The Way of the Gong™

Deep Listening —I didn't invent the term, but wished I had. The term actually comes from the late composer/performer, Pauline Oliveros. In short, deep listening is a way of hearing in which you are fully present. You listen to both the inner world (your mind, breathing, pulse, etc.), and the outer world (all sounds around you). The idea is to become fully aware of all the sounds around you. Through this heightened awareness, you become aware of sounds, and parts of sounds, that you haven't heard before.  Oliveros said that “Listening is not the same as hearing and hearing is not the same as listening.” Hearing is a passive activity. We hear sounds all the time: traffic, the TV, birds, etc. And for most of it, we don't really pay attention—it's just background noise that blends into our environment. Active listening, on the other hand, is just that: active . We become participants in and with the sound. We notice our sonic environment and how it exists around us. We al...

Everyone wants to be a Gongmaster . Not only that, but everyone wants to become one in a week or two. That's all part of today's world of instant gratification . But this instant gratification is an illusion . It's like fast food: it fills you up, but doesn't nourish you, so an hour later you are hungry again. And so too being a Gongmaster . Ah yes, you took a weekend course and learned what you thought was all you needed to know about Gongs, Singing Bowls, or Bells. Now you called up a few yoga studios and are presenting sound healing or sound therapy sessions. Stop fooling yourself. You have mastered nothing! The Destination Is Never The Goal This is only the beginning of a  life long  process. The destination is never the goal. The journey to the destination is the goal. Think about life: the destination is death. Are we all looking forward to dying, focused on that event? No, we are all out there living, making the journey, and hopefully enjoying it. The sa...