A PSYCHEDELIC GONG BATH, Nov 14th 2022
Gong baths are a form of sound healing that can help with anxiety, fatigue and depression, a chance for emotional release, relaxation and even pain relief. Like Hypnosis and meditation, sound healing allows the brain to relax into alpha-dominant or theta-dominant brainwave state.
The state where our ‘mind-chatter’ eases and we enter into a dream-like trance giving our minds the space to process, declutter, re-organise.
My second ever gong bath experience was at The Round Chapel in Clapton, run by The Psychedelic Society
I booked to go with two friends, we were advised to bring mats & blankets as the venue was an old church in Hackney, The Round Chapel, which if you have never been is a very beautiful space.
Arriving at the church, squishy yoga mat & blanket in arm, the warm purple pinkish glow coming from the windows was inviting. Stepping into the space I immediately felt calm. Having spent most of the day alone and working from home it was lovely to amongst people, people that were still, quiet and present. Not pushing past on the tube hurriedly on their way somewhere…
I spot my friends and we giggle like teenagers rolling out our mats and looking around, in the middle of the room I see a gigantic gong surrounded by meditation bowls and other what-must-be instruments. Dream-encouraging herbal tea was being served in the corner, blue lotus…During this second pregnancy I have surrendered to my social limitations much more than with the first. This gong bath would be the perfect way to find connection, stimulus and healing..
Our whispering hushes as a lady speaks gently over the microphone, advising us not to hold any expectation, just to surrender, relax and allow our minds to wander..
We settle and my eyes close… I begin to hear a whirring of what sounds like a sword swiping through the air, a Lightsabre from Star Wars.. it moves around the room.. I follow the sound as it reverberates into the curves of the ceiling. My mind can’t help but wonder what my two friends are thinking and I do my best not to look over to them…
Other sounds take over… I wrestle on my mat trying to get comfortable and wishing I’d brought another pillow for between my legs… lying still on a hard floor when 6 months pregnant is NOT relaxing. Anyway.. somehow I get drawn in by the meditation bowls and their high pitched ringing cleansing sound, it seems to cut through my nagging thoughts of discomfort and disperse them. Sometime after, the giant gong comes into play… extremely intense… I could describe it as god-like anger vibrating through me, I imagine it banishing all the bad, tired & stale cells out of my body…
My thoughts of ‘the every day’ trickle in and out, I allow them to pass and enjoy the pleasant ones, memories of my son that day… and gratitude…
Eventually I am in … all I can really remember is a circular shapes forming above me and swishing round and round, as if it were a fun fare ride. Repetitive and perhaps meaningless? Just there… mindlessness… drifting… surrendering…
Then I hear vocals, shrill and bellowing, it pulls me out somehow - being a vocalist myself I try to resist listening to her technique and following the melody expectantly. This is when I start to feel emotional. The female voice so pure, so raw and bare. Stripping back the layers and touching my heart softly yet persistently. I feel a lump in my throat as my mum comes into view. nearly two years that we lost her and the truth of that rings loud now, in this moment. A release and realisation, powerful, painful yet healing. Perpetual, inconclusive grief.
Slowly we were brought back into the room, by tinkling rain sounds, the occasional siren circulating the Hackney streets around us reminding us where we were..
The following days I feel fresh and rejuvenated. Whether this was the meditation itself or the act of getting out of the house on a Monday evening to take part I don’t know… All I know is I felt better afterwards. To have given myself that time, the gift of doing something purely therapeutic. I will certainly go again… perhaps with more pillows.
More events like these are listed here - https://dandelion.earth/o/the-psychedelic-society/events
Words by Ella Wolfman
Solution Focused Hypnotherapist