Three days before Christmas, Main Street was a madhouse.
Drivers battled for parking spots. Shoppers streamed in and out of stores. The same holiday songs we’ve heard a squintillion times chirped endlessly, everywhere.
It may be the most wonderful time of the year. But it sure wasn’t the most serene.
Except for the hour I spent at Hummingbird Healing Center.
There — just a few yards off Main Street, and one floor above it — I eased into a zero-gravity chair, inside a Harmonic Egg.
Wrapped in a yak blanket, underneath special lights and listening to soothing, birds-and-water-type music, I spent 40 blissful minutes.
Then came 10 minutes of equally relaxing silence.
When Lisa Pak — the Hummingbird owner — opened the doors of the custom-made birch “egg,” I felt scarily relaxed.
Lisa got me ready for my return to mayhem with an electrolyte drink, and several minutes of quiet talk.
I was reluctant to leave. But the real world beckoned. I strolled down the steps and back to reality, renewed and rejuvenated.
Hummingbird Healing Center opened earlier this month, next to Blue Mercury. The space — formerly a warehouse — has been totally transformed by Lisa.
Facing main street is the Harmonic Egg room. In the middle is a space for group events like sound bath meditations, gong baths, community song circles, drumming circles and more.
Space for group events …
There’s a spot too for “sound healing instruments.” Lisa sells them — Native American flutes and the like — for people who are want to hear their soothing chimes and tones at home.
… and sales of sound instruments …
In the back is a killer view of the Saugatuck River. (Though “killer” may not be the right word to use when describing such a relaxing sensory experience.)
… and Lisa Pak, relaxing near a view of the river.
Lisa’s interest in this type of relaxation goes back 30 years. An interior designer by profession (with a degree from Parsons), she’s practiced yoga, and sung with the Fairfield County Chorale (which, she says, is a “gateway” to a meditative state).
She worked at the Kohler Store here, as a kitchen and bath designer. Then COVID struck. She did not feel safe in a retail environment, and resigned.
The world slowed during the pandemic. Lisa did too.
One day, exploring holistic healing, she watched an interview with the inventor of the Harmonic Egg. She was enthralled.
The egg is an 11′ x 11′ x 17′, 600-pound sound and light chamber. There are 120 worldwide.
Hers is the first in Connecticut.
Lisa Pak, with the Hummingbird Harmonic Egg.
Lisa customizes the sounds and light colors for each user. As the music resonates, “it’s like being inside a guitar body,” she says.
Never having been in a guitar, I could not say. But it certainly was resonant.
Lisa explains that the Harmonic Egg does more than simply relax someone. It can help, she says, with PTSD, inflammation, insomnia and more.
She worked with a 9-year-old with severe anxiety and ADHD, with “amazing results.” She says the autistic community has benefited from the Harmonic Egg too.
“The egg resets your autonomic nervous system,” Lisa explains.
“The egg does not heal you, she notes. “Your body heals itself. But it can’t heal if it’s stressed.” That’s where the egg comes in.
Lisa recommends 3 to 10 sessions. That allows the body to move to homeostasis, then “ground zero.”
I can’t speak to all that. But my one 50-minute session was pretty cool.
One of the other 120 Harmonic Eggs in the world.
Lisa says that the egg differs from other kinds of relaxation and healing methods like Reiki or massage because there is no other person working on you.
“You pick up on the energy of the healer,” she says. “They can be great. But if your massage therapist had a fight with her boyfriend that morning, she won’t be as good.”
Lisa emphasizes, “I’m not a healer by trade. I’m an artist and designer. The egg takes the healer out of the equation. I help set the environment. But the egg does the rest.”
As she designed Hummingbird, Lisa worked with a business coach from SCORE. He advised her to have more than just the egg. She added those sound healing events and instruments.
She also came up with a great name.
Hummingbirds play a significant role in many Native American cultures. They’re seen as symbols of eternity and infinity, and treated as sacred creatures that float free of time.
The Mojaves believe that when their tribe lived underground, a hummingbird fond a path to the light and brought them out.
“That’s what we try to do at the Hummingbird Healing Center: bring people into the light and raise the consciousness of the planet, one person at a time,” Lisa says.
Plus, hummingbirds are beautiful.
Kind of like Lisa Pak’s Harmonic Egg — and the relaxing, healing time spent in one.
(Hummingbird Healing Center is at 57 Main Street. For more information click here, email info@hummingbirdhealingcenter.com, or call 203-930-8000.)
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