Gong Bath in a nut shell

 

A gong bath is a form of sound therapy where the gongs are played in a therapeutic way to bring about relaxation; this can be done as a one to one or group treatment.

The term gong bath means that you are bathed in sound waves, there is no water involved, or clothes removed.

Ideally you will experience the gong bath lying comfortably on your back on crash mats that I supply. You will need to bring along a blanket and a pillow.

All you have to do is lie comfortably and close your eyes and relax. I then begin by playing the gongs very softly, increasing the volume as the session progresses (the volume never gets unbearable as I am playing therapeutically). I change the playing technique frequently so there is no fixed rhythm which results in the brain not being able to follow and entrainment takes place. Entrainment is the changing of brainwave frequencies.

Alpha brainwave state is achieved very quickly and is followed by the Theta brainwave state.

Alpha waves are defined as brainwave frequencies between 8 and 12 Hz. Daydreaming, imagination and associative thinking are all part of alpha brainwave activity. Alpha waves are present in states of relaxation.

Theta waves are defined as brainwave frequencies between 4 and 7 Hz. Theta waves occur during dreaming sleep - or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, although they also occur during deep meditation.

Theta brainwave frequencies are most often where the gongs will take you. You will most likely  enter a dreamlike, deep meditative state. Some people might enter the Delta brainwave state (deep sleep frequency). Theta brainwave is a good state of consciousness to be in for deep meditation to occur.

After a continuous fifty minutes of gong playing, I start to wind down and play very gently for ten minutes fading away to nothing. I then spend a little time with bells or rattles and my sounding bowl as a means of grounding.

The gong is an amazing and powerful instrument for bringing people to a relaxed state; I recommend that you take it easy for the rest of the day to allow the experiance to continue. I also advise that you drink plenty of water.

 

Do's and Dont's

I have now added some do’s and don’t to this page as I believe people are not aware of how powerful a gong bath session can be.
A gong bath is a serious brain state altering relaxation session and building up to a gong bath is more important than the gong bath.
I am adding these details below to bring awareness of the importance of preparing for a gong bath.

Choose your ideal venue: an ideal venue would be an old building with a high ceiling and nearby silence. A gong bath can not be experienced as it should if there is a lot of noise going on next door. Village halls, Yoga studios, Converted barns, Marquees in the countryside, Holistic centres and such like are all good gong bath venues.

Venues to avoid: Pubs, hotels, clubs etc and anywhere that alcohol or fast food is being served.
It is not a good idea to mix alcohol with a gong bath as you could have a unpleasant experience, there is also the issue of back ground noise.

Wi Fi: A wi fi free venue is a good venue. It’s good technology but is it safe? I suggest switch the wi fi off, this also applies for mobile phones and other gadgets (blue tooth etc)
What you should be looking for is a safe environment to run a gong bath in.

Comfort: Comfort is so important, I supply good quality 2” thick crash mats to attendees of my gong baths, I then layout blankets on top of the mats to avoid chill coming from the mats.
I ask that attendees bring their own blanket and pillow.

I have noticed now and then the odd attendee lying partly on the mat and partly off and then fidgeting because of not being comfortable.
If you are not comfortable you will not get anything of benefit from a gong bath.

Peoples experience: One of the positive things about a gong bath is although it’s a group experience it’s a very private experience.
I respect the private aspect of a gong bath, if people want to come to me after a gong bath and tell me all about their experience I am fine with that.
I am however against a  group gathering at the end where people are picked at random to explain their experience to the rest of the group. It’s unfair to give people an insight to others experience as it can be upsetting to have experienced something less blissful than the next person.
A gong bath is a personal experience and everyone experiences something different.

A pre gong bath talk: Attendees expect some sort of explanation before a gong bath. So the pre explanation I give is I am not going to tell you anything of what to expect from a gong bath. “Why Not” ? well if I give information before the gong bath I am giving expectations and then attendees have something to think about which then has the potential of ruining the experience for them as they didn’t fully relax.

A gong bath works because it is an unstructured experienced and I like to run gong baths without structuring anything, in fact the only thing  that is vaguely structured is the timing as I do like to start on time and I have had many late arrivals over the years miss a gong bath because they were unable to come in because the gong bath had started.

Allowing late arrivals in once the gong bath has started is too disruptive and unfair on the rest of the attendees.

Appointments after a gong bath

I have come across several attendees over the years who have had to rush off before the gong bath had finished because of having a second appointment that evening.

If when those attendees booked for the gong bath they had mentioned that they would be rushing off early i would have said maybe you should not attend this gong bath and come to the next one when you have more time to relax.

A person who has to rush off early is constantly time watching during the gong bath and not relaxing so does not get much benefit from a gong bath.

Its also very disruptive to the other attendees as people never seem to just tip toe out without making a sound.

Children left outside

Yes I have experianced this. The adults attending a gong bath and leaving a child outside the room, this really is not a good idea, I was half way into a gong bath once when suddenly the door opened and a young boy apeared and kept apearing and leaving the room shutting and opening the door and making disruptive noise. It's a big disruption and anoyance that needs to be avoided.

 

A gong bath needs to be experienced rather than me tell people what they can expect from a gong bath. As everyone can have a different experience its not really fair to say if you come to my gong bath you will experience  “this”.

I hope you find the above details useful.