The Gong Newsletter

Sleeping with the GONG Have you ever heard anyone snoring during a gong relaxation?  It can be a little annoying, especially if it turns out to be yourself. Yet, it does seem natural to zonk out during a deep relaxation. But, if you do sleep with the gong, you may be...

Natural Gong – Playing Outside Many of us experience the Gong during relaxation, yoga, or therapy while being inside. Playing and hearing the Gong outside in nature creates a completely different appreciation for its sound – so what’s so good about the Gong outside?...

Gongs that Grow on Trees Most of us who play gongs (or just listen to them) think of a Gong as being an instrument made of metal. But in reality, gongs existed before metal making began.  Ancient sites have revealed gongs composed of stones and rocks, and in many...

The Very Best Gong Mallet Gong players often ask me, “What is the best Gong?” I usually have many different responses to that question. Strangely, however, they rarely ask me, “What is the best gong mallet?” And I do have one consistent answer for that question. The...

Play the Gong, Heal the World   This month I am teaching students in China how to play the Gong. It's my third time working with a translator, having previously done so in Spain and Chile. And I am discovering that the appreciation for the Gong as a healing instrument...

Kkwaenggwari, Jing, Jing Gong!   Most gong players who use the Gong for healing, yoga, and meditation are very familiar with the Chinese and Western gongs that we use for sound healing and therapy. Yet, there are other types of gongs that you may want to add to...

Your Magic Gong Ear In my gong trainings and workshops, students often ask me: What is the best location in a room to hear the gong?  In the center? Up front? Near the back or in a corner? Sitting up, lying down, head toward the gong, feet toward the gong?  There are...

Kids and Gongs, Oh Yes! During my gong trainings, one of the more frequent questions is: “Is it okay to play the Gong for children?” My answer is, “Yes, but it’s better for children to play the Gong for you.” And here is why. [video width="224" height="400"...

The Art of the Gong I always tried to play musical instruments – and tried is the right word. I tried the clarinet when I was 12 years old – all I really remember about the experience was that it collected a gob of spit that I had to shake out. Then in my hippie days,...

The Beginning of Gong Yoga When I first began my book Gong Yoga, it was shortly after the beginning of the 21st century. While I had been experiencing the sound of the Gong in a Kundalini yoga environment since the early 1970s, it was some years later that I coined...

Gongs from Another Planet   The sound of the Gong is perhaps one of the most other-worldly and ethereal sounds produced by a musical instrument. It takes you out of your body and also your mind with its truly cosmic sound. It is almost like you are on another...

Gong Baths – No Clothes, No Problem?   Why do people call gong healing experiences Gong Baths? In my experience so far, everyone seems to be wearing clothes. I suppose the “bath” name began with sound healers in the 1970s who coined the term sound bath to...

The Secret of Playing the GONG While the Gong is in some ways one of the most welcoming instruments to learn how to play, the secret to playing it well for healing and therapy depends upon our understanding of how the mind works in relation to sound. The human mind...

Getting Close to the GONG In days of old, it was said that simply being in the presence of a Gong could bring great healing. And in southeastern Asia today, people still make a pilgrimage to the temples where the great gongs hang, simply to touch it, be close to it,...

Gongs That Heal Do gongs heal? What is it about the sound of the gong that people find so beneficial for their physical, mental and spiritual well-being?  And are some gongs more healing than others? One of the ways that sound healing has been said to work is that...

Gong Inside Your Head Like many gong players, I have moved my gong events online in webinars and trainings.  I have managed through various instruments and recording techniques to get a gong sound online that is “listenable” and people are responding well to the...

Sound Healing, Yoga and the Gong Healing can be defined as the restoration of the natural balance and flow of energy on all levels of existence: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  This definition asserts that health is the natural state of an organism, and...

The Gong Time Machine Gongs do many amazing things, but perhaps one of their most fascinating effects is their ability to change time. Yes, a gong can be a time travel machine. People who relax or meditate deeply with the gong sometimes report past events that have...

Full Moon, New Moon, GONG! My favorite days to play the Gong for healing, therapy, and recovery are the days of the Full Moon and New Moon. And as a Vedic astrologer and longtime Yogi, I can tell you why. In the practices of Yoga, it is recommended to meditate and...

How Gongs Create Group Consciousness In a published November 2018 article, Dr. Tam Hunt, a psychologist from the University of California in Santa Barbara, proposed a “resonance theory of consciousness” that is based upon the understanding that all matter vibrates,...

Show Us Your Gong Fingers When you relax with the Gong, what do you do with your hands? Some people simply turn their hands palms up, like in yogic relaxation. Some rest their hands on their body or over their heart. And a few of you (and you know who you are) take a...

Yoga del Gong: Yo Hablo Español My first book about the gong, Gong Yoga, is now available in Spanish! Those of us who love the Gong know that it speaks to all people, all cultures. Its sound awakens a universal response in everyone, regardless of where they live and...

My Gong’s Name Is …. In southeast Asia, one of the origin points of gong making, the gong makers would often name the Gong they created, as a sign of respect and to honor the spirit that lived within the Gong. Such names as “Sir Earthquake” and “Honored Tiger”...

Gongs Can Keep You Healthy For those of us who have experienced the effects of a gong well-played, there is no doubt that the sound of the Gong promotes healing all on levels. Could there also be a connection between using the gong to not only heal past conditions but...

Venus Gong: The Divine Lover Venus, the planet of love and beauty, is the closest planet to Earth and plays an important role in all the mythologies and cultures of the world as both the morning star and evening star. It is the brightest object in the sky besides the...

Gongs to the Rescue Perhaps the most common symptoms of spiritual malaise today are substance abuse and addictive behavior. Many researchers and therapists have recognized this connection between abusive addictions and spiritual disconnection, including psychiatrist...

The Perfect Gong for You People always ask me what is the best Gong for them? There are the practical questions of course: the cost, the size, the manufacturer, and so on. Yet the real question to ask: Does the Gong match your vibration, your frequency? Every object...

Gongs to the Rescue! Many of us see the Gong as an instrument of transformation, meditation and deep relaxation. Yet one of the early uses of the Gong was for rituals, ceremonies, and for removing or defending against negative energies, such as acts of nature and what...

Play the GONG, Heal the World With Jupiter entering the sign of Sagittarius this month (see my current Astrology newsletter), opportunities abound for learning, teaching and travel to foreign lands for spiritual advancement. And this is especially true for gong lovers...