FAQ - GONG
WHAT’S A GONG & GONG THERAPY MEDITATION?
The Gong has the power of creativity.
Absolutely it is a therapy,
And it can expand the mind beyond its horizon.
- Yogi Bhajan
WHAT'S A GONG?
It sounds a lot like a gong because it is a gong. When the Dutch explored what is now Indonesia in the late 1500s, the encountered a huge round metal instrument that the natives said was imbued with magical powers of healing and instrumental in all their ceremonies and rituals. They called this musical instrument a bonang and it was part of a larger group of metal instruments they called “bonang-bonang” (the plural form of bonang).
The traders managed to get a few of these instruments and took them back to Europe. The word bonang-bonang was shortened by them to “gong-gong” and then simply: Gong.
- YogiMehtab.com
We can trace the use of the gong originating from the gamelan - a music ensemble created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountain in Medang Kamulan (now Mount Lawu). He needed a signal to summon the gods and thus invented the gong. For more complex messages, he invented two other gongs, thus forming the original gamelan set.
Forged in the Iron and Bronze Age leading to an amalgamation of metals, including heaven sent meteors thrown into the mix for the unique meteor metal, (later found to be nickel,) Gongs were produced from melting down weapons until, ultimately, various production houses dedicated solely to the creation of gongs. We now enjoy beautifully rendered gongs created from artisanal craftsmanship, of the Paiste gong family, for example, using a sacred technique handed down from generation to generation, perfecting the sound of functional harmony - music of the spheres - mathematically crafted to reflect the frequencies and tones of the orbits of the planets 🪐 invoking sounds of resonance and universal coherence.
The Symphonic Gong, however, has no such planetary correlation and contains the fullest range of tones. Because it covers the full spectrum of sound, it vibrates all the cells, bones, and organs, and is best known for creating elevation, wisdom, and purity. It is said that the Symphonic Gong produces all the sounds in the universe - the collective OM sound.
SOUND HEALING THERAPY
There are a number of methods, instruments, and vocal techniques in sound therapy. And at its foundation is the premise of entrainment. Entrainment is a method of synchronizing our brainwaves by producing a stable, solid frequency that our brains adjust to and then match. This can occur with the human voice instrument or another instrument. Tom Kenyon teaches his students (of which I was one) to entrain their own voice to the sound of the client and assist in adjusting the frequency to a new sound healing emotional trauma trapped in the physical and emotional body.
For people who complain of ‘being in their head too much’ (‘too much’ being the problem) cycling through the basic emotions such as anger, sadness, fear, and joy, with correlating sounds creates the therapeutic effect.
There is initially a story told with words, but sometimes there are no words and this form of therapy provides a way for healing without words.
GONG THERAPY & MEDITATION
“It is not an overstatement to say that Yogi Bhajan, the master of Kundalini Yoga, was the most influential individual in spreading the use of the Gong, from India to the Western world, as an instrument for meditation and healing. Beginning in the early 1970s, his students (of which I was one) used the gong, in their ashrams around the world, to help people recover from the damages of drug use.” - Mehtab Benton, Kundalini Yoga Master & Gong Therapy Author and Teacher
“The Gong is the first and last instrument for the human mind, there is only one thing that can supersede and command the human mind, the sound of the Gong. It is the first sound in the universe, the sound that created this universe. It’s the basic creative sound. To the mind, the sound of the gong is like a mother and father that gave it birth. The mind has no power to resist a gong that is well played.” -Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga
Today, in the 21st Century, through centuries of using gongs in yogic practices from the East to the West, Gong Therapy is emerging worldwide for its therapeutic applications for a myriad of health issues including relieving pain, anxiety, depression, and chronic mental, emotional, and spiritual stress.
And, due to the widespread awareness and growing clinical research highlighting the benefits of meditation, many people who find meditation difficult are drawn to certified practitioners trained in the therapeutic techniques of playing the gong to induce an effortless meditative state.