Meet Sahar Sharif: Sound Meditation Expert

The first time I heard a gong was in a Kundalini class. I was in the Savasana pose, where you lie down on your back, with your eyes closed, and your palms to your side facing up.

All of a sudden I was blanketed with cosmic sounds I had never heard before. It shot me into space. I saw stars exploding into different colors, washing over and inside of me. I felt like I was floating in a dreamlike state throughout the cosmos even though I was awake.

Eventually the sound stopped and I came out of a trance state. I wanted to stay there! I felt like I had scratched the surface of something deep within the universe inside of me. Where did that sound come from? I opened my eyes and looked around until my eyes fell upon a large gong. The sound of the gong stayed with me. It kept on calling me.

I signed up for practitioner training at the Soundbath Center in Eagle Rock, CA. I bought my first gong and started playing. I soon realized, you don’t play the gong. The gong plays you. The gong is my number one favorite and primary instrument to use for sound meditation.

Gongs originate from Southeast Asia and were historically used in temple rituals. The resonance that a gong gives back can be much more unexpected than with any other instrument. With the richness of its overtones, possibilities of expression, and its plentitude of frequencies, the gong unites all other archaic instruments.

Its effects are truly diverse. Rich with frequencies and harmonics, it has an immediate effect on the frequency of our brainwaves and normally slows them down so that we can effortlessly move into a more relaxed state where self healing can happen.

Understanding the gong and having it direct me helped me understand other instruments I use for sound meditation such as crystal singing bowls, chimes, and tuning forks.

All these instruments, combined in a specific sequence, can create a sound journey which can put the receivers in a meditative state. This is why I use the term “Sound Meditation”.

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