When the gongs are toned, they release a full spectrum of overtones that are directly transmitted to the recipients by penetrating their bodies as well as their ears. The pulses that are emitted seep deeply into the body traveling to the places that have blocked energy. 

Sheila Whittaker (2012) explains in her book, In the Heart of the Gong Space, how gongs help create a trance state: "The gong sound, if you surrender to it, has the effect of shutting down the left brain—in effect putting the listener into a state of meditation automatically, and allowing the right brain to come through, thus taking us into a blissful state of ecstasy which characterizes this side of the brain. The gong achieves this by confusing the logical left brain with so many densely packed layers of tones and harmonics, that it is unable to analyze what it is hearing, and ultimately gives up, allowing the right brain to be dominant in all its creative, imaginative, blissful glory.” (p. 283)

In our very fast society, it's very hard to relax naturally, where discursive thoughts are going wild, so I have found through my experience people need an aid to get themselves into a place of total relaxation. With the use of the gong sounds I help facilitate a meditative state where your muscles, bones, and nervous system can come into balance. 

It is my belief that everything in the world vibrates, including humans. We are vibrational beings, and it is through harnessing the innate power of vibration and sound that we can awaken to our true nature, a state of well-being. Plato believed that sound is received by the ear and carried “to the brain and the blood and transmitted to the soul.”

As author, Don Cambell (2011) says in his book, Healing at the Speed of Sound, "Sound is vibration. It has the power to affect us literally from the atoms up. Certain sounds, provided in the right context and combinations, can organize our neural activity, stimulate our bodies, retune our emotions, and thus allow us to begin our day in a calmer, more productive state" (p. 2).

I use large high quality Paiste gongs for to BeGonged in my sound healing work. Paiste (Pie-Stee) is an Estonian/Finnish word which means "shine".

The sound of a Paiste gong is created through the skillful craft of the gong maker, guided by his intuitively experienced sound conception. The Gong maker has an intensive intuitive conception of the sound (highs – lows – character – color –expression – impression); a goal therefore, an intent to fulfill this conception. 

The outer appearance of the Gong is a result of the kind of work necessary to achieve the particular sound expression aimed for. Each hammer blow is etched irretrievably into the metal and shapes the sound until its completion with the last four or five well placed blows. This decision rests with the gong maker for each individual Gong. He achieves his craft and experience through years, guided by the master and counseled be the elder master.

Paiste gongs are made of Nickel Silver, not Bronze Alloy like the Chinese Chao gongs.