Yoga Chants

From the very beginning, exercise has established its own importance in the minds of people. Be it any era, the prehistoric times or the recent periods, no one has been able to disregard the significance of exercise when it comes to the case of healthy living. Over the years, the methods of exercise (both physical and mental) have changed and modified yet the main essence of exercise has remained the same. And when it comes to the prospect of maintaining the physical and mental health, the mention of yoga could not be avoided at all. Initially yoga was just practiced in some specific regions (like the subcontinent and other areas of south East Asia) and in some specific religions (like Buddhism and Hinduism) but its usefulness and appeal was soon acknowledged all over the world. Today yoga is regarded as one of the best systems of achieving physical and mental healing.

In the case of yoga, the importance of yoga chants could not be ignored. Yoga chants, which are also regarded as the ‘yoga of sound’, have a sacred image specifically considering from the roots of its origin, which is the religion of Hinduism and the important traditional branches of yoga namely Hatha yoga and Tantra yoga. The whole composition of yoga chants consists of repetitive mantras, which are recited during the course of practicing yoga. These chants have a different variety of names depending upon the geographical location that they are recited in. For example, in the northern region of India, these yoga chants are known as Kirtan. On the other hand, the people living in the southern region of India refer to the yoga chants as Bhajan, which is very important for Hindus from the religious perspective. As yoga gained popularity all over the West (basically the European countries and the United States), the yoga chants were adopted by all of those who practiced yoga. These westerners regarded the yoga chants as methods to achieve a high level of health and well-being. In other words, yoga chants symbolized the idea of healthy living.

In the general context, yoga chants are usually performed as well as written in the Sanskrit language. However it does not restrict the universal nature of the interpretation of those yoga chants. A great majority of people who practice yoga believe the language of Sanskrit to be the language of the heart. In addition to that, people also believe that the ancient yoga chants have a powerful ability of healing along with possessing high levels of transformational energies. The chants, which are played before beginning yoga, are referred to as opening chants while the chants, which conclude the practice of yoga, are known as closing chants. In the literal sense, the yoga opening chant is a reference to the entire ritual of paying honor to all of those wise teachers who developed and passed down the usefulness of the ancient yoga traditions. As from a practical perspective, the combination of the opening chant plus yoga marks a clear division and distinction between the everyday activities of life and the yoga class before which it is recited. With the development of the World Wide Web, there are many sample yoga chants present online for people who are seeking to learn yoga.

As for the relationship between the closing chant and the practice of yoga, it is basically recited to honor the tradition of offering the value of the practice of yoga for the benefit of the world. One of the most important closing chants is the Mangala Mantra, which is an ancient chant and is generally recited at the end of ceremonies.

However a yoga chant is not restricted to be recited or played only during, before or after yoga. These chants are a wonderful source of achieving mental and / or physical relaxation and could be recited and played during regular activities as well.