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Resilience Recipe: Magic Mung Soup
Buying a Harmonium: Where, How, and What to Look Out For!
Almost no two harmoniums are alike! Your harmonium might become your new best friend for your chanting practice, and is an essential if you want dive deep into nada yoga training to learn to lead Sanskrit mantra chanting or kirtan, but they can also be tricky to buy. I'll show you pictures of all of the different types of harmoniums, and give you experienced, professional harmonium buying advice!
First of all... Do I really need a harmonium? Why would I want a harmonium?
Over the past 15 years of teaching sound healing yoga in India and online, I offer a lot of optio...
Is the Yoga of Sound Relevant for Today's World?
Between pandemic-related uncertainty,Ā the deep unraveling of the racist patriarchal status quo through the #BLM and #metoo movements, the rise of "conspirituality" dividing the global wellness community, and more... we're in an unprecedented opportunity to cultivate a musical response.
Holding an empathetic space of deep listening in the midst of life's dissonant tension points might just be the superpower of the decade!
At a time when most of us are undergoing profound change, our Heart of Sound family is applying the sound-based yoga skills right where they count m...
Sleep Mantra for Kids (and Anxious Adults)
āDear Anandra, can I have my own mantra please. Can my mantra be for lots of sleep. I have a hard time falling asleep. And so I can take a nap if Iām tired.ā
š¶šµš¶šµš¶
(From Vida, age 7, former magician, currently exploring meditation)
Yes Vida, and adults who are also anxious and tired. Here is one mantra you can sing, and one you can say silently when you donāt feel like singing. Love you. š
Looking for a mantra for sleep? Here's a simple mantra practice children and adults can do to help calm down and fall asleep! Counting sheep is great, but chanting the vibrational he...
How do I find a good mantra teacher?
If youāre looking to learn Sanskrit mantra, I highly recommend studying with someone who reads and writes in Devanagari (the script of Sanskrit). Because the letter forms in Devanagari are different for different tongue placements and aspirated/non-aspirated letters, it would indicate that the teacher is making the distinctions.
At the least, youāll want to learn from someone who uses diacritical marks in the transliteration system when teaching (dots under and above certain consonants, and dashes above certain vowels, as in the example above). If youāre not sure whic...
Science of Sound & Mantra Healing: A Research Resource Guide
When I read the research summaries offered in the links below, my personal experience corroborates a resounding āYES!ā to the many benefits they describe. Iām grateful to have discovered the healing effects of sound, singing, mantra, group singing, and prayer long before medical science confirmed their value, and Iām sure itās just the beginning. Many medical experts and visionaries agree that sound is the medicine of the future, as it has been an integral part of healing and rejuvenation in Ayurveda for millennia.
Links Connecting Science & Medicine to Sound & Mantra Y...
Sanskrit, Mantra & Harmonium Resource List
After reading my free e-book on mantra yoga or taking one of my mantra courses, youāve probably decided you want to make precise Sanskrit a part of your chanting practice. Then what!? MOST of the mantra information online is frustratingly not accurate.
Here is a precious list of resources Iāve collected for you. Over the years this post has become a catch-all for other commonly asked questions, like "How do I type in transliterated Sanskrit?" and "What harmoniums do you recommend?" We'll keep updating it for you as we can.
SANSKRIT RESOURCES
Hereās a handy link to th...
3 Easy Steps to Better Sanskrit Mantra Pronunciation
If you don't know what you don't know, how can you learn?
This list is far from exhaustive, but can point you in the direction of learning more about mantras and their beautiful Sanskrit sounds. Since mispronunciation of mantra is widespread, the first step for most yogÄsana teachers, mantra lovers, and kÄ«rtan leaders is to learn where our own blind spots are.
I LOVE helping people learn Sanskrit pronunciation - not because I want to be the "Sanskrit Police" but because I want mantra lovers, sound healers, people offering sound bath trainings, and folks learning to l...
The Sound Body: Remembering Wholeness through NÄda Yoga
Musings on the practical transformation I've experienced through my sound-based yoga practice... written while gazing out at the HimÄlayan range during a 2017 pilgrimage.
Ordinarily our awareness is limited to the sensations within the body. However, when we consciously enter sound, our awareness expands into the space within and surrounding our physical body. This vibratory sphere becomes our āsound body,ā if you will, and gives us a visceral sense of transcendence. The dimensional quality is multi-directional; we can go within, to the point of emergence of sound. We...
Cultural Appropriation: Let's Learn a New Way Together
This post has been long-gestating within me, as Iāve grappled with my own deeply seated belief systems about āwho I am,ā and what rights I have to teach mantra and nÄda yoga as a non-Indian white woman. My own story of horrifying mistakes and the long road Iām walking on towards integrity aside (Iāll tell it later), Iād like to offer this list of resources right away. (Scroll down to straight to it.) Itās a work in progress, coming home to truthā¦ and the first step is educating ourselves so we can begin to have the difficult conversations within ourselves.
Many of the...
