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sound yoga, Siddhi Shakti

The Healing Power of Sound Yoga and Humming: Boosting Nasal Nitric Oxide for Better Health

The ancient practice of sound yoga or nāda yoga is a deeply transcendant and transformational art that can connect us to profound levels of deep soul connection.

This article focuses on one element of the practice, exploring how sound yoga and humming, and the production of sounds that generate vibration through the nasal region, results in the stimulation of nasal nitric oxide production.

This simple and powerful holistic practice has many health benefits. It can support us to calm the mind but also has profound physiological effects enhancing well-being.

What is Sound Yoga?

Sound yoga, also known as nāda yoga, is the practice of using sound vibrations as a form of meditation, inner connection and healing. A practice might involve the focus and inner attunement to specific sounds, tones, or vibrations to harmonise the body and mind, and to enliven our spirit. These sounds can be in the form of music, mantras, or through vibrations such as humming.

The Science Behind Humming and Nitric Oxide Production

Nitric oxide is a molecule produced in the body, particularly in the nasal passages. It plays a key role in various physiological processes, including vasodilation, immune function, and neurotransmission. One of the most remarkable aspects of nitric oxide is its ability to dilate blood vessels, improving blood flow and oxygen delivery throughout the body.

Humming, as it turns out, is a powerful way to stimulate the production of nasal nitric oxide. Research has shown that humming increases the resonance in the airways, leading to a significant increase in nitric oxide levels. A study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine[i] found that humming can increase nasal nitric oxide levels by 15 to 20 times compared to quiet breathing.

Ancient Technology

Unsurprisingly this practice has been known by ancient yogis, and cultivated through the practice of Bhramari prāṇāyāma – the buzzing bee breath. It’s inbuilt into ancient sound technology. For example, when we chant the Sanskrit sound Oṁ, we are also activating the production of vibrations through the nasal region, through the ‘m’ in that sound.

How Does This Benefit Your Health?

  1. Improved Respiratory Function
    Nitric oxide has antimicrobial properties that help to neutralize pathogens in the respiratory system. By boosting nitric oxide levels through humming, you can support your body’s natural defense against infections and improve overall respiratory health.
  2. Enhanced Circulation
     The vasodilating effect of nitric oxide leads to improved blood flow, which can enhance cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, and increase oxygen delivery to tissues. This can be particularly beneficial for individuals with conditions like hypertension or those seeking to improve athletic performance.
  3. Boosted Immune System
    Nitric oxide is a critical component of the immune response. It helps to modulate the immune system, reducing inflammation and supporting the body’s ability to fight off infections and diseases.
  4. Stress Reduction and Mental Clarity
    Sound yoga, including humming, is inherently calming. The vibrations created during humming can stimulate the vagus nerve, promoting relaxation and reducing stress. This can lead to improved mental clarity, better sleep, and a greater sense of well-being.
  5. Support for Sinus Health
    Humming creates vibrations in the sinuses, which can help to clear mucus and improve sinus drainage. This can be particularly beneficial for those who suffer from chronic sinus issues or allergies.


How to Incorporate Humming into Your Daily Routine

Incorporating humming into your daily routine is simple and can be done almost anywhere. Here’s a basic guide to get started:

  1. Find A Quiet Space
    Start by finding a quiet, comfortable space where you can sit or lie down without distractions.
  2. Focus On Your Breath
    Take a few deep breaths to centre yourself and bring your attention to your breathing.
  3. Begin Humming
    Close your mouth, lips gently together, have the tongue nice and relaxed on the floor of your mouth. Produce a gentle ‘mmm’ sound on the exhalation. It’s important to breathe through the nose. Focus on the vibration in your nasal passages. You can hum for a few minutes or as long as you feel comfortable. Even 5 minutes can support an inner shift.
  4. Experiment With Different Tones
    You can experiment with different tones or pitches to see what feels best for you. Lower tones may create a more grounding vibration, while higher tones may feel lighter and more energizing.
  5. Consider Using A Drone To Support Your Practice
    The use of a bed of sound can support you to feel more comfortable in the practice and to help us drop into a more meditative and inwards state. You can find a tānpūrā drone in G# to support your practice in the online shop.
  6. Combine With Other Practices
    Consider incorporating humming into your yoga or meditation practice for a more comprehensive experience. You can also try humming in combination with specific yoga poses that open the chest and throat.

Online Sound Yoga Course

If you’d some support to cultivate your own practice, have a look at this video course.


Final Thoughts

The practice of sound yoga and humming offers a simple yet powerful way to enhance your health and well-being. By stimulating the production of nasal nitric oxide, humming can improve respiratory function, circulation, immune response, and mental clarity. Whether you’re a seasoned yogi or new to holistic practices, incorporating humming into your daily routine can provide profound benefits for your body and mind. So, take a deep breath, hum a little, and let the healing vibrations of sound yoga transform your health.
[i] Citation:

Weitzberg, E., & Lundberg, J. O. (2002). Humming greatly increases nasal nitric oxide. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 166(2), 144-145. DOI: 10.1164/rccm.2202021. Link

 

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Energy, Sound, Mantra to Shape Our Reality
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Cymatics: Sound, Vibrations, Thoughts, Shaping Reality

Have you ever wondered if sound could be visualised? The mesmerising world of cymatics demonstrates how every note, every beat, and every sound can create beautiful, intricate patterns.

What is Cymatics?

Cymatics is the study of visible sound vibration and its patterns. The term comes from the Greek word “kyma,” meaning wave, and was popularized by Swiss medical doctor and natural scientist Hans Jenny in the 1960s. By placing substances like sand or water on a vibrating plate and using specific frequencies, Jenny demonstrated that sound could produce complex geometric patterns.

How Cymatic Patterns are Created

Imagine a thin layer of sand on a metal plate connected to a frequency generator. As the frequency changes, the sand arranges itself into different patterns. Higher frequencies typically produce more intricate designs. The same can be done with water, where sound waves create dynamic, ever-changing shapes on the water’s surface.

Check out these YouTube videos from Nigel Stanford, Go Experimental and The Amazing Resonance Experiment for amazing visual representations of cymatic patterns created with different frequencies, and the effect of coming into resonance.

Masaru Emoto: The Hidden Messages in Water

Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto researched the effect of vibrational energy by exploring its effects on water. Emoto believed that human consciousness could affect the molecular structure of water. He conducted experiments where he exposed water to different words, music, and even thoughts, then froze the water and photographed the resulting crystals.

Positive words like “love” and “gratitude” produced beautiful, symmetrical crystals, while negative words like “hate” resulted in distorted, chaotic shapes. Although Emoto’s work has been met with skepticism and calls for more rigorous scientific methods, it has sparked a fascinating discussion about the potential impact of our thoughts and environment on the world around us.

You can see the stunning images of the water crystals of Masaru Emoto’s work on his website.

Veda Austin: Continuing the Legacy

Building on Emoto’s work, Veda Austin has delved deeper into the study of water and its response to external stimuli. Austin focuses on the idea that water has a “memory” and can store information. Her experiments often involve photographing the shapes that water forms after being exposed to various stimuli, from words to music to environmental factors.

Austin’s work emphasizes the beauty and complexity of water’s responses, and her photographs reveal intricate patterns and shapes that are both aesthetically pleasing and thought-provoking. Her research suggests a profound connection between water, consciousness, and the vibrational energies around us.

For a glimpse into Veda Austin’s fascinating research, check out her website her Instagram for interesting pics of her water experiments and regular updates and images of her work.

Chanting and Its Effects on Our Energy Patterns

Chanting, a practice found in many spiritual traditions, is known to create vibrations that can influence our energy patterns. When we chant, we produce specific frequencies that resonate with our body and mind, creating a harmonizing effect, and bring us into attunement and alignment with uplifting cosmic forces.

Cymatics, along with the work of Emoto and Austin, demonstrates this link beautifully. By visualizing the patterns created by different chants, we can see how certain sounds produce harmonious, symmetrical designs, while others may result in more chaotic patterns. This visual evidence supports the idea that chanting can help balance our energy, promote healing, and foster a sense of well-being.

These studies offer a visual representation of the invisible world of sound and energy, opening our eyes to the potential connections between physical phenomena and our emotional and mental states.

Exploring these patterns invites us to consider the unseen forces that shape our world and the impact of our thoughts, words, and actions on our environment. Whether you’re a scientist, artist, or simply a curious mind, the world of cymatics offers a beautiful, mysterious window into the hidden messages of our universe.

Conclusion

Cymatic patterns provide a captivating glimpse into the world of sound and vibration. Through the pioneering work of Hans Jenny, Masaru Emoto, and Veda Austin, we are reminded of the profound interconnectedness of all things and the potential power of our consciousness. Whether you’re inspired to experiment with cymatics yourself or simply enjoy the stunning visuals, this field can expand our understanding of the unseen forces at play in our world.

Cymatics and the research into the consciousness of water, is  a reminder that our thoughts, words, actions and energy all have an effect and are shaping our experiences.

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Further Reading, Exploration & Video

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Sound Yoga for Injury Recovery

Sound Yoga for Injury Recovery

I have had the amazing opportunity to facilitate regular online sound yoga (nāda) sessions for My Social Support Network (MSSN). It’s a Psychosocial Occupational Rehabilitation Specialist service that focuses on social recovery to support return to community, work and transition to retirement, aimed at better psychosocial health, community participation, and/or work outcomes.

In the article link below, MSSN founder Dr Caroline Howe, shares her insights about the results of the weekly online sound yoga sessions I’ve been facilitating with the network.

I’ve witnessed first hand how one participant in particular with a severe physiological injury, has literally allowed more light into his life. When I first met him not even 6 months ago, he was sitting in a dark house and I could barely make him out on the Zoom call, withdrawn and depressed. Last week, he was laughing during the session, sitting in a light filled room, and the shift in his energy was palpable. I’m told that these sessions are the only thing he’s been able to really engage with. Amazing!

I hope you enjoy Dr Caroline’s article on Sound Yoga, vagal tone and stress response. Click here to read.

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Siddhi Shakti, Mantra, Sound of the Soul

Yoga of Sound and Mantra Meditation

At our essence we are frequencies of light and sound. Rather than feeling powerless when buffeted by life’s inevitable twists, we can choose to consciously hold ourselves in an internal space of strength, cultivating inner calm and transforming our energy through the power of high vibrational sound.

Mantra Meditation

Every thought, word and emotion impacts our vibration and creates our world. Mantra gives us a safe and positive means to focus our mind, to use it as a tool for conscious creation, rather than reaction. It’s a mechanism for focussing our thoughts, mind and energy to align with uplifting energy, the essence of the energy of creation, bringing greater alignment between mind, body and spirit.

The Power of the Sacred Sanskrit Sounds

The sacred sounds of Sanskrit hold transformational power. They attune us to cosmic frequencies and are a means of activating our bodies through all the levels of our being. Our body is in essence a supercomputer. Using the gifts of mantra, breath, focus of energy and intention, and precision in the formulation of mantric sounds including an awareness of the five mouth placements and the specific duration for each of the sounds, we can engage our body of sound and awaken to more the fullness and essence of our true nature.

“The petals of the chakras represent an unfoldment of primal sound through the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. The six lower chakras contain a total of fifty petals, each of which relates to one of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. This is the “garland of letters” that shows the vibratory frequencies of the chakras. The thousand petal lotus or crown chakra indicates all possible sound combinations of these fifty letters.” ~ Dr David Frawley, Mantra Yoga and Primal Sounds.

Yoga of Sound (Nāda Yoga)

Sacred and energised sound filled with love, intent and a high vibration can bring deep change, healing and transformation. The practice of nāda yoga is a means of cultivating the essence of listening awareness. Through the use of sound, tone and rhythm we elevate our vibration and open to higher states of consciousness. It’s a journey within, through sound into the silence, the space and essence of our vast and true eternal nature.

Group Classes – Yoga of Sound & Mantra Meditation

Check the event calendar for yoga of sound and mantra meditation experiences online. It’s a great opportunity to relax, reset and lift your vibe. Offered by donation, please register online to receive the Zoom link.

Private Sessions

I offer private sessions online. If you’re keen to establish a mantra practice, or looking to take it to the next level through refinement of the sounds (which will supercharge your experience of the energy), I’d love to work with you. You can book with me for an individual session or a series of 4, scheduled over 40 days via Zoom. This will give us the opportunity to:
• Determine an appropriate mantra to support you
• Learn the key mouth placements, correct pronunciation, timing and svara (pitch)
• Understand the meaning and origins of the mantra
• Connection, insights and support over 40 days.

Insight Timer Meditation

Go within, ‘Into the Silence’ on Insight Timer to support your meditation practice. If you join the mailing list for good vibes to your inbox, you’ll receive a link to download the mp3 file.

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Siddhi Shakti Kirtan, Sacred Music, Sound Healing

Transformation Through The Power Of Healing Sound

The use of sound, particularly sacred and energised sound, filled with love, intent and a high vibration, can help us effect deep change, healing and transformation. On a physical level it can support stress reduction. Spiritually, it helps us expand our hearts, lift our spirit, connect with others, and align our resonance and frequency to more positive attributes, bringing greater alignment between mind, body and spirit.

The yoga of sound: Nāda and bhakti yoga

Be guided in the formation of specific vocal toning sounds that have a number of health and wellness benefits. Through these sounds we can access deeper states of meditation, connect to the power of our authentic resonance and the greater field that connects all life.

The benefits

  • Destress – shift from the sympathetic into the parasympathetic nervous system
  • Stimulate the release of nitric oxide – promoting blood flow, supporting the lymphatic system, reduced blood pressure and heart rate, and enhancing the immune system
  • Induce calm, enhance sleep
  • Still your mind with mantra meditation and meditative voice exercises
  • Utilise breathing techniques and simple body movements to support relaxation
  • Connect with your authentic and unique sound resonance and vibration
  • Lift your resting state of feeling through the use of high vibration sound frequencies
  • Align more fully with all parts of your being – body, mind and spirit
  • Cultivate listening awareness
  • Express your creative essence and feel the empowerment that comes from expressing your unique sound
  • Experience vocal practices to enhance fluidity, clarity and resonance in your sound
  • Share connection, community and bonding
  • Go beyond barriers of race, gender or age
  • Connect with the greater field that connects all of life

Chant experiences – kīrtan

Another powerful means of transforming and healing with sound and sacred music is through kīrtan, or call-and-response chanting. Group chant experiences are not only joyful and community connecting, but extremely powerful as a deep means of chanting our inner resonance and lifting our energy and vibration. These sessions are working amazingly well online in the current climate of social distancing.

A professional tailored experience for you

I customise sound and energy wellness sessions suit your requirements, time frame and audience. It’s an amazing way to build connection and community, and facilitate deep transformation, and works well for:

  • Conferences, workshops, seminars, functions
  • Team building, leadership days, retreats
  • Wellness, stress reduction, mentoring programs
  • Yoga studios, community events, festivals
  • Private or group sessions

Contact me

Find out more.

 

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Mantra, a doorway to the eternal self_SiddhiShakti

Mantra As Mind Medicine

Mantra, the use of sacred sound, is a tool for the mind, heart and soul, a vehicle for connecting us with our eternal nature, beyond the limitations and noise of the mind.

Throughout the ages across different traditions and varied cultures, people have connected through sound.

Sound, specifically music, can transcend class, language and social barriers, enliven the body and exalt the spirit.

The use of specific sounds, such as Sanskrit, a language of energy and vibration, perceived by ancient ‘seers’, attunes us, vibrational beings, to the qualities of nature and the cosmos.

We are slowed down sound and light waves, a walking bundle of frequencies tuned to the cosmos.
Albert Einstein

Chanting specific sounds such as bīja (seed) syllables can activate subtle parts of our unseen anatomy. They don’t translate into a literal meaning but can create peace and balance in the body and mind.

Emerging studies are showing the positive outcomes from the use of these sounds. Positive impacts include decreasing stress on psychological and physiological systems, improving social connection and reducing anxiety and depression.

A sound such as Oṁ, half vowel and half nasal, has the ‘feel good’ effect of releasing endorphins into the body, as well as activating delta waves that help to calm us. Delta waves are generated in deepest meditation and dreamless sleep and are important for healing and regeneration. So in one sound, there is the potential to manage the physical and mental body.

Reality consists of vibration, which in essence is sound.
Dr David Frawley

My own story has been an amazing journey of personal transformation through the use of sacred mantra and sound – nāda yoga . It is the sharing of a great ‘secret super power’ giving us the capacity to direct our energy and be more conscious in how we can actively engage in managing our vibration. Connect with me if you’d like find out more.

Article references
Sound Medicine: Dr Kulreet Chaudry
SMH: The power of om: How chanting can help your stress and sleep
ABC: Chanting Is An Ancient Practice with Mental Health Effects That Might Apply To Our Busy Lives
Well Being: Find Out the Power of Mantra
Gaia: Benefits of Chanting
Psychology Today: The Healing Power of Sound As Meditation

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Corporate Chant Experience, Siddhi Shakti

Corporate Chant: Rock Your Wellness World!

It’s the next wave in wellness, following on from the physical based forms of yogāsna that have been so widely embraced by the West in recent decades. The benefits of a group facilitated sound immersion and chant experience are myriad, but here are a few of my personal favourites. These sessions are a fabulous means of supporting wellbeing initiatives in workplaces with many benefits:

Shift from fight or flight mode

It’s an amazing practice to alter your brain chemistry and shift you from the sympathetic into the parasympathetic nervous system. Destress, release endorphins into your system and relax.

Experience meditation and healing

We use the sound experience to connect with more our the essence of our true nature. Science tells us that everything is vibration, including us, which we can affect and alter through the use of guided and intentional sound frequency.

Inclusive

Anyone can participate. If there is some reason you’re not comfortable making sound, you can simply sit and absorb the healing vibrations and use it as a means to experience a meditative state.

Community building and engagement

The energy and vibe is palpable as the group comes together to connect in the energy of the experience.

Fun

Yes, it actually is. Most people walk out feeling lighter and happier.

You’re not going to crack a sweat

No need for active wear, unless you’d really like to 😂.

July 2020 update

I recently facilitated some simple sound based practices for the online Being Superhuman Healing Series organised by the Being More Human agency. Why not explore this for your community or workplace?

Get in touch if you’d like to rock your world with a guided yoga of sound and chant experience.

 

photo credit: Noni Carroll Photography

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