Here’s a new way to experience deeper levels of stress relief and relaxation, by immersing yourself fully clothed in a gong bath. When the gong is played the sounds cascade over your body and ease your mind out of day-to day alertness and stressful thought patterns, and down into alpha (relaxed) or theta-dominant (deeply relaxed/light sleep) states, so it’s perfect for when we are highly stressed.

I say it’s new, actually the gong is very old! The circular metal instrument dates back as far as 16,000 BC, and is said to have been used in ceremonies, healing and as a form of communication in ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian times. It is very relevant today as a way to bring people to experience true relaxation in a high tech, high speed, fast changing world where to be tense and insomniac is seen as perfectly normal.

I was drawn to the gong while I was training to be a kundalini yoga teacher in 2011/12, it’s a fantastic tool for enhancing the relaxation section at the end of classes and an easy, enjoyable way to have a clear out of junk from the subconscious mind as kundalini yoga master Yogi Bhajan said, plus it sounds amazing.

Because of the shimmery nature of the sound it is hard for the mind to grasp on to and enables the listener to enter a deep relaxation, despite any clear difficulties in relaxing. More recently I have had the great honour of playing to a man who had just been diagnosed with cancer, and his wife. Where before the air was charged with unspoken tension after a 30-min gong bath there was a new calm and relaxed smiles. And the next day the man reported to feel mellow, where before there was incessant mind chatter. This couple have also found they sleep much better at night after a gong bath, during what is a very challenging time for them.

As well as insomnia, heightened emotion and stress release I have found that joint pain relief is another benefit to this sound therapy tool. I hold regular gong baths for my Dad who has arthritis, he finds the pain reduces significantly afterward. I have come to find the gong a very useful tool in my kinesiology sessions with clients, sometimes a few minutes of playing the gong shows as a priority action to support balancing presenting issues.

It can also be used to support mental processing – we can set an intention to help find clarity on an issue beforehand, and it works effectively. As soon as the clouds of stress or tension are released blue sky clarity of mind is there. New possibilities can emerge seemingly out of nowhere but it comes from the spaciousness, the new opening that allows new ideas to come through. This is what the gong can help with.

Even pets reap benefits from a gong bath, dogs settle down and seem calmer, and one usually paws-off cat stretched out and purred on his human for the duration of an online session I held earlier this year. Sound healing tools, including the gong, can also be used to cleanse the energy of a room/building, and with your intention any tense atmospheres can be dispelled, calmness and crystal clarity restored.

And it doesn’t have to be in-person, the best sound quality for remote sessions I have experienced is over the phone. I am now holding weekly free 30-min gong baths at 8pm on Mondays on Clubhouse – a new social networking service that is available on iPhones and now on Android as well. The app can be joined by invite only, contact me if interested as I have a few invites available. I hold a virtual room on there, and people can enter the room and listen in (it doesn’t have video or texting functions). This week on Clubhouse a man compared my gong playing to what he’d heard in Tibetan monasteries – high praise that I was wowed by.
I also offer one-to-one gong bath sessions, where I can work with you personally to hone in on issues you want support with.