Gong.

There are very few things in my life that I have known immediately. Life rarely comes to me in thunderbolts, but in inclinations, dreams and curiosities. But the first time I experienced a gong immersion, I knew immediately they would become part of my life.

Gong, I knew instantly, was in a vibrational frequency range akin to rock. This made perfect sense to me, even when my discovery elicited nothing more than a blank look from others. Deep tones, deep resonance. Rock and gong share a relationship, linked through their grounded, rare-earth, metal materiality.

In 2024, after a period of waiting and listening, I began my training/apprenticeship in sound therapy with gongs through the College of Sound Healing UK (a member of the Complementary Medical Association).

With an unusually clear vision for the work, I opened my sound practice in the second half of 2025 as a complement to my psychotherapeutic practice and movement classes.

Sound and silence as strata. Loosening time and space. Opening portals for deep resonance.

I work primarily with metal.

I supplement my gongs and travelling singing bowls, with a small selection of grounding instruments, introduced to take you in and out of depth. Some of these are handmade using stones I have gathered sustainably from places of special significance.

I believe that less is more, taking influence from ambient environmental and modern instrumental music, which I continue to enjoy and use in my movement sessions.

Silence is every bit as important as sound. Let us, at times, be still as rock.

The gongs I have chosen to work with resonate with me as their player, and I hope they will resonate with you too.

Let me introduce you.

Oriole

My first gong Oriole is a 36” symphonic gong and offers a range of harmonics explorable above her deep fundamental base note. My first love. Her name came to me in a dream. A golden bird. A golden halo. Oriole resides closest to the ground when I play and shimmers in the evening light. She is the foundation of my collection.

Mercury

My second gong is Mercury a 28” sun gong tuned to the orbital frequency (70.64Hz, C#1) of the smallest planet in our solar system and the one closest to the sun. Quicksilver messenger, Mercury is associated with communication, the verbal realm and our respiratory system. All aspects that are important to me as a therapist, writer and asthmatic body. Mercury is quick and bright, with a clear, direct energy. An exciting, responsive gong.

Sidereal Moon

My third gong is part of the Paiste planetary range and at 24” (113.71Hz, A#2) brings a brightness to the trio. This gong is tuned to the orbital frequency of the moon as it rotates around earth (27.3 days) relative to the fixed position of the stars (rather than the sun). It took a while for her to come to me, but as I have Moon in Cancer astrologically, she sounds emotions, emotions, emotions all the way. She joins us for release and intuitive guidance pairing nicely with the decisiveness of Mercury and the unifying presence of Oriole.

My Original Singing Bowl

My Sela bowl comes with me everywhere, being a more portable metal body than gongs. It is only 15cm, but has been all over Europe and the UK. I found her in Estonia where I played with and for the glacial erratics, part art installation, part spiritual practice. Though there are other bowls, she is my first and will always have a special place. I use her to welcome people into the gong space as well as my therapy tent.

Deep Resonance Sessions

My central, signature gong immersions (baths) for groups of < 15 people. Together we become rocks on the river bed of sound. We may start with some gentle intuitive movement allowing us to open and then settle, and then we let the gongs do their work and open the ground within you. Powerful, but gentle. We never know where gongs will transport us, but the invitation is always to open the channel for something mysterious to be felt and known. Inspired by rock, always.

These are offered locally indoors in Derbyshire, and elsewhere around the UK on request. I can offer these inside and outside at suitable venues. As an outdoor therapist I particularly love offering gongs outside where the sound of nature may harmonise with the gongs. Better still, in a rocky environment: a rocky field, a coastline, an escarpment, a cave.

One-to-One Immersion

Individual and pair/couple immersions for folk who want and need dedicated time to bring their own intentions to a gong immersion, and discuss their own sound needs along the way. These are each one hour long, and I will discuss with you what you need before the session begins. Alternatively, you can arrange a one-to-one with no verbal explanation, and I will play for you anyway working with the energy as it unfolds and envelops us in the space.

These are offered in Derbyshire, though I am opening to working in your home if you have the space. This is an additional cost.

Sound as a liberatory practice, supporting radical rest and vitality through pause

FAQs and myth-busting

  • A gong immersion is my preferred way of explaining what it’s like to be surrounded by the sound of gongs. It is the same as a gong bath. Both terms tell you something about the feeling of being bathed in sound as a sort of fluid. It doesn’t involve a water tank or flotation device.

  • Many, if not most, people find gongs relaxing and calming, especially when they are played considerately and without ego. That said, how we receive sound is always changing. One bath might be relaxing, another might be upsetting. One person will love it, someone lying next to them will have a totally different experience. Sound tends to get into our knotty bits, meeting us where we need it, and it’s not uncommon to feel tearful or emotional after an immersion. Or to be unsettled by certain sounds. I had a death vision in a bath once!

    But if we can stay open to the process and not reject the difficult parts then we may find the deeper benefit of sound work that sits below ‘simple relaxation’. Just as therapy isn’t about making you feel great every session, it is in service to a deeper process of personal growth.

  • This is very personal to each person. A gong immersion will usually have an immediate affect and you may notice you sleep a lot better after an immersion, as well as dream (notes your dreams!) but many people will feel the affect in the days and weeks after. Many people report ongoing feelings of relaxation or stress reduction. This is obviously increased with regular immersions as part of your energetic and body-based practice.

  • I make no claims to sound healing despite the college of my accreditation. This is the same as with my psychotherapy practice. Instead, I invite you into the process and together we will see what arises. You may find sound healing, you may find it a valuable part of an ecology of practices towards healing, you may just find it enjoyable (which itself can be healing!).

  • I began sound work as a way of connecting with something more physical and non-verbal. Sound work does not depend on verbalisation. With this in mind, I use my voice for opening and closing sessions and for discussing intentions in one to one work, but it is not a talking therapy. Likewise, you do not have to share anything in words with me. You can simply book, arrive, enjoy and leave. As the practitioner, I try and keep my talking to a minimum and let sound do the talking.

  • I will often integrate a bit of gentle movement into the opening of a gong immersion, because I find this helps me (and others) settle and open. I have worked with movement for a long time.

    I will occasionally draw on other correspondences such as what is happening astronomically at the time of our session. I might also work with tarot, archetype cards, rune stones and even poetry to supplement the sound. These are all methods for supporting deep resonance and self-enquiry, not as a method of divination.

  • I usually ask that you bring as much comfort with you as you can! The minimum is a yoga-type mat, though you can also bring a chair if it’s comfortable. Then there are pillows, blankets, socks etc. A drink. And an eye pillow if you have one (though I will usually have a spare or two). I do not provide yoga mats and blankets, trusting you will likely have your own preferences for materials.

  • For most people, a gong bath will be perfectly safe, though there are some contraindications that I can discuss with you if you get in touch. For example, if you have a pace maker fitted, if you have very recently had surgery, or if you are in the early stages of pregnancy. You may also find gongs uncomfortable for certain types of tinnitus, though others report a positive cancelling affect.

  • Group places start at £15 and my groups are limited to ~15 people.

    One-to-One’s start at £60 and £90 for couples.

  • For the time being, I see my sound work and psychotherapy work as very related but also separate. That said, if you are an existing therapy client and wish to bring sound into our one to one work, or you wish to add a separate sound session in to our work, then let me know so we can discuss it. You are of course welcome to join a group immersion too any time!

It is completely normal to have questions about sound therapy: how it works, and how it happens. Here are some additional but important thoughts.

First principles of sound

There is nothing woo about working with sound for ‘healing’, relaxation, stress-reduction etc. As a species we have been working with sound for millenia and most of us will have had some sort of ultrasound at some stage in our lives. That’s to say nothing of the power of sound as music. Sound is simply, scientifically, a form of energy that travels in waves created by vibrations. These vibrations propagate through a medium (like air, water, or solids) and are detected by our ears, allowing us to perceive sound. Everything in the universe - all matter - is made of vibrational particles. We are all vibrational bodies that respond and resonate, to sound waves. We can work with different vibrational frequencies (measured in Hz) to open routeways to healing and new body-knowings, as well as simply to enjoy ourselves. You can make it as mystical and esoteric as you like depending on your beliefs. My job is to bring you sound.

I have seen and experienced first hand the physical, emotional and psychological benefits of sound work. I am excited by the way sound as energy can work a mysterious magic, underpinned by the science of resonant frequencies of materials and matter, and entrainment. But my sound therapeutic practice is also inherently nested (and insured) within an ethical framework offered by my psychotherapy membership body. As such, I offer it as an exploratory and, at times, revelatory method, but always as a complement to other treatments when it comes to medical conditions.

If you are interested in sound work, a gong immersion or have any other questions, please complete the form below or email me on ruth@whitepeakwellbeing.com