Gongs are flat, round metal disks with slightly rounded edges. There are three different areas or percussion points that are played on a gong and each produces a different sound. Gongs are played with a mallet, and unlike gongs you may have heard at the symphony, the mallet is not used to strike healing gongs. Instead, the mallet taps or rolls over healing gongs. By using special techniques and a variety of rhythms, many different sounds and effects can be created with healing gongs.

Although healing gongs produce a variety of sounds, the one that is most commonly associated with healing is "Om." This is the sound many people associate with meditation, and it has a tremendous capacity to heal. Hearing the "Om" of a gong focuses and calms the mind and relaxes the body. The first time you experience the "Om" sound of healing gongs, you will feel drawn to it almost as if by instinct. It is an ancient and primordial sound.

Experienced gong healers use a light tapping motion with the mallet to create a wide range of musical notes. The most unique characteristic of the gong is how these notes blend together in a swelling, rich sound.

As you listen to healing gongs, you will distinguish many different tones within what seems to be one sound. Healing gongs create a dynamic, complex pattern of sounds rather than just one note at a time.

It is an incredible experience to feel the notes and tones of healing gongs fill the space around you. It is often said the sounds of healing gongs wash over you like waves.

Healing gongs produce much more than a sound that you hear with your ears. As they are played, vibrations penetrate the entire body. You can feel healing gongs played in your presence. The healing gong's deep, resonating vibrations penetrate all the cells of your body, and this is how they heal.

As the vibrations produced by healing gongs pass into the body, they are able to heal and balance the body's flow of vital energy. In traditional Chinese medicine, this vital energy is called Qi. It flows along specific pathways throughout the body called meridians, nourishing tissues in all of the body's organs and systems.

Sickness results when the flow of Qi is interrupted, and injuries or poor lifestyle habits can inhibit the flow and balance of Qi throughout the body. Healing gongs can help release the blockages and interruptions that are inhibiting the flow of Qi throughout your body. Discomforting symptoms dissipate during healing gong treatments. Once the flow of Qi is restored and balanced, your body can begin to heal itself.

Healing gongs are also extremely beneficial for balancing the body's seven main chakras. Chakras are centers of energy transformation through which energy passes from the energy field surrounding the body to the meridians within the body. For good health to be maintained, chakras must function smoothly and stay balanced with each other.

Healing gongs can open and balance chakras. Different areas of healing gongs affect different chakras, and it is possible to feel the main chakras within your body respond to various sound vibrations emitted from the gong.

Whether you are concerned with the flow of Qi throughout your body or not, you will experience the benefits of healing gong therapy. Healing gong treatments are incredibly relaxing, and they are ideal as a stress management tool.

You can use healing gong therapy to help you clear your mind, but it is also beneficial for treating a wide range of emotional disturbances. Anyone plagued by feelings of anger and hostility or suffering with debilitating phobias and fears can benefit from healing gong therapy. The sounds of healing gongs are excellent therapy for depression and anxiety, and they can also relief chronic fatigue and promote healthy sleep.

Healing gong treatments are often referred to as gong baths. They often start out with some form of self-massage, gentle movement or breath work designed to relax the body and mind. You will then experience the sounds of healing gongs either in a seated or reclined position. Any anxieties or worries that have been plaguing your thoughts will quickly disappear as your mind responds to the sounds of the gong, and you will experience a strong sensation of letting go, or being carried away.

As your mind, body and spirit are recharged through gong therapy, you will enter an intensely relaxed or meditative state. This is a very natural response to the sounds of healing gongs, and it feels wonderful. While you are in this deeply relaxed state, healing will occur naturally as the sounds of the gong penetrate your body.

Any aches and pains you may have been experiencing at the start of your gong bath are likely to disappear during treatment. You will emerge from your meditative state feeling refreshed, calm, and stress free. It is common to feel lighter and more at peace after experiencing a gong bath, and you will also experience a sense of connectedness both within your body and with the outside world.