Chanting to: Quiet your Mind and Ignite your Spirit
Anyone who has ever tried to quiet their mind through a formal meditation practice knows it’s not as easy as it might appear at first glance. The mind is persistant, pervasive and compulsive in its activity to generate thought after thought after thought…….constantly judging, comparing, analyzing and considering all the possible courses of action to innumerable situations that arise in our daily lives. Like a mouse, the mind is always scurrying about nibbling on a thought or two.
Chanting offers an alternative method to experience some freedom from the constant chatter of the mind. It is one of the oldest sacred singing traditions of the world and is often proclaimed as the best and fastest way to increase spiritual progress in this Kali Yuga age. In an easy call-and-response style, simple mantras are sung over and over, sometimes escalating in speed and intensity, uniting all participants in the powerful vibration of sound. Often the chanting is enhanced by the accompaniment of drums, keyboard, guitar, harmonium and percussion instruments. It becomes a form of group meditation that unites body, breath, voice, emotions and mind all together into a single and undivided wave of activity, drawing all the energies of the entire human organism to one-pointed concentration. There is truly nothing more magical than joining in song with a group of people accompanied by various musical instruments and feeling yourself simply carried away by the energy of the chant. People often note feeling “buzzed” for hours, even days following such a chanting experience. In this practice sound acts as a bridge between mind and spirit, healing the split and allowing us to come into the fullness of our Being.
It is the fastest, surest way to drop the worries that often plague our consciousness, to open the heart and to come back home to ourselves. And when we sink back into ourselves, when we relax and open ourselves and create some space to just be……..we get to tune into the frequency of Love, joy and that deep sense of peace that “passeth all understanding” that Christ speaks about in the Bible.
- This article appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat in November 2008.
JoAnna and Martin from Om Sweet om singing their little hearts out at a public kirtan in 2007!
This is a picture of the members of our kirtan group at our last public chanting event at the United Church in Tallahassee in November 2008.
Through the process of our yoga practice we begin to create an inner space, an inside opening………..as a way to honor ourselves and clear the mind static and open to the deeper teachings which are embedded into our original memory….the divinity which dwells within.
Lakulish Yoga Tallahassee
2320 Apalachee Parkway
Tallahassee, FL 32301
ph: 850-273-1861
[email protected]