Monday, December 04, 2006

The Gong Show

Or rather, The Gong Bath.



I'm going for a Gong Bath tonight. I have no idea what's going to happen but I'm going to open myself up to receive anything, and I think keeping an open mind and spirit is how a person should go into trying something experimental and new.

I'm really excited about this. Not that I feel like I 'need' physical healing for anything. In fact, it kind of feels like I'm cheating by going. I'm not 'asking' for anything, I'm not expecting anything more than two hours of peace and some interesting inner feelings, but I'm staying open to the idea that something awesome could happen.

Here's the blurb about the event:
Richard Rudis is back with an unforgettable event to soothe, inspire and awaken your spirit. Richard Rudis (Sonam Dorje) creates transformation healing waves of sound bathing each participant with rising and falling rhythms, tonalities, and vibrations of huge Earth Gong tuned to the sound of the primordial AUM, the "Universal Chord"; the vibrational signature of our mother earth (Ghia) as it dances with our Sun (Sol). Anticipate healings, awakenings, and miracles.

Here's a snippet of an interview I found online:
Reverb: Are these events you do, the Gong Baths, traditional Tibetan rituals?

Richard: Oh no. The name Gong Bath came about sort of as a kitschy thing. The term doesn’t truly reflect what is going on. One of my sponsors of these events said it sounded “sexy” and so it has stuck. And in a sense, you are “bathed” in sound during it.

The Gong Bath is very much a Western culture thing. Nothing needs to be learned, the participants lie on their backs, head towards the gong in the center of the room, and basically say, “Do it to me.” They allow it to be experiential.

That’s not to say they don’t experience healing results from a Gong Bath. I recall once, a woman came to a Gong Bath with her husband, a doctor, merely because they wanted something odd to talk about at their next cocktail party. There was no intent there, other than have something to chat about. But she called me the next morning, and said she wasn’t feeling well. She was dizzy and nauseous and wanted to know what I did to her. I explained that it was a detox process, toxins were leaving her cells and to flush them out. She did and the next day, she called again. She said for the first time in 20 years she was without pain in any of her joints without taking pain medicine. Now she comes to all the Gong Baths she can.

I do workshops around the country where I teach people how to work with the bowls and gongs. A workshop requires more participation and understanding of the participants.

Reverb: Perhaps you can explain simply, why the woman had such a healing and detox reaction.

Please don’t hear this as ego talking, but you see, I don’t play the gong like a musical instrument. I play it as an instrument of transcendence.

Her reactions and others like it are an affirmation of what sound healing is in the Buddhist tradition. What I mean by that is, it’s based on the premise that Enlightenment or Buddha Mind cannot be found, because you can’t find that which you have never lost.

Buddhists see this essence of you, this self, as a virtual diamond. You can take a diamond, throw it in a bunch of manure, and then take it out a million years later, and the diamond will still be bright. It doesn’t change. It is the same thing with our inner self, although I want to be clear the self I am speaking of doesn’t really equate with the “soul.” It is the self that is beyond dualistic nature.

So we are physical beings incarnate, and if we are physically mirroring that clear state, we are in healthy state. There is a sound signature of that blissful state of being, even at a cellular level. The cell is in a state of bliss naturally, but as other things alter it, it changes. However, the ground state of the cell, the diamond state, is always the same.

For example, a healthy heart cell is singing in a blissful way, but alter it, it is no longer singing blissfully, it is now uneasy or diseased, however there is still a cellular signature, a diamond self within it. So what I do with the instruments is not actually heal the individual, but remind the individual of that whole, blissful state, or the cell, or the molecules. The instruments nudge them, and bring the natural ability for the body to heal into activation, and because it deals on a full level, not that just one cell of the body, it deals with a full spectrum and a healing event occurs.

The Eastern healing model is holistic. What a lot of people do, they ask me, “What note fixes heart or the spleen? I want a singing bowl for just that.” And I tell them that level is the basis of the crystal bowls. The crystal bowls are made of pure silicon, and there is a lot of silicon in our bodies and so there is a sympathetic vibration to begin with, and because they are manufacturing these things in a very two dimensional way, they can tune it right to that organ… which is a very useful tool, but it reflects the Western model.


Have any of you heard of a Gong Bath? This is the first I've heard of it, and I think for people who've never tried yoga, it must seem really whacky, but in yoga, it's all about the opening up and feeling things for yourself, so why not check out something new? It'll be interesting, to say the very least, and right now, I'll probably get a whole hell of a lot more out of it than fighting crowds at the mall... so...

Do it to me, Mighty Gong Master!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds dirty. Should you be gong bathing with a man you hardly know? How many people has he gonged? Does he wear protection on the gong? Before anything washes over me I would check that out....

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

E--technically, it's not a bath as there will be no water involved, but there will be a lot of other people there. I am pretty sure we will all have our clothes on.

And where does one find protection enough for a gong of THAT size?

You've really got me thinking now!

Drewpy Drew said...

Bang a gong, Get it on!

Anonymous said...

You are treading a thin line my friend...

In a world where people are constantly grasping for deeper meaning, deeper spirituality, and a higher purpose, energy healing is one more New Age philosophy which presents itself very desirably to human nature. Born with sin, we all come in to the world with the strong belief that we are the center of the universe – that we are in control of our health, our bodies, our lives, our circumstances, and our destinies. Those who have not turned to God for the answer have no choice but to search within themselves.

The practice of energy healing is not in itself a religion, but is a pathway to one's own spirituality. It leads you down a personal journey that encourages you to focus on yourself and how your energy is in synch with the energies of the cosmos, the earth, and all other life. Through this, one can supposedly be taught to heal himself or herself by using clairvoyance to “visualize” where the negative energy is in order to determine the cause of the problem, may it be physical, emotional or spiritual.

The use of energy healing encourages one to put their full trust in themselves and their own bodies, which is a form of worship. For most who participate in energy healing, no recognition is given to the one true God, nor does He receive any praise for healing. The person using these methods of healing has made himself into his own god. Getting involved in energy healing is spiritually dangerous, to say the least.



The Bible tells us that Jesus is the One who came to heal. “Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest'” (Matthew 11:28). God does not want or expect us to help ourselves. He is the source of life, of all that is good and true. Those who refuse to acknowledge Jesus will never come to a place of spiritual healing. “'For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes – so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them'” (Matthew 13:15).

TTQ said...

Hmmm after that last comment here is mine..Do it to me Gong Master 8giggle* shouldn't it be: Do it to me Dong Master? Or was that implied..

mmm good word verification again yadda yadda hhhaha inc..phonetically, of course.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous is a chicken put your name to it....

Okay to display opinion's here and it's manic's choice what she does... if she wants to do gong master well then go for it do him a goody gong!!

You have your right anon to comment but let's not attack people with what you believe and at least have the courage to leave your name....

And FYI Manic is a god loving woman... read her early posts do your homework, she's just going for a look...

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

I will be posting a separate reply to Anon tomorrow, but am interested in other people's thoughts here.

Opinions make the world go 'round!

Anonymous said...

ohh all hot and bothered Manic do let us know how good the gong man was...


sorry for the reply to anon... not really sorry just dont want to upset ya...

Trish Ryan said...

Okay, I have to admit Gong Guy sounds a little creepy to me. Maybe not him, exactly - but what he's doing. I went to several events like this and they wigged me out...I'm not convinced that all the spirits out their in the universe are good natured and trustworthy. Trust your instincts and pick a spot near the door would be my approach :)

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

RR--no worries Matey--I love a good debate, and just as Anon has a right to his/her opinion (I wish we knew if it was a girl or boy posting), you have a right to say what you want!

Just wait till you see what I have to say! ; )

It's all good, all good.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Trish, all this is giving me good food for thought! I really have to say I'm glad I 'experienced' it tonight before I read the Anon post, and was able to keep an open mind about what I was going to be experiencing.

I can totally, totally see how it can be a wigged-out deal. Lying in a room with a crowd of strangers, listening to some dude Bang a Gong who's not that poor dead guy singer. Oh Robert Palmer. May he rest in peace.

xxxx said...

I want to hear your report of the night!

This is what I thought when I read it: that it sounded a lot like any other kind of alternative healing. This chiropracter guy I knew is WAY into that stuff--he wears this belt thing and uses a wand to measure the "energy waves" in your body and to cure what's wrong with you. And he's WAY religious, too. A lot of it strikes me as strange, but who knows. To each his own.

TC said...

So, how did it go?

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Holy cow. I'm dying to know how it was. I'm fascinated by it, but I confess, I'd be too chicken shit to go through with it. So.....I'll live through you, Manic. Tell me, tell me, don't leave me hanging in suspense!!!!!

acaligurl said...

um anonymous sounds a little technical. sometimes all a manic mom needs is a good gong(ing) hee hee. saw a demo in san francisco once at a women's convention. it was very cool to watch, although i never tried it. keep us posted on the results!

Barbie Jo Mahoney said...

Ooohh..it does sound very spiritual, and heck...2 hours of alone time to clear your thoughts instead of screaming kids and whacked out holiday shoppers and traffic?? why NOT experience something new. hell, it could even land itsself in a book.. (hee hee) Gong Bathers Anonymous or something.... But now that I realize that was yesterday's post. I just have to ask:

Was it good for you???

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Hey Barbie, it was definitely an experience. Hardly a world-alternating experience, but an experience nonetheless, and yeah, I have thought it would make for a cool plot line someday.