What are the benefits of mantra chanting?

Tue, 02/16/2010

Nada Yoga or the yoga of sound is the chanting of mantras.

Mantra is a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation, originated from Vedic age. It is an entire branch of Yoga dedicated to the purification and care of the body with the purpose of deepening the connection with the Divine. This form of yoga brings great benefits to the individual, especially reducing stress and improving personal effectiveness. Yoga recognizes that the physical vehicle, the body, is a rare opportunity, and our only chance for spiritual development. Health problems are an impediment to meditation. Prana is the Sanskrit word for "breath," the "life force," the vital energy that supports the entire natural process of the universe, and chanting or mantra japa in Vedic tradition, was practiced primarily to elevate it.

The science of sacred sound has been used for centuries as an aid to humans who seek to communicate with the divine spirit within themselves and the universe. Chanting has the effect of raising the level of vibration of the individual practicing the chant. It can help the practitioner to be filled with peace, and feel calm and centered.

Robert Gass, author of Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound, points to five key elements of chanting that make it such a powerful and universally appealing practice. The first two, he says, are characteristic of all types of music.

1. Association (or triggering), in which one's experiential memories, built up over time, invest a piece of music with ever-deeper levels of meaning.
2. Entrainment, in which the body-mind is induced to align (or vibrate) with a melody or rhythm to which it is exposed. "If you're in a room and there's a heavy drum beat," says Gass, "your body will almost involuntarily start to move."

The other three elements, according to Gass, are especially characteristic
of chant:
 

3. Breath, i.e., the salutary effect on the chanter's respiration as it slows from the normal 12 to 15 breaths per minute to between five and eight breaths per minute (which is "considered optimal for mind-body health,).
4. Sonic effects, namely the pleasurable sensations and healing effects of extended vowel sounds typical of sacred chants.
5. Intent, which reflects "our desire to be close to God."

Gass adds that chant derives its power from the synergy of all five elements working together.

Chanting aims at giving a holistic education through ancient wisdom. Based on the principles of vibrational medicine, the primordial sound vibration is used for achieving balance and happiness. Chanting yoga will help you to achieve longevity, better health, loving relationships and a blissful life. The proven physiological effects of chanting are;

#1: Mantras create thought-energy waves.
The human consciousness is really a collection of states of consciousness which distributively exist throughout the physical and subtle bodies. Individual organ consciousness is overlaid by system (cardio-vascular, reproductive, etc) consciousness, overlaid again by subtle body counterparts and consciousness, and so ad infinitum. The ego with its self-defined "I" assumes a pre-eminent state among the subtle din of random, semi-conscious thoughts that pulse through our organism. Our organism can "pick up" the vibration of other organisms nearby. The result is that there are myriad vibrations riding in and through the subconscious mind at any given time.

Mantras start a powerful vibration that corresponds to both a specific spiritual energy frequency and a state of consciousness in seed form. Over time, the mantra process begins to override all of the other smaller vibrations, which eventually become absorbed by the mantra. After a length of time, which varies from individual to individual, the great wave of the mantra stills all other vibrations. Ultimately, the mantra produces a state where the organism vibrates at the rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained within the mantra.

#2: Mantras are tools of power and tools for power.
Mantra is, at its core, a tool used by the mind that eventually frees one from the vagaries of the mind. On the journey from mantra to freedom the mind expands, deepens and widens. It eventually dips into the essence of cosmic existence, understanding much about the essence of the vibration of things. Knowledge being power, in the case of mantra, is tangible and wieldable.

#3: Mantras have close, approximate one-to-one direct language-based translation.
Language is insufficient to convey experience. We warn a young child to not touch a hot stove since it will burn them. Essentially, there is no real direct translation of the experience of being burned. Only the act of touching the stove and being burned will adequately define the words "hot" and "burn" in the context of "stove." “Burn” is really a definition of the result of the action of touching the hot stove.

It is the same with mantras. The only true definition is the experience that it ultimately creates in the chanter. Over thousands of years, many seers have had common experiences and passed them on to the next generation. Through this tradition, a context of experiential definition has been created.

#4: Mantras eventually quiet the mind.
At a deep level, subconscious mind is a collective consciousness of all the forms of primitive consciousnesses, which exist throughout the physical and subtle bodies. The dedicated use of mantra can dig into subconscious crystallized thoughts stored in the organs and glands and transform these bodily parts into repositories of peace. Chanting is said to raise the chanter’s vibrational level and to bring about feelings of peace, calm and well-being. Being the energy bodies that we are, chanting is one way to effect healing on a deep level within the body and spirit.

#5: Mantras sharpen the intellect.
We know that the brain uses more oxygen than any other organ in the body. Efficient brain function is vitally dependant on an adequate supply. The deep, rhythmic breathing of nada yoga systematically oxygenates the entire body, especially the brain, sharpening focus, concentration, and enthusiasm.

#6: Chanting heals the body, mind and spirit.
There have been medical studies that have shown that performing yoga chants can have positive benefits for the body. These studies have shown that when a person chants it can stabilize their heart rate, lower blood pressure, produce beneficial endorphins (natural pain-relievers) in the body and boost metabolic processes. Chanting causes the body and mind to relax which helps us physically, mentally and emotionally in countless ways.

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