I know this photo. I recognize it from the inside out.
When I gather with others at Soul Sanctuary to sing the chants from the kundalini yogic tradition, something happens to me. My breathing and heart rate slow, along with my thoughts. My mood brightens as the world within and around me feels complete. Resting within my body, so comfortable within this peaceful sensation, I’ve come home to myself.
I know this photo. I witness this harmony on the faces of those around me.
Opening my eyes while chanting, I see only beauty as some sit in stillness and others sing. Relaxed bodies with beatific expressions translating the harmony of the cosmos. Candlelight softening the outlines in the room as an experience of floating in the heavens captures my attention, inviting my eyes to close. So I may float.
I know this photo. I hear it translated as each person shares their experience.
Another layer of restoration emerges as each participant shares a personal experience. How an insight shifted a view of self, life, situations, or the world. Or the contrast of how they felt before and after chanting. The simple to profound nature of these comments never fails to delight and inform all who are present.
One hour singing prayers of devotion in a candlelit salon activates a stillness so deep that wholeness is rediscovered.
This is a beautiful research study: each participant a subject in their own experimental design. It begins with noticing how you feel, what is on your mind (active in your life), and identifying your intent for the evening. It ends with a very real awareness that something has shifted in your body, emotions, cognitions, and outlook.
This isn’t a formal research project. We’ll leave that to the scientists.
There is no requirement to follow a particular religion or spiritual belief system. It’s not that kind of exploration.
As researchers explore the effect of chanting upon the brain and nervous system, they suggest there are benefits to your wellbeing. As this field grows, I expect more findings and wider exploration.
Chanting has been found to effect the brain differently than prayer or meditation.
Some reported benefits include improvements in sleep, mood, blood pressure, and cognitive health. Reductions in symptoms of general stress, anxiety, and depression have been identified.
While it is encouraging that the study of chanting, prayer, or meditation is expanding, you can explore these benefits on your own.
Do your own research. Every brain, body, and life is different. Same for belief systems and preferences about how to connect with that which is meaningful. Yet, across this variety, the research suggests that when you chant, pray, or meditate, your brain, heart, and nervous system are positively affected.
How to proceed, then, with the idea of improvement through chanting or any spiritual/secular practice you choose?
Get curious. Try out different styles of chanting, mantra meditation, yoga, meditation, sound healing, or contemplation in nature. Discover what feels best for your body, mind, and mood. If something feels good, keep exploring. If it leaves you flat, let it go. No monks, fMRIs, or complex statistics required. You are in the N=1 research project with you as the only subject.
If you’re local to Soul Sanctuary and want to Chant in the Light Cathedrals, please join us.
We’ll be celebrating the light by chanting on November 17th and December 15th.
Sharing a practice with a group enhances the experience. It allows you to sink deeply within the activity of chanting until you become the energy of that sacred prayer. As this happens organically, you remember something at all levels of your being.
You belong to this cosmic harmony because you are the song of the universe.
If chanting isn’t for you, I hope you find that sweet spot that leaves you feeling as if that picture above captures your experience perfectly.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
Can chanting to contribute to brain health and cognitive decline? Researchers Dharma Singh Kalsa and Andrew Newberg outlined a new concept in medicine called Spiritual Fitness in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2021). Suggesting the importance of incorporating practices which address stress reduction, basic wellbeing, and psycho/spiritual wellbeing to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The authors report that the Kirtan Kriya (Kundalini yoga meditation involving chant and mudra)may have an effect on Alzheimer’s disease prevention as it’s been shown to mitigate effects chronic stress cognition, addresses memory loss, and supports spiritual and psychological wellbeing. Do your own research. Click here for instructions and search for a recording you can sing with.
Learn the one essential skill that allows you to face any challenge with confidence, sturdiness, and inner calm.
More than a technique. It’s a game changer.
ia Sophia has arrived. This “Way of Wisdom” offers an invitation to step upon a Living Spiral Path and discover a new understanding of what it means to embody the Mystical Feminine.
For the past fifteen years I have lived and taught within the Mystical Feminine. I have sat within many circles and immersions with women as we explored how to practically and powerfully engage Feminine wisdom in everyday life.
When my daughter was in eighth grade, she and her Girl Scout troop were beginning to explore ideas for their individual Silver Award projects.
Around our dinner table, we tossed around possibilities. Nothing landed. Nothing stirred real interest. So we encouraged her to do what we have always trusted. Stay open. Listen. Pay attention to what people are talking about in the world.
Driving into Soul Sanctuary last weekend, I noticed the trees were engaged in a wild dance.
I should have paid closer attention as I got out of the car, because the wind nearly took me with it. Walking to the door, I had to lean in and brace myself for a moment just to stay upright. The cold whipped through my clothes and found every uncovered space, sharing its bone-numbing chill.
We recently had a big snow in my neck of the woods.
Everyone was hunkered down. The fridge was full, chicken soup was bubbling on the stove, and my book pile sat patiently on the coffee table. As the snow covered the neighborhood and the plows dumped fresh mounds over our carefully shoveled walk, we took turns peeking outside.
As a kid, snowstorms were pure joy.
“I think we need to be friends.”
Those were the first words out of my mouth when I introduced myself to Rev. Hilda Covington. We’d just finished a county meeting of nonprofit mental health and social service agencies. She was the presenter that month. We almost didn’t meet because Hilda arrived an hour and a half late to a two-hour meeting.
Life has a rhythm. It speeds up and slows down according to mysterious forces.
Your personal rhythm dances with the celestial bodies, seasons of the year, developmental phases, and the pulse of your Soulful evolutionary process. Living in harmony with these rhythms is in many ways hard to understand as it is a complicated and deeply personal process. Your rhythm dances with everyone’s rhythm in the grand Cosmic Dance.
