Written by Aviva Tulasi
The tools of yoga are meant to bring a person into a state of unconditional love. Meditation leads to a quiet and peaceful mind. However, at times, my mind is so distracted that I can’t concentrate let alone meditate. But this never happens when I am chanting. No matter what the state of my mind is when I start to chant a kirtan (mantra set to a tune), my mind calms and time ceases to exist. I enter into a focused and positive state of mind that lasts beyond the chanting.
The mantras that are chanted have been passed down from teacher to student for thousands of years. They came to masters during meditation and are said to be cosmic vibration encased in sound. When you chant them, your body vibrates with the cosmic vibration. The vibrations reflect love, peace, health and gratefulness. Masaru Emoto showed that words affect water. When water was exposed to positive words, the frozen crystals created beautiful shapes. While the water exposed to negative words, had ugly and dull shapes. Chanting exposes all of the water in our bodies to positivity.
When I started doing yoga about 10 years ago, I was not a religious person. I didn’t believe in God. As I learned more and more about yoga, and started to meditate and chant, my relationship with my religion changed. I found myself embodying positivity rather than suppressing negativity. I didn’t pay attention to the meaning of what I chanted; I allowed the sounds to be filled with emotion and love. The more I meditated and chanted the more I connected to universal love. I still don’t consider myself a religious person, but I am a spiritual person who has God in her heart.
Join me on June 13th for an outdoor Peace Mantra Chanting workshop. There will be two options to attend: Live In Person or Live Online. In this workshop, peace mantras will be practiced together in an uplifting community event. The meaning, sound and intention of each mantra will be presented and discussed. Each mantra will be broken into pronounceable segments before we chant them together. A handout with a pronunciation guide, mantra, meaning and significance will be provided. No chanting experience needed. Learn more about the benefits of chanting from our recent blog, Peace Mantra Chanting. Register through Dogwood Studio's MindBody; change the date to June and choose the option that works best for you.
For the latest schedule on the website, click HERE.
Aviva Tulasi is a registered yoga instructor (RYT) who is currently enrolled in a IYAT certified 800 hour yoga therapy program. You can join Aviva for a chanting workshop in June or meet with her privately for free as part of her practicum hours.
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SAM Sather, a certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT), individualizes the yoga practice with appropriate modifications for participants’ unique bodies and medical histories with a focus on finding calm and improving health. She offers several live, online class in yoga as private sessions so you can focus on your needs one-on-one.