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Ahhhhhh....Ohhhhhh.... Mmmmm....

Written by CYS instructor, Heidi Hagen
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things were made by him (the Word or Aum); and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:1-3) Following ancient texts, God first created sound and from these sound frequencies came the phenomenal world. Matter exists because of these primal sounds and Om is said to be the most sacred of all sounds.

Om, often spelled Aum and literally translated from Sanskrit, means the "unstruck sound". Usually the sounds we hear have been made by at least two things colliding together such as a drum and stick, two vocal cords or wind against the leaves. So the sound that is not made of two things striking together, the unstruck sound, is the sound of primal energy, the "primordial seed" of the universe. According to the ancients the audible sound that most resembles this unstruck sound is the syllable Aum. Thanks to astronauts who placed a microphone outside of a space craft, we now have proof (if one so needed it) that the only vibration one hears out in our universe is the sound of Aum.

Starting this fall some of the instructors at Cascade Yoga Studio may decide to begin their classes by repeating Aum. One of our guest teachers, Katherine Lucas, described this yogic tradition as one of the ways to prepare the body for practice by opening the energy channels. Merging the mind with sound helps to drive away worldly thoughts and remove distractions. This union with the universal vibrations infuses new vigor and energy in our body. Allopathic doctors have recently found that daily periods of humming or chanting Aum helps ventilate the sinuses and allow them to drain properly. The heart also benefits from reciting Aum out loud by slowing the breathe rate to six breaths per minute which lessens the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Taking long, smooth breaths regulates the rhythms of the heart; provides more oxygen in the blood and produces a feeling of overall relaxation.

If during class you would prefer to be still and listen, please enjoy the sound as you absorb the vibrations being made around you. Otherwise take a deep inhale and soften the belly. On the exhale open your mouth fully to pronounce an "A" as in accounting. Let the sound originate in the region of your navel and rise to the back of the throat. Then the sound "U" as in who transfers the vibration from the back of the mouth toward the lips. The "M" is hummed like the word sum with the lips gently closed. As the last buzzing vibrations of the "M" fade away, we hear the unstruck sound most clearly. In that instance the separation between audible sound and silence is the thinnest. We hear the sound behind the sound. It is here that we touch upon the stillness within.

Sound has the power to transform and can be found in almost every culture and major religion from the litanies in the Roman Catholic tradition to the rhythm chants of African tribes, even to the repetitive phrases of pep rallies. It is no surprise that the Aum of India's Vedas became the sacred word Hum of the Tibetans, Amin of the Moslems, and Amen of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Jews and Christians.