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Bang a gong for body and soul

Wayne Marto of Kenmore’s "Beneficial Sound" is taking an age-old practice into the future. #k5evening

KIRKLAND, Wash. — The sound of healing fills Kirkland’s SolarYou yoga studio as the ancient art of the gong comes alive.

“It does so much for me. It’s beyond words,” said Wayne Marto.

It’s a sound that changed Marto’s life the first time he heard it.

“I was so moved by the experience that I had with the sound,” he said, “and I just felt so good about it that then I went right out. And said, ‘I need to share this.’”

The longtime musician left behind a lucrative career in IT sales to step into the world of sonic therapy.

“It’s well beyond a passion. This is my purpose in life.”

Now, as the founder of Beneficial Sound, a nonprofit based in Kenmore, Wayne travels with his large collection of gongs to bring musical meditation to the masses.

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“It works,” Marto said, “It has taken off, where people have been transformed - as I was when I heard it for the first time - right from the get-go.”

By simply putting mallet to metal, the certified gong therapist creates tones that seem to reach every part of the body and brain.

“It’s the quintessential experience. A deep emotional release,” Marto said.

Marto’s gong meditation workshops require no special skill or physical ability.

“What’s most important is that the people are comfortable,” Marto said.

Participants rest on yoga mats, eyes closed, with open ears and open hearts.

“We don’t have to do anything as humans to benefit, other than being present with the sound,” Marto said, “We’re exposing the human being to beneficial frequencies, and the body and the mind do the rest.”

For about an hour, the intensity of the gongs builds.

Marto said, “To really take up, and ratchet up the percussive force and the volume and intensity, that’s a unique gift to the gongs. These emotions that we collect in the centers as emotional dust, can just be washed away by the sound. We go places. We go places in that 62 minutes that I play; everybody thinks it’s 15 minutes when it’s done.”

As the session winds down, the sound slowly dissipates into a meditative silence. The emotional and mental release is complete.

“We’re cleansing away emotions that don’t serve us with the sound, and we’re replacing that with our intention for what we desire,” said Marto. “It’s my hope that you’re touched. That you’re touched from the heart to the heart.”

Marto’s sessions haven’t just touched the lives of the people who attend them. They’ve given this gong master a new life filled with good vibrations.

“I couldn’t be happier. I took a pay cut. I’ve chosen downward mobility in that sense. And I’m tired and I’m working hard, but I’ve never been happier,” Marto said.

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