Alright,
Tonight I want to teach a little chant that I learned in Nepal.
It's a very popular Hindu chant to praise the Lord Shiva or the Shiva that resides within all of us.
The truth,
The light,
The consciousness.
And by chanting this mantra,
We can feel our body begin to change over time.
The vibrations have certain scientific means of cleansing us and allowing us to release any stored habit patterns.
Especially when we focus intently on the sounds,
While we're chanting them and using it as any other meditation.
But with sound,
It can be easier to get absorbed into a state of concentration and especially with the vibrations of this mantra.
So let's begin.
So the first part of it is Om.
And my yogi friend told me that when you say Om,
You want it to sound like ah,
Oh,
Hmm.
So first the ah sound,
Which supposedly vibrates around your stomach.
It makes a sensations occur in your stomach area.
And then oh,
Makes vibrations occur around your heart area.
And hmm,
Makes vibrations occur more in your throat area.
And Om is the sound of the universe,
The sound of creation.
And when you meditate for a while,
Sometimes you can hear the sound as sort of a background noise inside your body and all around you,
Enveloping you.
And then nama is the second part of the mantra.
That just means I bow to you,
Like a sign of respect,
I believe.
And then jiva is a respect to Shiva,
Or the truth that resides within everybody.
So now when we put it together,
It goes something like,
Ah,
Oh,
Nama shiva ya.
And so that's what it sounds like.
And you kind of want to hold out the ah,
Oh,
Nama shiva ya,
As long as you can without losing your breath,
But comfortably too.
And you want to be singing it like you're singing to a lover.
Because it'll help you to be more absorbed in the sound yourself and be paying close attention to the tones.
And maybe it doesn't sound good at first to you,
But for me,
After chanting it for a few days even,
It started sounding better.
And maybe it's just because the sound has such cleansing effects on my vocal cords,
Or I just started getting more in tune with the sound.
But either way,
It had great benefits on me.
So let's just chant for a little bit.
Nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya aum nama shiva ya So that was a little taste of the aum nama shiva ya mantra.
And as you chant it,
If you look into your closed eyelids,
As if you're looking through them,
It can help with your focus.
And as you end your chant,
You can begin to internalize the mantra,
So that it gets quieter and quieter and quieter until you're mentally chanting.
Thank you.
Aum nama shiva ya.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be free from suffering.
I wish the highest good for all beings.
May you be happy.
