Naad Yoga
Naad (Nāda) - means: sound, tone.
Pronunciation and transliteration: Naad or Nāda - is used interchangeably, depending on the region of India - Naad in North India, and Nāda in South India.
What is Nada Yoga
Nāda yoga (नादयोग) is the yoga of sound - it is an ancient Indian metaphysical system, treated both as a philosophical system, a system of healing and as a form of yoga.
The entire cosmos, everything that exists in the universe, together with people, is made up of sound vibrations, called Naad. This means that it is the energy of sound in motion, rather than matter and particles, that constitute the building blocks of the universe.
Also, all experiences have a sound - whether expressed out loud or not - and mastering this sound within us allows us to shape our experience.
Naad Yoga is a respectful way of approaching and responding to sound. In this context, sound and music have a greater meaning and spiritual dimension than what we come to know through mere sensory properties. Sound and music are seen here in their role as a potential mediator for achieving a deeper unity of both the macro- and micro-cosmos.
Application of vibrations in Nada Yoga
The use of sound vibrations and resonances in Naad Yoga is used to achieve a soothing palliative effect in various difficult psychological and spiritual circumstances. It is also used to raise the level of consciousness with the help of energy centres called chakras.
Nada Yoga - as a process of attunement to oneness
If we can hear the expressions of our own mind and soul, what causes them, we can go deeper into the process when it is happening and guide it. When we communicate with our inner experience in its language - that is, the sound of emotions, with vibration, tone and rhythm - it becomes susceptible to our influence. By influencing our inner experience, we determine how we express ourselves in the outer world.
Naad Yoga is an ongoing process of going inwards and outwards through listening and expression: it is the sound that provides the map, the reference points through which we learn about our own and others' experience.
If we follow the path of sounds inwards far enough, we can trace their expression back to their source of origin - the primordial energy of vibration, capable of turning into anything: the vibration that is in fact the source of everything - the Creator and Creation. Naad Yoga uncovers the reality within consciousness and awakens this potential.
When the soul hears and knows the oneness of itself, the universe and the Creator, it discovers its true nature and harmonises with it. The soul's memory of this full truth gently reminds the mind to be happy, which in turn releases the body's ability to be healthy.
This alignment with the oneness of all things allows the person to thrive because there is no longer stress. There is simply the truth of what is, and a person who has realised this can simply be fully. It just takes listening to the sound of life in all its subtle variety and allowing oneself to express action where necessary to restore balance for wellbeing and success.
Our ability to communicate both with each other and with our inner emotional reality has a powerful effect on our destiny and well-being, and through this, on our ability to reach our soul connection with the Immortal Unknown. Naad Yoga leads to the essence of communication. It gives non-intellectual understanding and obedience to the higher self, producing an abundance of beauty in your experience of life and healing the wounds of misunderstanding.
compiled from - Prof Surinder Singh
While meditation can quiet the mind, music is what propels us towards the heights of perfection of the human experience. ~ Inayat Khan, Sufi musician of the 19th century.
Nada Yoga as a music therapy discipline
„Nada Yoga is a music therapy discipline from India and Tibet that uses sound, music and physical awareness to bring harmony and balance between body, mind and spirit, to resolve or alleviate many psychological, physical and physiological problems naturally.
We can find the theoretical basis of Nada Yoga in very ancient treatises (Gandharva Veda, Upanishads, Naradiya Shiksha, Sangita Ratnakara), which formulated a general theory of sound on mathematical, physical and metaphysical grounds. More recently, the famous musician and music therapist Vemu Mukunda from Bangalore, has developed a very interesting system based on what he called - „tuning in”. It is known as Nada Brahma Yoga.
The foundation of Nada Brahma Yoga is therefore the fundamental frequency (different for each person) against which all the techniques, including the use of the voice and basic chanting, are designed: the first effect of its application is a calm mind, free of emotions and intellectual inhibitions (an unconditioned mind).
Then, the use of appropriate mantras (sonorant vibrations that act to improve the functional movements of prana together with the redistribution of energy) and specific musical scales derived from the Melakarta South Indian pat tern (South Indian system) based and performed on a personal tonic key, allow specific physical points (in the nadi channel system) and the emotional sphere (shrutis) to be touched, negative energy blocks to be removed from the subconscious, and transformed into positive ones - for self-therapeutic purposes and to improve creativity.
Nada Yoga allows one to find and use a natural rhythm (also individual to each person), so that each activity can have a specific resting rhythm, very useful for physical endurance and mental intelligence. The different phonetic techniques of the rhythm induce a strong neuro-sensory activation that stimulates the brain synapses, increasing attention, concentration, memory and intelligence.
To be precise, music-therapeutic techniques are enriched by a series of exercises that allow the gradual development of mental power for the activation and distribution of ionic energy, which helps to equalise and strengthen the electromagnetic field of the human body: this promotes blood circulation, acts on bones and muscle structures, slows down cellular ageing and provides important physical and mental protection. Finally, training with meditation exercises, thanks to the practice of chanting aliquots - „suprasound” - makes it possible to achieve a special state of mind rest (nirod), which can only be achieved in a special phase of sleep (delta brain waves).”
prepared on the basis of - Dr.Riccardo Misto