Sufism And The Practice Of Chanting

The Sufi tradition originates from the belief system of Islam.  Sufism is often said to be the mystical branch of Islam. 

Realizing a mystical connection with the divine or experiencing unity with God or mystical love is one of the aims of Sufism.

In Sufism the practice of chanting songs, or texts and poetry is practiced to reach this objective.  Qawwali is the name given to this type of music. 

Qawwali music is a devotional form of vocal music.  It has this spiritual function to facilitate the divine connection.  This is the central purpose of this devotional form of music of Qawwali.

Qawwali falls into the genre of North Indian Classical Music and has particular musical characteristics.

A particular chanting practice is used in order to arouse the emotional and spiritual connection with God.  The recitation of Gods name is what is used for this chanting practice.  The name of this chanting practice is called “zikr”.  While “sama” is the name given to the listening practice of this devotional music.

Zikr and sama set the context in order to experience the emotional connection to God within Sufism.  The vehicle through which mystical love is communicated and experienced is the poetry or text.  This poetry or text is given a musical setting.

The performers aim for that of the listeners is to bring about an intensification of the text.  The singer will shape via improvisation the structure of the music in such a way that this can be done.  The singer uses repetition of phrases, clapping and changes in tempo to intensify the emotions of the listeners.

Intensification has two functions and operates to reinforce and also generate increased spiritual arousal.

The performer is acutely aware of the impact of his performance on the listeners.  As long as the song is effecting the audience, it is continued.  The song is stopped and changed once the effect stops.

So in Sufism to facilitate the spiritual experience of mystical love, unity and connection to God, the practice of chanting is utilized.

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Chanting As A Tool To Develop Your Powers Of Concentration

Chanting is the spiritual practice of repeating a word, a sound, a phrase or an entire poem, song, or verse.  Chanting is a practice that many of the worlds spiritual and religious traditions uphold.

A chanting practice can hold many purposes.  The nature of the purpose tends to related to the particular tradition or practice itself.

A commonality amongst all the chanting traditions  is that chanting facilitates the development of concentration.

Chanting a particular phrase, mantra or verse repeatedly helps you to develop your powers of concentration.   

All of your attention is focused on the chanting of that mantra or word.  Directed into that mantra is all your energy and your emotions.  The sound you produce is the mantra or chant.  If your mind naturally does wander as you start your chanting practice, it has to wander back in order to do the chanting itself.

All of this helps to develop concentration.  In the yoga traditions they refer to this as “one pointed concentration”.

But what exactly is the purpose of developing concentration?

Having the ability to concentrate the mind provides numerous benefits.  Obviously there are the benefits that help and can be applied in everyday life.

A capacity to stay focused.  The ability to stay with the task at hand.  The ability to develop your memory and not forget. 

When you practice chanting this actually creates new neural connections in the brain.  This is laying down new neural pathways of concentration.

In modern times there is the rise of ADD and all attention related disorders.  Unfortunately the human mind is becoming something of a mess.  The capacity to focus, concentrate, remember and actually retain information is become a lost art in todays age.

This situation is not assisted with the information overload that we consume as our diet and the various media we choose to surround ourselves with such as the TV, DVDs, film, mobiles etc etc.

A chanting practice helps the brain to regain and develop concentration.  Once this concentration is developed, it is naturally and can be consciously integrated into your life to assist you in performing all the tasks you need to do that require focus and concentration.   If you feel you could do with help of a little concentration, develop your mind and powers of concentration with a chanting practice.

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Chanting Discoveries At The Yoga Ashram

If your not sure about chanting as a form of meditation or a spiritual practice but think you want to know more, the ashram is a great place to learn and discover more if you are yogically or spiritually inclined.

What is the ashram?  The ashram is a location where people live and study the spiritual path of yoga and typically an ashram is open to guests staying for breaks or courses.

All the various aspects of yoga are studied at the ashram.  You will find much more than simply asana practice such as yoga philosophy, karma yoga, meditation as well as mantra chanting.

At the yoga ashram you can find many different types of chanting practices.  So the ashram is a great place for you to learn about the various chanting practices.

On the ashram the day usually starts pretty early at around 6.00am with group meditation.  The group meditation session is called satsang and often involves mantra chanting.  There is usually the longer forms of vedic mantras that are chanted to start the day and there may be Om chanting meditation also.

Also you may have the time to work on your own particular mantra chanting meditation practice.  This is where you have a particular mantra used for your chanting practice.  For a mantra chanting practice you may or may not be initiated into the particular mantra tradition.

During ritual moments mantras are also chanted.  With some of the rituals you are free to join in and participate in the chanting.

During the day there are specific moments which are accompanied with the chanting of mantras. 

You will find that at the start of asana and meditation sessions there will be the chanting of particular mantras.  Also at the end of the sessions, the chanting of particular mantras also takes place.  There can even be the chanting of mantras before eating.

So the yoga ashram is an ideal place to learn about the many types of chanting practices within the yogic tradition.  If the tradition of yoga resonates with you, find an ashram that you feel drawn and attracted to.  This can be the start of a wonderful discovery into the world of chanting.

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