Sound Healing through Mantra & Nada Yoga
I shied away from using the term "sound healing" to describe what I do for over a decade, because I thought most people associated it with gong baths or crystal bowls. (That's not the type of sound healing I do or teach.)
However, the mantra and nada yoga courses we offer very definitely explore sound healing training in its most essential sense! It's my opinion that sound that comes from our own unique instrument - our voices - is the core of any sound healing practice for self growth.
Your voice is a one-of-a-kind, highly refined, infinitely sensitive healing instrument!
It is the original vibrational healing therapy to sing, chant, hum, and vocalize!
Don't get me wrong... crystal bowls, gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks, wind, chimes, and other instruments tuned to healing frequencies can offer tremendous support. Attending a sound bath offered by a loving, sound healer near you can be a beautiful gift of self-care for your physical and subtle bodies. Sound healing is vast in its scope, and I love it all! (For example I took this photo myself at the Sacred Sound Stage we organize at the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh, at my friend Katie Fisher's sound healer's tuning fork class!)
But what about vibrational sound therapy using the instrument that is already inside of you? Is it worthwhile to tune your voice? To explore its capacities to heal and transform yourself, as well as share it, and inspire others?
I say YES! And following my "inner tuning fork" into the source of my own heart, which emerges as my voice vibration, has been my passionate study and practice for over 30 years of musical experience. I have explored sound healing for trauma with great success, using mantra and nada yoga techniques I learned from the great Indian traditions of sound yoga. There's simply nothing like the intimacy of my own voice, to elicit the nectar of communion with spirit and flood my heart with fullness.
The many professional sound healers who have taken our Heart of Sound mantra and nada yoga training courses agree, that our sound healing yoga certification trainings start where most sound healing courses end, entering the realm of the mystics through chant.
We delve deeply into traditional Indian yogic techniques that employ sound as the therapeutic tool. There are two main branches of sound healing, otherwise known as sound yoga, in the Indian tradition.
- One is through the subtle science of Sanskrit mantra training, and its 50 letters that correspond with the 50 petals on the chakras and the elements of creation. (SPOILER ALERT: Most people teaching sound healing and Sanskrit mantra at sound baths and kirtans are not pronouncing the sounds accurately, so they're not getting the precise vibrational healing sound effects they intend to!)
- The other branch is discovered through Nada yoga training, the nuanced, subtle sound science of the musical scales called rÄgas. They are matched to different seasons, and times of the day, they bring to life, moods and soundscapes of mystical and almost unimaginable, heavenscapes of musical, harmonious, rhythmic sound. Indian classical musicians spend entire lifetimes refining their communion through the musical notes, but there are some simpler practices for novice musicians to delve into, too.
About the terminology: This more musical branch is usually referred to as NÄda Yoga, though it would be fair to say that NÄda Yoga in its broader sense encompasses both mantra and musical branches.
Both of these branches of sound healing, or the yoga of sound, are worthy of lifetimes of study.
I truly feel that embracing the rich tradition of sound yoga techniques should be high on any sound healer or sound bath practitioner's agenda.
So I'm not shy to use the term sound healing anymore... At the request of my gurus to teach the transformational power of sound to the world, I have put together a series of yoga and mantra training courses that provide a solid foundation, an entry point into these profoundly healing sound methods.They've collaborated with me and informed our approach, and the Heart of Sound supports the perpetuation of their lineages into the future. It is our great honor to present to you an invitation into the full power of love through sacred sound!
More on our Sound Healing Training Courses utilizing Sanskrit Mantra & Nada Yoga
Designed in collaboration with esteemed educators with backgrounds in both Western academic pedagogy and Indian mouth-to-ear pedagogy, the Heart of Sound curriculum has been proven to be extremely effective in cultivating a transformative sound healing practice for personal growth and self-care. The 200 & 500 hour teacher training tracks have also produced, highly competent, reverent, and culturally sensitive chant leaders from over 60 countries since inception in 2013.
As one internationally respected sound healing trainer says…
"Anandra has created an exceptional sound healing training course that fills a huge gap in the sound healing world with deep integrity, profound knowledge, attention to detail, and a spirit of generosity and warmth that resonates throughout all of the training materials. I highly recommend, any one interested in advanced sound healing, take advantage of the opportunity to do the Heart of Sound course."
The online class in person via zoom, or physical retreats format is brilliant, and incredibly effective!
You are welcome to browse our extensive selection of sound healing yoga certification courses and get in touch with us to see which is right for you!
