Before he became a sought-after gong master in Los Angeles, Lou’s life followed a very different rhythm—measured in schedules, structure, and practicality. But deep down, there had always been something else calling—a quiet connection to nature, to energy, to something beyond words.
In this raw and illuminating interview, Lou shares how a reluctant visit to a yoga class in rural England cracked open a new world—one filled with frequency, resonance, and deep emotional release. What began as an hour-long sound bath quickly unraveled everything he thought he knew about healing, intuition, and the body’s ability to restore itself.
Together, we explore the evolution of Astro Gong Yoga, the magic of planetary gongs, and why sound—when used with precision and presence—can reach into places that even words cannot. Lou also speaks candidly about trauma, resistance, and the kind of realignment that only happens when you surrender to the vibration of your truest self. If you’ve ever felt like healing might come from somewhere unexpected, this story just might resonate—literally.
POH-Frank: Hi Lou -maybe you can tell me a little bit about your background and what you did before you became a gong master?
Lou: I was a contractor in the UK. I had my own company. I’m a carpenter by trade—following in my grandfather’s footsteps, who was a joiner for a long, long time. He was a joiner to the Royals, so he was by appointment. I had a good background.
I used to renovate, convert, and upgrade—predominantly old houses. English old houses—as in hundreds of years old, not just 50. That was my background, really. Which is actually nothing to do with sound healing.
POH-Frank: How did you discover sound healing? Was there a specific moment in your life—something you read, someone you encountered?
Lou: Well, I’ve always been what I suppose in England they call “weird”—or certifiable, maybe.
From a very young age, I’ve hugged trees and talked to animals. So I’ve always had that connection with, if you like, source or universal energies or whatever. My father was very spiritual, but he was too worried about saying anything.
My mother was very eye-rolling, so I never shared any of my observations. Then, when I got married for the second time, my wife decided to go and do some yoga. In the UK, unless you live in London or Birmingham Central, there aren’t many yoga studios. She found one that was a 45-minute drive away, in the middle of nowhere, and she asked me if I wanted to go. Being a contractor, I went, “No, it’s really girly, I’m not going,” you know—beat my chest a bit and went down the park or something.
She went and had a great time. Then she came back and said, they have a sound bath the following night. “Did I want to go?” I said, “Come on, it’s all rubbish.” She said, “Well, you get an hour to lie down and go to sleep, and then you have a cup of tea afterwards.” So I went, “Okay. It’s £10, right? So like $13. I’m up for that.” So off we went. I was feeling very dubious, unsafe, critical, doubting—all those things. But I thought, “It’ll keep the wife happy, and I’ll just have a nap for an hour.”
So Mark (the sound bath instructors) talked us down. I went pretty much straight off. He played the gongs. I had just such an experience, I heard opera singers, I heard cannon fire – I saw Beefeaters. I saw the Grenadier Guards out there, screaming and shouting with the old cannon and colors—it was just crazy stuff. And Mark, at the end, brought us around and asked if we’d like to say a few words. I just went, “No,” because I thought they’d just think I’m crazy. It was so extreme—so transformative.
And I didn’t know what to make of it. I didn’t know who to talk to about it. The following night Mark was teaching Kundalini yoga, and afterwards there was a little gong relaxation. I went, “I’m up for that gong relaxation,” just to see if I could experience something again. So I went the following night. I did yoga—which includes breathwork, meditation, a kriya, and everything else—which I loved. I’d never done yoga before. It was great. And then the sound bath happened again. So I just carried on going every Wednesday for ages.
POH-Frank: So was it more that you just felt a deep connection to the sound of the instrument?
Lou: I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know why. And at the time, I felt too uncertain—vulnerable, I suppose—to actually talk about it to anybody. The Brits aren’t very good with emotions and things like that (smiles).
POH-Frank: Was there a point when you said, “Okay, I really love working with the gongs. I want to learn more”? Did you look for a gong master?
Lou: Well, my gong master was the guy I was doing yoga with—Mark. He has almost as many gongs as I have now. And it really just happened that one day—his wife Donna was also an angel healer who I somehow knew from a past life, which was also very confusing for me.
One day Mark and Donna cornered me and said, “Now you have to learn the gong.” I didn’t really want to, because I have no musical background. And in my mind, that’s what I needed. But they said, “No, you have to.” So, okay—I learned with Mark.
POH-Frank: So what kind of training is that? Is it like a week-long workshop?
Lou: When I learned with Mark, it was just one day for Level 1, one day for Level 2, and one day for Level 3. It was mostly mallet techniques and trying to connect with different things. But that was a long time ago. Now the connectivity I’ve learned and understand with the gong is far greater.
Now my trainings are two-day, 10-hour, one-on-one sessions. I tend not to do group training, because people go so deep—traumas come up. It’s very personal.
POH-Frank: Is there an official certification process to become a gong master?
Lou: No. There are organizations now claiming to be official sound healing bodies. One or two new ones are even trying to set up “institutes,” claiming to be official gong training certification programs. I do give certificates—and I do fail people, which I don’t believe any other training does. I’ve never known anyone else to fail anyone. But I don’t trust any of the institutes. It’s all just about money. Even the Yoga Training Institute—they’ve raised the fees, changed the criteria. One of the things for me about gongs is that there’s nothing written for it from any of the origins. I know some trainers who say, “You mustn’t do this, you mustn’t do that.” They try to control everything. But there’s no technically right or wrong way. Some ways suit some people. Others suit others. Some people like it really loud and bangy. I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I have the right to say they’re wrong—because some people relate to that.
POH-Frank: Is there a certain historical lineage the gong comes from? Or the gong techniques you use in your studio—are they connected to a certain lineage?
Lou: I don’t believe so. I mean, I have spent many, many hours on the internet trying to find the true origin of the gong, and they come from so many different continents. They take so many different shapes. Balinese gongs are more like singing bowls—and in fact, singing bowls are classed as a gong. They’re just a different type.
They come literally from everywhere in the world—anywhere with a long history. They’ve been used for different things. The Aztecs, the Incas, the Egyptians used them for healing and things like that. How they actually truly originated—I just can’t find a definitive answer. There are lots of things on the internet that say they’re definitive answers. But I like something with a bit of evidence to tip it. “Well, John told me,” is not evidence for me.
POH-Frank: So in general, sound healing is getting very popular. A lot of yoga studios now work with crystal bowls or gongs. What’s the main difference for you between gong sound therapy and crystal bowl sound healing?
Lou: I believe that the Gong is a more powerful sound healing instrument, but obviously I am biased. However, it can’t be denied that Gongs, crystal bowls and especially Alchemy bowls play and work powerfully together.
POH-Frank: So jump forward—you’ve obviously developed a deep connection to gong sound healing. What was the decision process behind starting Astro Gong Yoga with Emily, your co-founder here in Los Angeles?
Lou: It was just a bit of a journey, really. My second wife… going into more gritty detail, I don’t know how much detail you want. My second wife was an alcoholic. She was very abusive—sexually, verbally, and physically. We had gone to the same Kundalini school. It was a residential program—we did one weekend a month for 10 months to do our Kundalini training.
She started drinking again and became abusive.I kept going to the Kundalini training. I did it for seven years on the trot. Part of it was an escape. My wife would stay at home, and I could go. It was a very safe place. Plus in the UK, it was like 80 bucks for the weekend—with food and everything. So a very cheap escape. I had to do a bit of work and help people, but I loved doing it.Then, in the seventh year, Emily turned up. We got on as friends. We were chatting. We had a laugh. We enjoyed each other’s company. Then, two months before the course finished, my wife died—very tragically. She tried to detox, and it just didn’t work for her. So she died.
Emily said, “You have to finish this course. You can’t keep doing it year in, year out. You have to move on.” So I decided I was going to finish it, which involved sitting a three-hour exam and who knows what else. After that, I decided I was going to leave my house in the UK and go traveling. But I’m not very good at that. I know I would have gone to my house in Spain and just stayed there in the expat society, and starting drinking again…
But Emily—who’s very good at organizing and has traveled a lot—said, “Well, I’ll come with you if you like. I want to end up in America and teach yoga.”
We had already been working together. She was teaching yoga, and I was playing the gong. On our travels, she said, “When we get to LA, we’ll spend three months there. If you don’t like it, you can go home. Maybe you can play the gong in LA.”
We got to LA—we landed at LAX. This was just before COVID, in 2018 – It was total chaos. I live in a tiny little village in the UK—3,000 people. So it was absolutely manic. People screaming and shouting, cars hooting. Total chaos. And I got out onto the street and went, “This is the place.” This is okay.
It was like—crazy. And I still think it is insane. I’d never been to America before. But it was like, “Yeah. This is home.”
POH-Frank: Coming back to Astro Gong Yoga—which I really love—you combine sound healing with gongs, astrology, and yoga. How did the astrology part come into it?
Lou: My co founder Emily’s always been into astrology. And the gongs I play are planetary gongs—they’re scientifically tuned to the planets. That kind of happened independently. I was already playing the gong before I met Emily. Within Kundalini, people often played the gong. So we put them together. Then astrology just happened naturally—because of the gongs. Everything we do is influenced by astrology in one way or another.
We met a guy called Meta Benton, who is now in Austin, I think. He said, “I’ve been telling my students for decades—someone needs to link all three together.” Because that’s what they would have been—without a doubt. But nobody had done it. It was very organic to us. We’re totally bewildered why nobody’s done it. It doesn’t make sense.
POH-Frank: Can you elaborate a little bit on the planetary gongs? What’s behind them? You have, what—36 gongs?
Lou: Thirty-three at the moment—I’ve sold a couple. But I’m intending to get more.
POH-Frank: So what are the principles behind planetary gongs?
Lou: A German gong manufacturer—”Paiste”—decided to make planetary gongs. They were working with a guy named Hans Cousto, a Swiss mathematician. They got information from NASA—which Hans needed to calculate the frequencies. That includes atmospheric pressure, densities, dimensions—all sorts of data. He fed that into a very old Greek formula to calculate the exact frequency and tone of the gong. Then it’s hammered in. They use an octave meter to center strike and make sure the frequency and tone are exactly right. To within one-hundredth of a hertz. So it’s very finely tuned.And within that—is the energy of the planets.
POH-Frank: So each planet has a certain frequency, and based on that frequency, they manufacture the gongs?
Lou: Yes,, absolutely. NASA is recording the frequencies of the actual planet that they’re picking up from their latest telescope . And it’s seriously interesting—the different tones and sounds that these planets are making. Everything makes a sound. There isn’t anything that doesn’t vibrate. And with vibration, you can’t not have sound.
POH-Frank: So, coming back to your healing modalities, especially the gong healing in connection with the knowledge of astrology, can you explain a little bit what people experience? Or how the whole setup is? If someone says, “I want to have an Astro Gong healing,” treatment—or whatever you call it—how do you approach that?
Lou: If we’re doing an individual, then often Emily—who’s obviously the astrologer—will go into their birth chart and see what planets are very active at certain times, particularly on the day they’re receiving the healing. Then we just relate that through to what planets I play. Like yesterday, I was playing Jupiter and the Sun, because I think they were squaring. Emily reads astrology and says, “These are the planets that are most active,” and that’s what I play.
And it’s great for me, because before I met Emily and got into astrology, I’d just go, “Oh, this feels good,” or “That feels good,” and that has a huge amount of ego involved. When you’ve got 24-inch or 40-inch gongs, you want to play the big ones. But now, I enjoy playing what I’m told to play—or guided to play, if you like. Part of playing the gong is stepping aside from ego so that intuition and intent can come through.
POH-Frank: So you pick the gongs based on the person or the group—on the astrological constellation of the day?
Lou: If there’s a group, then it’s always based on what’s happening that day. And that can change. It can be one thing in the morning, and another in the evening. I’ve got the whole planetary suite, so I’m lucky enough to be able to use whatever’s needed.
POH-Frank: But just to understand—is it mostly intuition, or is it reading the chart and following that?
Lou: It’s based on the astrology of the day.
POH-Frank: Okay.
Lou: I mean, I will do intuitive ones if I need to and Emily’s not around. And 90% of the time, I’m right. But it’s nice to have someone say, “This is actually what it is.”
POH-Frank: What do you think—how does the sound of gongs help people align more with their inner archetype or birth chart? Is there a connection?
Lou: Yes. It’s just realigning their vibration with their true self, which is always going to be their inner archetype. The frequencies of gongs are such a wide band that they’ll entrain on whatever is happening in the person at the time—whatever vibration they’re vibrating at. The gong links to that and hopefully brings it to a harmonious state—the vibration they’re meant to be at. Their “happy” vibration.
When people are vibrating at their optimum potential—when they’re vibrating at their true, happy frequency—that’s when healing happens. You can heal yourself when you’re in a great space, when you’re vibrating at the right frequency. And we know—how many people are ever ill when they’re really happy?
POH-Frank: Not often.
Lou: Exactly. It’s only when your vibration is off that you become more susceptible.
POH-Frank: So is the assumption that the planetary constellation of your birth is the most optimal frequency?
Lou: Some people say so. But I don’t. I’ve seen no scientific tests to prove that. Every single planet has some effect on us. Every planet is in our chart. It’s not just one. Jupiter is my Sagittarius ruler—but that doesn’t mean Mercury can’t be affecting me more at a certain time. Everything moves. So certain planets are more active at certain times. I don’t believe it’s just about our zodiac sign or ruling planet. I think it changes. I’m pretty sure it does.
POH-Frank: How do people usually react? Do they always fall into a relaxed state—or can some people get annoyed by the sound?
Lou: No, no—not at all. Some people get very agitated by it. And this is only my opinion—from things I’ve seen over the years. The gong goes so deep. Deeper than molecules. Deeper than you can imagine. You can’t stop it. It goes to your core vibration. And within that, it can shake things up. If you’re not okay with facing what it shakes up—it can be a challenge.
Everybody’s had trauma—trauma varies. Everyone’s idea of trauma is different. We’ve also had traumas in other lives. The gong can shake them up. When it brings it to the surface, some people aren’t ready to face it. Some aren’t expecting it. So they react like: “That’s horrible, that’s dark, I hate it”—until they’re ready to face it. I have regulars who come all the time—even in Yin sessions, like the one you experienced. There’s one gentleman—who told me afterward, “What were you playing? That was horrendous. It pushed every button.” But he knows what it is. He knows it’s not the gong—he knows he needs to work on himself. And he keeps coming back. And other days, he’ll say, “That was beautiful. That was so blissful.”
POH-Frank: So the gong basically just stirs things up?
Lou: Absolutely. It goes into your core vibration and brings up emotions. 90% of people crying during gong training , things they didn’t know about, or didn’t recognize.
POH-Frank: Was there a particularly transformative experience? One where you felt the gong really changed something?
Lou: Not necessarily just in training. I’m by no means a qualified trauma therapist or anything like that. I do have one I recommend if people need it. But a lot comes up within a sound bath. There’s a friend named David. He had a brain tumor. He’s had surgery. The doctors don’t know how he’s still alive. He’s been doing sound healing and meditation for years. That’s all he does. He stopped chemo. Still, they don’t know how he’s alive.And if you go online—on YouTube—you’ll see blood tests before and after gong baths. We did one on my second wife. The difference is phenomenal. The white cells are so healthy, so bright and shiny. It’s all there. There’s no doubt it works. No doubts at all. What would happen if sound healing became the main healing remedy?
POH-Frank: That would be interesting.
Lou: It would be devastating—to pharmaceutical companies.
POH-Frank: So what’s the plan for Astro Gong Yoga? Do you want to offer more programming—remote experiences? Any expansion ideas, for people who don’t live in LA?
Lou: We’ve been asked that quite a bit. We’ve talked about it. The trouble is, the virtual side is limited. Not to say it doesn’t work—it does. You can do Reiki online, for example. It works.
But our whole thing is community and connectivity between people. The virtual world is becoming so extreme that the opportunity to meet in person is getting harder. And we have people come in who say, “Thank God you don’t do virtual. Thank God you’re still here. Thank God we can come in person.”
We love in person. We like meeting people.
But for many people, virtual isn’t enough. I saw someone advertising gong training—and you don’t even need a gong! I don’t know—maybe they use a skillet? ( smiles) .We like it in person.
POH-Frank: So what’s your wish for the future—when it comes to gong healing?
Lou: My ultimate dream? To have a retreat center—in a jungle. There have to be trees. And probably another 70 gongs. That’s on my wishlist—70 more gongs.
POH-Frank: I guess there are enough planets in the universe! Thank you so much for your time
photo credit: athul roy, cottonbro, harold villapana, zane holmes
