Yoga Soul Seeker? Let the music take you there
Bhakti yoga is known as the yoga of devotion, where mantra and soul-stirring music help to elevate our consciousness and experience the vastness of the soul.
Bhakti yoga, like any form of yoga, is a path to self-realisation, to a feeling of oneness with everything. In my early days as a yoga teacher, I went in search of this oneness at an ashram in India. Every evening, we sat, cross-legged, in a large hall, chanting verses from the Bhagavad Gita, the classic text from the Hindu tradition. I had the loose idea of finding myself a genuine spiritual master who could take me beyond the practice of hatha yoga postures to the more subtle experiences of meditation. However, I was disappointed in my search and returned to Dublin, Gita in my backpack.
Six months later, back on home turf, I found a meditation practice that incorporates mantric singing and music as a way of stilling the mind and soothing the soul. Unlike Bono, I had finally found what I was looking for! The music pulled at my heart-strings and I experienced sensations of opening and expansion in my heart chakra that were at once powerful and peaceful.
For many of us at first, yoga is a just a workout but more and more people are discovering the sweetness and power of mantra to generate positive feelings, boost mood and feel a sense of connection to oneself and others. As a form of meditation, it is often more accessible than simply trying to sit still and control the thoughts.
Soulful music and mantric sounds lead to positive mental and emotional states that are rooted in the psyche and not dependent on outer circumstances. Our teacher encouraged us to share the music, saying: ‘Music is the universal language. Soulful music is next to meditation. It carries the beauty and fragrance of silence, the message of the inner and higher worlds’.
Join us at The Elbowroom on Friday, 11th September, for Music, Mantra and Meditation, the first in a series of 4 free classes offered by the Dublin Sri Chinmoy Centre. You will learn some beautifully simple mantras and songs to help you still the mind and feel the love!