Why chant

Every time we choose a path of yoga or spiritual practice it is of course personal. So I will share why I chant. Many people who attend chanting with me describe a cleaning out of their inside, an energetic shift, deep relaxation, bliss.

Personally, when I make Sanskrit sounds and allow my body to resonate with the vibrations, I have a complete shift of my energy. If I sit to do it and I’m angry, the anger loosens and expresses. If I sit to chant and I’m holding on tight to an experience, I feel the weight of it shift. It’s a powerful energetic practice to me.

And chanting together is a heart offering. It’s an offering to ourselves: that we may feel our feelings and also let them go. It’s an offering to each other to express authentically. It’s an offering to the Divine as we decrease our resistance to life expressing itself through us.

Chanting is also a yoga practice of the Bhakti tradition, based in India. Just like how we move our bodies in a yoga asana class, we use our voices to access the universal energy that we all have access to. Kīrtan and chanting are participatory, non performative experiences where we deeply connect to our authentic voice and the authenticity trying to be expressed through us.