About Sound & Solace

A Practice of Peace

Sound and Solace was created as a gentle space for deep rest, emotional release, and inner clarity. This work is grounded in compassion, nervous system support, and the belief that healing happens through softness — not force.

My Story

I know this work because it changed me.

I joined the military at 17 — partly out of a desire to serve and partly out of a need to find solid ground. I gave years of my life to service and duty, but like so many who serve, I was carrying far more than anyone around me could see. In the military you learn quickly that vulnerability is a risk. So you push through, you adapt, and you become very skilled at making it look like you are fine.

Eventually my body stopped letting me pretend. Symptoms appeared that I could no longer hide and when I turned to doctors for answers there were none. Just a body clearly asking for something that no one around me knew how to give. So I kept looking.

I went to the appointments, took the medications, showed up to therapy and group sessions. I was trying. But somewhere along the way I realized that what I was missing wasn't more information or more effort — my mind and body had become disconnected in a way that those approaches couldn't quite reach.

That is when I found SWIHA — the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts right here in Tempe, Arizona. It felt like finally arriving somewhere I was always meant to be. It was there that I was introduced to Reiki, sound healing, Yoga Nidra, and intuitive healing arts — and something began to shift. It wasn't overnight. I had spent decades in a survival state, and my body deserved the time it needed to find its way back. That slowness wasn't a setback — it was part of the healing. For the first time it felt safe. Unjudged. Like I could take my time and actually let something rise without rushing to push it back down — to feel it fully, so it could finally move through me and go.

These practices did not fix me. What they gave me was something I did not even know I needed — the ability to feel into my body without needing a story to explain what I found there.

My mind shifted. My nervous system shifted. My life shifted.

Today I am a Reiki Master Teacher, Sound Meditation Guide, and IAM Yoga Nidra Practitioner — and I founded Sound and Solace because I know what it is to search for something you cannot name. I offer personalized sessions that blend sound healing, energy work, and guided rest to help you unwind, release, and reconnect with yourself. My approach is gentle, evidence-informed, and rooted in nervous system support.

This work is meant to walk alongside whatever path you are already on — not replace it. And wherever you are in that journey, you are welcome here. You do not have to have a diagnosis, a reason, or a story that makes sense to anyone else. You just have to be ready to rest. That is enough. You are enough. Sound and Solace was built for you.

— Tracy Flores-Mattas