Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to Deep in your yoga practice. I'm Lauren Leduc, the owner and founder of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And today I wanted to help deepen your yoga practice by exploring Om. What is its origin meaning, what is the purpose of Om in our yoga practice? I think it's easy, especially as we move toward more of this modern postural yoga, to become divorced from some of the symbolism and philosophy and spirituality that is associated with yoga, or even to perform some of these things without any kind of knowledge of what they are and where they come from. So. So I'm hoping today to demystify this sound, this chant, this word for you, so that if you do choose to incorporate it into your yoga practice, or maybe you come to a class where the teacher invites you to chant Om, that you know why you're doing it and can maybe feel the beautiful and deep benefits of chanting Om as well. If you've ever come to my class before, we typically do do chant Om at the beginning of class and end. So I'll explain why I offer that and what the benefits are as well. So I thought we could start this episode how I start many classes, which is with a cleansing breath and a single chant of Om. You're welcome to join or simply to listen. So I'll inhale through my nose, exhale out of the mouth, inhale.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: O.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: So what is Om? Om, which is O M or can be spelled A U M, you'll see it both ways, is a sacred sound or mantra and also a symbol in Yogic, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. So we see Om show up in several different traditions and religions and it's considered the primordial sound, which is the sound or the vibration from which all existence arises. So you can think of it as the audio version of the divine. You might even think of it as the sound of all sounds combined. It is this all encompassing sound mantra phrase.
It's often described as the sound of the universe or the cosmic hum. So you might even imagine the beginning of the universe and all we hear is the sound first and then everything arises from that. When you see it spelled as a U M, it's to represent three distinct phonetic parts that blend into one continuous vibration. So the.
You might even think of it as four parts as this pause after, and I'll explain later, those three parts. So where did this sound or symbol come from? It appears in ancient Vedic texts. So this is a thousand BC, maybe even 1500 BCE and is also in the Upanishads. And there's one particular one, the Mandukia Upanishad, which is the shortest of them, but it's entirely focused on this symbol of Om. So the Vedas are the oldest sacred texts in India, and they used Om to mark the beginning of rituals and mantras. You'll also see this, the beginning or end or both of specific verses in yogic philosophy. A little bit later on, maybe around 500 CE, we're looking at the yoga sutras of Patanjali, which is now one of the most studied yogic texts. And Om is also described in that and mentioned several times.
And it's described as the sound form of Ishwara, which is the supreme self or the divine, however you define it in Sutra 1:27, saying his or God's or their expression is Om. Also in the sutras, in meditation, it said that Om is one of the highest, if not the highest, point of focus for this full absorption that going for in meditation and eventually enlightenment or samadhi. So essentially, Om is the sound of the divine. So what does Om represent?
Again, there are these three components that a U and A. So first is A or ah. And this represents creation and waking consciousness, initiations, birth. So it's the start of something, also known as the energy of Brahma. Next is Yu, which is preservation or sustaining, maybe a dreaming state as well, also known as the energy of Vishnu. And then there is M, which is dissolution, death, endings, deep sleep, the energy of Shiva and Brahma. Vishnu and Shiva are known as the Trimurti, or the three most important gods in the Hindu tradition. So each of those syllables can represent one of them or what they more deeply represent, which is creation, sustaining and destruction, which is just the natural cycle of life. There's typically an Om, also a silence afterward, which would be a fourth part. And this represents pure consciousness, pure potential cosmic consciousness.
So the state that is beyond creation, sustaining and destruction. So together, these represent the entire cycle of life and consciousness, as well as other concepts in yoga, like the three gunas, the three realms and more. So kind of wrapped up in this small syllable is this map of the universe and self and the cycle of life. So Fast forward, it's 2025. Why do we chant Om in yoga classes? Often we chant Om at the beginning to help center ourselves, to tune in, maybe to unite as a group.
You might have felt what it's like to be in a room of people chanting.
And it can feel really comfortable and nice and connecting in a way that can be a little bit hard to describe, but it's this Reminder of our shared space, our shared vibration, and the interconnectedness of all things. I often use it at the beginning of class as well, to sort of seal the intention. So you can think of Om as a vibrational amplifier. So whatever intention you set or dedication, we're chanting Om to amplify that and send it out into the world, as well as remind ourselves of our deep connection with everyone and everything. We also chant Om at the end of class often to seal the practice, to transition out of asana and shavasana and come back to the world with a little bit deeper, deeper awareness and consciousness, and awareness that we are all connected. We might use it to, in a state of more spaciousness and intention and consciousness, remind ourselves that we don't exist in a vacuum, that we are connected to everyone and everything. I say at the end of this podcast, om Shanti, Om Peace. I say it at the end of class as well. And again, that is the connection of all things. But wanting to amplify that and infuse it with shanti, which is peace. There's also physiological benefits to why we might chant this in class. It can stimulate the vagus nerve, which helps promote relaxation and helps down regulate often the nervous system. So it can create this sense of calm and peace in the body.
And energetically, the vibration of Om can resonate through the body's energy channels or nadis, and help awaken the subtle body or the chakras. I'm not going to get super deep into that today, but just know that Om can be really beneficial from a very scientific, Western physical standpoint, as well as from a more energetic, esoteric standpoint. So how do we chant Om? We pronounce it so ah is in the belly. It's open and expansive. The O is in the chest and throat, so we're moving energy upward. And the M is in the head, around the nose and cheeks, which resonates through the crown. So this sound moves up the body and then we follow it by silence. So I encourage you, if you've not chanted Om before, or even if you have to start practicing it in this way. So starting in the depth of the belly and moving it up, and you might feel it calm the body, and you might even feel the more subtle energy of the energy channels. I'll move back a little bit to some of the philosophical significance of Om. And as just a reminder to reiterate, it represents oneness, the union of body, breath, mind and spirit, all of these different parts of who we are. It brings it together, which is one of the aims of yoga, or yoking as it's called. It's a mantra of remembrance. It helps remind us of our source, our connection to all, even the stillness underneath the buzzing activity of our minds and our lives. And this has been practiced in many different forms of yoga through time. But in Jnana Yoga, or the Path of Knowledge, meditating on Om helps dissolve the illusion of separation between mind, body, spirit, between ourselves and others, between ourselves and the divine.
And in Bhakti Yoga, which is the yogic path of devotion, Om is considered a sacred name for the divine. So what is the name of the divine? It's Om. There are many different words for it, but that's a very simple, profound and beautiful way to state it in that particular tradition. So Om is relevant in my mind in 2025. Whether or not you follow a spiritual tradition, Om can be a really beautiful tool to help create mental clarity, to, like I said earlier, regulate the nervous system, to help focus the mind so that you can be more intentional and to help create a sacred pause in a world that can often feel very chaotic. It also reminds us, in a society that can feel very isolating and disconnected, that we are truly a part of the universe, of this world, of everyone and everything. We are a part of it. We get to experience it and be alive in it. How beautiful is that? It has deep cultural and spiritual roots, of course, dating back thousands of years. And that is so important. It's not just a trendy sound or something to sound cool or that we just do in a yoga class. It is a sacred symbol from a living tradition. And how beautiful is it to mindfully and respectfully appreciate that and be a part of it? You can incorporate Om in your practice fairly easily. So it might mean, as you're participating in a yoga class, to chant Om with the teacher or listen to the others chant Om.
You can also use it as a very simple mantra for meditation.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: So.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: So you might practice softening or closing your eyes and every time you breathe in, you think the word Om. Every time you breathe out, Om. And you can do this internally, so completely in your mind, Om. Om. Or you may chant it out loud. You can even chant it Japa style with mala beads or Simply counting to 108 on your fingers.
But I recommend giving that a try and just noticing how you feel. For me, I feel calmer, more spacious and more connected. And I often don't feel that way in my day to day life, being a business owner and a mom and working really hard and trying to make a good life for myself and my family, for our community. But I do find that taking those moments, even if it's just a couple minutes to refill my cup maker, all the difference. So you might think to yourself, what does Om mean to you?
When do you feel most connected to everyone and everything? And what energy are you putting out into the world? And how might that create a ripple effect into the community at large, into the universe itself? I will offer to close today's episode, how I close my yoga classes, and how I began this episode with a cleansing breath enchant of Om. You're welcome to join or listen.
Inhale through the nose. Exhale out of the mouth.
Inhale.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Om Shanti Own peace. Until next time.
