
Dear Friends
Pretty much 20 years ago I chanted my first sacred chant in Sanskrit in a little basement underneath a library in London, with a group of sweet souls who loved to sing.
I felt like I had come home......spiritually and musically!
There is something so very uniquely powerful about singing itself. We connect deeply to our breath, increase oxygen flow, vibrate the vagas nerve through sonic resonance (which is extremely soothing to the parasympathetic nervous system), and connect to our own unique creative voice.
When we begin to add sacred mantras or songs of spirit into the mix, we connect to a powerful and ancient wisdom inside ourselves that reminds us of who we truly are - LOVE - and that we are not separate beings but connected to everything in the Universe. In other words, we discover the truth of our Oneness, and this can feel deeply healing, nourishing and re-energizing. In Sanskrit, the word 'mantra' comes from two roots, 'manas', meaning 'mind' and 'trai" meaning 'freedom'. So the word mantra literally means 'freedom from mind'. We all know how it goes when our mind gets anxious and worries and frets over and over again about stuff....we disappear down the proverbial rabbit hole, with various ill effects on the body eventually - lowered immunity, stomach or digestive issues, tension in the body that leads to headaches etc. Chanting sacred mantra literally supports us to create freedom from our overactive mind, dropping us down into the body, breath and heart. This is why at the end of a chant we feel so energized and yet peaceful - finding ourselves in a deeply meditative state after each chant, or feeling elation, joy and fresh energy running through the system. We quite literally drop the density in the energy field, and feel lighter, more open in the heartspace, and more connected in compassion to ourselves and those around us and in our lives.
In the chant events that I offer with Jack Lee (a consummate musician who accompanies our chanting on acoustic and Hawaiian slide guitar), we sing from many different spiritual traditions to honor the Oneness that we all are in essence. There are many paths up the sacred mountain (Jesus said, "In my Father's House there are many mansions"), and we tend to share very simple chants of a few words, so they are easy to learn through the musical repetition we share together as we sing as a tribe. We sing Sanskrit mantras, Hebrew prayers, Judeo-Christian songs of spirit or simple chants in English that have us repeating an affirmation of love or peace over and over again to remind ourselves that we are not, in essence, those negative thoughts we have about ourselves, but pure Love - the fabric of the Universe, and a unique but connected part of this.
So do join us! You don't have to be an expert singer, we chant together, so no-one is 'spotlit'. Come and experience for yourself the power of singing together in sacred tribe. This month (September) we have an outdoor summer chant coming up! Sign up for my e-blast on this website for monthly updates for this and all events.
Blessings
Stella xxx
Comments