Nada Yoga or Surat Shabd Yoga

Dear Sound Enthusiasts,

The ancient Sound Current (sometimes known as Nada Yoga or Surat Shabd Yoga) teachings show us that vocal sounds are a bridge that can transport us from the outer to inner realms and back again. It is a gentle, yet powerful art and practice.

The ancient spiritual traditions placed great emphasis on the significance and power of sound. A five-thousand-year-old Kashmiri Saivite text invites us to bathe in the center of the sound either by sitting near a waterfall or by putting our fingers in our ears to hear our own inner sound. In the Eastern traditions, as well as the religions of West, we find that the using of sound is a powerful tool for awareness and transformation.

The quantum physicists are now meeting the ancient sages in understanding how sounds have a profound effect on our bodies. The trick is to choose the sounds which are helpful, healing and transformational. Everyone chooses sounds in their own unique way, with their unique rhythm and resonance, so whether it’s chanting mantras, listening to music or toning single sounds or vowels, each of us will have an individual experience. Yet the beauty of sound is that even as if affects us individually it draws all of us into the Oneness.

When we chant the HU and can prolong the sound, we enter more fully into the awareness of the vibrations of the tone. Then, as we return to the silence, we may sometimes feel like our entire being is still vibrating. This can open new doors of perception for us.

If we initiate the audible HU with a low breathy murmur, we experience more fully the reality that it is our breath itself that vibrates to produce this sound. It deepens our connection with the sacredness of our breath, Spirit, from which "respiration" then becomes "inspiration."

This is practicing an aspect of the Yoga of the Sound Current —the use of self-generated sound vibration to draw awareness inward in order to experience the deeper layers of the Self and beyond. It's fascinating to explore the connections of breath, sound and Spirit. The word “Spirit” comes from the Latin word spiritus, which connotes both “breath” and “Spirit.” Many other languages use related word forms to denote breath and Spirit - Chi, Prana, and Ruach in Hebrew, for example.

The Western idea of toning using vowels was developed centuries after the East. Toning is the creation of extended vocal sounds on a single vowel in order to experience the sound and its effects in other parts of the body. Toning uses no melody, no words, no rhythm, and no harmony—just the sound of the vibrating breath. It’s a simple yet powerful technique, accessible to everyone regardless of vocal ability or training.

Toning is a simplified, easy way to make the sounds, especially for Westerners who have no Sanskrit connection and perhaps don’t even want to have a spiritual connection. Although toning can take away certain trappings, which may be vital and heartfelt for some but become a barrier for others to do this work, we can maintain both in our Harmoinc Self work. In fact, it is vitally important that we maintain the heartfelt, devotional connection (bhakti) without which all this is meaningless for our work in class.

Through toning we can immediately experience the effects of sound on our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. By literally massaging body and mind from the inside out, meditative toning can help us focus and relax, release negative emotions, reduce stress and improve stamina and concentration. Toning synchronizes the brainwaves and helps relieve tension within a few minutes. Toning is also a wonderful technique for developing our voice-ear connection and enhancing our power of listening to everything around us.

Most of all, toning restores balance and harmony to the mind and body. A big part of toning or sound work is intention. Toning itself is a kind of self-psychology and spiritual examination and can be used with any intention we set. It can help us awaken and deepen our sense of Self and it can align us with the deepest vibrations of Soul and Spirit. On the path of toning, we move toward the source of our own inner balance, creativity, well being, and freedom.