The Power of the Gong

                                                                                                                          [The following is an extract from a now-defunct website that encountered technical difficulties]

How to instantly de-stress, expand your consciousness, and potentially heal on all levels

Putting you into a state to easily and naturally attract abundance and prosperity

Experience the magic of this extraordinary experience either in a group or on your own!!

 

GONG EVENTS

That John has participated in

AFFINITY NETWORK EVENTS

Chapel By The Sea, Bondi

CONFERENCES/FESTIVALS

Release, Relax and Revitalise Expo – Thornleigh Community Centre

Cutting Edge Conference – Hilton Brisbane

Australian Annual Kinesiology Conference – Mercure Hotel Sydney

‘Wake Up Sydney ‘ – Sydney Town Hall

National Music Therapy Conference – Citigate Hotel, Sydney

SOUND EVENTS/CONCERTS

‘Jacaranda Haven’ Dyers Crossing NSW

Academy of Light Inc 

Dolphin Healing & Training Centre – Cessnock, Hunter Valley NSW

First International Alphamusic Symposium: ‘The Power of Sound’ www.silenceofmusic.com

‘BATHED In Sound’ evenings

Gongs Extravaganza – Sydney

Sacred Sound Healing Meditation Circles

Bahai ‘Zone of Tranquility’ – Lake Macquarie NSW

Bahai ‘International Day of Peace’ event

Mt. Cootha Botanic Gardens – Queensland

Maleny & Bangalow NSW sound events

St. Patricks College Chapel – Manly

Sacred Sound Healing Circle

OPEN DAYS

Dolphin Healing & Training Centre Cessnock NSW:

Annual Opening Ceremony every year since opened 2003

‘Jacaranda Haven’ Dyers Crossing NSW Open Days

SEMINARS

Theosophical Society – Sydney

Seminar evenings through Australia

‘Sacred Sound’ workshops & courses

The Southern Cross Academy of Light gatherings

‘Whitehaven’ Mudgee NSW (Patty & Betty Yates)

‘Chalmers’ Launceston Tasmania (2 day workshop)

Subiaco Perth Western Australia

‘Rainbow Lodge’ Booral NSW

COMMEMORATION

BALI  Bombing memorial ceremony.  Manly Beach NSW

Blessing ceremonies for the land

BOOK LAUNCHES

‘Love’s Alchemy’ by Skye Shane Innes – Glebe Books Sydney

WEDDING CEREMONIES

Ravindran/Nolan marriage ceremony – Sydney 2011

CURRENT EVENTS

• Monthly ‘gong baths’ at  The Octagon at Jacaranda Haven: all welcome –  email for upcoming dates.
• First Tuesday each month: Forster Yoga Studio 5:45 – 6:45pm. John playing gongs including Giant Balinese Gong as guest of Maureen de Luca’s healing sound circle. Bookings : forsteryogastudio.com.au

 

PRIVATE SOUND THERAPY SESSIONS

One-on-one sessions utilising gongs, other exotic resonant instruments, Native American drumming, and/or intuitive vocal sonic scanning by John Butterworth for no monetary charge.

 

 SOUND RECORDINGS

The collective energies present at every Gong Session are unique and cannot be captured by merely recording the sound. Nor can modern digital/ electronic recording technology capture the full harmonic spectrum that ‘now- obsolete’ analogue  recording did. As there is always a lot more happening at every Gong Session than just the sound, John never produces recordings: what is experienced in the moment and during the thunderous silence afterwards is what matters…

                                                                                                

TESTIMONIALS

• I felt myself rising off my chair and amazing vibrations all the way through the gonging.  Rachel (Dolphin Centre)
• I have had the experience of John’s ‘Gong Baths’ on several occasions and every time, it has been a deeply relaxing and cleansing experience. The feeling as the Gongs reach a crescendo is truly divine! WM (Sydney)
• I felt like I was in water, riding the waves –the feeling was totally overwhelmingly wonderful. I usually feel stressed, but then I felt at peace. Melinda (Cessnock)
• A ‘Gong Bath’ not only clears my head of all the chatter and stress, but leaves me feeling refreshed and energized. I feel just wonderful after such a session. Rosemary (Dyers Crossing)
• The whale (sounds, from the gongs) sounded so real, and my breathing got really fast, until I was glad to hear the whale sounds again at the end: I felt so calm when I came back. Nicole (Dolphin Centre)
• You made quite an impression with the Gongs, John, and your other contributions were beautiful also. We all enjoyed the day (International Day of Peace) and have had lovely feedback about it.. Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is (Lake Macquarie)
• The immense peace and tranquility I felt as I experienced the Gongs permeated throughout my being and continued on in a spiritual sense throughout the day . Catherine (Hunter Valley)
• The feeling one gets when the resonant vibrations of the Gongs wash over and through the body are indescribable. An incredible peace and calm filled my entire being (every time I have experienced it), leaving me feeling energized and refreshed. I would highly recommend John and his Gongs to sanctify any occasion, as he did for my wedding. DR (Sydney)
• John Butterworth and his magical, miracle–inspiring Gonging have been the opening feature of every October Festival Day held by the (non-denominational) Dolphin Healing & Training Centre at Cessnock since 2003. Every Gong Ceremony has produced remarkable and varied experiences for the people attending. During the very first Gong Ceremony at the inaugural Open Day in 2003, a lady and her 2 children were putting some crystals at the feet of a statue of Mother Mary in the courtyard at the Centre when she and others noticed that the statue smiled. That ‘Mona Lisa’ smile has stayed on her lips ever since. Many people reported at that time also feeling at one with the dolphins and whales they heard in the resonating sounds of the Gongs. John is wonderfully talented in his presentation of the Gongs. He captures the audience with his sincerity and genuine understanding of the impact his highly skilful performance has on people present. People report on truly personal and individual, life-enhancing experiences every time the Gongs are played when John is holding the floor. John’s generosity and depth of spirit are evident when he is engrossed in the presentation he obviously loves doing. All of us at The Dolphin Centre applaud and honour John and his skills. We thoroughly appreciate his dedication to returning each year to be part of our ceremony so willingly and happily. May many blessings continue to flow to John so that there are many more years of beautiful gonging to be appreciated at the hands of this gifted and generous man. Loreto Whitney (Co-founder Dolphin Healing & Training Centre).

About John

John Butterworth, as initiator of what he terms ‘Sonic Entrainment’ sound therapy and ‘Sacred Sound’ activities, has been a professional musician since his teens – including giant gongs, percussion, double bass, and harmonic overtone chanting and toning. He has a perpetual fascination for resonance, vibration, colour, light, energy and exotic percussion instruments.

He first connected with the giant Chinese gongs via gongmaster Don Conreaux of New York in the early 1990s in the UK. Don later asked John to perform with him each time he visited Australia after he heard John performing harmonic chanting at the Mind, Body Spirit Festival in Sydney in 2000. John then took up playing the giant gongs, and, in the intervening years, has continued to be invited to perform at an ever-expanding range of gong events – a sampling of which are listed above.

Based in New South Wales, John travels widely facilitating sound events, workshops, and sound therapy work both overseas and within Australia. This has included Hong Kong, The Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, New Zealand, the 1996 Congress of Esoteric Sciences and the 1995 Healing Body Mind Soul and Spirit Symposium both in Canberra, Australia, which are listed above under “Testimonials and Events”.

He leads workshops, gatherings and events in different contexts such as The Sydney Acapella Festival and The International Yoga Teachers Association, giving participants a wonderful ‘Gong Bath’ using his large Chinese & Balinese sacred gongs where they may choose to lie down and bliss out for a healing experience.

In 2000 ,he founded ‘The Peace Choir’ which toned and sang spontaneously in the moment, also utilizing harmonic/overtone chanting. In 2002 he birthed a unique, non-denominational sacred event he called ‘Bathed in Sound’ which blended The Choir, Gongs, quartz crystal singing bowls and guest instrumental performers with the Labyrinth pattern of Chartres Cathedral in France, placed on the floor of a former church for participants to walk by candlelight whilst in contemplation.

His work has been featured on TV and radio and his study tours have taken him to the UK and France where he has participated in workshops with Jill Purce (London) and Jonathon Goldman(USA).

He is a co-founder, with his wife Rosemary and others, of The Southern Cross Academy of Light  now called ‘Academy of Light’ (www.aol.org.au) and is a co-owner with his wife of their 84 acre country property ‘Jacaranda Haven’ on the Lower Mid North Coast of NSW in Australia, where they have owner-built a wonderful octagonal house, with extensive landscaping including an outdoor Labyrinth . They are guided by Biodynamic farming practices, and are passionate about community-based food production.

 

                                                                                                                             

John can be contacted for personal or group gong/sound sessions on:

Email: johnbutterworth999@gmail.com