The Body as an Orchestra & How it can be Re-tuned

As a Sound Healer I work with high quality sound instruments to bring the body/mind/emotions back into a state of harmony. Think of an orchestra, which has many different instruments making up its whole. This is a good analogy for the human being : each of us have many different organs and body parts making up the whole, plus the mind and emotions which also play a major part in our well-being. I like this analogy of the body as an orchestra, as for some years I was a professional musician and have played with many different orchestras during my mainstream musical career. I can tell you that if one or more instruments are out of tune, it affects the overall sound quite dramatically for the worst.

The same is true of ourselves. If a part of the body is not “in tune” and vibrating at the correct frequency, or if we are emotionally under par or mentally overburdened, the result is a stressed, under functioning person who feels from unwell down to quite ill. This “dis-ease” of body, mind or emotions, whatever stage it has reached, can be aided by the application of sound to re-tune the person, and start to bring about harmony in the human being as a whole. I believe that the human body/mind contains all the resources it needs to heal itself, given the opportunity. We only need to apply the right sounds to enable it to begin this process.

The instruments I mainly work with for this purpose are large high quality gongs. I have been a sound healer for some years, and specialized in using gongs ten years ago. To me, the gong is the ultimate sound healing instrument, as larger gongs encompass such a wide and full range of tones and harmonics, that they are able to “re-tune” all parts of the body/mind/emotions very effectively. The process of tuning up the body using mainly gongs and other compatible sound instruments is called a “gongbath”. This is because the person is literally bathed in the sounds of the gongs, enabling every cell to be tuned and re-harmonised with the whole.

The recipient of a gongbath ideally lies down on a comfortable soft bed or couch, and is encouraged to relax completely, letting go of any worries or frustrations, and surrender totally to the sound experience. This is their time to receive – there is nothing to do but just “be”. The gongs have the effect of altering the brainwaves, and taking the listener into a meditative state automatically. Even highly stressed, uptight people usually succumb to the gong sounds within a few minutes, and often find themselves drifting into deep states of meditation. Some people go to sleep, and I have had very tired people sleep right through a gongbath even though the waves of sound being produced occasionally reach a higher volume.

The result : most people “come back” from their gongbath journey feeling refreshed, de-stressed and rejuvenated. Some physical aches and pains may have disappeared. Emotions are calmer, and people generally feel more in control of things, and often have been “given” solutions to problems that have been worrying them. People usually feel tingly and as though the gong sound is still working on them, which of course it is – the effect is generally ongoing for several days or even weeks. The gong sounds clear away any energetic debris from the subtle energy body and leave people feeling clear, light and re-energised. Re-tuned, in fact, as their whole system has been powerfully vibrated and brought back into a state of harmony. Just as the players of the instruments of the orchestra need to tune them before the orchestra can start playing its musical repertoire – so the gong sounds re-tune the whole human energy system, bringing our whole being back into a state of harmony, or at least kick-starting that process, so that we can move on and engage with the varied repertoire of our lives.

Depending on how “out of tune” a person is, it can take anything from one to a number of gong sessions to re-tune us back into a state of harmony and health. A builder who once attended a gongbath reported that an ongoing shoulder problem had cleared up – this happened quickly after only one session. Another person reported immediately improved vision and no further need for wearing reading glasses. We have also had particular ongoing success with fibromyalgia, for instance. With other gongbath recipients it is a gradual process of improvement in all the different areas – physical, mental and emotional. Other people have reported better sleep, improved digestion, pain relief, morning sickness cured, headaches gone, increased ability to cope with the problems of everyday life, relief of stress, and greater ability to relax, among other effects.

Played well and sensitively by an experienced and well-trained practitioner, the gongs re-tune our whole being back into a state of harmony and enable all the parts of our human body/mind to function optimally in the concert of life, just like the re-tuned instruments of the orchestra joining together to perform in perfect harmony.

Sheila Whittaker is a Sound Healer, musician, teacher & author, who has specialised in using high quality gongs for her Sound Healing work. She runs the Gong Practitioner Training course for the College of Sound Healing, teaching the course to new groups of students each year, and also teaching other sound healing workshops. She has written two books about her work with the gongs. She lives in Devon, UK, and has a private therapy practice. As an experienced professional violinist she is also part of the Pandia early music Duo. www.healing-sound.co.uk