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Did you know that a chanting practice has the potential to create “new grooves” in your mind and brain?

Many of the great ancient yogi’s spoke about the power of chanting to create these “new grooves” in the mind and brain.

But is it really true?  Can we literally change our brains and minds through chanting?

Sounds a little ridiculous right?

Well, actually… perhaps not.

Recently with all the scientific discoveries in the world of neuroplasticity, it has been confirmed that we do indeed have the power to change our brains.  We are not stuck with a finite number of brain cells as originally once thought and taught.

No, our brain is an elastic creature.  It can actually create new brain cells, new connections and create new neural patterns.

This is now scientific fact.  Our brain is elastic. 

This has radically changed the world of neuroscience since this discovery and how we now think about our brains.

Yes, indeed we can mould our brains and sculpt them.

How they are moulded, how they are changed, depends upon the activities that we choose to invest our time into.

Further scientific research in the field of meditation has also shown that meditators have a different firing pattern of the brain than non meditators.  The difference in the brains of meditators is that their brains have shown a neural patterning which elicits more of the feel good emotions than those considered the destructive emotions of anger, anxiety, depression etc.

So it has now been proven that meditating does change the neural firing patterns of the brain.  Meditation techniques can change our brain in such a way so that we experience a different set of emotions.

Given this is the case, it doesn’t seem to be such a big stretch to believe that the ancient yogis were correct.  Chanting does indeed have the potential to create those “new grooves” or new firing patterns within your brain.

Which grooves do you choose to experience in your life?  What effects on your emotions has your chanting practice had?

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You may be wondering how to start a chanting practice.  Meaning, what type of chanting practice to do.

You are right to be thinking about this because there is an abundance of different types of chanting practices possible.

There are so many chanting practices and traditions around the world.  Almost in every spiritual and religious tradition, there is an associated chanting practice.

So where to start?

You could approach this question from a number of angles or all angles together at the same time.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you feel drawn to a particular philosophical, spiritual or religious tradition?
Do you already feel drawn to particular chants or mantras?
Do you feel drawn towards particular musics or sounds?
Do you want to create your own chants for chanting?
Do you feel some sort of spiritual calling that is guiding you?

With these questions you can find answers that can give you clues as to your direction. 

It is not for me or anyone else to tell you what chanting practice is right for you.  Although someone can do this, it is up to you to find and choose the chanting practice and spiritual direction that resonates for you.

With answers to these questions, you will have some clues or obvious directions.

If you do feel drawn to a particular philosophical, spiritual or religious tradition, look into and research the chanting practices associated with that tradition.  You may find a chanting practice waiting for you.

Or perhaps you already have mantras and chants that you feel drawn to.  This can be an easy starting point.

Maybe there are types of musics or sounds that you feel drawn to.  Perhaps these musics and sounds originate from a particular tradition that is associated with a form of chanting practice.

Or maybe you would like to create your own chants and mantras for chanting.  This is possible to.

Or perhaps you feel a spiritual calling that is guiding you.  Listen to what your soul is telling you and it will guide you to where you need to be.
Follow all your insights and intuitions from these questions and answers and see where it leads you. 

This is easier today to research with the internet and youtube and availability of sound and music online. 

Perhaps you may well find a chanting tradition that resonates with you or even create your own personal tradition.  Once you have found something that resonates with you, then you can think about starting your chanting practice.

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The voice has been used as an instrument for health and healing since ancient times.  This often incorporates the various methods and traditions of chanting.

In Asia there is a long history of using the voice and chanting as an instrument for healing and health.  In fact even today the voice is still used within certain traditions for healing in Asia such as the Asian shamanic traditions.  In these Asian shamanic traditions, the power of chant is used by the shaman to coax the evil spirits out of the body in order to restore health. 

Meanwhile the Arabs took a more orthodox approach in employing singers within hospitals to sing for the ill.  These Arabic singers understood the maqamat (the arabic term for scale), and how to use the maqamat to cure and fortify those ill and with bad health.

Within the Indian traditions, mantra chanting is widely used and is an essential tool for healing.  In fact there are particular mantras that are actually prescribed for particular conditions as a form of treatment.  An example of this is the chanting of a particular mantra for curing snake bites.

Today there are still many uses of chanting as a tool for health and healing.  If we view at the voice from even a very simplistic level we can see how the voice in a chanting context can be used as a tool for health healing. 

If we look at the benefits of singing we can see how those benefits also apply in a chanting context.  Singing improves breath control, develops sensitivity of hearing and the vibrations produced resonate the entire physiological organism and energetic systems of the body and singing also produces a sense of well being.

But within a spiritual context of chanting these benefits are just a starting point.  In the context of spiritual practice, chanting can be utilized to restore emotional health by balancing and releasing emotions and the mind can also be bought back into balance.

Also the vibrations that are produced by the voice can be projected to the different areas and energetic systems of the body to receive the vibration and produce healing effects.

All of these transformational processes and beneficial effects of chanting work together to create a powerful tool for restoring health and healing.

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Chanting can be practiced as a form of one pointed meditation through working with a mantra.  The objective of one pointed meditation is to focus the mind.  The mind in this case focuses on the mantra that is being chanted and nothing else.

Personally speaking I find chanting a mantra a much easier way to meditate to achieve one pointedness than other forms of meditation.  I believe this is due to the vibrational power of the sound of the voice.

In the beginning stages of chanting with a mantra one has to concentrate very hard to focus and stay with the mantra.  The mind will drift here and there as you are chanting and thoughts will come and go.

After some time with regular continuity the chanting practice starts to transform.  Joy comes into the practice if it wasn’t there to begin with and a sense of peace and happiness and come with ongoing practice. 

With more practice further changes occur.  All that practice and training to focus the mind, still the mind and become one pointed pays off.  Now there is the ability to stay focused without so much effort.  The mind has become a little trained by now.

With further practice different states can be accessed through the one pointedness.

Once a particular level is reached one’s mind has achieved a state where it can hold concentration and focus with very little effort.  It is like being suspended in the mantra space that has been created. The feel good states remain and become even blissful whilst suspended within the mantra.

Throughout all this chanting practice the mind and emotions have been trained.  The brain has also neurologically been changed.  New neural connections and pathways have been laid down.  You create “new grooves” in the mind that facilitate the states of concentration.

This ability to concentrate can then be applied in other areas of life when you need to concentrate such as lectures, performing tasks, assimilating information or whatever it is you need to do that requires concentration. 

Chanting is a wonderful way to do this as you get to retrain your mind and emotions and lay down these new grooves in the mind all at the same time while working with the beauty of sound as a form of meditation.

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Vibration is not the only element that makes a chanting practice a powerful one.  The practice of chanting can also facilitate emotional release.

How does this work?

When a sound is emitted, a form of communication takes place.  Emotion can be inserted into the sound, just like when we speak or sing. 

If choosing an emotional release function in a chanting practice the same applies.  The emotion can be inserted into the sound and expressed when chanting.  Through chanting, the emotions can be expressed and released.  All of the emotions: the good, the bad and the ugly.

If there are emotions that are unexpressed and need expressing and releasing this can be expressed through the chanting.  This can be a powerful form of release.

Chanting is a great way to discharge negative emotions in a safe environment and not harm others by projecting negative emotions onto them. 

However, not only does this allow for emotional release, there are other benefits. Chanting also facilitates the development of emotional awareness and control.

Firstl one gains more awareness over ones emotions through what is being felt and the sensations.  Then one gains awareness of how to release these emotions and sensations and then finally the awareness of the rebalance after the process has finished.

Chanting also helps to work with emotional reactivity.  Through chanting reactivity can be balanced out and moodiness can be bought under control.  Eventually with this practice, transformation occurs so that positive emotions and responses become more frequent and more the tendency.

A chanting practice also provides a space where one can nourish oneself emotionally and  gives the time and energy to feel and process emotions.

Chanting is also a great way to express the positive emotions.  If there is an abundance of feel good emotions, chanting is a wonderful way to express these emotions.

Chanting can have the ability to actually amplify the feel good emotions and sensations which can leave a sense of well being, peace and happiness after the chanting session.

Starting your day with a chanting practice is a wonderful way to commence the day.  There is the opportunity to check in with yourself and transform whatever it is you feel needs transforming in order to reach your desired objective.

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There is something inherently powerful in the act of chanting.  This is evident by the number of various traditions throughout the world utilizing the process of chanting to obtain particular results.

Here the voice is the instrument and indeed a powerful one.  Through the action of chanting with the voice and the creation of sound, vibrations are produced.

It is through the practice of chanting that the voice has the potential to transform.

But from where does this power to transform derive?

Depending on the tradition performing the chanting and the objectives there will be different processes taking place.

However what is common in all forms of chanting is that of vibration.  Through the act of chanting, sound is produced and this is of course vibration.

It is this vibration which has the power to change the form of matter.

The research of Hans Jenny’s Cymatics or Masaru Emoto’s water research is scientific evidence of this.  Their research shows that emiting a sound creates a change in the form – be it water, clay or silt.  And the shape that the matter takes depends on the sound that is produced.

In fact Emoto’s water research has shown that if a “negative” word is spoken, the shape that is produced in the water is not geometric.  Whereas if a positive word is spoken, a beautiful geometric shape is produced.

Indeed vibration has the ability to literally change matter.  The research examples above are just two examples of this. 

There are many more vibrational processes at work when chanting is practiced.  However vibration is not the only process that has the power to transform within a chanting practice. 

More on this to come.

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For those of you new to the realms of chanting you may be wondering what exactly chanting is.  So lets address that first so we are clear in what we are talking about.

Chanting is essentially the use of the voice to repeat a particular word, phrase, song or syllable.  For the context of this site the purpose of chanting is a form of spiritual practice with a spiritual objective of some description.

The types and shades of chanting are many and varied.   The phenomenon of chanting is a spiritual practice that occurs pretty much around the globe traversing religions, traditions and culture.

Sometimes there is a fine line between chanting and singing.  Indeed sometimes there is overlap and it may be hard to tell what is chanting and what is singing.

In fact the New Oxford American Dictionary defines chant as:
1.  a repeated rhythmic phrase, typically one shouted or sung in unison by a crowd.
- a monotonous or repetitive song, typically an incantation or part of a ritual.
2.  Music a short musical passage in two or more phrases used for singing unmetrical words; a psalm or canticle sung to such music.
- the style of music consisting of such passages : Gregorian chant.”

And the definition of sing is as to:
“make musical sounds with the voice, esp. words with a set tune…”

So singing and chanting are very similar and one could be mistaken for the other or even be the other.  However there is a difference.  Chanting is more commonly associated with repetition, which itself has a particular purpose and importantly with a spiritual objective. 

These purposes or spiritual objectives of chanting are as varied as the types of chanting and this will be addressed later.  However, the spiritual objective is usually related to that of transformation.  Transformation of the self, the emotions, the soul, the life, the energy, the consciousness, the event, the situation.

Chanting then is the practice of harnessing the power of the voice to facilitate the desired spiritual transformation.

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