Naad Yoga

THE YOGA OF SOUND By Russill Paul

Over the past twenty years, yoga and music – two powerful approaches to optimal health – have garnered enormous credibility in the western world. Health, we are fast realizing, is not simply the absence of disease: it is a condition of soul that invigorates our being, enabling us to derive the most from life. The yoga of sound is a highly specialized yogic system and methodology that brings together universal healing principles found in yoga and music into a unified approach. Requiring neither the extreme flexibility of yoga postures, nor the complexities of music, the yoga of sound combines the best of both these worlds.

Largely unknown in the West, yet developing alongside the popular form of hatha yoga that has swept the world, the yoga of sound is a broad term for a 3500-year old spiritual system that we can effectively use today to reduce stress, develop our health, and realize spiritual awakenings leading to enlightenment. It is no longer possible to ignore or downplay the role of spiritual practice upon our health and well-being. Healing and spiritual enlightenment are the two faces of the genuine happiness coin.

For thousands of years, Hindu spirituality, which has given the world Yoga, as well as Ayurveda – the world’s oldest medical system, has understood the profound effect that sound has on our well-being. Western medicine is rapidly rediscovering this today in employing sound and music to successfully compliment the treatment of varied health problems including Alzheimer’s, cancer, pre and post-surgical trauma, insomnia and even the dissolving of kidney stones. Overwhelming clinical studies verify that the application of sound therapies helps lower heart rate, reduce blood pressure, produce endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers), nourish DNA, and generate important proteins in body such as interleukin-1.

Vocal chanting is particularly effective because the palate and the human ear (much like the hand and foot in reflexology) function as blueprints for the body’s energy system. This is why, the use of our voice through increased dynamics in speech and chanting can stimulate a wide spectrum of energy releases in our body, contributing effectively to increased health and vitality. Consider the fact that the pituitary gland, which governs our immune system, is located only millimeters from our palate. Then there is the vagus nerve that services the heart, lungs and kidneys, which is located in the throat. Sound yoga deliberately uses sound, in the form of the highly refined syllables of the Sanskrit language, to manipulate the flow of energy in and through the body.

The yoga of sound, as a spiritual system, develops sound as a yoga path by integrating four powerful streams of sacred sound that evolved in India over four millennia – shabda yoga, shakti yoga, bhava yoga, and nada yoga. Shabda yoga is “word yoga” used to strengthen the mind. Shakti yoga is “energy yoga” that employs techniques of sound to build energy in the body and reinforce the nervous system. Bhava yoga is the devotional stream that addresses the needs of the heart, our emotional fulfillment. Nada yoga, the official term for sound yoga, essentially deals with the perception of subtle vibrations in the body and the development of meditation techniques involving deep listening. The other three streams – shabda, shakti and bhava – deal with mantras, and derive from the Vedic, Tantric and Bhakti traditions of Hinduism.

Mantras are spiritual pharmaceuticals that can be used to dissolve obstructions in the flow of our energy, boost the charge of our nervous system and connect our being to vast reservoirs of energy within ourselves. Recent discoveries in quantum physics reveal that the manifest universe is composed of vibrating frequencies of energy – sound, in other words. Mantras are constructed upon exactly the same notion – the individual letters of the Sanskrit alphabet being derived from the basic strands of energy vibrating at the core of our existence. This astounding parallel lends immense credibility to the crucial role that sonic technology – and particularly mantras – can play in determining a comprehensive approach to our health and well-being.

The simple joy in using one’s voice to pronounce certain sounds in rhythmic combinations and vary a few tones is enough to generate powerful chemicals in the body. Along with the use of mantras, the yoga of sound is a holistic approach to health and enlightenment that combines some simple postures, special types of breathing and certain body motions while using sound. Sound is closely associated with the soul — the part of us that reflects something deep and eternal. This is why most illnesses indicate soul issues, and why therefore both sound and music — the language of our soul — can help restore and increase our health.

In our fast-paced lives, dominated by deep-seated fears and the frequent adaptation to changes, we are all manipulated by varying aspects of sound vibrations through radio, television and constant noise everywhere. In response, we must become more knowledgeable of how sound affects us. We must also learn how to use sound, especially those we can produce by means of our own vocal chords, to optimize our health and make our world a better place. This is the yoga of sound.