Good vibrations: Hongkongers embrace sound therapy to retune their bodies
People are increasingly turning to an alternative treatment in which vibrations generated by striking gongs, singing bowls, tuning forks and the like relieve aches and pains
Striking gong after gong with her padded mallet,Martha Collard sends ripples of sound reverberating through her Wong Chuk Hang studio on a recent full moon evening, soothing rumbles which occasionally rise to a fierce crescendo.
The sound waves cocoon a class of 30 people as they slip into a dreamlike, meditative state on their yoga mats or, judging by the snores from different corners of the room, deep slumber for some.
After the last notes of Collard’s 45-minute gong playing fades away, the group comes back to life and gathers in the foyer outside to exchange experiences over fruits and home-made brownies.
For fashion designer Makin Ma, it was as if he had been “transported into outer space” and he has come back to earth feeling “invigorated, as if [my] system rebooted itself”. Christina Chu, an operational executive who divides her time between Hong Kong and San Francisco, reckons the session gave her “more mental peace and helps [her] stay grounded”.
A growing community in Hong Kong and around the world are gathering in wellness centres, beaches and even office meeting rooms for this alternative treatment called sound therapy.
The practice employs sonic vibrations generated by gongs, singing bowls, tuning forks and other instruments to relieve common aches and pains. Besides promoting relaxation, practitioners believe it works by correcting blocked energy flow and out-of-tune frequencies in the body that they reckon lead to various ailments, and can complement chemotherapy
