Gong - The Vibrational Medicine
The gong is one of the oldest instruments of healing and has been used for thousands of years. It is said that the gong makes the primordial sound of OM/AUM; the first sound of the Universe.
The Gong is the Master Sound Instrument, capable of creating a powerful trans-linear sound experience, perfect for experiencing a sustained state of spontaneous experiences for meditation and therapeutic relaxation...
The sound does not come from the gong, it’s the same how a speaker works the sound is not from the speaker but the air vibrating in the room, the sound waves in the air creating that resonance, which is why gong baths feel and sound different in more acoustics spaces. Events are called gong baths, because you are bathed in sound waves that impact you body and mind, entraining you to a desired relaxed state.
"When we hear the gong for the first time, it challenges us to experience sound in a surprising and almost totally unique way. It is not like other musical instruments, for its notes, tones and harmonics are within the gong.
What is a gong bath?
Beyond the ineffable spiritual benefits, there is scientific and metaphysical evidence to support the ancient healing practice known as a gong bath. When the Gong is played, every cell of your body is vibrating, releasing any tension, emotional and energetic to the surface. You may find this is easier to let go and to open up to your energies..
Gongs are psycho-acoustic gateways to heightened states of awareness and consciousness. They are suitable for group or individual sessions, for meditation, relaxation, consciousness exploration, and are an ideal tool for stress reduction. In turn, they clear emotional blockages and can vibrate cells within the body to be much healthier free and flowing.
All you have to do is sit or lay comfortably and close your eyes and relax. Its effortless and it is a great cleaning process not just for the player, but also the receiver. The loudness is never unbearable as they are designed to be played therapeutically. The low deep and long sustain sounds enable brainwave entrainment to be produced because just like the consistent beating of a drum, its dynamic repetitive actions can greatly entrain us.
Alpha and Theta brainwaves are often common with gong baths as some reports and brainwave research done by Cherub Sanson & Tim Wheater in 2016 with the help of Luciana Hail
Theta brainwave frequencies are most found with gongs, between 4 and 7 Hz and are great for accessing altered states of consciousness for relaxation and meditation, with addition to Alpha brainwave frequencies to clear out subconscious thought forms and open the doors to surrendering to relax and much more.
The Gong is a very powerful sound healing tool, using a round disc of nicklesilver, the disc often called blanks that take many weeks to produce a certain resonance.
The gongs I use are modern symphonic gongs, made in Germany. The gongs are made from Nickel-silver alloy (sometimes called German silver) which contains 10-25% nickel and 17-40% zinc with the remainder being copper, each gong is different with different, sizes, and thicknesses.
The size of a gong is not important, as they all develop a great sound and a resonance within any sized room, big or small. My favourite are sizes for sitting and meditating are around 30"32"36" these I find have a beautiful resonance, any bigger and depending on your budget, room size and neighbours, its all about preference. Even pets love them too.
Gongs are amazing musical instruments. They are not just any musical instrument, they have a deep purpose and meaning spiritually, physically and mentally. They are played intuitively by the gong player to release, physical, mental and emotional stress and any other blockages that may be set deep inside the body and mind. Gongs are sound healing tools, scientifically proven to cause change at a cellular level; by vibrating, cleansing and releasing toxins within the body and mind from stress.
The Gong helps by relieving fatigue and can accelerate the healing process because of the array of tones and frequencies they put out.
Even if you are not feeling stressed, the gong can take you deeper into the core of your being, cutting through mental chatter and quickly creates a deep meditative state and relaxation.
They work by producing an array of frequencies and tones which affect your brainwaves from Delta – Theta – Alpha, allowing the listener to be immersed in a 'live' sound that can not be felt but also heard.
Because our bodies are around 70% water, water serves to conduct sound waves and electrical conductivity between cells to keep blood flow, meridians, and every cell of our bodies free and flowing healthily. The gongs rippling effect of the gong’s vibrations are like a pebble thrown into a pond or pool of water sending out ripples of profound healing tones.
A gong’s resonance integrates diverse elements into a power of synergy and functional harmony. We also call the tone produced by the gong a 'feeling tone' because we feel it in our body, as well as we hear it.
As regards to a gong master, the one who plays the gong is the master of the gong at that moment. But mastering a gong is not hard, but simple, play with it gently and will sing back to you beautifully.
Gongs change time and locality.
Skilfully played, gongs provide the entry point to recovery, self-recovery, they can pull an individual back from “the edge” and create a different platform for their existence. The transformational qualities of gongs were known to ancient cultures over four thousand years ago. Their vibrational tones are not only felt throughout the body but also in each person present in the room.
When the gong is being played “excited”, electrons become highly charged electromagnetically and form a field of Plasmon (according to the late physicist David Bohm). The plasma field is being created off the gong and the listener becomes part of the field. Metal is the only material known where the electrons leave their atoms and join other atoms. When the activity of the gong ends, the electrons go back to their original atoms. Once the gong comes to rest, the Plasmons and the energy field collapses. When the gong is revved up again the Plasmon field expands and intensifies. The participants are being electromagnetically charged in a positive, benevolent and holistic fashion. Many walk away with a natural buzz that in some case has lasted for a week.
Gongs are useful in resolving emotional and physical dissonance. Magic happens when there is no separation between the gong, the player and the listener. Playing and listening to gongs is about the spiritual, physical and emotional resolution – opening of doors and windows to the Universe, moving around energies, Universal energies – to enter a spiritual dimension. The Gong is a psycho-acoustic gateway to heightened states of awareness and consciousness. It is an ideal tool for stress reduction, stimulation of the glandular system, and breaking up emotional blockages. When skillfully played, gongs stimulate and resonate with all cells in the human body simultaneously and re-calibrate the parasympathetic nervous system (heavy arms and legs, as well as a regulated heart rate during a gong meditation, are a sign of the re-calibration).
The Gong generates powerful multi-dimensional ripples of sound that grow into waves and bathe your entire body in streams of sound. These have been described as otherworldly, rhythmic, generating a sense of being on vacation, unfathomable, purifying, magical, sweet – like rich, rich chocolate cake, profound, out of body, celestial and harmonic…
Sound as medicine
If we accept that sound is a vibration and we know that vibration touches every part of our physical being, then we understand that sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our body.
Everything in the universe vibrates at its own unique frequency called a resonant frequency. This includes all of the cells, tissues, and organs of our bodies. When we are healthy, everything in our body is vibrating in harmony or perfect 'resonance'.
Dis-ease results when a part of our body begins to vibrate and out of harmony. Through the concept of resonance and entrainment, sound can be used to change the vibration of the dis-eased part and bring it back to a healthy state of resonance.
In the early 80’s Fabien Maman, a French musician, acupuncturist and bio-energetics found the vibrations actually transformed the cellular structure.
He also found that gongs being played for 21 minutes also caused cancer cells to disintegrate and ultimately explode. The human body is over 70% water and since sound travels five times more efficiently through water than through air, it is an excellent conductor for sound and vibration.
When skillfully played, gongs cover the full spectrum of sound. They vibrate all the cells and bones in the body, effecting organs and affecting the body's meridians.
The gong is like a divine engine creating sounds and tones of vibrational cleaning energy,which travel from the outer ear throughout the body via the vagus nerve and changing brain wave states, respiratory rate and heart rate. Gongs tones re-calibrate the parasympathetic nervous system, and the glandular system and open the doors to your mind and body for deeper relaxation and well-being and deep rest.
Gongs change emotional affects, which influence neurotransmitters and neuro-peptides, which in turn help to regulate our immune system to be at its best.
The wonderful thing is that gongs heal the player while the player is playing the instrument, and people near by the gongs also benefit significantly. In turn we are brought back to optimum health and balance. The sound and vibration helps facilitate a deep sense of peace, releasing tension and blocked energy in the body. Like a massage gongs vibrate cells which begin to regain their highest potential of resonance.
The Gong generates powerful multi-dimensional ripples of sound that grow into waves of vibrational healing energies. They bathe your entire body in streams of sound of vibrational healing tones.
The OM/Aum tone of a gong creates total silence within. These tones and sounds have been described as otherworldly, rhythmic, mystical, cosmic, unfathomable, purifying, magical, sweet, open and rich, profound, out-of-body, celestial and harmonic…just to name a few.
All of my gongs come from a supplier in Germany. They are hand crafted to produce high quality sound healing tools for consciousness exploration and deep relaxation. These gongs are not locked into any specific frequency. They have been hand crafted until they produce the highest possible range of overtones for their size. They have been created for the love of the sound of the gong.
I recommend coming to hear gongs in person, as rerecorded sound and video samples are beautiful to hear. They are no match for the real 'live' sounds they produce in person and which affect the brain and body as the gongs produce an array of sound spectrum not heard through recording equipment.
They are able to produce a capsule of sound which surrounds you like a vibrational hug. Unlocking consciousness potential from within and changing brainwave states suitable for relaxation, meditation and light sessions.
Theta brainwave frequencies are most often where the gongs will take you.
These gongs that I work with, are perfect on their own for your own sound healing journey, Or as a consciousness-altering tool to offer a sound healing journey with your very own light machine to others.
The Gongs come in many sizes from 22", 25", 30", 42" 60" and 80 inches!
What gongs sound like:
Gongs are characterised by their sustained loud crash, full of harmonics and frequencies, and their quiet booming fundamental notes, especially in the larger sizes. With one strike of the mallet the sound of the gong, helps to unlock doors to the dreamworlds and clear emotional blockages, the sound potential is unlimited with a very deep open and rich sustains which will transcend you to a new you. Guiding you to unlimited sound potential and exploring the realms of consciousness. The symphony of symphonies, a million solar systems within a million universes. Gongs are unique to their range of potential and how the gong player intuitively works. The feedback I have received has been conclusive with regards to their creations. With each mallet or flumie, a different picture appears. And with experience playing the gong, the sound range is unlimited, especially as the gong matures and develops.
History:
A gong is an African, East and South-East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a large flat, circular metal disc made out of different metals such as which when struck by a mallet gives a resonant note which resonance can be felt throughout your whole body.
The oldest musical instrument in the world is probably the drum, a typical native American Indian instrument that is round and then with a dried skin wrapping around a frame, beaten with a drum to form a resonance within a room, used for shamanic purposes, rituals etc. It is thought that the gong is the evolution of the drum, over many centuries, when metal was used to be melted down. It is also thought that during the bronze age 4000-2000BC, copper was an alloy along with tin which was much more manageable to create weapons such as shields. It is thought that during the build process that the shield began to make a sound, a resonance, this was later to be then turned into a gong.
Others speculate that the bronze alloy was crafted as round discs to represent the sun as worship, and then later finding out that this disc has a harmonic resonance.
This round disc was then evolved and taken more seriously in places such as Asia, in Tibet and Burma around 500-516 AD by Emperor Hsuan. During my travels across Indonesia in 2018, in Bali, I found the traditional factory of gong making, which goes back many centuries. Unfortunately, when I got to their factory they were not in production that day, but I got to see some of their tools.
More modern gongs in the 18th century from China took place in concerts in and around Italy and Tuscany. Then taken into the hands of the Paiste family from the 1930s which is where we get our modern-day symphonic gong. Still to this day, the gong is evolving, with different striations, different thicknesses of metal, with tone of life, gongland and many others but usually keeps the same basic round shape which is perfect for resonance.