Picture
this: You are driving down a straight
road. Once you hit 50 MPH the front end
starts shaking. By 52 MPH, it is shaking so bad you can barely hold the wheel. You break and pull over to the side, and once
you are back to 45 MPH the shaking mysteriously disappears.
That,
friends, is called Death Wobble. If you
have driven a Wrangler for any amount of time you know what I am talking
about. Why does this happen only at
specific speeds, at random times? I have yet to find an answer to that. Suffice it to say that some times, under some
circumstances, things vibrate just right,
and the harmonic vibration becomes so powerful that it changes the normal
pattern of the machine.
And here’s
where the topic relates to a wider audience…
Scary as
this can be—think about it—wouldn’t it be amazing if the power of harmonic
vibration could be harnessed and used for good?
OK conspiracy theorists, I’m not talking about that thing know as HARP
(I said “used for good!”), but I am talking about yoga.
By
focusing on the body and the breath in Hatha yoga, we are changing the
vibrations within the body. Call it
energy, prana, kundalini, the Force ( ™ Lucas films. Please don’t sue) or what have you. We consciously alter the vibrations in the
physical body, then those vibrations effect the mind and soon (well, in yogic
terms ‘soon’ means multiple thousands of lifetimes) the whole system is
vibrating differently. I have read this
(cannot remember where) effect likened to having a bunch of grandfather clocks
set against the same wall. Eventually all the pendulums will begin swinging at
the same time, in harmony.
Controlled
death wobble used for good.
Hatha is
not the only way to do this. The main
drawback with Hatha practice, and even meditation practice (keep in mind it is
impossible to ‘practice’ meditation. Meditation is a state where there is no
distinction between the observer and the observed. We can practice placing ourselves in
situations conducive to this state, but the state occurs on its own) is that we
EXPECT something to happen. Come on, I
know you do. So do I.
Unfortunately
this is completely counterproductive.
I have
found that by incorporating sound into my practice (I won’t say ‘singing’—more
on that in a post to come) by reciting
mantra has a more immediate effect than practicing asana, pranayama, and
meditation.
The
effect, of course, is shutting up the noise in my mind by replacing it with a
different vibration: The Hanuman Chalisa, Sri Ram, Sitaram, Rama Bolo, The
Mahamantra, The Gayatri Mantra, Mantra for Purification, etc.
As part
of my regular practice, I set a timer and recite softly, under my breath, the
mantra or song. This has largely replaced seated meditation.
The main
reason I know it works is because, more often than not, I am surprised when the
timer goes off; meaning that I forgot I was sitting about on the floor
muttering under my breath for a set period of time and I was so concentrated
that I forgot my surroundings.
And, I
discovered, I actually enjoy this recitation.
I feel better when doing it. Seated meditation, for me, can be a bit of
a chore. Which would I rather do? The
choice is obvious.
Recitation
is much easier to do throughout the day than other forms of practice. I’m not
breaking into asana at work (never mind the picture from last post…). I’m not pulling out my mala to do japa while
waiting in line. But I will hum
mantra. I will sing it out driving to
and from work (and scream it when death wobble occurs).
Does not
matter what the song is or what it means—I do know enough of the English
translation of The Chalisa to narrate it in general terms, but feel no need to
get the translation down. I was given
the Mantra for Purification and was told that I am not to know the
meaning. Doesn’t matter. I like the sound of it.
Controlled
harmonic vibration it truly the basis of everything. The significance of Gen. 1.3 is not “Let
there be light,” it is “God said.”
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