The Yoga Girl
Okay gang, raise your hand if you know what Nada Yoga is. If you are reading this with your hand in air, then I applaud you. It's a new discovery for me whilst browsing Gaia, seeing it described as the yoga of sound, I just had to learn more. Although I've come across chanting before as well as pairing music to sessions, this seems to be entirely audio focused, so let's find out about it.
Nada yoga is simply the union of sound. This ranges in a few forms:
- To calm the mind, sitting in meditation, perhaps with an instrumental background piece. But actually listening to your own inner sounds, anahata, which are said to come from the central energy from within our bodies.
- With mantras for various things such as gaining optimism, confidence or luck.
- Chanting in order to connect with the spiritual higher powers.
In the article in which I first learned of Nada Yoga, the writer is a singer who essentially found her voice by learning to listen to what her body was telling her. Listen to the way in which the sound comes
out, sense any tension
in the body and try to relax it. Find the balance between relaxation and the strength. Really train your mind to observe the situation in a precise way instead of trying so hard and only focusing on the sound itself. Settle the mind - the more natural and at ease in yourself, the better the sound will be.
There is also a mention on how the world runs on vibrations and that sounds play a huge part in our
system, so much so that even
people can understand an
individual's health status
just by their voice.
For me, I'm not one for
meditation or mantras etc,
but I do feel a huge benefit
from sounds and also
silence when doing yoga.
During the more dynamic
routines, a great chill out
playlist works a treat to
keep me in the right
mindset. And for the
slower-paced sessions,
silence is golden,
de-cluttering
the mind and
being at peace.
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