Details
Suitability: Everyone
Primary practice: Yogic Meditation
Primary Origins: Yoga/science
Any spiritual/religious references: Non sectarian
Primary benefit: Spiritual
Year released: 2019
Voice: Celia Roberts
Description
So’ ham is a mantra that is often used in meditation to quieten the mind and to connect to the eternal interconnectedness of all beings. The sound of So’Ham leads us beyond the mind to our innermost nature and the pure awareness.
This mantra is used to understand: “I am that pure consciousness, eternal, witnessing consciousness” or “I am that”.
In Ayurveda and Yogic science, as the chant that goes on and on, it is said to affect all your bodily cells, which begin to vibrate with the rhythm. Scientifically, the “ham” part of the mantra also increases nitric oxide in the bloodstream, which is a natural anti-inflammatory. The extended exhalation using sound, assists in developing healthy heart rate variability and vagal tone, both of which are imperative to good physical and mental health.
In this meditation, we also include the sushumna breath which is the travelling of the breath (more correctly “prana”) up and down along the central conduit or Citta-Nadi. This nadi is related to the central spinal canal in the physical body. Sushumna is the channel of Citta or deeper consciousness, the energy flow of the entire mental field itself, the stream of consciousness.
In this meditation, the breath is directed up and down along the energetic spine and a visualization of light can be used. We connect this sushumna breathing to the science of psychoneuroendocrine immunology, where modern science shows us that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind.
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