Frodsham Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

Over the last few weeks, we have been talking to some of these local businesses and organisations for our 'Up Close in Frodsham' series.

This week, we chatted to Wellbeing Wave's Karen Blundell Severn about her popular gong meditation classes.

Now, you may be wondering: what exactly is gong meditation?

Gong meditation, which is sometimes referred to as a 'gong bath', is a type of sound therapy used to tackle stress and help calm the mind.

Karen discovered the practice in 2016. "I spent 20 years as a police detective but then I experienced a period of ill health and was medically retired," she explains.

During her recovery, Karen was "introduced to gong meditation in Mallorca, and I thought it was absolutely mad!"

She decided to try the session out, but sat at the back, fully expecting to leave halfway through.

"I woke up an hour later and I had no idea what had happened, other than that I felt extreme peace in my head for the first time in a long while," she says. "And then later on, I had the most amazing night's sleep.

"So I knew then that gong meditation was always going to be part of my own life, and soon I realised what a profound effect it was having on other people's anxiety levels, sleep patterns and general wellbeing.

"I was a detective, and I had to be super strong. And so I knew that if it worked for me it could work for anyone."

This inspired Karen to bring the practice to the attention of people who would never normally try it. As well as providing classes across Cheshire, she now works frequently with companies, helping to improve employee wellness and reduce stress through this special form of meditation.

In 2019, Karen also appeared at Fearne Cotton and Kelly Holmes' Happy Place wellbeing festival in Tatton Park. This weekend of talks, creative workshops, yoga classes and meditation sessions aimed to offer an escape from the strains of real life, while helping people to find their 'happy place'.

How does gong meditation work?

"Gong meditation is particularly useful for people who struggle to switch off, or feel they have to do something to be able to meditate," Karen explains.

"In gong meditation there is no participation. You arrive in the room, you get under your blanket, you close your eyes, and that's it!"

"It works both through the sound you hear from the gongs, and the vibrations you feel.

"We all have that 'chatty' part of our brain: the part which always talks to us and never shuts up. This is our conscious brain.

"Then we have a subconscious or semi-conscious side to our brain, and that's the bit that runs 24/7. It beats your heart, it gets you another junction down the motorway when your mind wanders and you can't remember how you got there.

"We don't normally access that part until we're asleep, but during gong meditation, the conscious part of our brain tries to make sense of the sound and fails. Eventually it thinks: "I need a rest!" and switches off.

"So you can then begin to access an almost semi-conscious or dreamlike state, during which you can feel very much out of your body.

With the gong sounds washing over them, people often find themselves suspended in that moment between sleep and wakefulness, where bodily awareness becomes blurred at its edges, and the mind is freed from its everyday stresses.

"Gong meditation also works on vibrations," Karen adds. "As I hit the metal of the gong, it sends a vibration out, and because the body is predominantly water, this vibration ripples up and down us.

"Some people can feel that and some can't, but the rippling sensation can help relax the muscles in the body," as the frequency of the sounds helps align the vibrations of out of kilter cells.

"It's like a resetting of the body and the brain that works on many different levels."

Although not guaranteed to have an impact, gong meditation has also been reported to ease the pain of physical injuries.

Karen tells me that as the gong vibrations ripple through the body, they will treat a pulled muscle or a sore joint as a blockage, and pulsate around it to release the tension.

"People often report sensation in the area of injury and feel the benefit of that in the days following the session," she says.

What do the sessions involve?

Karen's hour-long gong meditation sessions begin with a short period of guided meditation, which allows the mind to quieten its chattering and centre its focus on one thing.

"People have often rushed to get there, or are a bit nervous because it's their first time, so we just do that to help them settle their thoughts," Karen says.

She then begins playing the gong, enveloping the class in the feel of its different sounds and vibrations.

"If nothing else, some people come just because they have an hour to themselves in a warm, candlelit room, where they can escape the world," Karen adds.

With the Covid-19 pandemic causing many broken nights full of strange dreams, people might also go to gong meditation sessions in order to enjoy a deep sleep.

During the summer months, Karen also began offering outdoor gong meditation sessions, which will hopefully be returning when the warm weather returns next year.

Karen's Frodsham Gong Sound Meditation evenings take place on the first Monday of every month at 6:30pm and 8pm.

The classes are Covid-secure and participants are currently being asked to bring their own blankets and mats.

Visit the Wellbeing Wave website to read more or to book onto a session.

You can also email Karen at [email protected] or phone her on 07507 369364.