Sound Yoga Meditation: Humming

This is a multi-sensory meditation practice built on the practice of Nāda Yoga, or sound yoga. If you have trouble meditating, clearing the thoughts, and maintaining stillness, this practice is for you. We will have the sound of the tanpura in the background and focus on the exhalations and long humming sounds to produce a feeling of wellbeing through the whole body.

Transcript

I'm going to do a brief humming meditation with you that is great for relaxation, Especially if you're the type of person that has a hard time meditating. This is an excellent way to engage more senses in your meditation practice and potentially find some calm and some relaxation and some letting go of those knots in our mental space and emotional space through the practice of nada yoga, Sound-based yoga, So we can clear the space for a deeper kind of meditation. What you hear in the background here is the tanpura, An Indian instrument for nada yoga. It's a large board with strings played repetitively in order to create a soundscape. Come to a comfortable seated position, The head over the shoulders, Shoulders over the hips. The next few breaths, Letting the shoulders drop and the eyes relax, Softening the gaze and softening the space between the eyebrows. You're welcome to close the eyes entirely, Noticing any other tension in the face like at the jaw joint. So gently relax the jaw, You can place the hand just below the jaw joint, Let the jaw slacken and push it a little bit to one direction. Breathing in and out through the nose, We'll do the other side, Placing the hand against the cheek and jaw, Letting the jaw relax, Slacken and gently pushing it in the other direction. Begin to listen in to full body listen. So not just listening to the sound of the tanpura with your ears, But what does it feel like listening through the whole body. Simply use your attention to notice the sound of your own humming and feel it. Expanding vision to include the whole room and reflecting for a moment on the effect of this practice. Is there a shift from when you began the practice to now? Do you feel any change in resonance, Relaxation? And what would it be like to practice this again? Would you feel a change in the effect of this practice if you were to do it again at a different time, A different location, Or even on a different day? We always have many different circumstances around us that change how we feel our practice went for any particular day. So I hope you had a wonderful experience. My name is Marla. I hope you can join me again on here. May you savor small moments.