ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS, there are 100 billion galaxies in the universe, and around 100 billion stars in each galaxy, including our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Our Sun is just one fairly mediocre star at the edge of it. And this universe is continuing to expand infinitely.
As is the macrocosm, so is the microcosm: It is estimated that there are approximately 100 billion cells in the human brain which contain an infinite number of possible connections between them as well as connections to many other intelligent cells in our bodies. In view of all that infinite vastness we are still sometimes stuck in old patterns of thought called habits. Aren’t we sometimes depressed? Experiencing a low self-image? Angry? Anxious about nothing? Sad? Afraid? Bored?
There are as many combinations of possibilities and possible combinations of new and interesting patterns of neuronal connections as there are galaxies in the universe. That is quite a gift. Let us open the possibilities.
The Body as a Musical Instrument
Have you ever seen an Indian musical instrument such as a saranghi or sarod? The sarod has an unusual facet that is nearly unknown in the instrument fabrications from other cultures: the concept of sympathetic or resonating strings. These instruments work on the scientific principal of acoustic resonance. There are four strings on a sarod that are the actual playing strings. The other eleven strings are tuned very perfectly but are not for playing. When the playing strings are plucked at a certain tone, the sympathetic strings with a similar frequency begin to sing without being physically touched. That sympathetic vibrational transfer from one object to another object is called acoustic resonance. It gives an ethereal and otherworldly quality to the sound of the instrument.
Another musical example is the simple tuning fork. A tuning fork is a piece of steel, molded into a specific size and shape. The most common one is tuned to what is called A440.When one strikes it on a solid object, the tuning fork begins to vibrate at a rate of 440 times per second which causes us to hear the tone of A. If I place the base of this tuning fork against the sound box of my acoustic guitar, the wood and air in the cavity of the sound box pick up the same vibration and the whole guitar amplifies and projects the same tone of A.
In yogic terms the human body has a similar composition and acoustic resonance plays an enormous but largely unseen part in our lives.
The Yogic Model of the Human Body
The central pranic (prana is our life-force, our energy) channel or nadi is called the sushumna. It originates at the base of the spine and follows the central channel up the middle of the spinal column. Think of it as the main playing string of the human body. It corresponds with the neutral or meditative mind.
On either side of the main central channel are the ida and pingala, the two sub strings. They also originate at the base of the spine. The ida is adjacent to the sushumna on the left side and travels up the body, winding around the sushumna to end at the left nostril. Ida corresponds to the cooling, soothing energy of the moon. The pingala nadi also begins at the base of the spine and winds around the sushumna ending at the right nostril. Pingala carries heat and activity and mirrors the energy of the sun.
There are seventy-two primary nadis or meridian lines that extend throughout the body; each connects to 10,000 smaller energy channels. These channels conduct the energy of prana throughout the body following nerve pathways, bone and open space. In other words, the human body has 72,000 nadis or sympathetic strings that distribute and shape prana throughout the body. If a note, sound or indeed a thoughtform is vibrated in the sushumna, it is picked up by the ida and pingala and distributed throughout this system. It is the same principle we talked about previously, in relation to the sarod, saranghi and tuning fork: acoustic resonance.
Prana
When considering the energetic make-up of the human body according to the yogic model, we have to talk about the life-force or prana. According to the yogic model, prana is the energy that powers the atom. Prana enters the body through various ways. There is prana in the food we eat, the water, and especially in the air we breathe. Prana is also said to enter through the tenth gate, the crown chakra. It is the unseen life-force that is present in every being. It disperses in the body into different energy centers called chakra. It is the channeling and dispersion of prana throughout the body that is the goal of many Yoga exercises and healing techniques. Through this channeling it is possible to energize any chakra center directly by directing prana to that point as well as through the fingers or hands.
Mantra Yoga and Acoustic Resonance
Normally our mental bodies release one thousand thoughts per wink of the eye. Each one has a vibratory frequency. The ones we grab onto and identify with create the shape of our body, our emotional state and the frequency mental bodies. The concept of Naad or Nada Yoga (Yoga of sound) or mantra (sacred syllable or verse)Yoga as it is sometimes called, is to choose consciously, what vibrational frequencies we wish to transmit to our total self, and vibrate that in the sushumna, our central core, the master playing string. What we vibrate we become. If our mantra is chronically “I am bad,” or “I am inadequate,” or “I am stupid,” then our body posture takes on the attitude of defeat, our emotional makeup becomes unstable and our mind tends to vibrate on negative frequencies that resonate with those thought patterns. If our mantra is “I feel the ecstasy of the indescribable wisdom which takes me from darkness to light and wisdom from ignorance,” (which is the meaning of the Guru mantra Waheguru) then our body language takes on the attitude of joy, our emotional life becomes stable, based on infinity, and our mind vibrates with higher thought patterns of compassion and wisdom.
What is a Mantra?
The word mantra can be broken down in its component parts. Man means mind and tra means wave or projection. Repeating a positive word or vibratory frequency that has an infinite component allows us to create a constant wave motion in the mind that then allows us to change the entrenched patterns of thought and emotions that we all have a tendency to repeat over and over in our lives.
Words are vibrations. Words are energy. Mantras are essentially energy templates designed to have an infinite component. As my teacher Yogi Bhajan used to say, “Habits make the man, and man makes the habits.” In mathematical symbols when the negative sign ( – ) is cut with a positive line through it, it becomes a plus a positive ( + ). That is how mantra works. A negative thought wave, cut by a mantra, creates a positive. There is a measurable, predictable and physical effect on our brain chemistry and the state of our physical body health all the way to a cellular level.
Meditation
There is an ancient technique of meditation in India known as Charan Jap. Charan means feet and jap means to repeat. It literally means to repeat with the feet. It is a powerful form of meditation as walking is a very natural and organic form of rhythm, accessible to nearly every human. It is free and it is effective, this is especially so when the mantra is applied to the rhythm.
Take, for instance, the mantra Har. Har is a simple and powerful mantra that means the creative green energy of God. It is very healing. Be sure and pronounce it properly. The “r” sound is not the sound we use in America. In that sound our upper teeth touch the lower lip. In using an “r” sound in the Indian scriptural languages of Sanskrit or Gurmukhi, the tip of the tongue must touch the upper palate just behind the teeth. It is more similar to a Spanish “r.”
To practice Charan Jap, walk at a good pace with a healthy stride. Swing your arms as you walk. This gives a complete massage to all the digestive organs and can clear up many digestive problems. On each step chant har. You can chant it out loud, or whisper under your breath or repeat mentally. Allow the rhythm of the step and mantra to capture your mind and surrender yourself to that flow. Allow any thoughts that come to come and go without judgment or comment and stay focused on the mantra.
This information is excerpted and adapted from the forthcoming Naad Yoga (the Yoga of Sound) Playbook by Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa. Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa has been a student of music since the age of seven and began the study and practice of Kundalini and Naad Yoga with Yogi Bhajan at the age of nineteen. He has recorded twenty CDs of meditation and mantra music, plays concerts and teaches Naad Yoga workshops worldwide. He is currently completing his first book on Naad Yoga. For more information, visit: yogaofsound.com or email: matamandir@hotmail.com.
© April 20, 2009. Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa. All Rights Reserved.
By Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa
