Enjoying a Gong Bath

Yoga students at the Focus Yoga studio in Brookfield, Illinois, are enjoying a nurturing environment of yoga and meditation with the repeated sound of gongs resonating in their ears. This unusual and imaginative way of practicing yoga is known as a “gong bath.”

This creative class was the idea of Mark Nelson, who had attended several gong baths and started to play the gongs at home to “bring positive energy to the woods nearby”. As a student of Focus Yoga, he brought the concept to studio owner Judi Harvin. Once she had experienced a gong bath herself, Judi says “I was just blown away by the sound, vibration, everything.”

Participants of the class are asked to settle on their mats, with their heads facing the gongs. Mark, who explains that the gongs are specifically set to “frequencies to match the Earth’s moon and the asteroid Chiron”, then begins playing on a series of gongs. The practice of using gongs during yoga or meditation is aimed at releasing tensions and obstructions from the mind, while offering a soothing healing for the emotions.

The gong bath allows energy to “flow through the nervous system of the listeners, opening, clearing and rejuvenating the mind and body… Many listeners experience relief from pain, and an immediate calming of the mind.”

[tags]sounds, vibrations, gong sound, gong yoga, gong bath, meditation[/tags]