Martyn Cawthorne is the founder of Gong Spa and the Northern School of Soundsmiths. He gives regular gong baths around the Greater Manchester and Cheshire area, as well as playing at UK festivals. His interest in working with the gongs is broad, from pure sound therapy work to collaborating with other practitioners, breath work and yoga especially; recording albums and working with musicians and exciting venues. He plays an annual gong bath down the copper mines at Alderley Edge, which is intensely grounding, and enjoys opportunities to take the gongs to interact in different environments. Last year he played alongside recordings of volcanic activity and earthquakes at Christie’s Auction House. Martyn’s musical career began, playing bass, in the early 1990s; simultaneously, he became interested in meditation. He has evolved a sense of musicianship which is rhythmic, channeling, intuitive and deeply rooted in connecting people and place. Martyn has been teaching for around 10 years and enjoys the collaborative process of developing each student’s personal approach to gong playing, feeling teaching is an enriching process that flows both ways. Gong playing feels like a blessing. Whether it’s teenagers retreating from a festival for a reset, or being hugged by a burly, tearful man-beast full of post-gong bliss, working in sound therapy brings nurture to receivers and players alike.