The OM & Singing
From Nothing to All things via Vibration
What’s in Your Hum?
Bhramari or Bee breathing is the simple, yet profound, act of inhaling and exhaling with humming. The sound of the hum is produced by when changes in air pressure around the vocal folds cause them to vibrate, creating sound waves which engage with closed lips. Voila – a buzzing sound! It’s fascinating and mind blowing to me that changes in air pressure around a vibrating material can create sound by transferring seemingly dormant breath into energy that Yogis believe is embued with the energetic force of all things – the MM at the end of OM.
Stop and think about this for a moment from the Yogi lens.
Patanjali wrote in his text The Yoga of Sutras.
The basic sound is always vibrating in you. OM represents God in the fullest sense. It is the power to create everything, because it has the seed from which all sounds manifest. Expressing your experience of OM uses different language and capacity.
What is the sound of OM?
OM is the compilation of the primary sounds - A U M anahata (beyond verbal)
Ah – the beginning of language – opening mouth and making sound. It is the CREATION of vibration
U makes mouth space smaller and helps to channel – think sea to creek. It is the PRESERVATION of vibration because its easier to maintain.
M – closed lips It is the CULMINATION of vibration, where we can feel it and bring awareness to it
Anahata – unspoken sound always in you that can never be destroyed.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananada
So, sound allows us to KNOW a truth because we sense its vibrations in the body. Sight, on the other hand, can tell the brain many possibilities about an object or experience and, can deceive us because we do not have the direct experience of vibration.
Singers and actors, through the sounds you share, you are on a journey to unearth the truth of a moment in a song or story and share that truth with others. Use your vibrational energy of sound to infuse the specific experience of character and share that with the audience. The audience is also a vessel that responds to the vibration you share, and then connects to something greater than their separateness. How cool is that? So, before your next singing experience, center yourself with OM. Feel the connection to the deeper truth of the experience you are gifted to share. Connect and Let Go.
Truth is one, seers express it in many ways.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananada