Remember that nasty headache I was talking about the other day? Anadin Extra didn’t touch it, neither did a heated bag of wheat, endless hot baths and rolling around on the bedroom floor with a tennis ball. I could not shift it.

Despite the fact that I felt as if I had an axe cleaved into my head, I went to a gong bath and chanting workshop yesterday evening. Now, if you knew me, you’d find this hard to believe as it involved singing and there is nothing I hate more than the sound of my own voice trying and failing to hit a note.

But since the stand up comedy course the other week, I’m feeling a whole lot braver. Singing a few chants in Gurmukhi is child’s play compared to telling jokes about sex in a pub full of strangers.

I’d seen this particular class advertised when I was searching for some kundalini yoga, it sounded a bit out there, but as I’ve been craving spiritual sustenance of late, I thought I’d give it a go.

Initially, I felt a bit self-conscious, but as everyone had their eyes closed, I figured that the other people in the room wouldn’t know that I was the one singing flat. Once I loosened up I really got into it and after the first chant/song, I could feel a slight tingling sensation running up and down my body, like energy moving.

I got quite carried away with the whole thing and it was only after the glorious gong bath that I realised my headache had disappeared. Just like that! Incredible seeing as the gong was very loud.

I wondered if my tense shoulders, which were causing the headache, were full of blocked energy. I certainly felt something release and flow through me like tiny fizzing bubbles after the first chant. It was most odd, but much nicer than a cocktail of aspirin and paracetamol. I think I am going to try it again some time.

Personal manifesto

I am bountiful, I am blissful, I am beautiful (that was one of last night’s chants and the only one we did in English!)