We try trendy ‘gong bath therapy’ to see if it can wash away our worries
GONG therapy is the wellness trend sweeping the country.
The “sound baths” are being offered to employees at companies including Chanel and Channel 4.
Said to alleviate stress, a class will cost you £20 or so at a studio or you can take part in one at festival pop-ups and gong audiobooks are available online.
We went to London’s Re:Mind studio to find out if a gong bath would wash all our worries away.
“I’M going to have a gong bath,” I explain to my mum down the phone.
“What, like with cannabis?” she replies.
“No Mum, not a BONG bath. A GONG bath.”
While I have no doubt stressed-out City workers will soon be enjoying communal bubble baths infused with cannabis oil on their lunch breaks, that is not what I am trying out today.
Instead, I am in a dimly-lit room, cosied up on a cushion stuffed with buckwheat and wrapped in a grey blanket, pointing my feet towards a giant bronze gong.
TRIPPY SOUNDTRACK
These instruments were used as healing tools in Asia around 3500BC and first made their way into Western culture in the Sixties. Now sound baths — once dismissed as hippy-dippy stuff — have entered the mainstream.
Kendall Jenner says they have helped her cope with anxiety, while Meghan Markle, Charlize Theron and Robert Downey Jr are said to be fans too. Facebook, Burberry and John Lewis are corporate clients of the studio I am in today. This is no longer just for free-spirited types. It is for over-stimulated yet underwhelmed millennials looking to cure our angst.
Class teacher Stephanie Reynolds, 32, tells me: “Stress and anxiety is everywhere.
“Lots of millennials are looking further away from the external ways we’ve used to deal with it — like alcohol and drugs — and want a more internal practice.”
As a thirtysomething occasional binge-drinker and reluctant social media obsessive, I am prime fodder.
As I lie down after rushing in from the office, I hope to be cleansed. But first, I need to get comfortable. Is my under-the-knees pillow in the right place? Should I have gone for a wee? I probably should have. Next comes the mental to-do list. This is the first time I have stopped to think all day.
Text Becca, phone Britannia to get the door buzzer fixed, book that train. . .
But the sound of the gong becomes alien and other-worldy, like the trippy soundtrack to some dark fantasy flick from the Eighties.
As vibrations throb through my body, my thoughts become bizarre. I drift towards a trance-like state imagining the wild mouse who is currently sharing my flat without an invitation fattening up and eating me in my sleep.
I am not sure what happened next but I wake up to a chime as a bit of dribble runs down my chin and I notice I have a dry mouth. Either my mum was right, this really was a BONG bath and I’m about to get the munchies, or I’ve been asleep.
I am convinced I passed out and our 45 minutes must almost be up.
Struggling to get back into the zen zone, I tune in to car doors slamming and chattering outside and remember I will be back on a stuffy Tube to the office in no time.
Afterwards, Stephanie tells me her gong tunes into the frequency of the sun. She says: “It helps your brainwaves go from the regular beta type to the alpha or theta state, which is when you are in deep relaxation.
BOOK YOURSELF IN
“Getting that balance of being in a deep meditation and not getting to the point where you’re in a deep sleep is what you’re hoping for.”
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I am not sure which state I spent most time in.
But I had a lovely little midday nap, and was so relaxed afterwards, I missed my Tube stop.
If you want an hour out from your hectic schedule, my advice is to book yourself in before the spaces are all gong.
- See to find out more (£22 per class).
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