About a year ago a friend of mine took a yoga teacher training class and told me that during a discussion about chanting the instructor mentioned that she had suffered for years with Lyme disease and Bartonella and credited the vibrations from chanting with helping her go into remission. When asked what my thoughts were regarding the claim made by the instructor I said something along the lines of "it sounds weird but I will look into it".
"When you sing, you pray twice" - St. Augustine.
The quote from St. Augustine above that I kept reading in many articles about the health benefits of chanting is not what led me to try it out. Chanting is a centuries-old technique that connects humans with themselves, the universe, and Spirit. Chanting raises vibrations of the individual practicing and as a result, people who chant feel alive, peaceful, and centered. We all know that in order to attain good physical health and happiness, the body requires adequate exercise, proper diet, and rest. More importantly and more overlooked is the health of our inner self which also requires nourishment and attention. When we neglect our spiritual, inner self, we become imbalanced and negative in attitude and emotions.
I read about various studies done on chanting and here are just a few things that stood out in my mind:
- Chanting sounds have a therapeutic effect on the body. It soothes all our bodily systems and activates the body’s natural healing process.
- Chanting helps block the release of stress hormones and increases immune function.
- Chanting is an effective means of enhancing people’s moods in the immediate present, as well as over an extended period of time.
- Using chants as part of our exercise regimen, helps facilitate movement and flow of the body during exercise.
Around the time that I decided I was interested in exploring chanting, my yoga studio sent out information about the Grammy award nominated Krishna Das who was making a tour stop in DC in support of his new album. I purchased a ticket to the show. I told a few people about my plans and while nobody actually expressed the desire to join me, many wanted me to report back to them on my experience after the event. After work on March 26, 2014 I headed to the theater at the University of the District of Columbia for the show without having done any research on Krishna Das or chanting. I have since learned that Krishna Das is a U.S. vocalist known for his performances of Hindu devotional music known as kirtan. With eight albums released since 1996, he is perhaps the best known U.S. singer of kirtan-style music. He is also sometimes referred to as the "Rockstar of Yoga". Kirtan is call-and-response chanting which involves chanting hymns or mantras with the accompaniment of the harmonium, various percussion instruments, bass, and hand cymbals. Upon my arrival at the venue I stood in line waiting for the doors to open with a group of the most friendly and relaxed people I have ever laid eyes upon anywhere in the Washington, DC area. It was the opposite of what it is like to stand in line waiting for the gates to open for Mayhem Fest. As we filed into the theater we were handed a chant sheet. There was a large advertisement off to the side of the stage for the Krishna Das satellite radio station that read: Music transporting listeners to a deeper place where they can quiet the mind and open the heart featuring Krishna Das and more (Channel 360 on Sirius radio in case you are interested). After reading the ad, and listening to the people around me discuss Krishna Das, Buddhists and chanting, I had a brief moment where I got a little sweaty and questioned why I thought coming to this event was a good idea. Perhaps it was like a mini-Buddhist panic attack. Shortly thereafter, Krishna Das (pictured above) walked on the stage, sat down, said a few words to the audience and began chanting. He would chant first, and then the audience would repeat what he said. He did not go in the order of the chant sheet so it was hard to follow since the chant sheet made as much sense as the title of this post. It literally would take me a few minutes to figure out what he was saying each time a new chant began. Everyone else around me seemed to know all of the mantras being spoken and were not having any issues with the response. At one point he started singing "Let It Be" by the Beatles and everyone joined in. It was a welcome change from mumbling my way through the evening.
The show was 3 hours long. Yes, 3 hours. You are probably wondering if I got bored. I didn't, but I think I took a little nap. Actually it may not have been a nap. Half way through the show for about 20 minutes I got really sleepy and closed my eyes. But I was still chanting, so I really wasn't asleep. Perhaps I was meditating. Krishna Das had a deep soothing voice and the chanting was kind of hypnotic. Toward the beginning of the evening, I spent a great deal of time studying the instrument that he was playing. It looked like an accordion with a keyboard attached to it (pictured to the right). One hand would move back and forth like it was strapped into an accordion while the other hand played the keyboard. I had never seen or heard anything like it. I eventually asked the lady sitting next to me what it was. The instrument is called a harmonium.
When I wasn't obsessing over the musical instrument or trying to figure out which response we were supposed to be calling back, I was studying the audience. The man sitting next to me was really in to it. He had his eyes closed for most of the time and was swaying to the music with his hand in the air. I really thought that at some point he was going to yell out "Can I get a witness?". I chose to stay seated the whole time but on numerous occasions during more upbeat chants many people in the audience were dancing in the aisles, and/or looking up towards the ceiling with their arms raised. I will admit that part of me wanted to laugh as I kept envisioning the scene from the "Blues Brothers" with James Brown and Jim Belushi in the church (if you're familiar with the movie feel free to chuckle since you are not in the theater right now chanting), but I refrained. People were really engaged and I enjoyed observing the crowd more than the participation part. I left the show with a smile on my face and the desire to continue to explore chanting. I was also starving, but that was because I didn't know how late I was going to be there.
In what I am referring to as a windfall of chanting opportunities, I saw two notices about Kirtan call-and-response events at two different local Washington DC yoga studios, one in March and one in April. I signed up for both. Two nights after the Krishna Das concert, I found myself at the Flow Yoga studio listening to the Hanumen (pronounced “Ha-new-men”). This group of four men performed a mix of song and story and call-and-response chant in English and Sanskrit during their show. They mixed some American blues songs in with the music of India. It was a more intimate setting then the concert at the theater. We all sat on the floor surrounding the Hanumen and their instruments. There were no chant sheets and I butchered all of the responses, but it was fun. A few times they encouraged us to stand up and dance during more upbeat songs, but for the most part we were seated. There were two women sitting next to each other off to my right side that were chanting in falsetto voices and they were very distracting. One of the women was doing a lot of hand gesturing and moving around while sitting on the floor. Once again, instead of concentrating on myself and my own experience I was observing the audience and trying not to giggle. I lost interest in the distractions for a period of time until I realized that one of the falsetto voices was suddenly coming from my left side and the other one had gone silent. I will never know what transpired between the dueling falsettos, and I am kind of sad about that. It must have been something good since one of the ladies got up and moved to the other side of the room, and the other one continued her hand gesturing and began chanting in a much lower and quieter voice.
At the end of April I attended an event at Buddha B Yoga studio, with Wynne Paris and Gaura Vani. At the beginning of the evening Wynne Paris talked about Kirtan and I learned that the enlivening spiritual practice is an integral part of the tradition of devotional yoga called Bhakti yoga that originated in India many centuries ago. He also mentioned that it should be like a pentecostal revival for Buddhists so he wanted to see people really getting caught up in the spirit and energy of it all. His comment made me smile because I felt like my initial reaction to the audience at the Krishna Das concert was justified. The participants on this particular night were a lot more subdued than the ones I had encountered during my other two experiences, however, at one point we were all encouraged to form a conga line during one of the more upbeat songs and things got very lively. I had a great experience and was able to focus on myself because I didn't have any distractions.
I have not been going to chanting with any regularity; that coupled with the fact I am easily distracted by people around me probably negates any of the health benefits that I have read about. I plan to dive deeper into chanting and seriously explore it since I found a Buddhist center near my condo which leads chanted meditations. I suspect that the chanting, in addition to my reiki and acupuncture regimen, will play a big part in my recovery.
Over the past few months as my energy has increased and I've been more upbeat, I have begun socializing a lot more. That being said, I often over do it on the weekends and find myself limping around my office during the week like I need a knee and hip replacement.
A few new issues recently cropped up but I am just going with the flow, and keeping my eye on the prize. What's the prize you ask? A full recovery. Currently, my mind and spirit are thriving and my body still has a lot of catching up to do. More on this next time. Till then, here is an article from 2008 about chanting in mainstream music for you to read.
