The Gong Meditation, Pre-Grounded Style

As I was preparing for my Pre-Grounded classes this week, I knew I wanted to introduce these 4 year olds to something new and exciting. For the last couple of years, I’ve been participating in gong meditations and enjoying them very much. That wasn’t always so.  My first gong meditation was not a pleasant experience. The sound of gong was loud and frightening, almost overwhelming. As I learned more about the gong meditation, I grew comfortable with it and let the sound of gong permiate every cell in my body. Gong meditation is excellent for the parasympathetic nervous system which is ruled by sound. The intensity of the sound puts the entire nervous system under pressure to heal itself. Even though the gong meditation has many benefits, the sound is too much for young children. I decided to use a little bell instead and the bell meditation was born. It was a beautiful experience.

The children lay down on their backs with eyes closed. A few wanted to be on their bellies and I allowed it. I explained that I would ring the bell for 2 minutes.  I began to shake the bell soft at first and then loud for the next minute or so. I then began to soften the sound until silent. There was not another sound or movement in the room for the entire time.

When I asked about the experience they all had positive things to share. All agreed that it was relaxing and one child in particular described how she felt the sound of the bell deep inside her body. They were all fascinated and wanted this to be part of the class from now on. My vision when co-creating Pre-Grounded was to prepare the little bodies for a lifetime of yoga practice by planting the seeds into their big souls.The success of this meditation was clear as a bell. Sat Nam.