Why Sound Healing and Yoga
Are you looking for a way to enhance your yoga practice? Sound healing is a form of healing that uses different vibrations to heal the body, mind and spirit. Sound can attune to a state of emotions and at the same time help resolve emotional blocks that can cause disease.
Sound also allows us to sync our focus with a ‘vehicle’ that will help filter out unwanted chatter. It allows scattered attention of the brain to narrow its focus or attune to a frequency, leading to a shift in your consciousness towards a state of relaxation.
Yoga and Sound
In this article, we take a look at some simple yet effective ways to incorporate sound in your daily yoga practice.
Singing Bowls
Singing bowls (also known as Himalayan bowls or Tibetan music bowls) have been the mainstay of Buddhist meditation practices for well over a thousand years. They are lauded for their ability to create an intense environment of deep relaxation with sounds that have powerful healing capabilities. These compact bowls are actually standing bells made out of a bronze alloy. Even though they are tiny enough to fit into your palm, their vibrations create the most mesmerizing tones and resonances.
You can sound them by either striking or rubbing the rim with a plain wooden stick or a leather wrapped mallet. Experienced practitioners often use an advanced technique of adding water to the bowl to strike the rim and tilt the bowl which creates sounds akin to dolphins. In case you are wondering, playing a singing bowl does not require any special skill or knowledge of music theory. You can get the hang of it in a matter of minutes by watching a few instructional videos.
A quick five to ten minute session of playing music bowls before yoga can help create a relaxed ambience. For a more intense experience or deep relaxation, you can do longer session ranging from 30 to 60 minutes. If you are looking for other options, you can also use crystal bowls, zills, gongs, tingshas and chimes in a similar manner.
Soothing Sounds / Relaxation Music
Relaxation music is immensely helpful in creating a comforting and positive atmosphere. Calming music is known to decelerate the heart rate, slow down breathing and improve concentration, thus laying the groundwork to get the most from your yoga sessions. For example, listening to audio recordings of nature that recreate the ambience of the wilderness or a beach will calm down an agitated mind and lift up the spirit. You can also listen to soft instrumental music, time-appropriate ragas (Hindustani Classical Music), Gregorian chants, gentle Western Classical pieces or audio recordings of other options (Binaural beats, chanting etc.) mentioned in this article.
Explore the countless options available on music streaming platforms and build a playlist of your favorites that you can keep returning to. Pick something that works for you and savor the music for a few minutes in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Relax your body and focus on the music so your mind can disconnect. This could be a great way to start or end each yoga session. Moreover, you can even keep playing them as you practice yoga to stay centered and relaxed.
Mantra chanting
Mantra chanting is a meditative practice based on the repetition of a word/sound/phrase to center the mind. Each mantra is a vehicle that the mind may mount to travel away from the unwanted noise of conscious chatter towards inner silence. There are three ways to chant a mantra: Vaikhari – chanting aloud, Upamshu – whispering softly and Manasik – thinking or saying it in your mind.
There are many Buddhist and Sanskrit mantras to choose from that range from simple to complex, depending on your familiarity with the language. These include Om mani padme ham, Hare Krishna, Aham Prema, Buddho mantra, Gayatri mantra and countless others.
Here is the Gayatri Mantra and a brief explanation.
No matter what mantra you choose, there must be some intuitive connection and sense of belonging to it – something about it that resonates with you and has the potency to transform you. If you choose a Sanskrit mantra or shloka (passage from the Vedic scriptures), take the time to study the correct pronunciation, translation and read the commentary by Vedic scholars to understand the true depth of its meaning.
Binaural Beats
Binaural beat music is a commonly used form of sound therapy that is a part of brainwave entrainment. A binaural beat is an auditory illusion created when you hear two different tones (below 1000Hz) in each ear via headphones or ear buds. The difference in the two tones creates an imaginary binaural beat and the use of these sounds to promote mental and emotional well-being is called binaural beat therapy.
In recent years, binaural beat therapy has emerged as a wildly popular choice among practitioners and sound therapists as a viable technique to achieve a deep state of relaxation and reduce anxiety. You can read DoCalm’s in-depth article about the extraordinary power of binaural beats: How to Optimize your Mind Using Binaural Beats.
Sohum Meditation
Sohum meditation is one of the most widely performed yoga meditations around the world. It is simple and yet extremely effective. In Sanskrit, So means That and Hum means I/me which roughly translates to That I am or I am That. In this case, That refers to Brahman – the Absolute Reality, the Truth or Supreme Consciousness. To acquaint you with the practice in a nutshell, you need to sync your breath to the mantra by chanting So for the entire duration of your inhalation, pausing briefly and chanting Hum for the entire duration of your exhalation followed by another pause and so on.
i.e. Chant So (inhale) – brief pause – Chant Hum (exhale) – brief pause – So – brief pause – and so on…
You may chant it loudly, softly or in your head – try each method to find out what works best for you. A 10 minute session is a great start but don’t forget to reflect on the meaning of That I Am or I am That while you perform it. At the end of each session, wallow in the consequent serenity and contemplate how and why you are connected to the universe. Once you genuinely realize (not intellectually but in an experiential way) the nature of this union, even momentarily, it will greatly expand your sense of self. The following article by DoCalm will help to guide you through a Beginner’s Sohum Meditation.
Aum Meditation
“Aum is the bow, the Self is the arrow and Brahman (Absolute Reality) is the target”
– Mandukya Upanshad.
Aum commands a place of its own in Yogic sciences and Vedic philosophy. Aum, the primordial sound, is considered to be the most potent of all mantras. It is the sound that was uttered that set into motion every consequent vibration that became the universe as we know and perceive it today. According to Vedic scriptures, Aum is considered to be comprised of four sounds – a, u, m and silence is considered to be the fourth underlying foundation on which the previous three are sound. When a and u are used contiguously in Sanskrit, they band together and are pronounced as a long ‘O’ sound. This is why it is commonly depicted as Om.
There are many passages devoted to detailed descriptions of variations of Aum meditation like Pranava Dhyaana, Turiya meditation, Omkara etc. However, a simple way to practice this for beginners is as follows:
Chant Ooo as you inhale (complete inhalation) and chant Mmm as you exhale (complete exhalation) and then repeat it after a brief pause.
As the Patanjali Yoga Sutra aptly puts it – When you repeat Aum enough times, only then you will truly understand the meaning of Aum.
Sound-based Pranayamas
Pranayama is the practice of breath extension and control exercises that originate from yogic sciences based on the concept of prana (the life force). They are precise methods to automate, augment and regulate the flow of oxygen to the blood and brain using intense, intentional and rhythmic breathing.
Pranayama is generally performed either before or after yoga but it can be done independently as well. It is performed while seated comfortably in a well-ventilated place on a yoga mat in sukhasana or the lotus/half lotus pose. It is recommended to practice on an empty stomach either early in the morning or at night. Though most of these techniques are performed silently, there are a few that use sound, such as Bramhari and Ujjayi breathing. Bramhari Pranayama (bee humming technique) is known to be an effective practice to instantly calm an aggravated and restless mind.
These recommendations are only meant to provide a starting point for those interested. Please take the time to understand and research the nuances and contra-indications of these practices to ensure that you perform them correctly. Serious practitioners would benefit from learning them in person from a qualified instructor.
Nada Yoga
“The sky appears to have a tongue that infinitely chants Aum, Aum, Aum”
Nāda yoga is a subsidiary form of yoga that is wholly structured around the use of vibrations. It purposefully incorporates listening to internal and external sounds as a fundamental part of attaining self-realization. This practice has its origins in the Nādabindu Upanishad, one of the twenty Yoga Upanishads in the Vedas and the oldest known treatise on yoga and sound. Nada is the Sanskrit term for ‘flow of sound’ and Nada yoga bifurcates sound into:
- Ahata nāda – gross sound, any sound created in the existent world and absorbed by your senses.
- Anahata nāda –subtle sound; noiseless vibrations of the Self can’t be heard or experienced by anyone but you.
Nada yoga uses various techniques to utilize aural vibrations to bring harmony to the seven chakras. This tool allows one to reorien focus, induce high states of relaxation and hearten spiritual growth. This is an elaborate and multifaceted branch of yoga you may wish to explore.
Benefits of Using Sound with Yoga
Sound is a powerful vehicle to help lead us to the ultimate silence: the silence within. The incorporation of sound in your daily yoga practice can result in:
- Improved Focus and Greater Clarity
- Heightened Awareness
- Activate Healing Mechanisms
- Balance Chakras
- Harmony of Subtle Energy Pathways (nadis)
- Stress Reduction and Deep Relaxation
To learn more about the science and benefits of sound check out this article called: Science Behind Healing Sound.
If you are a beginner and learning to stay focused then use one of these suggestions for a 10 to 20 minute session before you start yogasana. You can also use these sound strategies after your practice. Enjoy the journey,
