Why do we begin and close yoga practice with chanting?

Thu, 02/18/2010

Or what is the Yoga of Sound

Chanting is a yoga practice called Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound. Used for millennia, chanting helps people connect to the divine spirit in themselves and the universe. It is invigorating and energizing to the mind, body and spirit. It reminds us of our deep and abiding connection to the divine and to our fellow human beings. Irrespective of whether singing bhajans (spiritual songs), native or tribal songs, kirtan (call and response chanting), or a personal or universal mantra, something within the singing itself soothes the spirit and sets a tone of reverence and honor.

Opening chants at the onset of a yoga class help to de-stress and set the tone, to create an enhanced environment, to settle into the deeper purpose of practice and to remember that the time spent in yoga is in honor of oneself and one’s health. It also reminds us that the practice has benefits beyond the purely physical ones attained through the asanas (postures). In that moment we acknowledge and respect where this yoga comes from. When we chant we humble ourselves before the teachings of yoga. Our invocation is a tribute of gratitude to the sages, yogis, and yoginis who preceded us, as well as the teachers in our lives, whose dedicated efforts have given us the blessing of yoga. We become small when compared to all that has gone before. Without humility it is not possible to learn this science. We chant so that at the very beginning that feeling of sanctification comes from inside, with the feeling of surrendering oneself. Nothing can be learned in this world unless you have the humility to learn. Once that is understood, the other problems that arise while practicing (mainly concerned with the ego) will be affected.

Closing chants help to close a yoga or meditation session in a peaceful tone and to support taking what was received in the practice into everyday life. In a way it is also to pay homage to the cosmic consciousness in return for benefiting from the teachings and wisdom gained. A closing chant can be the thread that ties the positive benefits of the work done on the yoga mat, or the meditation session to the rest of the practitioner’s life.

The process of the chant: In Sanskrit, “avahana” means ‘invocation’ (invoke – invocare in Latin - to put into voice) Avahana means ‘to send out for and to bring near’. It is the expression of your desire and your call for it to be manifest. The summoning forth of the power that enlivens or creates those objects or actions.

The chanting begins with “upasana”. Literally meaning "sitting near, in the Vedas it is normally prescribed as whereby one meditates on the all-pervading Brahman to ask, to make a desire known, to initiate a conversation with the energy of your desire.

"The seeker of knowledge does not achieve his end merely by a study of scriptures. Without upasana there cannot be attainment for him, this is definite."
- Sri Ramana Leela, Ramana Gita I.22

Thus one draws inside to explore the nature of the desire, to recognize what is in the heart, (upasana) in order to express out, the sound of the mantra carrying the power of the desire (avahana). Once again quiet contemplation presents the opportunity to muscularly draw in again (upasana). Chanting thereby creates a circuit.

It is imperative, before we chant an invocation, that we pause and ask ourselves to form an inner intention "sankalpa”. What do we want to focus on? For health, healing, rejuvenation, peace? What is it that we want to gain from the class/day?

We then should take our focus and bring it into our voice. From head and heart through our breath and into sound. The subtle becomes manifest. Even when we chant with others, our communal chant allows us each to call out what is privately in our hearts.

Sometimes avahana can come first and bring us to an experience of upasana. In other words, if you really can’t access the feeling of what it is that you desire, the act of expressing yourself, of chanting the invocation, can take you to your heart’s desire. Some days we just can’t get in touch with our heart’s desire at all, and our invocation feels empty and meaningless. Sometimes we don’t feel like doing the yoga practice, but by just showing up to a class, just by chanting the words and going through the motions, whether it be in chanting or in asana practice, something happens. We are brought to a deeper experience of ourselves. We find the meaning is waiting for us to recognize it.

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