AUM YS I - 27

I am fascinated with the word and the sound Om. In this post it is written as AUM. I start all my yoga classes with the sounding or singing of Om. We do it at seven times. I have found out when I conducted classes on chanting that the longer we chant the sound the deeper experience of how powerful AUM is .

Continuing with Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras I - 27 TASYA VACAKAH PRANAVAH translated as - The word expressive of Isvara is the mystic sound OM. [Note: OM is God's name as well as form.]

Swami Satchidananda elaborates in his commentary that "That if you close your eyes and ears, sit quietly, allow the mind to be completely silent and then listen within, you will hear Him humming. He talks to us always, but we talk so loud we fail to hear His speech." He goes on to say we have to understand why we should give a name to something for which the Sanskrit term is "padartha". Without words, it would be difficult to convey what we are thinking.

Satchidananda states "The Bible says, 'In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."And the Hindu Vedas say, "The name of Brahman is OM, and OM is Brahman Himself." The Wikipedia defines as the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe.[1]

He continues to explain why OM is so rich, so deep and capable of representing the omnipresent, no beginning or ending God. The A in AUM is the beginning of all sounds. It is pointed out that every language begins with the letter A or "ah". As the sound arises between the tongue and palate up to the lips the U or "oo" sound is made. Then the closing of the lips makes the M sound. In summary the A is the creation, U is the preservation and M is the culmination. OM is the origin, the seed where all other sounds come from.

After the verbal sound ends there is still a vibration. This vibration is unspoken, or anagata, sound that is always in you. This sound vibration can never be eliminated or ended. One can listen to it when one is silent.

To be continued in the next post.

Did you have your Cup today?

Most people drink a cup of coffee in the morning to wake up! Personally that is not my cup of tea. My caffeine in the morning is a "cup of music"! I use my chanting to uplift me! I use it throughout the day. It is a great boost to me and keeps me positive.

Check out Tina Turner's take about chanting. Her explanation is great as to how it is part of her life, just like one needs food for energy, shelter over our heads as well as clothes to wear. All of these items are neccessities.

As I was writing this, the realization came to me that everything on this plane, on the planet earth needs some kind of boost. And that boost is essential. I wrote about this earlier in the post on tune up. The plants need sunlight and water or it will die. As a seed it won't sprout. Babies , human beings, pets all need that nurturing contact. These forms can be likened to a cup of coffee. Did you have your cup today?

Tune Up

I've been searching for a title to this post for a couple of days. I knew what I wanted to talk about, but couldn't quite put a title to it. At first I thought of a 'pick me up' or a 'quick fix' as appropriate. However, the title 'tune up' described more accurately my thoughts. When one hears of a tune up, one would think of a car tune up or adjusting a machine. A few definitions of tune up when used as a verb could be to adjust a (a musical instrument) to a particular pitch ; to adjust the engine of a car, etc., to improve its performance a car, or adjusting a machine. If one looks under the Thesaurus, words like adjust, correct, tweak, fine tune are given. You might wonder does a tune up relate to always be om or to yoga, or to you?

Sometimes when I am teaching a class, I tell my students that practicing the yoga postures, or any aspect of yoga is like tuning up your body, your vehicle, your instrument. We all need tune ups in the sense that just like a car won't run at its optimum or its best unless the oil is changed; the air filter is clean; new spark plugs. If you really think about it, everyday people are plugged into ipods, cds, the radio listening to their favorite songs or vocal artists. People use songs and music to tune up how they 'feel'.

So for me a great tool yoga to use for a tune up is chanting! One of the definitions of chanting from the Wikipedia is (from Old French chanter[1]) is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures, often including a great deal of repetition of musical subphrases...

Chanting is magical. You can do it alone by yourself out loud or internally or with a group of people. My experience is that it is magnificient if one really studies and experiences it! Like the other day, I put on a chant by Alice Coltrane - Turiyasangitananda with a choir. It was off the hook (great)! I had not heard it in a long time and I was chanting, singing with the cd. From there I was singing in the shower, chanting driving to teach a class. It put me in such a great mood! It gave me a tune up!

These days listening to the news constantly can be a downer. For me chanting counteracts those effects by helping me to be focused and feeling great in the present moment! As a yoga instructor I use music that is meditative, calming or chanting in my classes. A lot of my students love it as well. This practice keeps me enthusiastic as well. It's magical in that there is no need to take a pill, drugs or a drink of alcohol. I remembered being in a group chant a long time ago and my spiritual teacher said 'if you are tired CHANT, if you feel down CHANT!'. I was tired at the time I went to the chant. I felt the tiredness leave me. I felt renewed, more energetic and happy! The chant gave me a great adjustment! It was an estatic experience.

WARNING: This tool can lead you to your inner joy in no time! If you don't believe try it for youself. Investigate for your self. Go inside your tool box (inside yourself) and use your voice to uplift yourself. It's always available and it is FREE!.

Tools that Keep Us Centered

Yesterday I spoke about chanting as a tool that keeps me centered. One of the definitions for the word tool is a thing made to help people do work. Another definition is a device that is used to facilitate or perform manual or mechanical work. The latter definition is more suited for this post on tools.
I find I (we) need a tool to stay centered. That centering I call an anchor - a source of security or stability- in life. If there is no anchor one just drifts. We are like ships on the sea and if there is no course of action, no plan, we just wonder here and there with no real purpose or destination. Just like one needs the sun, or light to see, one must have a plan, a goal or one will go nowhere.

Just as there are many tools that one can carry on a tool belt or a tool box, there are many tools that we possess inside of us. For me practicing yoga helps one to access those tools that we don't easily know about as our attention is always directed outside ourselves on material objects. In that myriad of objects bombarding us, we need to access those inner tools to anchor and guide us.

Stay tuned. You can go to http://www.bometernally.com/ and read up on yoga

Always Be Om

I chose this title for today's post, which is also the same name of this blog I just started, because I am intrigued with the word Om. I am fascinated by the sound of Om as well and where it takes one inside one self. One of the definitions of Om is that the whole universe is unified into a single sound that represents the union of the mind, body and spirit. Again I find it utterally fascinating, mystical and transforming.

As one who deals with yoga on a daily basis I find that I am constantly exploring myself and others....Thus the title Always...Eternally I strive to stay in the now, to always be me and using Om is a paradox of a word to contain it all. When I talk about me I mean the true Self. When I am me, I find that I am at peace, happy and grateful to the present moment.

In order to stay in that place in this world of ideas, concepts, distractions, egoic focuses, we need tools to keep us centered. At least I do. A great and portable tool that I use that keeps me connected to Always Be Om is chanting The paradox is that we usually have other sounds going through our heads that keep us disconnected. It is up to us to find out what makes us flow, keeps us enthusiastic.

Have a great day! You can also see me on http://www.bometernally.com/