Imagine a room that teems with Grandfather clocks: some are narrow with intricate designs; others are wide and impose themselves. Each is unique by age and size; they range in color from tawny to ebony. Their pendulums swing like hypnotists’ watches.

An elderly man comes to his shop each morning and winds them, he works with a surgeon’s precision.

These timepieces move to their own rhythm, at first. Each pendulum oscillates freely from its pivot, but before long, they swing simultaneously.

Luis Melo and Henrique Oliveira are mathematicians at the University of Lisbon physics department, and they discovered something called Synchronized Swing.

“We could verify that the energy transfer is through a sound pulse,” the pendulums communicate through vibration, adjust their rhythm, and then beat as one.

I led a group of yogis in gong-class last week. Some were seasoned yogis and others had never set foot on a mat. But, we each found a place on the soft grass in my garden.

We shared the long awaited sunshine, fragrant flowers, and budding trees. But, more importantly, we shared the vibrations of the gongs.

Romy Valdez stood in the shade of the shaggy barked hickory tree and swung his mallets with preciseness and care.

His copper discs were inscribed with Mandarin characters that translated as “happiness has arrived,” and each strike sent vibrations through the ground and into our hands and feet.

Romy Valdez is a clinical psychologist (Dartmouth & Harvard Medical School). He is fascinated by the brain’s response to sound. He wonders how music alters consciousness and uncovers its connection to healing.

He experienced the vibrations of the gong in a Kundalini class. “The resonating harmonies were not only heard, but felt, kinesthetically. I felt the sound ripple through my body as if there were no physical boundaries.”

He says, all living creatures are made up of vibrating atoms, and everyone has a frequency. The sounds that resonate from his gongs create change through “vibrational energy.”

Sangha means community. It is a Buddhist belief that refers to a gathering of awakened beings. A Sangha is something that we consciously create.

Chakra five, Vishuddha, is located at the throat. Vishuddha governs the choices we make as we move through the world. It is our vibe, our energy, and the way others perceive us. It is a powerful chakra because we have the ability to change the world through our own vibrational energy.

We chant OHM at the beginning and end of class. It acknowledges our connection to other beings, nature and the Universe, but more importantly, it changes the frequency and energetic field of everything around us. This is the song of Vishuddha.

We were like grandfather clocks in my garden that day. We started in different places and with different skills and life experiences. Then, every strike of the gong chimed the message of Samadhi; the Divinity that unites us all.

“What if our religion was each other

If our practice was our life

If prayer, our words

What if the temple was the Earth

If forests were our church

If holy water—the rivers, lakes, and ocean

What if meditation was our relationships

If the teacher was life

If wisdom was self-knowledge

If love was the center of our being.” ~ Ganga White

Author: Marylee Fairbanks

Image: Brittany White Photography 

Editor: Emily Bartran