Practice the OM mantra

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I would like people here to do a small Yogic test. I would like you to do a meditation with the OM Mantra, however I want you to pronounce the OM sound as ONG(this is the correct pronounication in Kriya Yoga and Tantra) Sit up straight with your spine erect, take a deep breath in(full yogic breath is filling the abdomen, ribs and lungs) and pronounce the ONG sound out loud and draw it out as long as you can to get a sound similar to OOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG(towards the end the G sound becomes silent) Then without pause breath in deeply again and repeat. Repeat this for 10 min.

I have done this practice with many of my friends and we have found it to be very powerful. It produces an incredible feeling of lightness, coolness and acute sensory perception at the end. Not only that, but it produces a great vibration all around you that is palpable to everybody there.

I wonder if others get similar results here.

#2

I did it! (I can’t believe I have that much time on my hands lol)

#3

There was some research a few years back on the meditations associated with Transcendental Meditation. And I believe the finding were that the effects came from the practice irrespective of the mantra itself. So I’d be fascinated whether chanting YOM for ten minutes would have a similar effect. And yes, I am serious.

#4

Yes it would be interesting to add a control and try a different mantra to see whether the sound quality produces different effects. However, YOM is too close OM, to qualify as a valid control. Instead try POT and see if it produces any difference.

I think sound quality does make a difference. There are studies showing that vowel sounds elicit different effects on our mind and physiology than consonants do.

#5

[QUOTE=YogiAdam;37692]I did it! (I can’t believe I have that much time on my hands lol)[/QUOTE]

Any noticable effects?

#6

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;37699]Any noticable effects?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it’s like when your stressed so you take three deep breathes. Sort of calmer.

#7

Cool Yogiadam. This is exactly one of the main effects we have all found of this practice. It produces a very calming effect. The reason for this is a combination of deep breathing, rhymic breathing and the resonance of the sound itself.

I just wanted to say I almost forgot to add that you should all have your eyes closed during meditation. Try to have your focus between your eye brows(as if you are looking straight) You may notice additional effects like occasional changing of colours behind closed eyes and a deepening of your field of vision. Sometimes it is even possible to lose all spatial awareness and feel as if you have merged into the darkness behind your closed eyes. I have at times gone very very deep using this meditation. One interesting effect is the feeling as if you are moving deeper and deeper into the space behind your closed eyes or a feeling of expanding in the space.

#8

I also did it. I felt as if all my negative thoughts are going out of mind and positive thoughts are getting in!

Thanks Surya Deva for telling the proper way of practicing the Om Mantra.

#9

[QUOTE=namasteyoga;37706]I also did it. I felt as if all my negative thoughts are going out of mind and positive thoughts are getting in!

Thanks Surya Deva for telling the proper way of practicing the Om Mantra.[/QUOTE]

It is funny you should say this, this is exactly what a few mantras in the Rig Veda says addressed to Vayu, the deva of Prana and Indra, the deva of Buddhi.

O Vayu, the vital breath, let those weak and decaying thoughts, unsuitable to be expressed be purified, and let that are increase our knowledge be produced. Rig 1.2.2

Of the produced thoughts, let the negative ones vanish and let the bright and positive ones be moved by you(Indra) to to move out everywhere. Let these float on like the light of the dawn. Rig 1.3.8

The Vedas are revealing a very key secret here and that is how the vital breath churns the ocean of our mind, it begins to transmute the toxicity of our negative thoughts which fall back into our unconscious mind, and leaves behind positive thoughts to enoble us. Later the Vedas say that the negative thoughts that fall back into the ocean of the mind, later emerge purified.

This is the real meaning of the old Puranic story of the Devas and the Asuras churning the ocean to produce the nectar of ambrosia(soma)

It attests to how powerful the practice of pranayama(in this exercise it was accompanied with mantra) is and how if we do it regularly we will transmute our current ignorant and negative mind into a noble, wise and positive mind.

#10

Dear Surya Deva,

I need help from you - after reading your responses from this thread - can you guide me on the Sequence of Pranayama?
I am a Yoga follower but due to work pressures have not been able to practice is regularly.
I have begun my practice once again from this month and i am little confused as to what is the sequence i should follow to do Pranayama…
Can you help me in this?

#11

A few years ago at a university in south India, I participated in a research project that asked us all to sit together in a room and fill out a survey. the survey was about fifty questions long, and had us identify on a scale of most to least, or definitely to not-at-all, how we felt. It assessed our feelings of anxiety, confidence, relaxation, worry, fear, joy, excitedness…

And then we all closed our eyes, covered them with our palms, and did Bhrmani breathing, or bee breathing - which is a closed mouth humming with the tongue slightly behind the back of the teeth. A teacher led us through the practice, but we were to breath at our own rates, so that the humming of those around us began to waver in length and eventually the room of fifty people was filled with everyone’s individual humming noise. At the end, we were asked to re-take this survey.

Having drank two cups of sugary tea prior to the experiment, I noticed immediately afterward how much calmer and relaxed I was. Almost all of my answers on the second survey changed, and I no longer felt any of the jittery body / jumping mind symptoms of caffeine that I had previously taken as a natural state. It was a truly incredible experience. When I am stressed out I take time out to practice this where available, because even without 49 other people, the results are equally amazing.

#12

[QUOTE=Purva;37846]Dear Surya Deva,

I need help from you - after reading your responses from this thread - can you guide me on the Sequence of Pranayama?
I am a Yoga follower but due to work pressures have not been able to practice is regularly.
I have begun my practice once again from this month and i am little confused as to what is the sequence i should follow to do Pranayama…
Can you help me in this?[/QUOTE]

Sure

The sequence I follow is I begin my practice with the above exercise of OM mantra chanting with eyes closed. After 10-15 min the practice gets very deep. Try to chant the OM mantra in your lowest pitch as it produces the most resonance.

I then begin spinal breathing pranayama by doing 10-15 min of simply slow and deep breathing. You inhale deeply and slowly, as if you are pulling the breath from the base of the spine into the point between your eyebrows. You may even visualise a hollow energy tube through which a white light is travelling up from the base of the spine to the eyebrow centre.Then you hold it there it as long as is comfortable and then slowly exhale. Then you hold again for as long as is comfortable. Then repeat

Inhale - hold - exhale - hold

It is the periods of retention where the magic is actually happening.

I then move onto Nadi Shodana(alternate nostril breathing) which I do for 10-15 min. This is done by breathing in through one of your nostrils(I begin with right) and closing of the other with your thumb or middle finger. You breathe in and again try to feel like your breath is going from the base of your spine and into your eyebrow centre. Now close both nostrils with both fingers. You hold for as long as is comfortable. Then you exahle for twice the count of the inhale through the other nostril.(I have heard differing ratios though. Some breath out for the same duration as they inhaled. Others at twice the duration. I prefer the latter) Now switch nostrils and repeat.

If you begin with right: Close left nostril - inhale right - close both nostrils and hold - exhale left * 2 duration - Close right nostril - inhale left - close both nostrils and hold - exhale right * 2 duration

I finally end with 10-15 min of Navi Kriya pranayama. This is done by breathing out suddenly through your nose and as you breath out your pump your stomach in forcibly. The next breath will come automatically. Everytime you pump out mentally say OM.

This is an incredibly powerful pranayama and very energizing. It powers up the Nabhi chakra(solar plexus chakra) Ideally, you should it do quite rapidly, but you should do it at a pace that is comfortable, otherwise you are at risk of hyperventilating.

Overall that is 40-50 min of Pranayama. At the end your entire body and mind will feel like it is buzzing with energy and a great sense of calm will pervade you. Now simply sit for 30 min in meditation mentally chanting a mantra, watching the breath or watching the silence.

Regular practice will produce tremendous mental and spiritual benefits.

#13

Thanks so much - i think this is very helpful.
let me begin and i will be with you with my feedback:)

#14

Whats really the differences between the OM chant (or ONG chant) and Bumble bee breath?

#15

Nicos,

In Vedic chanting tradition, OM is pronounced this way around 3/4 O and 1/4 M, the nasalized M is never as long or longer than O. Actually you can hear at times people chanting with very long M and there is sometimes something like tamas and “navel gazing” attitude in it (not always of course).

Moreover OM is sung on the same note symbolizing the perennial characteristic of Brahman. The realm of sound (shabda) is considered to be close to the gods as empirically experienced by the Rishis as more subtle than smell, taste, form and touch, it is associated with space (akasha, vyoman). OM is always followed by silence to express the transcendence beyond the subtle manifestation of sound. In the Indian tradition, there are also other schools such as the bhakti schools where other rules or less fixed rules are applied to chant OM. They are great too, they have their own coherence.

In bhramari pranayama, the nasalized sound is like the nasalized M in OM. There is no opening of the mouth, the exhalation occurs through the nose only.

Philippe

#16

[quote=Surya Deva;37867]Sure

The sequence I follow is I begin my practice with the above exercise of OM mantra chanting with eyes closed. After 10-15 min the practice gets very deep. Try to chant the OM mantra in your lowest pitch as it produces the most resonance.

I then begin spinal breathing pranayama by doing 10-15 min of simply slow and deep breathing. You inhale deeply and slowly, as if you are pulling the breath from the base of the spine into the point between your eyebrows. You may even visualise a hollow energy tube through which a white light is travelling up from the base of the spine to the eyebrow centre.Then you hold it there it as long as is comfortable and then slowly exhale. Then you hold again for as long as is comfortable. Then repeat

Inhale - hold - exhale - hold

It is the periods of retention where the magic is actually happening.

I then move onto Nadi Shodana(alternate nostril breathing) which I do for 10-15 min. This is done by breathing in through one of your nostrils(I begin with right) and closing of the other with your thumb or middle finger. You breathe in and again try to feel like your breath is going from the base of your spine and into your eyebrow centre. Now close both nostrils with both fingers. You hold for as long as is comfortable. Then you exahle for twice the count of the inhale through the other nostril.(I have heard differing ratios though. Some breath out for the same duration as they inhaled. Others at twice the duration. I prefer the latter) Now switch nostrils and repeat.

If you begin with right: Close left nostril - inhale right - close both nostrils and hold - exhale left * 2 duration - Close right nostril - inhale left - close both nostrils and hold - exhale right * 2 duration

I finally end with 10-15 min of Navi Kriya pranayama. This is done by breathing out suddenly through your nose and as you breath out your pump your stomach in forcibly. The next breath will come automatically. Everytime you pump out mentally say OM.

This is an incredibly powerful pranayama and very energizing. It powers up the Nabhi chakra(solar plexus chakra) Ideally, you should it do quite rapidly, but you should do it at a pace that is comfortable, otherwise you are at risk of hyperventilating.

Overall that is 40-50 min of Pranayama. At the end your entire body and mind will feel like it is buzzing with energy and a great sense of calm will pervade you. Now simply sit for 30 min in meditation mentally chanting a mantra, watching the breath or watching the silence.

Regular practice will produce tremendous mental and spiritual benefits.[/quote]

I was struck by your impressive & powerful looking practice-set,sadhana, provided here.So that’s where you get all your energy,Surya! …lol. I am inclined to try out some of those practices myself(i have explored similar ones, although possiblly have’nt used retention/kumbhaka as much) as & when the time permits.I have been getting to grips better with my pranayam practice i feel, as of late over this summer you could say…The breath is foundational and significant - very powerful!!

Thanks for sharing.That last one also looks especially powerful like you say as well the inclusion of kumbhaka and the compounding effects of integration.

You explained it very well there too; good , clear instructions.

Hey, Did you learn(partly at least) from books, have a good sense of inution,of technique as well as spirituality, or tried aout a few teachers perhaps? Or perhaps you have folllowed a school like yogananda or bajai kundalini kriya and have tried out a few different paths already. The practice-set you posted looks like it could have a certain potency, in terms of engineering.

Learning to breathe or even do it well in yoga is of paramount importance.For clearing out the nadis it is second to none and can do it rather quick as long as we self-pace ourselves.

Thanks!

#17

Hey, Did you learn(partly at least) from books, have a good sense of inution,of technique as well as spirituality, or tried aout a few teachers perhaps? Or perhaps you have folllowed a school like yogananda or bajai kundalini kriya and have tried out a few different paths already. The practice-set you posted looks like it could have a certain potency, in terms of engineering.

Mainly from books. I learned the Navi Kriya and Spinal breathing exercise from Kriya Yoga as taught by Babaji, documented in a book online. However, interestingly, I have always intuitively felt when breathing the breath starting from the base of the spine and moving upwards. I learned the Nadi Shodana technique, particular with the emphasis on retention for as long as possible and exhaling for twice the duration from the Yoga Upanishads. My experience shows that the real energeric shifts take place during retention and the breathing out for twice the duration I learned a long time ago through trial and error, that I could deepen my state of consciousness by breathing out for longer.

The OM mantra chanting I learned from Tantra. When I discovered the correct pronounciation was ONG, I tried it, and discovered instantly it was powerful. I always had a problem with the “mmmmmmmm” it seemed to be very nasal and didn’t do anything. I also found out in a dream how the OM sound was really to be chanted, especially the emphasis on a very low pitch. I have always been drawn to OM chanting.

The inclusion of several kinds of pranayama I learned from Swami Ramdev, but I do not do all 5 of them ones he recommends. I simply do the ones I like the most. I also realised the importance of breath as a key to unlocking consciousness. This is why I spend at the very least 10-15 min per pranayama and 40-50 min on it. At this stage going into meditation it easy. The meditation is shorter than the pranayama usually for me because the real work is being done by the pranayama and not the meditation.

I have always been a silent meditator not using any mantras or watching breath, simply observing the silence within. However, I have recently found watching the breath to be very powerful. I am now experimenting with the “I am” mantra from AYP.

#18

You sound like a natural and a intuitive. I would imagine this to be really rare.

The AYP Deep Meditation is very powerful certainly if you’re new to it and have not done any deep silent mantra (or japa) meditation before.You often can go straight to inner silence,stillness or whatever you want to call it in a heart beat, and even samadhi where you forget completely your surroundings and are fully immersed in the object(hence why they only prescribe 20 mintues, not like watching the breath which can be quite powerful or buddhist or even zen meditations where you may sit for hours on end…mmm) .It leaves a print on your consciousness.The ‘I am’ vibrationally speaking probably opens your heart and other areas,the trunk mainly.It certainly works on a level beyond the mind,tends to subdue reactive modes of “I” based behaviour & conditioning.Best of luck.It took me about 3 weeks to bake in properly and take my focus away from the breath where it had previously been( haviing just practiced hatha yoga like ashtanga vinyasa etc.)

The ONG sound or pronunication of Om/Aum you mention i have heard about too.And i think indeed it maybe more powerful.I have sometimes trieed to listen for the ong.

Sometimes also when you do silent mantra there is sometimes a certain amount of listening also.But in AYP the presription is always to ‘favour’(that their key watch-word) the mantra, against any backdrop of noisy internal thought,external distractions or scenery (reactions to or effects of the practice). I believe the DM is most effective when the body is completely and utterly relaxed for best optimal effects so you can focus on the mantra and nothiing else(you’re not precoocupied with physcial body at all like stiffness etc- that’s of course where hath yoga comes in and is utilized other wise the level of difficulty can be multiplied greatly if you cannot sit still for long )So it helps if you let-go completely and the mantra practice will assist with this as will your bhakti too.Also another tip is to neither force the mantra ,hang on to it or chase it and the fuzzyiness( and it can get [I]reallly [/I]non-descript or fuzzy,barely recognisable as such) or boldness of clarity can come & go and vary with each session as it ,sort of ,metamorphoses and works it’s magic throughout and deep within the nervous system.Some sessions you may go real deep and go somewhere else.They tend to explain all the effects as purification as well as the sleepiness than may follow some sessions once you’ve been doing it for a while. I found the DM immensely energising when i first started it.I still have some not totally resolved question marks over it’s possible long-terms use for some people who may not be say completely energetically balnced or stable as some systems may suggest or prescribe you wake up kundalini
first before proceeding to this kind of japa or deep meditation.I do think it can help loosen up the nerves when you start out on a progressive path and it tends to give you acces to pure bliss consciousness or the turiya state alot or most of the time.This is where the mental fluctations. the desire to mentalise and argue/dialogue internally is seen for what it often is, as a mental game.We make all kinds of verbal,writeen and mental judgements and processing in most people’s lives; this tends to go and we see it for what it is.Our desire to play about but usually it tends to cause us more suffering.It’s the ego that argues and mentalises to keep itself in a job and some kind of respectable status, to keep the illusion alive.Hope this might help anyway.These are some of the main points i would suggest with regard to the DM and the AYP approach,and at least some of the rationale behind it.You can form your own conclusions of course. I think most sytems and practices can deliver if you’re deidicated and sincere enough.The biggest variable is therefor yourself, your willingness & desire to do the practices. But of course you know that already.

You mention Babaji’s kriya yoga and Baba ramdev. I’m going to consider trying out most of the practices you mention in my own time.

Thanks for sharing Surya.Much appreciated!! I’ve kept your last two threads on your own practices(‘Asana’ & ‘Om Mantra’) bookmarked as i found them very helpful;yes they are that helpful and interesting to me at least …cheers!!.

P.S.- I think OM on it’s own, that is,chanted or internalised(intoned silently ) has made me feel a bit tired and sleepy when i’ve used it; in AYP it’s generally said that that is a symptom of purification.And the prescription given is to lie down in savasana e.g for 5 mins at least after a session.Perhaps a re-assesment of your pranyama practice might be wise though also if this happened, these sypmtoms tended to carry on, for an indefinite period.It’s all about integration and a balanced practice ,at the end of the day, for [I]any[/I] given individual.AYP talks about a blending of inner silence and ecstatic conductivity and you need both. That is their recipe for ‘enlightenment’ if you will(God i hate that word. I prefer self-realisation. Enlightenement is so pretentious and ego-ridden a word). But you need both. It’s like the cart without the horse.Shiva without shakti or vice-versa.Witnessed without the witness.I think wise use of pranayama & kriya yoga can help bring about one-pointed of mind & then you can just watch the silence and so on.

#19

And another thing.

I found the DM facilitated pratyahara, i.e sensory intoversion, from what i could tell pretty reasonably effectively, not that i have many comparative altered-states experiences to compare it with.But within a minute or often by even a few intonations you had almost if not completely more or less introverted your attentions alot of the time and external distraction were pretty much blanked out once you had let go and got on with the mantra. i.e recitation of it at whatever level of fuzzyiness or clarity you found yourself at.If you can’t sit still though for any length this could be disruptive; but there is hatha yoga for that of course and many other tools.

Also the state induced is sometimes like samadhi, though perhaps sometiimes it is or more like dhyana or complete absorption. I think it’s fair and quite accurate to say you oscillate through the last 4 limbs, with more than one may be being used at a time, with the DM practice. This is why it is powerful making use of all last 4 ,but is it apporpriate for everyone all the time?Well in AYP they say that is for the well-informed and independent practitioner to deecide for themselves in term of their approach of self-directed practice.The practitioner is in control where they should be.This fosters non-dependency on a guru. The good thing about a guru is he creates a spiritually conducive envrionment or situation and you literally get to imbibe his or her spiritual vibrations and their light and knowledge. So one guru or a number of gurus can yes be very helpful along the way But i think Yogani talked about dependency on a guru and some of the associated pitfalls. There are traps for the unwary;this is partly where regular practice * hence experience comes in.Like a mother and it’s baby. Like you say a guru is like a spiritual parent. His light feeds your own and your ability to manifest and believe in it ,remove the doubt as well as any obstacles or lack of faith. We all like and and want to be independent and responsible for own spiritual development. This is ideal and really the way it should be or perhaps also i might say how it could be.As more & more people are making use of the tools if they are so inclined and sharing them freely then the job can be made easier for all concerned.

#20

I believe in practices being open-sourced as i believe those that may be inclined to make use of them are likely also to have enough knowledge and/or experience to act responsibly wherever they may find themselves to be at and be aware of the pitfalls and be inlined to use and explore them.Before you had to live with a guru and practices were handed out peice meal and you may have to jump through a number of hoops and demonstrate you were ready.I’m all in favour of putting the practitoner back in the driving seat once armed with the tools and the knowledge how to apply them. A systematic approach is best.But i think you can gain alot by being around spiritually ‘enlightened’ people and teachers.Because i think you can gain a better idea of what is actually [I]really[/I] involved and the attitude.It’s abit like when you go into a dark room but then someone shines a torch in there one day, and then you see thiings somewhat better or in a different or better light, to your own that is.