It is strange to chant or ohm in your first classes, at first it looks like you’re in a sect, or that some people are doing it just for showing of or authenticity.
No matter what is the reason you are doing this, even if you choose your own reason. There are many things behind this ritual.
One of them is that is scientifically proven that sounds-vibration affect matter, and not only that but you can modify their proprieties just by creating a sound.
They call it Cymatics, one of the person who studied this phenomena is Dr. Masaru Emoto , who just passed away 2 days ago. He was studying how you do molecular changes to water just by saying I love you, or putting music to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIBhZknJEMI
In fact it just go deeper, the difference between solid, liquid, or gas matter is just about frequency.
There are many studies done on this subject that can be found all over the internet.
In the bible and many scriptures it is said that first it was the sound.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
So what really happens when we chant ohm, or mantras or we sing?
Well an mature body is made up of at least 65% water, if vibration can change the structure of water? Can we be so ignorant and say that vibration, sounds, does not affect us.
The moon is so far and still can’t let us sleep, or creates waves in the sea.
They photograph water how it reacts to classical music or black metal music. See the pictures.
So chanting may be seen as a preparation of the body, mind, and spirit for what is to come. You re modifying your body at a molecular level, preparing for meditation, yoga pranayama or whatever you want.
Chanting mantras are usually in Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages, which is also considered a sacred language of the world. All the ancient secrets of the world are written in Sanskrit.
But for me is the vibration you are producing. Why can the voice of a mother make a baby, smile, or make his heart pound? What is your voice doing to your own body? I know that when you yell at someone that person is reacting somehow, when you make compliments people get happy. So who is getting happy? Aren’t your cell in your body, getting energized?
So for me not chanting in a class, is losing some of the benefits yoga brings. Is like choosing which asanas you are going to practice and which not, is like choosing which proteins, minerals you are going to put in your body, without knowing the body. If you’re aiming for the full benefits this is one thing you should add to your practice.
Yoga for me is the most complete physical practice known today. It works with your body, mind, and energy electric-magnetic, rejuvenates the skin and all the tissues in the body, cells and so many things that we are still studying.
Yoga is giving an alphabet, to your soul, so we can start to know and understand each other. It is not the soul that need that, it is my mind that is limited, and needs to open.
And is not even me, is society that wants me to ignore my human side, trying to stop me from being a human being. They want me to use my left hemisphere of the brain, where the memory is, where logic and mathematics is, and if you use that well you get diplomas money and you are a “good citizen”. If i use my right hemisphere i am creative, i use my intuition, love, kindness, art, but i m more likely to be rejected by doing so, because i m not a robot, i m not a machine that answer to authority. I am something they cannot control with media, money, consumerism.