I'll get into the science behind chanting later, but suffice to say: I just had a mystical chanting experience! Think of chanting as singing a prayer or an affirmation. I either haven't had an experience like this one before, or it's been so long I have forgotten it. I have definitely felt group energy and divine presence when chanting in the past, but I don't recall ever having the physical feeling I just experienced in the session we just had! We were chanting the Peace (Santi) mantra, although in my other traditions we called it by a different name. I've been practicing this mantra for over a decade, so know it well. Plus, it is what is chanted as prayer prior to every meal at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville in Virginia, USA. There were two new people at the ashram today, so first we practiced pronouncing the Sanskrit and saying parts of the mantra over and over. Toward the end, we built up to phrases, then the full mantra. We sang it over and over and I began to notice a lightness in my cranium--a floating sensation. I can only describe the incident as a sensation akin to the one you feel when you hyperventilate to the point of feeling lightheaded; however, lightheadedness implies a loss of control and vertigo, whereas I felt completely empowered and aware. Really, it can be best characterized by a sense of lightness or floating in my head, as though my very Being was levitating. And it was definitely accompanied by a sense of ease, joy, and peace! Asato ma sad gamaya Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya Mryitor ma amritam gamaya Lead us from unreal to real Lead us from darkness to light Lead us from death to immortality
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Gina is......meditating on the banks of Mother Ganges! Archives
February 2019
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