The Importance of Sound and Chanting

In yoga therapy we make use of all the different tools available to us through yoga, and on many occasions, due to the way the health has impacted a particular individual we look for the most gentle tools that are within the reach of this person.

In a lecture given at Colgate University in August 1987, TKV Desikachar talks about our current times presenting challenges for the disciplined practice of āsana and prānāyāma and how the use of simple sounds may offer a more accessible path to achieving the goal of yoga. This is partcularly relevant in the context of yoga therapy. Desikachar defines yoga as doing 'something with the whole person so that the mind changes from the usual unfocused mind to one that can be focused on anything significant.'

Whether we practice with simple sounds, perhaps combined with a gentle āsana practice, or engage in more complex chants, sound will inevitably have an effect on our mind. In the words of Desikachar 'you start the sound, you will realise what the sound represents......you just go on repeating it and eventually you will reach what this sound represents'.

In this way, chanting is an active form of meditation. As you chant you direct your mind toward the 'object' and as you continue to engage with this object gradually the separation between the observer, i.e. the person who does the chanting, and the essence of what is being chanted dissolves.

For example, the goddess durgha represents strength - through chanting the durgha gayatri we acknowledge the quality of strength, we engage with it and hold our focus on it until eventually this quality of strength becomes a part of us.

If you would like engage in acessible chanting practice, you are most welcome to join Sabine's chanting group. We meet on occasional Sunday mornings, 10am-11.30am on zoom. The dates for the first term in the new year are

14 January, 4 February, 25 February and 17 March.

£10 per session via bank transfer.

Please contact Sabine on sabinedahn61@gmail.com