Gong and Its Therapeutic Meaning

Abstract

The study, which was conducted utilising a sample of 129 users of sound baths with gongs in 2015 in Slovenia, has shown that all users define the effect of sound vibrations as healing and/or relaxing. They testified on achieving durable inner peace, on better physical and mental wellbeing, fresh impetus for work, desire for personal growth and other positive effects.

Occupational burnout and stress of nurses in Taiwan regarding COVID‐19: An intervention with gong medication

“…Then they were guided into meditation by the qualified gong therapist with certificate who struck the gong with real‐time adjusted rhythm which depended on the sense of emotional resonance among the participants and gong therapist. Participants underwent a series of gong intervention for seven times, recorded as T1 to T7, on two consecutive days at the same time interval (10:00–20:00 h) to minimize circadian effects (Conreaux, 1994 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ; Zhang, 2019 ). Each session lasted for approximately 50–60 min (Goldsby et al, 2017 ), and every participant had a 60‐min break between sessions.…”

“…Many interventions are proved to be effective for nurses to reduce or develop job‐related emotional or psychological problems, such as mindfulness‐based interventions (Sanilevici et al, 2021 ), FOREST intervention (Internet‐based CBT and mindfulness‐based programme) (Jovarauskaite et al, 2021 ) and gratitude writing intervention (Fekete & Deichert, 2022 ). Gong meditation was also effective for alleviating stress (Quach & Lee, 2017 ) and several studies have showed that gong meditation made people relaxed, feeling calmer and happier (Goldsby et al, 2017 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ). Gong meditation requires participants to ‘clear their mind’ or focus on something in particular, and it is regarded as a form of sound bath for physical and emotional relaxation (Goldsby et al, 2017 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ).…”

“…Gong meditation was also effective for alleviating stress (Quach & Lee, 2017 ) and several studies have showed that gong meditation made people relaxed, feeling calmer and happier (Goldsby et al, 2017 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ). Gong meditation requires participants to ‘clear their mind’ or focus on something in particular, and it is regarded as a form of sound bath for physical and emotional relaxation (Goldsby et al, 2017 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ). It has been applied in the ancient times for ceremonies and death rituals and continued for several centuries (Alperson et al, 2007 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ).…”

“…Gong meditation requires participants to ‘clear their mind’ or focus on something in particular, and it is regarded as a form of sound bath for physical and emotional relaxation (Goldsby et al, 2017 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ). It has been applied in the ancient times for ceremonies and death rituals and continued for several centuries (Alperson et al, 2007 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ). Gong meditation has been documented to allow an individual's brain to relax into an alpha‐dominant or theta‐dominant brainwave state, additionally making people feel calmer and happier (Quach & Lee, 2017 ).…”

“…Some studies have pointed out the effectiveness of sound therapies in treating physical problems and emotional disorders (Wang & Agius, 2018 ; Witusik & Pietras, 2019 ), and investigations have shown a significant reduction in anxiety among participants who received gong intervention. Thus, sound therapies may lead to an impetus for work and better physical and mental well‐being (Goldsby et al, 2017 ; Pesek & Bratina, 2016 ). However, there was no study that used gong meditation to reduce health care providers' stress and occupational burnout during the COVID‐19 pandemic.…”