual, becoming aware of my limbs, awakening them from their rest and feeling the sensations of them again. Offering us sparkling water which excited our senses and secured my awareness back into the body we prepared to leave the penthouse on a new plane of consciousness.
Taking the stairs for a slow descent back to reality, on the way out we noted the ancient-esque decor of the bar and natural outdoor settings integrated within the hotel alongside edgy art and full-chain walls. Crossing the Mandrake’s doormat a lot lighter than we had an hour before, I took a moment to appreciate the hotel’s logo, an eye surrounded by feathers and registered a new emotional connection for the building which I’d at first been intimidated by.
There’s plenty to unpack from our session with Maria, after leaving we found clarity on Broke-related questions we’d been asking ourselves for months and felt emotions so clearly that we could pinpoint their exact location in our bodies (that’s just scraping the surface).
This article marks the start of a new chapter for us, as we find new ways to connect with our readers authentically and we couldn’t have asked for anyone better than Maria to start us off, her energy, setting and skills are worth every single penny. So, if you’re feeling called to sound healing, are hoping to find a healer that’ll turn an hour into a life-altering experience and have found your way to this feature, consider it a synchronicity and book yourself a session with our gal because she’s gifted af.
You can book a Shamanic Sound Journey, Light Code Healing, Galactic Reiki, Alchemy Bowls and more with Maria Lodetoft right here.