Photographed by Chiron Duong
Last August’s full moon was atypical: not only was it a supermoon, appearing larger due to its proximity to Earth, but it was also a blue moon, the third full moon in a season with one more than the usual three. For the astronomically minded, it was an opportune moment to whip out their telescopic cameras; for the astrologically aware, the full moon in Aquarius was to be a transformative moment, and a powerful evening for a healing sound bath.
I booked a gong bath session with Rosan Cruz, an energy healer and Kundalini yoga teacher who is also pursuing advanced training in shamanic healing. That afternoon, there was a sudden downpour of rain, causing flash floods across the city and cancellations from her other clients. The roads were miraculously dry as I made my way to Rosan’s apartment, where I was the sole bather for the evening’s event.
Rosan practices with many gongs of different sizes and tonal qualities, and for this night she chose to use her Chiron gong, a large gong that is said to be attuned to the frequencies of the small planet Chiron, named after the Centaur in Greek mythology known as the Wounded Healer. The Chiron gong vibrates at a level that allows for the exploring, accepting, and healing of old wounds. Before we started the sound bath, Rosan asked me what issues I was dealing with and told me to write down my intentions, what I desired, and what I hoped to release. She told me to be as specific as possible and write as if it has already happened. I was to burn the paper when I got home, signifying the completion of letting go of what no longer served me.
I was in space, anchorless, floating, as all thrumming melted into Om, the primordial sound of creation.
After a few minutes of cleansing pranayama dog breathing—panting with the tongue hanging out—I was ready for the gong bath. I lay down on a mat with a bead mask over my eyes, and Rosan wielded her mallets, striking the shiny surface of the gong in a rhythmic pattern, producing one continuous reverberating sound. Enveloped in its vibrations, my mind rode the waves while my body sank deeper into relaxation. I saw colors pulsating, trees growing, water flowing. I was in space, anchorless, floating, as all thrumming melted into Om, the primordial sound of creation. I was nothing, and I was everything.
This went on for a good 45 minutes, an ample amount of time for the vibrations of the Chiron to do its work on the body at a cellular level. “The mind is said to surrender to the sound of the gong within 3 to 90 seconds of it being played,” Rosan explains. “The sound of the gong slows the brainwaves down. From Beta, our normal wake state, where the frequency is fast (12-34 Hz), to Alpha, at about 90 seconds. At Alpha (8-12 Hz), everything starts to slow; the eyes move slowly, muscle activity slows down, and the arms and legs begin to feel heavy. Then the brainwave slows further to Theta (4-8 Hz). At this state, neural activity slows down, breathing becomes more relaxed, body temperature drops and heart rate slows down. And then lastly to Delta (0-4 Hz), where the body goes to deep sleep. Here, the body shuts down and starts to repair itself—cells are repaired, muscle and tissues are repaired, and hormones are secreted.”
The sensations weren’t always pleasant or soothing. There were phases when the sounds seemed dark, even sinister, the incessant beating forcing me to confront what was uncomfortable within myself. During the final part of the gong bath, my hands and feet started to twitch. I later found out that this was a sign of energetic clearing, or the nervous system starting to let go of the tensions built over life. Rosan ended the gong bath with several minutes of what sounded like a babbling brook, but was likely a shaker, chime, or other sacred instrument used to ease me out of the intense state brought on by the gong.
Every person reacts differently to a gong bath. Rosan told me of a client who felt overwhelmed and unable to breathe, and one who suddenly sat up and wrote something down in a burst of inspiration. She has used the gongs for various kinds of healing—she once had a client with a substance abuse problem who initially could not bear to listen to even five minutes of gong playing. Over the course of several sessions his body started to accept more and more of the sound waves, eventually enabling him to participate in a gong puja, which is an all-night ritual where gongs are played for 10 hours straight. She had an elderly client who suffered a stroke, and combining gong bath sessions with other therapies, he was able to transition from using a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane.
The science behind gong baths and sound healing has to do with sound’s ability to shift our brainwaves into lower states that are more conducive to relaxation and restoration. The vibrations from gongs also “retune” our own frequencies through the phenomenon of sympathetic resonance, meaning that when our frequencies have gone out of sync due to illness or stress, they can be restored to their natural and optimal vibrancy.
Our bodies are up to 70 percent water, which not only make it an effective conductor of sound but puts us under the influence of the lunar cycle more than we may realize. When I got home that night, I didn’t fall asleep as quickly as I thought I would—perhaps I was taking in all the new insights and awarenesses, or maybe I was kept up by the light of the supermoon. But the next few days I did feel tired, as Rosan said I would. The vibrations were still working their healing “magic,” releasing the toxins from the body and mind.
