Why are the Gongs on Planet Earth in 2023? Our Purpose with the Gongs

You are a gong. I am a gong.

What do we need today on Planet Earth? As Rosan Cruz mentions, “Pluto's transit to Aquarius in November 2024 will shake things up (preview right now until June)! The planet is a generational planet, while Aquarius rules groups and communities. The conjunction of Pluto in Aquarius is said to bring sweeping changes in social order and public rights. We are seeing it now.”

Collective challenges we are facing in 2023 are climate change and its impact, the rise and integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the still ongoing manipulation of information and media, violent conflicts and mass migrations. Also, we have just been going through a global pandemic with incredibly fast and massive shifts in public policies affecting our individual lives quite drastically (no one could escape) and we are only getting back to a somehow more normal life again while adapting to yet another new reality.

For the individual, this results in information overload, instability, overwhelm, coping mechanisms and a higher probability to develop addictions and illnesses.

Few persons actually have the power to immediately stop the self-destroying tendency of humanity on planet earth yet are not using it in this regard. All that remains is a collective effort by many individuals combined to change our collective subconscious towards a positive consciousness which is protecting the environment and taking care of one another globally.

Why would this work?

We are healthy if our whole being is harmonically unified with all that is, aligned with the fact that everything is in constant movement. Both the energy of all creation / fullness / activeness / yang (jitsu) and the energy of reception / emptiness / passiveness / yin (kyo) need to flow and co-exist harmonically in a continuous cycle of cause and effect.

Imbalance happens if one of the energies is over- or under-stimulated, if energy got blocked or stuck which means it’s unable to flow or change. Focusing on the solution of the problem, filling the emptiness (wound) it created, usually helps to balance the system.

However, we do not always have the capacity to solve a problem immediately. Which is reflecting the feeling of our collective and individual subconscious’ facing the challenges on planet Earth in 2023. In this case it can help to focus on what is going well, to strengthen what is healthy. To start with the easily accessible aspect first, while unblocking the problem making sure it gets seen and can find back into the flow.

How can this look like taking action as an individual in 2023?

Activating the emptiness causes the fullness to find back in balance: Simplify your life, your material goods, your space, your routines, your structures, your time table. Make space for the flow and eventually even for something new.

Release stuck emotions, allow them to be seen, and let them find their way back into flowing. Dance it all out, consult with professionals who can help you, release in creative activities such as painting or writing where you can connect to your intuition and let your inner life flow into an outer expression.

Tune up our frequency with healing work, filling voids (wounds) and healing our physical and mental / emotional imbalances engaging in activities which promote these effects and consulting with professionals who can help us get there.

If possible, reduce the impact of life’s roller coasters and extremes increasing your thoughts, activities and habits which balance and ground you, no matter what. Finding moderation and balance allows for a rather consistent state of completion and bliss (no need to get stuck or bored though).

How can we tune up our frequency in 2023?

Gong Sound Baths, among other activities, are a fantastic place to witness various individuals tuning up their frequencies all at once together. If played well, in a safe frame, the gong sounds connect each one of us with our inner voices and individual stories. Having facilitated thousands of gong meditations in different formats and on different continents by now, all I know is that anything is possible in a gong sound bath. In the sharing circle by the end of the session, each person shares a completely individual story of what happened for them even though we have all been in the same place, time and experience together.

This is pretty mind-blowing as it depicts on a small scale which type of collective experience we are living here on planet Earth: we are billions of human-beings having a few basics in common yet each living a completely individual story. We are connected to the billions of humans which have already been here and billions who are about to come to this planet in human form to make their own experience.

Especially when traveling it is easy to realise that on this planet the “future” and the “past” coexist simultaneously: parts of humanity live a medieval standard (or even less) while other parts are buying rockets to fly to other planets. It doesn’t only reflect in the material wealth, it’s also in the mind-sets and society / culture.

This image is again mirrored in the “pulse” of our planet Earth, the Schumann resonance: About 2000 thunderstorms are happening on the Earth’s surface in each moment, which means that approximately 50 flashes of lightning are discharging in every second according to Nasa. Usually the waves of these lightings combine into different wavelengths between the Earth’s surface and ionosphere, generating a perpetually fluctuating electromagnetic field called the Schumann Resonance. Its base atmospheric electromagnetic resonant frequency is 7.83 Hz and has been called the Earth’s “heartbeat”. It correlates to a state between Theta (4-7 Hz) and Alpha (8-12 Hz) brain waves in human consciousness. This indicates a state between deep meditation, intuition, visions and the bridge between conscious and unconscious as we know it from daydreaming. Correlations between this resonance and humanity, the animals and nature itself are being scientifically investigated. It seems that this frequency is innate to our feeling of wellbeing and alignment with nature, the heartbeat of Earth. The Schumann resonance’s tendency is of tuning upwards with us.

How do the gongs come into play in all this?

Gongs have been used on our planet in particular ceremonies since thousands of years and entered the consciousness of Western culture in the 1970s, when Yogi Bhajan brought them together with Kundalini Yoga philosophy to the States.

According to my experienced gong player colleague and powerful Theta Healer and Kundalini yoga teacher Rosan Cruz from the Philippines the gongs “Release emotional blockages, balancing of energies, healing”. This definitely worked for me and facilitating gong meditations since 2015 I have also been able to witness these effects for many more.

Germany is actually a cluster for highly complex, quality craftsman gong building. Yet I personally needed to live in Argentina and go through a personal crisis so I would start looking for inspiration and change and finally perceive the gongs in my consciousness as part of the solution. In my home country I had been to rooms with gongs inside before, but my consciousness was somehow still locked to their presence at this point in time.

What about cultural appropriation? Aren’t we abusing the powers of an ancient tool? This question is an invitation for a deep dive and not the main topic for this article. I personally trust in a higher intelligence, that tools find us when we need them. Sound as a tool is finding us on a global scale right now as we need to find it and the gongs are part of this story.

In my Initiation into Gong Playing Training participants are asked quite in the beginning what brought them to the course and why they would like to share the gong sounds with others? At the 10th Workshop Edition in Berlin now in Spring 2023 more than half of the group stated independent from one another and as a main reason that they perceive that words are too limited and not enough. They are looking for a tool to connect and communicate with people in yet another dimension and perceive gong sound to provide this quality.

Sound journey meditations are an explorative field of finding new ways of togetherness on this planet. Of connecting in a common experience besides individual boundaries or differing beliefs. Sound becomes a mirror of everything that is and that is connected on a small and large scale.

Effects of the gongs

Rosan is especially playing the following gongs during the current times: “The Pluto gong is apt for this period since the vibration helps eliminate toxicity and assist in major life transitions. Chiron gong helps heal deep karmic wounds that span generations and even lifetimes. Mars builds courage, determination, and the readiness to overcome mental, physical, and emotional obstacles.”

The good news is that already one gong is enough and it doesn’t matter which one you play or receive, as sound is creating its transformative effect combined with our intention. Still, these exact planetary frequencies are easily available too in tuning forks and singing bowls if you like to work with them specifically but already found your set of gongs.

Rosan perceives her purpose to be playing the gongs for others as follows:

“The gong is extremely powerful. The mind is said to surrender to the sound of the gong within 3 to 90 seconds of it being played. The gong can quiet the mind immediately and bring it to a state of zero point, to Anahata, the unstruck sound to return to the very sound of creation, the heart of creation. 

I'm just the facilitator, the 'gong player' to help bring the participant to that infinite unstruck sound which ultimately brings intuition, inner strength, and openness to do what one must do as an infinitely creative being.”

Each individual attending a gong sound bath can use the experience for their own purpose as they like. The gong player is facilitating the experience, holding the space and setting the frame. Gong players are not “healers” as the space they create empowers people to “heal” themselves. Each person creates and perceives their own version of the session which is happening for them, integrating it as a meaningful point in their personal life to their personal preference.

Vani Levi, my first gong teacher who introduced me to the gongs in Buenos Aires sent me the following note why the gongs are present on our planet in 2023 (English translation below):

“Quizás el mayor desafío de hoy en día, en el cual los gongs colaboran, es el experimentar, reconocer y habitar la Verdad. Tanto dentro como fuera.
Esa experiencia permite una real transformación a nivel individual, social y ambiental.
El espacio interno del Ser al ser activado nos Acerca a quienes somos, lo cual es transformador en la relación con uno mismo, con los otros y con la Tierra.
Este pasaje de la mentira a la Verdad, de la ilusión al Ser, a lo real es la gran transformación necesario en la actualidad en multiniveles y los gongs acompañan el proceso.
((( VERDAD. Simpleza. VITALIDAD. Paz )))
Mi propósito es vivir desde quien soy y dejar que mi ser se despliegue.
Para mi el gong es un puente, es un activador de la verdad en todo lo que va “tocando”.
Además de las terapias individuales y las formaciones en sonido, me mueve el activar a través de los gongs una consciencia respetuosa entre el Humano y la Tierra, para que vivamos en casa con más cuidado y amor. En mi proyecto GonGaia realizó activaciones en centros considerados portales en la Tierra para que nuestra Verdad, Unión y Consciencia mayor puedan manifestarse.”

***

“Maybe the biggest challenge of our time, in which the gongs collaborate, is to experiment, recognize and inhabit the Truth. On our inside as on the outside.

This experience allows for a real transformation on the individual, social and environmental level.

The inner space of the Being, having been activated, brings us Closer to who we are, what transforms our relationship to ourselves, to others and to the Earth.

This passage from lie to Truth, from illusion to Being, in reality is the big transformation which is currently necessary in various levels and the gongs are accompanying this process.

((( TRUTH. Simplicity. VITALITY. Peace )))

My purpose is to live from who I am and to allow my being to unfold.

For me the gong is a bridge, an activator of truth in everything it “touches”. (note: “tocar” is the same word for touching and for playing an instrument in Spanish)

Besides the individual therapies and trainings for sound, it moves me to activate through the gongs a respectful consciousness between Human and Earth, so we live at home with more care and love. In my project GonGaia I realize activations in centres which are considered portals on the Earth so our Truth, Union and Consciousness can manifest better.”

In my personal experience, gong sounds tune up the inner, intuitive voice of each individual person. “Truth” communicated to us from the outside is easily manipulated or distorted. This inner voice provides us a compass needle, an inner North, to feel immediately if something resonates with us or rather not, in a personal, spontaneous and intuitive reaction to the message we receive.

Collective Effort

If more and more of us start listening to inner truths, this will of course have an impact on the outside and can potentially provoke certain forms of chaos and change in structures for all of us. To place an example: Why do I still have to come to an office if I can work the same from home or any place I like?

Our collective will not be of blind followers anymore if individuals stand in their power and have all they need so they can bring their best to the planet and humanity, rising its vibration. Of course it will be a huge challenge to all co-exist on this planet being so many, just so incredibly many versions of living a human life (and purpose).

We will need to be looking after one another. What can I help you with? Each one of us can make a difference. Gongs and sound healing instruments can be played by many for us and for many of us, without leaving much of an ecological footprint. A gong once made will last centuries (and can be inherited). The only negative impact is gaining the material and transport (otherwise no electricity etc. needed). Of course we can all just play by ourselves for ourselves and heal ourselves. But this is not the point of this story. For some reason we all are here together, in the same place and time: We need to serve one another, we cannot do it only for ourselves. Only when we take care of one another we can all win. Only when we selflessly wish others well, we can really receive our wishes for ourselves.

Gong playing is in constant development. Each gong artist brings in their authenticity, their personal style and story. Be a student first, learning the current best practise, then transcend the rules. There is no need to reinvent the wheel but be brave to unleash your own, authentic version over practice, time and experience. There is no competition. It only allows for many different people to be connecting with gong, its effects and its sounds. Don’t be afraid to create different types of experiences as the shift in consciousness of humanity is ongoing and will go through many stages and many forms, just as we do in our personal lives. It’s a completely organic, natural process of expansion and growth.

What will the future look like?

Sound medicine is currently developing and will become available in many forms. Please note that many more sagas exists surrounding this topic. As this article is focused on the gongs on this Earth in 2023 and humanity’s responsibility to be taking care of itself and its planet, shifting consciousness in a collective effort, these are not mentioned for now but will be continued in the future at the right moment in time.

If you don’t feel ready yet to engage in (gong) sound experiences, the Universal Greeting might be a great start to shift your interaction with others. Enjoy!

If you’d like to make a sound bath experience or step into the art of playing gongs for others, get in touch.

Note: The collaborators of this article have been asked for their voice before disclosing any of the content besides the topic itself to ensure to collect an objective view of the global gong players’ consciousness on this topic.

Feel free to leave in the comments what you most resonate with or like to add from your side as well :)

Guest writers:

Rosan Cruz is a very experienced gong player, theta healer and kundalini yoga teacher based in Manila, Philippines Instagram Youtube

Vani Levi is a very experienced gong player and teacher and kundalini yoga teacher based in Florianópolis, Brasil. In 2020 she published her first book “Sonidos para una Nueva Humanidad: Meditación con Gong y Naad Yoga” Instagram Soundcloud Bandcamp

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