We have one simple goal: to put wellbeing within reach for as many people as possible.
When Carl, the creator of Soma, experienced the loss of his wife Jo in 2014, it was mindful practices such as yoga and meditation that helped him navigate such a difficult time. Inspired by Jo’s example of compassion and love, Carl began volunteering his time at retreats and small festivals to introduce people to meditation, to pay forward the gift he felt he had received.
It was during one particular festival in which Carl, together with brothers Matt and Luke Farren, Soma’s co-founders, already familiar with sound baths and the healing capacity of music, decided to see what the effect might be of playing traditional resonant instruments such as singing bowls and drums directly onto guests’ bodies. It became obvious that the directness of the vibrations deepened the sound-healing benefits and promoted deep states of calm, introspection, and insight at a pace and accessibility not experienced or seen before.
Why we use felt-sound for healing and growth.
Further investigation showed this vibroacoustic (‘felt sound’) effect had ancient roots and more modern therapeutic offerings but the nature and availability of these approaches and devices to deliver the effect were expensive, cumbersome, and limited.
What was needed was a new delivery system that was portable, affordable, and accessible, and ideally one that could be used in conjunction with other mindful practices so they might be ‘stacked’ with vibro-acoustic sound together to create a powerful new practice environment infused with immersive visceral soundscapes. From here, Carl, Matt, and Luke, began creating prototypes, experimenting with both the technology to achieve the vibroacoustic effect as well as the platform for its delivery.
When the Soma Yoga & Exercise Mat concept was set, Gabrielle Brown joined the team to ensure the brand communicated and remained true to its heartfelt purpose of putting wellbeing within reach for as wide an audience as possible.
How it works.
Our Listen. Feel. Heal.™ technology guides users into an experience of deeply nourishing rested awareness:
Listen: Encapsulated by clear sound, we mindfully engage with its effects and musicality
Feel: We directly experience the sensations of the music or sound into our body, engaging our ‘somatosensory’ system, our most primal sense, drawing our attention down into the immediacy of the felt sense of the body.
Heal: ‘Heal Thy Self’ – when we attend mindfully to music and somatically sense the felt-sense, the body down-regulates and moves towards a state of rest, digest, and repair. Learning to rest here, consciously, is conducive to a quiet mind and a healthy body.
Design + technology.
The Soma mat with our patent-pending Listen. Feel. Heal.™ technology sound panels is the world’s first fully vibro-acoustic device for yoga, meditation, and wellbeing practices. Housed within an enclosure slightly larger than the standard yoga mat and little more than 5cm thick, it is portable with a half fold for easy transport and storage.
The practice surface is firm but slightly more forgiving on the knees than a solid surface floor. The enclosure is tough and robust with a profiled edge to allow a ‘surfboard grip’ for anchoring and extension points during fitness and yoga, and can be used with standard yoga blocks and props.
Our high-quality birchwood sound panels supported within the enclosure are driven by an array of our Soma dual magnet rare-earth neodymium vibroacoustic exciters and shakers. This array combines to deliver frequencies from 20hz-17Khz. Soma will deliver the deepest of basses and sweetest of musical tones all directly from the surface you’re listening to, whether you’re moving, sitting or lying down, without the need for headphones or additional speakers.
Adapts to your needs and intentions.
The sound panels are configured through the mode selection button or through the app to immerse and stimulate the user relative to their activity. For lying down mode the mat is configured to stimulate the points of contact in the traditional shavasana, namely the heals, back of the legs, root, sacrum, heart and shoulders. Honoring the body’s natural energy centers the lowest and most powerful vibrations are directed towards the root and sacrum; the heart and legs are integrated with low to mid tones which mix with the musical tones towards the feet and gentle binaural tones for the head. For seated practice the musical tones are equalized and reduced whilst the low frequencies are enhanced to stimulate the legs and root, wonderful for grounding and centering during meditation.
Powered by a specially designed energy efficient 4.2 multichannel digital amplifier which seamlessly distributes your chosen sounds throughout the practice surface. The amplifier is customizable within the Soma app so lets users tune their mats specifically to themselves and with the latest Bluetooth technology multi mat connection is possible for class or group sessions. With run times of 4-6 hours between charges from the mats internal power supply the mat offers true utility and portability if users want to take Soma outside the home or studio.
People.
Carl Simmons
Founder and CEO
Carl founded Soma after a profound personal journey in which he discovered how feeling sound as vibration in the body can quickly guide people into a deep state of ‘OK-ness’ – a quiet mind and the recognition that, at their core, they are inherently calm and at peace. Determined to make this experience accessible to all, Carl created Soma as a platform for wellbeing and connection. With over 30 years of experience as a business owner and a lifelong practice of yoga and meditation, Carl also shares his passion for wellbeing through workshops and events across Europe.
Matt and Luke Farren
Co-Founders and Commercial Team
Matthew and Luke bring a combined 60 years of experience in inner exploration, self-inquiry, and comprehensive training in somatic dialogue, bodywork Zen, and Jungian depth psychology. They lead retreats and trainings worldwide, drawing from their rich background in design, project management, and the launch of award-winning organic sports nutrition products.
Gabs Brown
Creative Director
With a 25-year career bridging brand communications and wellbeing, Gabs is a critically acclaimed author on yoga, meditation, and deep rest. Known for her ability to distil complex ideas into clear and meaningful messages, she inspires transformation from the inside out. As a practising yoga and meditation teacher, Gabs empowers individuals to view wellbeing as an ongoing, accessible dialogue between body, mind, and environment.
Our ethos.
At the very core of your being, you are peaceful and calm. This never changes, even when life is difficult or painful.
For most of us, this concept is very hard to grasp, and even harder to understand. It is only by experiencing it - of having the opportunity to enter into a state of deepest relaxed awareness - that we might start to know it as truth.
Yoga, meditation mindfulness, and breathwork - they are all practices intended to lead us to this truth. But, for many people, the patience, time, and perseverance needed to engage with these practices can make the state they are intended to reveal feel out of reach.
Soma was conceived to remedy this: to put your deepest, most at-ease self within easy reach, whoever you are, whatever your beliefs, however your life, body, and being feel right now.
Soma exists to effortlessly guide the widest audience possible to experience their calmest, most centred and connected self.
Once able to experience yourself in this way, the possibilities for personal understanding, growth, and transformation - physically and emotionally - are profound.