Healing With Music: Understanding Sound Therapy
What is Gong Sound Therapy?
The gong is an ancient instrument that has been used for therapeutic purposes, as well as for military and spiritual services. Records of its use go back to the 6th century in China. Gong sound therapy, which encourages healing through vibration, is one of the easiest ways to combat the effects of stress and anxiety - major causes of illness. Gaining popularity in the United States, several actors, including Charlize Theron, Lawrence Fishburne, and even Meghan Markle are fans of gong sound therapy. The principles of gong sound therapy are simple: relax and let the healing sound vibrations wash over you. There are no techniques to learn, and no equipment to buy. Gong sound therapy is also accessible to young and old alike - regardless of fitness and mobility level.
A form of music therapy, gong sound therapy is considered the smart or “lazy” person’s meditation - you simply need to sit or lie down on a comfortable mat and allow the sound vibrations to wash over your skin. It is also commonly referred to as gong sound healing therapy, sound bath, and gong bath. Experiencing this musical meditation feels like a sound massage, many go so far as to describe it as spiritual. It can also release tension for increased well-being. Since a gong therapy session can stimulate the same pleasure centers as alcohol and drugs, gong sound therapy can also be an important component of a broader addiction recovery program.
Mind, Body, Green, lists sound healing as the number one wellness trend for 2022 and shares that “sound healing is taking the well-being world by storm”. For those of us who are either practitioners or have been on the receiving end of a sound experience, this is no surprise. Now it seems that others are learning what we have already known for years!
For years, I have been an advocate for science to demonstrate the benefits of sound therapy. So it is exciting to see that psychoacoustics, a relatively new area of science, is studying how the brain interprets sound. Many clients of mine have shared that sounds of the gong or a chime bring up certain emotions or memories. It is this experience which allows us to delve deeper into our consciousness. Exploring these emotions and memories with compassion for self, can provide opportunities to self-heal and bring our mind, body, spirit organisms into greater balance.
Benefits of a Gong Bath
Research on the benefits of gong sound therapy include:
Provides deep relaxation, resulting in less tension, anger, fatigue, and depressed mood;
Reduces anxiety through binaural beats;
Produces a meditative state; as an altered state therapy, it brings relaxation and softens control issues;
Provides spiritual experience, activating the pleasure centers of brain also stimulated by alcohol and drugs;
Offers pain management, including relief from chronic pain and arthritis.
Since no two gong sessions are the same, each session is also a way to become more mindful, releasing the mind from past and future thoughts. Case studies have also documented the ability of sound baths to release trauma (unprocessed energy) in the body.
I had one client who came to me (actually his wife sent him) because his heart was blocked. It is in this energy center (aka chakra) that we connect with others. During his session, he began laughing (rebalancing the solar plexus), which allowed the energy to flow more easily from his lower chakras to his heart and beyond. His laughter was followed by some silence and then tears, which are a physical demonstration of a heart center rebalancing. One of the most powerful benefits of sound baths is that you don’t need to articulate the reasons for the imbalance. You may be aware of it and not feel comfortable saying the reasons out loud because of shame or stigma or in other cases you may not even fully understand the reasons. He was fortunate enough to at least be aware of the location of his imbalance. For those who don’t have that awareness, I use a pendulum to gain that information.
How Gong Sound Therapy Works
So what should you expect during a gong therapy/sound bath session? It takes place with you lying on a mat or in a chair with a gong at your feet, possibly one at your head. Before experiencing the healing music, you will be led through a short breathing technique to support deep relaxation. From there, you simply relax and allow the sound of the gong to wash over you for 20 to 30 minutes.
The gong’s vibrations stimulate the nerve endings on the skin thereby entering the nervous system and your vital organs. Studies have demonstrated that gong sound therapy/sound bath can reduce blood pressure and can elevate mood. The irregular and unique frequencies build in the air and make it more challenging to identify the sound. As a result, gong sound therapy softens the mind’s control, bringing the mind to a meditative, more relaxed state: quite literally a healing musical meditation for greater inner peace.
The gong’s vibrations create ripples in the body that can shift stuck energy. The unique sounds and resounds are difficult for a thinking mind to label. After several minutes of experiencing these unique tones and vibrations, the mind surrenders to what it cannot identify.
A private gong sound healing session takes this experience to a higher level since it is customized to support your specific needs. Being surrounded by gongs, crystal bowls and chimes is a unique experience. By adjusting volume, rhythm, and the use of gongs and bowls, a gong practitioner can target the imbalance you decide to address.
Supporting Your Kundalini Yoga Awakening/Rising
Kundalini is a subtle feminine, life force energy that is stored at the base of the spine in the root chakra. It is described visually as a coiled snake. From a more ethereal perspective, it is also sometimes described as the Holy Spirit, Divine Within, among others. This dormant energy is raised through applied breathwork and intention that mixes positively and negatively charged energy at the root chakra. Whether or not the energy reaches a full rise by reaching the crown chakra, is a function of the methods applied and the readiness of the Kundalini Yoga student. It is important to remember that our spiritual practice is more about our path and what we learn about ourselves through greater awareness than about a particular end goal.
Gong sound therapy/sound bath is an excellent tool to support your Kundalini Awakening. In my recent blog, 3 Ways Gong Therapy Can Support Your Kundalini Awakening, I explained the following key elements that the gong can provide:
bringing your mind to a meditative state
supporting flow of energy in the body
Reduce blood pressure and elevate mood
Supporting Successful Corporate Team Building Programs
As I shared in my blog, 3 Corporate Wellness Solutions that Your Company Probably Hasn’t Considered (and Should), a gong sound therapy/sound bath session has all the elements of successful team building. Incorporating gong sound meditation into your team-building events can support key elements of a successful team-building event or retreat by providing an innovative element of the “how.” A gong session supports your employees to be more relaxed and focused. As an altered state therapy, it brings your mind to a meditative state without any effort. There is a reason it is called the smart or lazy person’s meditation! The softening of the mind’s control brings you mental relief and can also increase creativity as it supports the flow and realignment of energy in the body. Experience what is called gong consciousness - a clarity of mind that comes from getting out of your head and shifting to a more holistic perspective that is more sensing than thinking. As a result, starting a team building session with gong can support more open and honest constructive conversations, a key element to successful team building.
Secrets to a Deeper Gong Sound Therapy Session
In my blog, Gong Therapy: Massage for the Times We Live In, I shared several techniques that can support a deeper, more healing sound bath experience. See the blog for instructions on how to apply one of the following techniques in a gong class or private session:
Intention
Mudra (hand and finger positions)
Pranayam (controlled breathwork)
Eye focus
Mantra
Take note of your experience and then either add another one the next time or try a different one. Gong sound therapy is not a one-off experience. It can truly support your nervous system, reduce anxiety and support the release of trauma in the body. So make it part of your wellness routine and explore these techniques!
You may not be able to reduce the demands in your daily life, but you can strengthen your nervous and glandular systems to be more resilient. Regular gong therapy/sound bath sessions are a great and easy addition to your self-care or corporate wellness program.
Book a Gong Sound Therapy Class
Restore your mind, body and spirit with the power of gong sound therapy. You will be cocooned in the vibrations of gongs, clearing your mind & restoring your nervous system.