Can we talk about chanting? At my regular yoga studio, we begin classes with an Om or three. We finish with an Om or three and then shanti, shanti, shanti. It was embarrassing the first time. By my second class I’d fallen in love.
Some months ago, I heard Krishna Das for the first time. He’s a fabulous singer who has chosen a career in chanting rather than rock or pop. His beautiful face (is that what chanting does to you?) was in Yoga Journal recently with a short interview. I swoon when he sings.
For the last two days I’ve been in transit to Bangkok. It’s been exciting and completely disorienting. On the plane, when I’d just about had it with movies (three of them), torturous immobility, and gastrointestinal tract that has temporarily lost its bearings, chanting is what saved the day. I remembered that I had Krishna Das downloaded, listened for an hour, breathed, swooned, and became sane.
I read that chanting does something to us physiologically, that the placement of breath and tongue and sound changes us for the better. I believe it.
Do you? Is it a part of your practice? If it is, is it important to you? Has it changed you?
Thanks to yoga’s complexity, thanks to yoga music, and thanks to you for the conversation. Om shanti, shanti, shanti,
kristin
Dr. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario. Join her on the web, on Facebook, and on Twitter, and on iTunes.