Hi,
I'm Sammy from Temple Yoga Perth.
Welcome to your space.
This meditation is your chance to pause,
Breathe and care for yourself.
My hope through our time is that you can unwind,
Release what's not serving you and connect to your higher self,
Bringing your mind,
Body,
Heart and spirit back into alignment.
You're probably already familiar with the symbol of OM.
You might have seen it in artwork,
Textile design,
Even tattoos.
You might even have an OM tattoo.
You've probably heard it used,
Chanted in yoga studios or in meditation.
And today we're going to explore together what OM actually means,
How do we experience it and a little bit of the origins and how to use it in our day-to-day yoga practice.
So I am a 350 hour registered yoga teacher with a background in Hatha Vinyasa,
Yin,
Restorative breathwork,
Meditation and working with kids.
But I'm also an aid worker.
And when I was studying international aid and development,
I devoted myself to the language of Hindi.
Hindi is India's national language and its root is based in the ancient Sanskrit language.
This is where a lot of our yoga language comes from,
This ancient language of Sanskrit.
So OM is an ancient symbol from Sanskrit and this little bit of background in Hindi is really helpful for me.
I'm able to understand phonetically what the symbol represents and also how we chant this in our body because of yoga.
So I'm very happy to share this with you today.
If you can't chant right now out aloud because of where you are,
I want you to stay with me during this meditation and stay tuned because you can join in with your ears and you can always listen back another time when you have a chance to exercise and use your voice.
So right now we are going to chat through OM,
Explain how to chant it and how to feel it and how to feel it in our body.
So with OM,
It's not really a textbook definition.
To truly understand,
You really want to experience it through your senses,
Involving chanting,
Feeling the vibrations and then observing the feeling it's created or the space it's made in your body afterwards.
So it actually isn't really about intellectual understanding.
So an amazing thing is that scientists now believe that the basic building blocks of cells come down to vibration,
Movement or energy.
So this sacred symbol is actually believed to be the sacred sound of the universe,
A vibration that is shared in all living things.
So that means people,
The ones we like and the ones we don't,
Animals and the earth and nature around us.
It connects us and it also brings us into closer union with ourselves.
So it can be thought of as a vibration to bring oneness with the world and also in the sense of bringing mind,
Body and soul back together.
It attunes to the wisdom within you and the higher wisdom in the universe.
When I say attune,
I think of a tuning fork where there are vibrations and they resonate,
But they resonate into union.
And this is what chanting om is like in our body.
It resonates with union to the light and to the love that is in us.
It opens our heart and it opens us to what is shared with those around us.
So chants and mantras can be an incredible tool when we feel stuck,
When we feel depleted or at the end of ourselves.
It reminds us that we are not separate or alone.
We are one and we have connection to the unending well of love.
It reminds us that we are an amazing divine human being more than the flesh that surrounds us,
More than any problems that surround us.
It's important to know that om is not a religious practice.
It's an acknowledgement of an attunement that we share with the world and creation.
It's a practice just like mindfulness.
According to Pramana Hansa Yoganandra,
Author of Autobiography of a Yogi,
Om becomes the sacred word of hum of the Tibetans,
Amin of the Muslim,
Amen of Egyptian,
Greek,
Roman,
Jews and Christians.
Amen,
For example,
In Christianity is like the affirmation or connection to the divine,
An acknowledgement of the attunement and not just allowing your little human earthly desires or desires or plans,
But a connection to something higher.
So be free to open your heart.
Now phonetically,
Om is broken down into three different types of sounds.
There is an ah,
Which is felt deep in your base in your belly,
And ooh,
Which resonates through your chest,
And a mm,
Humming vibration sound felt in your mouth and your face.
So the vibrations are very much clearing a path and moving through your body.
So you will see the om symbol also in the crown chakra.
And the crown chakra is located in our head,
And it represents the connection with the divine.
So when we chant om,
It can be great to put our awareness in between our eyebrows where our third eye resides.
So now we are going to share three separate chants of om.
We will pause and connect to bring our awareness to the sensations and feelings in our body.
Because remember,
Om is not just a word that we understand intellectually,
It's something that we experience.
Please also remember that chanting is not singing.
It's not about picking the right tune or having a lovely sound.
It's about sharing that vibration out with confidence and clarity.
So please join me with your voice or with your ears.
We're going to unify our breath now with a big breath in all the way into your belly.
And a breath out.
We're going to breathe in now to one single chant of om.
Breathing in.
Now sit,
Feeling the vibrations pass through your body and allow your body to have that aha moment of understanding what the word om feels like.
We will chant again in a slow,
Prolonged way to feel into that word om again.
Breathing in and out to om.
Sit and observe.
One more time,
Slow,
Prolonged chant.
Inhale.
Bringing your awareness to your body,
To your chest,
To your face,
And to the crown of your head.
And to the crown of your head.
We're going to chant om now in a wave of three.
So inhaling,
Exhaling to om three times.
Please feel free to join me so that you can experience this,
Or please join in with your ears and try again at another time.
Let's breathe in and out to unify our breath one more time.
Breathing in and out.
Let's breathe in to om.
Observing how it sits in your body and how you feel.
Bring your awareness to your crown chakra,
That connection to the divine.
Chanting om can remind us of how powerful words can be in our body,
In our spirit,
And in our mind.
So please remember the power of the words in your mind,
Because what you think,
You then say,
And what you say,
You then create.
I'm going to close our practice with this reminder of the power of your words and extending this powerful tool of om.
Please use it if you feel stuck,
And especially if you feel like you're depleted and there's no more love left in the tank.
You can come back and connect to this practice and remind yourself that there is light,
There is love,
And you are one with all creation.
I invite you to take what you experienced today into your day and your life ahead.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me,
And I look forward to seeing you again.
