Beginner’s Guide to Kirtan and Mantra

Yoga is a vast subject, and just when you think you know all about it, a whole new yogic practice hoves into view that you know nothing about – step forward, kirtan. So what’s the story of kirtan? Put simply, it is yogic chanting, meditation through song, or communal meditation. It is an ancient practice that is being brought bang up-to-date and steadily rising in popularity here in the UK. So here’s a handy guide to kirtan, from its ancient origins to its modern-day form.

THE HISTORY OF KIRTAN

Kirtan originated in the Hindu religion. In Sanskrit, it literally means narrating, reciting, or describing an idea or story. The tradition of kirtan began many hundreds of years ago in 6th century India.  Back then, in a time before many people could read or write (let alone endlessly communicate through social media) poets wandered the land singing intricate stories from the Vedas and the Upanishads, which are some of the earliest known religious texts in the world.

The only way these religious texts could be passed down was through word of mouth. So, from one generation to the next, for thousands of years, the Vedas were memorised and passed down through the ages.

In the early 16th century, a Hindu saint called Sri (the Indian terminology for a saint) Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also known as the ‘Father of kirtan’ left India to disseminate the power of kirtan around the world, inspiring many thousands of people during his lifetime, and beginning a movement that continues to this day.

IT IS PART OF YOGA

The yoga that most of us know and practice is only one type of yoga. There are varying opinions on how many branches there are, some say seven, some six and in Light on Yoga, B. K. S. Iyengar says there are four paths. According to him, these are:

• Karma yoga, the path of action, in which a man realises his own divinity through work and duty.

• Jnana yoga, the path of intellect, where realisation comes through knowledge.

• Bhakti yoga, the path of emotion, where realisation comes through devotion and love of a personal God.

• Raja yoga, which is another term for Ashtanga yoga, or the eight-limbed yoga that most of us know as ‘yoga’. This branch is the foundation for the three other branches, preparing the mind for enlightenment, or samadhi, the final goal of yoga.

Other sources cite seven (often overlapping) branches which are: Hatha yoga, Raja yoga, Karma yoga, Tantra yoga, Mantra Yoga, Jnana yoga and Bhakti yoga.

It is bhakti yoga which is the source of the practice of kirtan. The devotional practice of singing, worshipping and chanting to the Hindu deities emphasized the intense longing to know God.

CHANTING IN YOGA

Chanting isn’t just restricted to bhakti yoga though. For example, the traditional way to start an Iyengar yoga class is by chanting the ‘Invocation to Patanjali’. As an Iyengar yoga teacher myself, I begin most of my classes with this chant, using the call and response method. I find that it is a way of punctuating the class, leaving behind any tension or stress that’s accumulated before the class, as well as a way of bringing us all together, teacher and students, in the study and practice of yoga.

THE BENEFITS OF KIRTAN

So what are the benefits of this meditative group singing? As we know (or should do) the seventh limb of yoga is dhyana or meditation. The fact that this comes after the mastery of all of the previous six limbs shows how challenging meditation can be. Kirtan is a way of accessing the mental stillness of meditation without having to sit still for two hours. The practice known as ‘call and response’, when the lead singer, or kirtan walla, will sing the kirtan a phrase at a time and the collected group will repeat the phrase back, is a way of letting go of the mind. This is because it uses the power of mantra (repeated sound) to focus and still the mind, enabling access to that deeper state of stillness within our consciousness. All you need to do is listen and respond.

The power of sound, as stated earlier, also cannot be underestimated. The practice of singing in a group unifies you with those around you, reminding you that you are larger than the individual, and part of a global community.

There is also an element of surrendering to the divine in all of us (ishvara pranidhana), which is the very last of the niyamas.

BUT I CAN’T SING…

This is not an issue! Don’t be daunted if you’re not a professional singer. There’s no judgement if you can’t sing in tune, and you’ll probably be drowned out by all the confident singers anyway. The important thing is to LET GO of your thoughts, and let your sound join the sound around you. The other important thing is to connect to how your emotions link into your voice. When we lock our voices away our inner self goes unheard and unexpressed. By opening up our mouths and letting out what’s inside, we get to unlock our hearts too.

Breathwork: Take a deep breath

In the yoga tradition, the individual soul is called “Atman.” From the Sanskrit root “at,” meaning “to breathe,” a soul is defined as “That Which Breathes.” 

Our life begins with a breath. We know that a baby has been born successfully when we hear a loud cry. Our life ends with a breath. When a body exhales then no longer inhales, we know the soul is gone. If breath is what defines life, breath IS life energy. In yoga, we call this “prana,” which simultaneously means both “breath” and “life-force energy.” The two are seen as virtually the same thing. It follows that there is no quicker way to transform your energy than to alter your breathing pattern.

OUR HEALTH & BREATH

Like training our bodies or training our minds, our breath can also be trained. Not because it’s bad and needs to be fixed, but so that it can be harnessed to work more effectively for us. We are made up of body, mind, and breath, and the breath for many of us is the last frontier. If you’ve been doing practices for the mind and body, but are still struggling with stress or your mood, you may be skipping yoga’s “secret sauce.” Breathwork is the most effective practice for your vibe, otherwise known as your feeling tone or how you show up in the world. 

One of the quickest ways to determine if someone is healthy is to examine their breathing pattern. If the breath is slow or shallow, rapid or irregular, you know that something is off. While doing breathwork cannot replace seeking medical help, it can be used to shift your energy and state of mind. For example, when someone is having a panic attack, we’ve all been taught to have them breathe into a paper bag. The idea is that if a person is panicking, they are usually also hyperventilating. The panic alters the breath cycle and the altered breath cycle creates more panic. This can quickly become a downward spiral.

The wise, old method of breathing into a paper bag does two things. First, it makes the person breathe in more carbon dioxide, which they’ve been losing through their quickened breath. Second, because the bag creates a sort of drag, it slows the breathing down. When the breath is slowed, the body takes the cue and thinks there is nothing to worry about. The act of slowing down your breathing is incredibly potent. Think of it like lifting weights with your lungs. It can be done by anyone, at any time, through techniques that are thousands of years old. It doesn’t require you to be spiritually elevated or psychologically evolved. On the contrary – it costs nothing and is simple to learn.

YOGA & BREATH

Just like yoga and meditation, breathwork has a variety of styles and techniques with corresponding benefits. it can leave you feeling uplifted, focused, calm, or ready for sleep—depending on what type you do. There are energizing practices that require quick, short breaths and those that lengthen the breath for a more relaxing effect. Some techniques retain the breath at certain times or direct you to breathe out of just one nostril. 

While some of it can seem a bit unusual at first, just like embarking on your first downward dog, have an open mind and a sense of adventure. However, remember that no matter what the teacher says, you are in charge of you. If a teacher says “Twenty more like this,” and you feel that you need a break—take it! If nothing else, you are practicing to have a better sense of yourself. 

While it may appear simple on the surface, in the yoga tradition, breathwork was often taught as one of the most advanced practices. Introduced to students after they had mastered physical yoga, breathwork is essentially the synergy, the alchemy, the powerful combination of all yogic practices. 

Unlocking the Secrets of Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra also known as ‘Yogic Sleep’. It is an ancient yogic practice of healing and relaxation facilitated and induced by guided meditation.

The aim is to calm your mind as you move down through the progressive brainwave states where there is naturally less and less thought, ultimately coming to rest in a profoundly deep state of consciousness. Body – breath awareness techniques are used to help us move from the thinking mind into the feeling body, which helps us to sink into a deeply relaxed state of being. The body does this naturally when we go to bed at night, but Yoga Nidra combines the deep relaxation of sleep with a state of alert awareness.

The heightened state of awareness achieved through the practice of Yoga Nidra is not the only aim. By accessing the pranamaya kosha (energy sheath) through the breath the practice unblocks the channels (or nadi) through which prana (energy) flows through us. The free flow of prana through the body allows the body to heal itself. 

Standard Yoga Nidra sessions last between 15 minutes and 1 hour, although advanced practitioners have been known to practice for much longer. There is some evidence that an hour of Nidra is equivalent to several hours of ordinary sleep. Since Yoga Nidra is a very specialised form of meditation, not all yoga teachers are trained to lead it, so sessions must be run by a qualified Yoga Nidra guide.

BENEFITS OF YOGA NIDRA

The state of mind induced by this method of deep relaxation takes the practitioner to a place somewhere between being awake and asleep. It helps to release physical tension and slows the breath, which in turn slows the heartbeat down enough to establish a calm body and mind. The benefits are heightened after an asana class,as it helps to cool and moderate the body’s natural temperature as well as conserving the energy from the movement practice. It also relaxes the entire anatomical system.

Many benefits have been reported by practitioners after doing regular Yoga Nidra and according to research done by clinical psychologist and yogic researcher Richard Miller, PhD, of The Integrative Restorative Institute (iRest) the following responses to the practice have been observed:

• Reduced anxiety and stress

• Better, less interrupted sleep and reduced symptoms of insomnia

• Relief in some chronic pain conditions

• Profound physical and spiritual experiences

• Better, more positive outlook

• Increase in the ability to stay focused

• Healing of emotional imbalances

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

Traditionally, the following consecutive steps are used during the Yoga Nidra process:

Step 1 – Preparation of the Body for Relaxation

Yoga Nidra is done in savasana. Lying on your back, place your arms away from the body, palms facing up. Feet should be about hip-distance apart. Let the toes fall out towards the side.

Quick tip: If you experience any discomfort in the lower back then place a bolster, cushion or rolled-up yoga mat under the knees to release those muscles.

Step 2 – Introduction of the Sankalpa

Before you start in earnest it’s good to set a positive intention, also called Sankalpa. Repeating the Sankalpa helps to ground the affirmation in the practitioner’s subconscious, although there is an art to creating a good one.

Step 3 – Body Awareness

Next, you may be instructed to bring your focus to the points of contact with the back of the body. Often, a full guided body scan is introduced where you are asked to bring your awareness to each individual body part for a moment before moving on to the next. Sometimes this is also approached by tensing each body part in turn and then releasing it fully.

Step 4 – Breath Awareness

The practice will often start with your guide inviting you to take note of any faraway sounds, outside of the room, for instance. Then moving on to noticing sounds within the room. After that, you’ll be directed to notice the sound of your own breath.

Step 5 – Visualisation/Imagination

It is also common to be given a number to count back from with the instruction that, if you lose count, you just need to start again. Suggested visualisations can often be a scene of serene, natural beauty or it may be an invitation to imagine energy or light flowing through the body.

Step 6 – Reiteration of the Sankalpa

You will be reminded to bring your awareness to your Sankalpa just before you go into deep relaxation as well as at the end of this phase of the practice.

Step 7 – Reorientation to a Normal State

At the end of the session you will often be guided back up through the layers of consciousness, bringing your awareness back in turn to your breath, sounds and your body before ending the session.

The magic of mantras

Have you ever chanted during a yoga or meditation class, or randomly on your own, and experienced a profound sense of calm? Here’s why it works and why you might want to try it…

Your Brain on Mantra

For thousand of years, yogis have known mantra (or japa), whether chanted, whispered, or silently recited, to be a powerful tool for meditation and therapy. Western science is catching up.

Neuroscientists, equipped with advanced brain-imaging tools, are confirming some of the health benefits of this ancient practice, such as its ability to help clear your mind and calm your nervous system. In a recent study, researchers measured activity in the default mode network region of the brain — the area that’s active during self-reflection and when the mind is wandering — to determine how practicing mantra meditation affects the brain. From a mental health perspective, an overactive default mode network can mean that the brain is distracted.

Researchers behind this study asked a group of subjects to recite Sat Nam (roughly translated as “true identity”) while their hands are placed over their hearts. The subjects’ default mode networks were suppressed during the mantra meditation — and suppression grew as mantra training increased.

Research suggests that it doesn’t matter whether you recite an ancient Sanskrit mantra such as Sat Nam, the Lord’s Prayer, or any sound, word, or phrase. As long as you repeat something with focused attention, you’ll get results.

Herbert Benson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is particularly interested in what brings on a meditative state, which he calls “the relaxation response.” He’s experimented with subjects repeating Sanskrit mantras as well as nonreligious words, such as “one.” He’s found that regardless of what the practitioner repeats, the word or phrase has nearly the same effects: relaxation and the ability to better cope with life’s unexpected stressors.

The Roots of Mantra

The word mantra is derived from two Sanskrit words — manas (mind) and tra (tool). Mantra literally means “a tool for the mind,” and was designed to help practitioners access their true natures and a higher power. There’s so much more on the magic of vibration and resonance in Sanskrit.

Eventually that vibration sinks deeper and deeper into your consciousness, helping you to feel its presence as shakti — a powerful, subtle force inside each of us that carries us into deeper states of awareness.

One of the most universally recited mantras is the sacred Hindu syllable Om or Aum — considered to be the sound of the creation of the universe. Aum is believed to contain every vibration that has ever existed, and ever will exist.

It is the energetic root of other, longer mantras, including Om namah shivaya (“I bow to Shiva” — Shiva being the inner Self, or true reality), and Om mani padme hum (which means “jewel of the lotus,” and is interpreted as, “By practicing a path that unites method and wisdom, you can transform into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha”).

These popular Hindu mantras are in Sanskrit, but mantra has deep roots in every major spiritual tradition and can be found in many languages, including Hindi, Hebrew, Latin, and English. A common mantra for Christians is simply the name Jesus, while Catholics commonly repeat the Hail Mary prayer or Ave Maria. Many Jews recite Barukh atah Adonai (“Blessed art thou, oh Lord”), and Muslims repeat the name Allah like a mantra.

How to Get Down with Mantra

In some practices, such as Transcendental Meditation, students hire a trained meditation leader to learn and receive mantras. But there are plenty of ways to practice mantra independently and free of charge.

Consistency is key, regardless of the mantra you choose.

“You enliven a mantra through regular practice over a period of time — months or even years” says Sally Kempton, meditation teacher and author. “It’s a bit like rubbing a flint against a stone to strike fire. The friction of the syllables inside your consciousness, the focus of bringing yourself back to the mantra again and again, and especially the attention you give to the felt sense of the mantra’s resonance inside your awareness will eventually open the energy in the mantra, and it will stop being just words and become a living energy that you’ll feel shifting your inner state.”

Most teachers recommend to begin sitting or lying down in a comfortable position and silently repeating the mantra, on the inhalation and the exhalation. When thoughts or feelings enter your mind, notice them, and then return to silently reciting the mantra. Advanced practitioners allegedly have their mantra on repeat, in their mind, at all times no matter what they’re doing.

Set aside a few minutes a day to practice — potentially building up to 20 minutes or even more. Several traditions suggest sticking with one mantra for at least a few months before switching to another, in order to deepen your practice and cultivate a sense of ease, presence, and peace.

Choose Your Mantra

Check out a guided mantra meditation for So Ham and Sat Nam. Or experiment with your own choices and creations!

Your mantra can be ancient, tried-and-true, Sanskrit or otherwise… Or it can be any word or phrase, in any language, which you find comforting, inspiring or grounding. An old friend found the word “cornfield” especially calming, and would repeat it during times of anxiety!

Here are a couple of examples I personally use:

1. Perfect peace and poise are mine today as I concentrate all of my power and ability upon expressing the divine will

This is my daily mantra. For many years, I have been reciting this mantra from Yogananda’s Scientific Healing Affirmations.

2. I’m right here

This mantra is channeled to my heart. A long time ago, whilst in a precarious mountain biking situation, the words, “I’m right here,” popped into my mind and comforted my heart. To this day, I use it when in need of grounding and stability.

3. Om

Inspiration from the ancient yogis…The Divine Energy
Often chanted three times, Om, or Aum, symbolically embodies the divine energy, or Shakti, and its three main characteristics: creation, preservation, and liberation. The mantra, or vibration, derives from Hinduism and is considered to have high spiritual and creative power.

4. Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

A Chant for Wholeness. I end each practice and teaching with this beautiful mantra which means: May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life in some way contribute to that happiness and freedom for all.

5. Gayatri mantra

Being Illuminated by Sacred Sound

Om bhur bhuvas svaha
Thath savithur varaynyam
Bhargo dheyvasya dhimahih
Dhyoyonah pratchodhay-yath

Traditionally chanted a capella, this mantra has been set to beautiful music by many kirtan stars, and it means:

We worship the word (shabda) that is present in the earth, the heavens, and that which is beyond. By meditating on this glorious power that gives us life, we ask that our minds and hearts be illuminated.

Yoga for mental health

The ancient science of yoga unites poses with breathing and concentration to build strength, awareness and harmony between mind and body. Yoga provides many obvious physical benefits – flexibility, stamina, circulatory health, to name a few – and now more than ever, we realise its important role in our mental wellness too.

Self-care is a hot topic, thankfully, as with life continuing to pick up speed all around us – we’ve got to slow down and look inward, at our own mental health.

Yoga helps our mental health by:

• Relieving anxiety

• Lowering depression

• Promoting better sleep

• Fighting fatigue

• Decreasing stress

• Improving focus

• Increasing tolerance

Up the ante with the extensive neurological benefits of meditation. Studies show that it increases focus and concentration, and lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Anxiety, stress and depression are often inter-linked. They manifest in many different ways, causing everyones’ experience of mental illness to be unique, sometimes including:

• Physical sickness

• Difficulty breathing

• Emotional outbursts

• Low mood

• Poor sleep

• Physical aches and pains

• Coping strategies such as addictions

Yoga and meditation promote relaxation

Yoga and meditation promote relaxation – the opposite of anxiety, stress and depression. They build our ability to stay centred, which is vital for stress management. By pausing to breathe, meditate or stretch, the mind is directed away from the trigger and a biological reaction of calming begins.

Specific yoga and meditation practices stimulate our vagus nerve which is involved in our parasympathetic nervous system – our rest and digest response.

These simple practices amplify awareness of what’s happening in our body, making it possible to detect changes and early signs of mental health issues. How? One way is by teaching us to be present, rather than worrying about what’s occured in the past or what may happen in the future.

And… Exercise naturally increases the flow of serotonin, ‘the happy hormone’. So moving and relaxing our body calms the mind, and enhancing our mental health positively affects our physical health.

When the world feels out of balance, unequal or low, yoga can help us maintain our internal equilibrium and elevate our experience of daily life. And it’s available to us anywhere, any time.

Mindfulness and why you should do it everyday!

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

While mindfulness is something we all naturally possess, it’s more readily available to us when we practice on a daily basis.

Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodeling the physical structure of your brain.

5 key benefits of mindfulness

1. Mindfulness helps us to experience life in all its fullness

Mindfulness isn’t some new age hippy theory and it isn’t just for those who practise yoga. It’s an important practice for everyone, no matter who you are. Mindfulness is actually very simple; it’s just about paying attention to life. Mindfulness doesn’t mean wandering around in a trance-like state, analysing every minute action and floating through life. It’s very much about experiencing life in its entirety – because more often than not, we tend to miss most of it…

Alan Watts equates life to music in one of his lectures, and it couldn’t be more true:

“In music one doesn’t make the end of a composition the point of the composition.  If that were so the best conductors would be those who played fastest, and there would be composers who wrote only finales. People would go to concerts just to hear one crashing chord; because that’s the end!

[And so with life]. We thought of life by analogy with a journey, with a pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end. Success or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead.

But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and we were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.”

2. Mindfulness improves the mind’s efficiency

When your mind is ‘full’, what is it usually full of? Indeed, sometimes our minds are full of ideas, inspiration, contentment and passion.. For much of the day, the mind is also full of worry, anxiety, frustration, jealousy and discontentment. And it continues to ruminate for hours. Instead of ‘getting on’ with life, we often let thoughts about life – whether they’re accurate or not – control our attention.  

Mindfulness can make the mind a whole lot more efficient. It can help us get to the point of what we’re doing or thinking about, rather than allowing a cycle of constant worry to take over.

Many Yogic texts speak of cultivating Eka-Grata, meaning ‘one-pointedness’ or ‘one-pointed focus’. This is where our mind is utterly focused on the action we’re engaged with. You may instinctively feel yourself being (as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it) “in the flow” – which incidentally, is also thought to be ‘the secret to happiness’.  

3. Mindfulness gets us in the ‘flow’

Skiing, snowboarding or skateboarding, along with more common sports like swimming and running are often where people feel they’re ‘in the flow’. Totally focussed on and absorbed with the action they’re engaging with and no intermittent thoughts or distractions*. Because of this, we often enjoy what we’re doing and are likely to improve each time we practise it.

Mindfulness is a little like this: if we choose to be utterly immersed in what we’re doing (whether it’s skiing or mopping the floor), we actively choose to be more ‘alive’ in that moment. We’re also more likely to enjoy what we’re doing and become better at it too.

We may not feel as though mopping the floor, washing dishes or any other day-to-day tasks are worth paying attention to, but they’re all part of the music of life….

*For more on this, read ‘The flow state and how to get there‘

4. Mindfulness leads us to absorption

Mindfulness can be equated to two of the steps towards meditation, and a part of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga, known as Dharana and Dhyana.

Dharana is translated as ‘holding’ or ‘holding steady’. It relates to holding something in our attention whilst practising the steps towards meditation, whether that thing is an object, a deity, the breath or a mantra. Many Tantric practices use a specific mantra or a yantra (a geometrical diagram, or any object, used as an aid to meditation in tantric worship) to focus on as a point of meditation. Each mantra or yantra represents a certain power or quality to be imbibed.

Dhyana is the action of becoming absorbed into the object of focus. Thought to be the penultimate stage of yoga, translating as ‘contemplation’ or ‘reflection’, this is the part where all other thoughts and distractions cease, and we are really truly there in that moment. 

5. Mindfulness teaches us to appreciate the Now

Mindfulnessis not a practice intended to take us away from the world and render us useless, it’s not something to ‘do’ for an hour each day and forget about. What mindfulness is, is a way to teach us about ourselves and the world around us, and to help us become kinder, stronger, more compassionate and useful human beings. 

By practising mindfulness within everyday tasks, we can begin to bring the mind into a habit – since the mind and physical brain are so malleable and ‘plastic’ – of being more mindful in each situation we meet. The first step is to practise mindfulness with something simple, such as washing the dishes.

In Thich Nhat Hanh’s book The Miracle of Mindfulness’, he tells us one simple phrase which I have always remembered since reading it: “Wash the dishes to wash the dishes”….

How often do we hurry a task or duty, just to get it out of the way? How often do we do everyday things whilst thinking and planning the rest of life? To quote John Lennon; “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.