Several years ago, I was teaching a beginner’s meditation class, and as part of the workshop, explained the concept of the word/sound “OM” to the participants. Then we did some experiential learning with the sound, both with only me saying the sound, and then with all of us saying the sound. Students felt the vibration from the sound whether I did it or whether they did it. And, they were profoundly moved!
Picture of OM from omgayatri.com ‘ॐ’ is a kind of short cut of the word ‘ओम’ in devanagari a other indic scripts – from omgayatri.com
Here is part of a slide that I presented on “OM”.
Mantra repetition simply means repeating a sentence or group of words that have a phonetic significance.
Mantra is intrinsically related to sound. Mantra is sound, and sound is reverberating in everything in this universe. When water flows, the gurgling sound it makes, is mantra. When wind blows through the trees, the rustling sound it produces is mantra. When we walk on the earth, our footsteps produce sound, and that too is mantra.
According to ancient Indian belief in the beginning there was sound, which reverberated as Om and from that sound everything came into existence.
I believe that the sound OM, pronounced A-U-M and strung out (Pronunciation: aaaaauuuuummmmm), really is the sound of Divine creation. I have seen people chant this for a while, and then suddenly break out in hard sobbing, because, through the chant, they have been reconnected to The Divine, and the person feels an incredible blessing and release. I know that when I have an issue that I can not seem to move with other tools, that I can generally move it within ten minutes by using the OM chant.
OM or aum is a sanskrit root word or seed-sound symbolizing the creative divine intelligence which creates ands sustains all things: it is also known as the cosmic vibratory intelligent word of god that sustains all the created universes. Aum of the vedas became the sacred word ” hum” of the Tibetans; “amin” of the Moslems; and “amen” of the faith for Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Jewish and Christians. Om symbol and info from http://www.astrogems.com
One of the stories that I shared in the workshop was about using OM out in Nature. Years ago, my husband, Roger, and I walked out in Fish Creek park almost every evening during the summer. Often, we would find a big log beside the river side channel, and sit and “OM”. Often while we sat there chanting, the beavers would bring their supper of sticks, and come and sit on the river bank, close to where we were sitting, and chow down and listen to the concert. When we were done, they would swim off. The beaver’s actions told me that they, too, enjoy the sound of The Divine. If you have never tried to say the sound “OM”, I invite you to try it now. Try it several times a day. It is a wonderful pick-me-up!
Go in peace.
