A Brief, Personal History of Sound Healing
July 5, 2020Long after I arrived home from my second Vipassana Meditation course, I found myself craving the sound of gongs. During the meditation retreat, the gong was used to signal the beginning of an activity. The ringing called meditators to vegetarian meals which were cooked by volunteers who knew of the transformative power of Vipassana and now wanted to provide service and comfort to those who were sitting. Additionally, the ringing beckoned us to one of three daily sits where all meditators, volunteers, and assistant teachers came together for an hour to practice Vipassana — to practice seeing things as they are.
Returning home from the retreat, with my learned practice of “seeing things as they are,” I began noticing my breath and my ability to quiet mental chatter. I reflected on how the sounds from the gongs breezed through my body and cleansed my energy. To bring more variation to my self-care practice, I searched YouTube for gong sound videos to play, while I luxuriated in a bubble bath, and came across a 3-hour long Tibetan bowls video. I loved the sounds and the added relaxation that the Tibetan bowls provided.