This blog discusses the concept of vibration as a measurement of an individual’s energetic output. Can yoga and chanting shift someone’s energetic vibration? Do different emotions hold higher or lower vibrations?
In preparation for writing this blog, I am mentally hearing Marky Mark (a.k.a. Mark Wahlberg) and the Funky Bunch singing the song, “Good Vibrations”! As a reminder, here’s the song: https://genius.com/Marky-mark-and-the-funky-bunch-good-vibrations-lyrics
If you clicked on the link to hear the song or if you knew the song in which I am referring to, you may notice your energy shifted? Perhaps, you even felt like getting up to dance? I hope so! I am dancing along with you. Music has a way of changing your energy. If we listen to upbeat and peppy songs, we may feel like singing along, dancing, or going to exercise. Something is put into motion! Sometimes, we need a quick tempo and sometimes our mood calls for a soft, slow, lullaby. At any rate, the sound has an effect.
Recently, I was introduced to the work of Dr. David Hawkins and his book, “Maps of Consciousness Explained”. https://www.artofwellbeing.com/2016/11/08/mapofconsciousness/ Here’s a quick synopsis from Amazon. “Using a unique muscle-testing method, Dr. David R. Hawkins conducted more than 250,000 calibrations during 20 years of research to define a range of values, attitudes, and emotions that correspond to levels of consciousness. This range of values-along with a logarithmic scale of 1 to 1,000-became the Map of Consciousness, which Dr. Hawkins first wrote about in his best-selling book, Power vs. Force.
With the Map, Dr. David R. Hawkins laid out the entire spectrum of consciousness, from the lower levels of Shame, Guilt, Apathy, Fear, Anger, and Pride; to Courage, Acceptance, and Reason; all the way up to the more expanded levels of Love, Ecstasy, Peace, and Enlightenment. These "higher" energy fields are a carrier wave of immense life energy.”
I am learning that emotions such as shame and guilt create low, low vibrations in the body. From a yoga perspective, we call that low prana. Whereas, the emotions of joy and peace create high, high vibrations in the body. This high vibration not only is good for you, but apparently is also good for others. Do you pay attention to how you feel after being around someone who puts off a “good” vibration? It’s catching isn’t it?!
Chanting within a yoga and meditation practice can shift your energetic vibration. Personally, I use chanting both during the breath-centric movement portion of my practice and at the end of my practice. The effect for me is one of increasing attention, slowing down my tendencies to hurry, balancing my emotions, increasing my presence and yes…building my energetic vibration. True yoga always works from the inside out.
Friends, when I first was introduced to chanting, I struggled because I was learning a new language, Sanskrit. I didn’t see the importance of this valuable work. My attention was not developed nor was my ear trained to pick up on the nuances of the sounds. Like anything worth doing, it takes practice. Because I have studied for years in the yoga tradition and developed my listening, I can now pick up on subtleties within many languages. The world becomes so inviting to explore new experiences. The door opens…
I will be creating a yoga and chanting series so that you too can learn how powerful this tool can be. Stay “tuned”…
May you be a beautiful energetic vibration! Here’s a super short video I placed on my YouTube channel of me chanting one of the Yoga Sutras.